Chris Lolagne - Suffern 2001
Young Chris Lolagne began his life in competitive running as many local kids do. He won prizes at his school’s “Olympic Day” and was a winner at the Ramapo Central School District’s annual Elementary Schools Cross Country Run.
“It was modified track that hooked me,” he related in a recent interview. “It grew on me. It took a while, but then I was having real fun. Something was ‘clicking.’ My coach, Nanci St. Lawrence, got me totally infatuated with racing. Soon I just loved to compete.” There were no second thoughts about it from that point on. He was a track guy and totally hooked on becoming the best he could become.
When asked about the motivating factors in his success, Lolagne was effusive about many things that whetted his appetite to work for lofty goals.
“I became a ‘student of the sport’ very quickly. I read everything I could get my hands on to inspire me. All of the coaches at Suffern were so approachable about anything and they told us of the deep history of the teams going back to the ’50s and ’60s. I kept looking at all those Top 10+ performance lists that coaches Biddy and Coleman would put out and I could not get enough of it. I wanted to be on those lists as high as I could.”
“As to role models, Michael Johnson was my professional hero. But homegrown older athletes made me take notice as well. I remember looking up to guys like Steve Alicea from North Rockland when I was younger. As I said before, all the [members of the] coaching staff at Suffern were not only approachable, but were very much in touch with how to adapt training to accomplish different aspects of racing.”
In response to a question about his greatest thrills in competing, he unhesitatingly said, “The Armory! Every time I went there I knew I was going to do something special or see something special. I also loved going to the Loucks Games. There was something about the deep tradition there that gave it a special atmosphere. When I went to either of those places I became more and more convinced that the 400 meters was my thing.”
Indeed, through developing both his speed and endurance range, the 400 meters became his event to claim as being the best. While handling the sprinter’s normal chores, he was not afraid to “step up” in racing distances to help him to get better at the 400.
Indoors, he was fearless running at 600 yards and set a phenomenal County record of 1:11.76 in the 2001 Stanner Games at the Armory. He is still on the top 10 indoor performance lists in eight events, holding No. 1 spots at 400 meters (49.03), 600 yards, and the sprint medley relay. He holds No. 2 at 200 meters (22.1) and 500 meters (1:07.4 en route time). Other ranked personal bests indoors were 32.0 at 300 yards (No. 6) and
35.3 at 300 meters (No. 8).
In preparing himself to “own” the 400 outdoors, he gave up his senior season of football and joined and became a strong contributing member of the Mounties’ cross country team in the 2000 season. During the outdoor seasons he would occasionally step up to run the 800 meters where he became more than competent, while clearly making it understood that this was only part of his preparation for his high goals at the 400 meters. Along his journey to those goals he established new Suffern High School records at 100 yards (9.7) in 2001, and 200 meters (21.4) in 2000.
The 2001 outdoor season was when his focus on 400 meters became laser-like. He knew he had the essential components of speed and strength. Now he had to figure out how to distribute the two for an optimal performance. Early in the season he was running way too fast in the early stages of the race and seemed to be “stuck” at 48.8 seconds when all
indicators the coaches had said he should be running in the mid 47-second range.
Consequently, for several weeks he worked on race distribution and it paid off dramatically at the end of the season when he won the Section 1 State Qualifier in 47.6 seconds, breaking the 12-year old County record of Suffern’s Keith Stopyra (48.09). Later that same day, he ran a dramatic 46.8 split in Suffern’s 1,600 relay. He was now prepared for the challenge of becoming a New York State champion – never an easy task.
The NYSPHSAA Outdoor Championships were held at Mitchel Park in Uniondale, the site of the 1998 Goodwill Games. Getting to the finals, he drew a middle lane next to one of his greatest indoor rivals, Kedar Inico of Campus Magnet High School of the New York City PSAL. It appeared the lead in the race was traded several times, but only by inches. Both men charged at the finish line, but it was anyone’s guess who had won the race.
The result was very slow coming out from the photo evaluator and suspense was high. Finally the official result came out: 1st -- Lolagne, Chris 12 Suffern A, 2nd -- Inico, Kedar 12 Campus Magnet A.
Both athletes were given the time of 47.93 seconds. But just how close was it really? The photo judge had the image magnified as high as it could go and made the following time readings: Lolagne’s reading was 47.9302; Inico’s reading was 47.9304. Usually a dead-heat photo reading can be broken easily with a reading to the 1/1000ths of a second.
The evaluator had to look to the 1/10,000ths! The referee re-read the photo and agreed with the reading. It was and still is the closest New York State championship race in history. His individual goal was reached, but the season was not over.
At the National Scholastic Outdoor Championships in Raleigh, N.C., the next weekend, Lolagne teamed up with Kris DeFilippis, Pasquale Napoli and Justin Romaniuk to attempt a run at the school record in the sprint medley relay. They did much more than that task. After 200-meter splits of 22.7 and 22.9 from DeFilippis and Napoli, Lolagne blazed a 47.4-second 400 meters to give the baton to Romaniuk, who ran the 800-meter leg in an amazing time of
1:50.9. Their time of 3:24.09 set not only a school record, but a Section 1 and Rockland County record that still exists today.
That next September found Chris Lolagne matriculated at Penn State University where he
continued his athletic success at 400 and 200 meters. He was an All-Big Ten Conference selection on several relay teams while performing with the Nittany Lions.
After graduating, Lolagne is now a teacher in the Fairfax County School District in Virginia and not surprisingly, he has coached track and field.
“I am really thrilled about being selected to the Hall of Fame,” he said in reflecting on this milestone. “I just want to say my thanks to Mr. Biddy, Mr. Coleman, all the Suffern coaches, my great teammates, my family, and all the supporting cast that made it go.”
Chris Lolagne Statistics
Has most sub 50.0-second 400-meter times in Rockland history – 25
Rockland County indoor and outdoor 400-meter records
Rockland County outdoor freshman and senior class records at 400
First Rockland County athlete to break 48 seconds at 400 meters
Rockland junior class records for 100 and 200 meters
Rockland indoor class records, freshman, sophomore and senior, for 600 yards
Rockland indoor record at 600 yards
Rockland indoor class records, freshman, sophomore and junior, for 600 meters
Former Rockland indoor record-holder at 200 meters
“It was modified track that hooked me,” he related in a recent interview. “It grew on me. It took a while, but then I was having real fun. Something was ‘clicking.’ My coach, Nanci St. Lawrence, got me totally infatuated with racing. Soon I just loved to compete.” There were no second thoughts about it from that point on. He was a track guy and totally hooked on becoming the best he could become.
When asked about the motivating factors in his success, Lolagne was effusive about many things that whetted his appetite to work for lofty goals.
“I became a ‘student of the sport’ very quickly. I read everything I could get my hands on to inspire me. All of the coaches at Suffern were so approachable about anything and they told us of the deep history of the teams going back to the ’50s and ’60s. I kept looking at all those Top 10+ performance lists that coaches Biddy and Coleman would put out and I could not get enough of it. I wanted to be on those lists as high as I could.”
“As to role models, Michael Johnson was my professional hero. But homegrown older athletes made me take notice as well. I remember looking up to guys like Steve Alicea from North Rockland when I was younger. As I said before, all the [members of the] coaching staff at Suffern were not only approachable, but were very much in touch with how to adapt training to accomplish different aspects of racing.”
In response to a question about his greatest thrills in competing, he unhesitatingly said, “The Armory! Every time I went there I knew I was going to do something special or see something special. I also loved going to the Loucks Games. There was something about the deep tradition there that gave it a special atmosphere. When I went to either of those places I became more and more convinced that the 400 meters was my thing.”
Indeed, through developing both his speed and endurance range, the 400 meters became his event to claim as being the best. While handling the sprinter’s normal chores, he was not afraid to “step up” in racing distances to help him to get better at the 400.
Indoors, he was fearless running at 600 yards and set a phenomenal County record of 1:11.76 in the 2001 Stanner Games at the Armory. He is still on the top 10 indoor performance lists in eight events, holding No. 1 spots at 400 meters (49.03), 600 yards, and the sprint medley relay. He holds No. 2 at 200 meters (22.1) and 500 meters (1:07.4 en route time). Other ranked personal bests indoors were 32.0 at 300 yards (No. 6) and
35.3 at 300 meters (No. 8).
In preparing himself to “own” the 400 outdoors, he gave up his senior season of football and joined and became a strong contributing member of the Mounties’ cross country team in the 2000 season. During the outdoor seasons he would occasionally step up to run the 800 meters where he became more than competent, while clearly making it understood that this was only part of his preparation for his high goals at the 400 meters. Along his journey to those goals he established new Suffern High School records at 100 yards (9.7) in 2001, and 200 meters (21.4) in 2000.
The 2001 outdoor season was when his focus on 400 meters became laser-like. He knew he had the essential components of speed and strength. Now he had to figure out how to distribute the two for an optimal performance. Early in the season he was running way too fast in the early stages of the race and seemed to be “stuck” at 48.8 seconds when all
indicators the coaches had said he should be running in the mid 47-second range.
Consequently, for several weeks he worked on race distribution and it paid off dramatically at the end of the season when he won the Section 1 State Qualifier in 47.6 seconds, breaking the 12-year old County record of Suffern’s Keith Stopyra (48.09). Later that same day, he ran a dramatic 46.8 split in Suffern’s 1,600 relay. He was now prepared for the challenge of becoming a New York State champion – never an easy task.
The NYSPHSAA Outdoor Championships were held at Mitchel Park in Uniondale, the site of the 1998 Goodwill Games. Getting to the finals, he drew a middle lane next to one of his greatest indoor rivals, Kedar Inico of Campus Magnet High School of the New York City PSAL. It appeared the lead in the race was traded several times, but only by inches. Both men charged at the finish line, but it was anyone’s guess who had won the race.
The result was very slow coming out from the photo evaluator and suspense was high. Finally the official result came out: 1st -- Lolagne, Chris 12 Suffern A, 2nd -- Inico, Kedar 12 Campus Magnet A.
Both athletes were given the time of 47.93 seconds. But just how close was it really? The photo judge had the image magnified as high as it could go and made the following time readings: Lolagne’s reading was 47.9302; Inico’s reading was 47.9304. Usually a dead-heat photo reading can be broken easily with a reading to the 1/1000ths of a second.
The evaluator had to look to the 1/10,000ths! The referee re-read the photo and agreed with the reading. It was and still is the closest New York State championship race in history. His individual goal was reached, but the season was not over.
At the National Scholastic Outdoor Championships in Raleigh, N.C., the next weekend, Lolagne teamed up with Kris DeFilippis, Pasquale Napoli and Justin Romaniuk to attempt a run at the school record in the sprint medley relay. They did much more than that task. After 200-meter splits of 22.7 and 22.9 from DeFilippis and Napoli, Lolagne blazed a 47.4-second 400 meters to give the baton to Romaniuk, who ran the 800-meter leg in an amazing time of
1:50.9. Their time of 3:24.09 set not only a school record, but a Section 1 and Rockland County record that still exists today.
That next September found Chris Lolagne matriculated at Penn State University where he
continued his athletic success at 400 and 200 meters. He was an All-Big Ten Conference selection on several relay teams while performing with the Nittany Lions.
After graduating, Lolagne is now a teacher in the Fairfax County School District in Virginia and not surprisingly, he has coached track and field.
“I am really thrilled about being selected to the Hall of Fame,” he said in reflecting on this milestone. “I just want to say my thanks to Mr. Biddy, Mr. Coleman, all the Suffern coaches, my great teammates, my family, and all the supporting cast that made it go.”
Chris Lolagne Statistics
Has most sub 50.0-second 400-meter times in Rockland history – 25
Rockland County indoor and outdoor 400-meter records
Rockland County outdoor freshman and senior class records at 400
First Rockland County athlete to break 48 seconds at 400 meters
Rockland junior class records for 100 and 200 meters
Rockland indoor class records, freshman, sophomore and senior, for 600 yards
Rockland indoor record at 600 yards
Rockland indoor class records, freshman, sophomore and junior, for 600 meters
Former Rockland indoor record-holder at 200 meters