Nancy Rosenfeld Lewis - Suffern 1983
Nancy Rosenfeld Lewis recalls being “so scared” when, as a sophomore at Suffern, she won the 600-meter run at the New York State indoor championships. She also remembers being “petrified” at the 1982 U.S. Junior Nationals outdoors in Los Angeles, where she finished fifth in the 800-meters in 2:09.22, which stood as the Rockland County record for 25 years and was the ninth-fastest clocking in the country that year among schoolgirls.
Amazing what a little adrenaline can do, isn’t it? Of course, Lewis had more going for her than pre-race jitters. Her winter track coach, Joe Biddy, said she “demonstrated greater range than any individual that I have ever coached” – male or female. Any distance from 200 meters to the mile was fair game for Lewis, who enjoyed her greatest success in the middle distance events of 600 yards/meters, 800 meters and 1,000 yards/meters.
Judged by her numbers, Lewis, a 1983 Suffern graduate, ranks as one of the pre-eminent track athletes in the annals of Rockland track and field. Among her top accomplishments are the following:
“I truly want her to know how much she helped me during my high school running career,” Lewis says of Grant. “She wan an amazing competitor and a true inspiration to me. She motivated me and pushed me to achieve things that I never imagined.”
Although her highlight spool is brimming with gold-plated moments, Lewis considers two races the most memorable for her. The first was her 600-meter triumph at the 1981 indoor state meet, as a “naïve and inexperienced” sophomore. Running in racing flats borrowed from a friend – a common practice for her throughout her high school career – Lewis remembers being boxed in on the final lap. When Coach Biddy bellowed, “Get to the outside!” she made a sudden move, practically bowling over the runners outside of her. She dropped to the back, then surged past one runner after another. “I ended up winning the race, but was surprised I wasn’t disqualified,” Lewis says.
Her other memorable moment came in the 1982 U.S. Junior National championship at UCLA, where she traveled by plane for the first time and shared the experience with Tom McTaggart, Suffern’s girls’ spring track coach, and Grant and her coach, Matt Mulligan. After the race, she became very homesick. “I actually bypassed a trip to Disneyland and returned home to my family and friends. What was I thinking?”
There were many other outstanding performances, such as her triple victories in the 300-, 600- and 1,000-meter runs in the Section 9 Class A championships her junior year. “In all the years that I coached,” Biddy says, “I have never seen anyone even attempt that combination of events.” She also ran a 2:11.4, 800-meter anchor leg on Suffern’s winning indoor sprint medley relay at the Record Assault Invitational at Yale in 1983. The relay set a state record (4:06.41) that stood for seven years.
After graduating from Suffern, Lewis earned a full track scholarship to the University of Virginia, but a serious illness sidetracked her running career. However, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia in 1988 and a master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 1992. She married Jim Lewis in 1992 and the Lewises have two children, Matthew, 16, and Jonathan, 12, who have been active in soccer, baseball and basketball. The Lewises live in Moorestown, N.J.
Lewis, who is 45, is an occupational therapist and has worked in many settings including rehabilitation centers, acute care hospitals and nursing homes. She currently works part-time at Kingsway Learning center, a private special education school in Haddonfield, N.J. She works with elementary and middle school children with learning disabilities.
Lewis looks back fondly on her years at Suffern. “I was extremely fortunate to have several wonderful coaches who took an honest interest in me both as a runner and as an individual,” she says, citing Biddy, McTaggart and Pete Wendrychowicz. “They taught me what hard work, dedication and determination can lead to. I was also surrounded by many amazing teammates. I have nothing but awesome memories of our times together training, traveling, competing and just having fun.”
Amazing what a little adrenaline can do, isn’t it? Of course, Lewis had more going for her than pre-race jitters. Her winter track coach, Joe Biddy, said she “demonstrated greater range than any individual that I have ever coached” – male or female. Any distance from 200 meters to the mile was fair game for Lewis, who enjoyed her greatest success in the middle distance events of 600 yards/meters, 800 meters and 1,000 yards/meters.
Judged by her numbers, Lewis, a 1983 Suffern graduate, ranks as one of the pre-eminent track athletes in the annals of Rockland track and field. Among her top accomplishments are the following:
- Three-time individual state champion, twice in the winter at 600 meters and once in the spring at 800 meters.
- A member of two state championship relays, one each in the winter and spring.
- Eight-time Rockland County champion, four each in the winter and spring.
- Five-time Section 9 champion, twice in the winter and three times in the spring.
- Holds three Rockland County records – the indoor 600 meters (1:33.22), 800 meters (2:10.3) and 1,000 yards (2:33.92) – and shares the record in the 500 meters (1:15.9) with former archrival Debbie Grant of Ramapo.
- Ranks No. 2 in the County in the outdoor 800 (2:09.22) and indoor 600 yards (1:25.3), No. 4 in the indoor 1,500 (4:40.6) and No. 5 in the 1,000 meters (2:56.3). The latter two were County records for 23 years until being eclipsed in 2006.
“I truly want her to know how much she helped me during my high school running career,” Lewis says of Grant. “She wan an amazing competitor and a true inspiration to me. She motivated me and pushed me to achieve things that I never imagined.”
Although her highlight spool is brimming with gold-plated moments, Lewis considers two races the most memorable for her. The first was her 600-meter triumph at the 1981 indoor state meet, as a “naïve and inexperienced” sophomore. Running in racing flats borrowed from a friend – a common practice for her throughout her high school career – Lewis remembers being boxed in on the final lap. When Coach Biddy bellowed, “Get to the outside!” she made a sudden move, practically bowling over the runners outside of her. She dropped to the back, then surged past one runner after another. “I ended up winning the race, but was surprised I wasn’t disqualified,” Lewis says.
Her other memorable moment came in the 1982 U.S. Junior National championship at UCLA, where she traveled by plane for the first time and shared the experience with Tom McTaggart, Suffern’s girls’ spring track coach, and Grant and her coach, Matt Mulligan. After the race, she became very homesick. “I actually bypassed a trip to Disneyland and returned home to my family and friends. What was I thinking?”
There were many other outstanding performances, such as her triple victories in the 300-, 600- and 1,000-meter runs in the Section 9 Class A championships her junior year. “In all the years that I coached,” Biddy says, “I have never seen anyone even attempt that combination of events.” She also ran a 2:11.4, 800-meter anchor leg on Suffern’s winning indoor sprint medley relay at the Record Assault Invitational at Yale in 1983. The relay set a state record (4:06.41) that stood for seven years.
After graduating from Suffern, Lewis earned a full track scholarship to the University of Virginia, but a serious illness sidetracked her running career. However, she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Virginia in 1988 and a master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 1992. She married Jim Lewis in 1992 and the Lewises have two children, Matthew, 16, and Jonathan, 12, who have been active in soccer, baseball and basketball. The Lewises live in Moorestown, N.J.
Lewis, who is 45, is an occupational therapist and has worked in many settings including rehabilitation centers, acute care hospitals and nursing homes. She currently works part-time at Kingsway Learning center, a private special education school in Haddonfield, N.J. She works with elementary and middle school children with learning disabilities.
Lewis looks back fondly on her years at Suffern. “I was extremely fortunate to have several wonderful coaches who took an honest interest in me both as a runner and as an individual,” she says, citing Biddy, McTaggart and Pete Wendrychowicz. “They taught me what hard work, dedication and determination can lead to. I was also surrounded by many amazing teammates. I have nothing but awesome memories of our times together training, traveling, competing and just having fun.”