YSU track assistant coach Folk is 39th in U.S. marathon trials

The Canfield resident won last month’s Peace Race.

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State assistant cross country and track and field coach Matt Folk finished 39th at the Olympic Team Trials in the marathon on Nov. 3.

Folk posted a career-best time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, 47 seconds.

Competing for a spot on the United States Olympic Team for the second time in his career, Folk improved his finish from the 2004 trials by 11 places.

“This is such a tremendous accomplishment for Matt,” YSU track and field coach Brian Gorby said. “We’re very proud of him for the commitment and work ethic he’s shown that has lifted him to this level.”

Folk qualified for the Trials by finishing in 2:20.43 at the Chevron Houston Marathon on Jan. 17. The Nov. 3 race began outside of Rockefeller Center in New York City, went up the Avenue of Americas and through Central Park.

Folk, who is from Oregon, Ohio, and now lives in Canfield, won the 33rd Peace Race earlier this year for the second time.

Folk competes for Team Good Runner, an Ohio-based USA Track and Field racing club. It is recognized as an Elite Development Club by the USATF, the only such club in Ohio and one of only 10 in the nation.

At Youngstown State, Folk has been a part of 11 conference championships as a coach or a student-athlete.

He qualified for the 1998 NCAA cross country championships and was YSU’s first male cross country runner to compete at the national level.

He was a two-time Mid-Continent Conference Champion and was named The Vindicator Male Athlete of the Year in 1999.

Folk was the second finisher from Ohio and 10th among runners in their 30s at the Trials.

Ryan Hall, 25, from Mammoth Lakes, Calif., won the event by more than two minutes with a time of 2:09.02.