Peter McGinnis enters his 22nd season working with the Cortland pole vaulting squad. In 2009, he was named the Atlantic Region Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Assistant Coach of the Year by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Since his arrival in 1990, Cortland’s pole vaulters have ranked among the best in the state in Division III and have dominated SUNYAC competition.
Last season, McGinnis’ pole vaulters swept the men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor conference titles. In 2009, the Red Dragon women’s pole vaulters captured the first six places at the 2009 SUNYAC Outdoor Championships and took six of the top-seven spots, including first and second place, at the 2009 indoor conference meet. The men, meanwhile, boasted the outdoor national champion, the top-three finishers at the 2009 indoor conference championships and the top-two competitors at the outdoor conference meet. In 2008, the women pole vaulters earned the top-five places at the SUNYAC Indoor Championships and the top-four spots at the outdoor conference championships.
McGinnis is a graduate of Swarthmore College, where he competed for three seasons on the varsity track team in the pole vault. He garnered All-America honors in 1975 at the NCAA Division III Championships and still holds the outdoor school record in the event. He has done volunteer coaching stints at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Oregon, Illinois and Northern Colorado. McGinnis is currently a member of USA Track and Field’s Sports Science Committee as a biomechanist for the pole vault.
