Iona University Athletics

Pienta Chronicles (As Director - Post Feb. 5, 2018)

Coach of the Year Honors (5)

Cross Country 2018 (M&W) 2019 (M) 2020-21 (M&W)

Conference Championships (6)

Cross Country 2018 (M&W) 2019 (M&W) 2020-21 (M&W)

Individual Awards

Six All-American Honorees 2018: Egle Morenaite (WXC) 2019: John Millar (MXC), Egle Morenaite (WXC) 2020-21: Ehab El-Sandali (MXC), Jack O'Leary (MXC, OTF) Three All-American Honorable Mentions 11 USTFCCCA Cross Country All-Region Members 28 MAAC Individual Champions 15 MAAC Major Award Winners Four NCAA Qualifiers in Outdoor Track & Field Two USTFCCCA Outdoor Track & Field All-American Honorable Mentions 24 NCAA East Preliminary Qualifiers in Outdoor Track & Field USTFCCCA Robert Grieve Award USTFCCCA Fred Tootell Award 2020-21: Jack O'Leary

Program Records Set

Men's Outdoor Long Jump

Joe Pienta was elevated to the Director of Cross Country and Track & Field in early May 2018. Pienta enters his 12th season with the Maroon & Gold and fifth full season as the director of the men's and women's cross country and track & field programs in 2021.

Upon being elevated to the new director of the program, Pienta stated: "I am extremely excited to be the next to lead the Iona College cross country and track & field tradition." He continues, "In working with the program for the last seven-plus years, Iona has become a home to me. Coaching such an established and renowned program is simply a dream come true, and just as Ricardo Santos continued the success of Mick Byrne before him, it is my goal to sustain and strengthen what these legendary coaches have bestowed upon us."

The University at Albany graduate was part of the men's and women's cross country and track & field staff for nine years before being hired as director. He served as associate head coach for nearly three and half years before taking over for Santos in the winter of 2017.

In his time with the Maroon & Gold, four individuals have run sub-four minute miles including graduate student Chartt Miller this past indoor season and senior Liam Dee in 2017. The latter joined his father, Billy Dee, as the ninth father-son combination in world history to both accomplish the feat. Additionally, the men's cross country program has garnered 29 straight MAAC titles while the women's squad has captured three straight titles and 14 of the last 15 championships.

Pienta has mentored NCAA All-Americans Leonard Korir, Mitch Goose, Dan Clorley, Matt Gillespie, Kate Avery, Tara Jameson, Miller, Egle Morenaite and John Millar. Korir set an Iona indoor record 13:19 in the 5,000-meter event. Under the guidance of Pienta, Goose also established a new outdoor 5000-meter school record of 13:34 and Korir reached a new 10,000-meter school record and Olympic standard time of 27:29. Avery achieved a 5k school record time of 15:27 and was Iona’s first female NCAA Champion.

Pienta has also helped train one of Iona's most accomplished female cross country runners in Egle Morenaite. Through her first three seasons, Morenaite has won the MAAC Championship three times, competed in the NCAA Championship race every year and is a two-time USTFCCCA All-American.

The Iona cross country programs continued its excellence upon the resumption of competition of sports across the country, taking home a 30th consecutive men's cross country MAAC Championship, while the women's program grabbed its 15th title in the past 16 years.

The Gaels used the Spider Patriot Classic as the warmup for the conference championship, which saw Gemma Nuttall and Jack O'Leary claim individual championships and Holly Smith and Lachlan Wellington garner MAAC Rookie of the Meet honors.

Pienta led the men's program to a tenth-place finish at the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. Nuttall, competing as an individual, finished 198th. Ehab El-Sandali and Jack O'Leary earned USTFCCCA All-American honors at NCAAs. Pienta was selected as the Robert Grieve Award winner by the USTFCCCA, given to the best men's coach in the Northeast Region. O'Leary was named the 2021 Fred Tootell Award winner by the USTFCCCA, awarded to the the best male runner in the Northeast Region.

There was no indoor track & field season in 2020-21, though the Maroon & Gold did enjoy a nearly-full outdoor track & field slate of competition. The Iona men placed third and the women fifth at the 2021 MAAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. El-Sandali was named the Most Outstanding Performer and Jadyn Tabois took home MAAC Rookie of the Meet. Eight Gaels headed to NCAA East Preliminary Qualifiers and O'Leary would head to Eugene for the NCAA Championships. O'Leary earned Second Team All-American honors, finishing 16th in the 10K.

In the 2019 outdoor season, Johannes Motschmann and Jessica Scheriff both garnered USTFCCCA All-America Honorable Mentions in their respective steeplechase races. The 2020 outdoor season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Pienta came to New Rochelle after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Binghamton University. Prior to Binghamton, Pienta served as a volunteer assistant at Columbia University.
 
A 2004 graduate of Albany, Pienta earned America East All-Conference honors in both cross country and track. He placed sixth at the conference's cross country championship in 2002 and eighth in 2003. In track, Pienta earned all-conference honors in the 5,000 meter at the 2002 America East Indoor Meet. In the classroom, Pienta was consistently named to the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in history.

Pienta succeeds a pair of Hall of Fame coaches in Santos and Byrne. Santos entered the Iona College Goal Club Hall of Fame in June 2018. Byrne, the current Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at the University of Wisconsin, was inducted in June 2008 following his departure to Madison.

Pienta is an avid fan of both music and comedy, melding the two as a founding member of the Barnyard Calamity Players comedy and acting troupe. He is the son of legendary bluesman and wood-worker, the late Walter J. Pienta, who was the lead singer and harmonica player in the seminal contemporary blues group, Whittlin' Walt & His Bladed Bluesmen.