Where are they now
Ex-saratoga running star raising teen twins, teaching in Atlanta
Catching up with runner Cheri Goddard-kenah, a Hall of Fame member at both Saratoga High School and Villanova.
When she took up running her freshman year at Saratoga Springs High School, Cheri Goddard-kenah never dreamed running would become such an integral part of her life.
Now a mother of 16-year old twins living in Atlanta, Goddard-kenah
no longer runs competitively but is very much still involved in the sport she loves.
The 1988 New York state cross country champion and 11-time All-american at Villanova is currently a pre-kindergarten teacher for the Marist School in nearby Brookhaven and her husband Rich, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, is the executive director of the Atlanta Track Club.
Goddard-kenah’s children, Eamonn and Alexa, are threesport athletes, running cross country in the fall and playing basketball in the winter before competing in outdoor track and field in the spring.
“My kids are about at the same age now, I started running when I was a freshman and was a 400-meter runner. I thought that was far and then moved to the 800 the next year and the Kranicks (Saratoga coaches Art and Linda) convinced me to run cross country the next year,” Goddard-kenah said. “As a soph
omore, you don’t know at that point (running in the future) but then you start to see success and set goals, get motivated and absolutely I knew by end of junior year that I wanted to run in college and I was lucky to be recruited and had a great experience. It took me all over the country, high school and college and post-collegiate, I was able to travel the world because of running.”
The family lived near the Jersey Shore until 2014 and Goddard-kenah coached cross country at the middle school level, an experience that reminded her of her Blue Streaks days learning under the tutelage of the Kranicks.
“I began to pay it forward, very, very rewarding to give back to the sport with something you know very well,” Goddard-kenah said. “I absolutely loved it. The Kranicks came back ten-fold. Mr. Kranick was always there for us, all over the course with his booming voice from one side of the track to the other. That was always my motto, if they were out there running, I wanted to be there for them. It was a whole lot of fun.”
Goddard-kenah drew on her experience at Saratoga when coaching her nephew, who would struggle before heading to the starting line with pre-race jitters.
“Mrs. Kranick always said, I used to get nervous before my races, that ‘You’re not nervous, you are excited,’ ” Goddardkenah said. “If you don’t have those nerves, you don’t have that energy. I was able to give that advice to my nephew when he was running for St. Catherines. I’d say, ‘Tim, as soon as that gun goes off, those nerves will go away’. He was able to get in there and was never scared to run again.”
With her kids in high school, Goddard-kenah has taken a step back from her coaching duties and recently served as a volunteer for the Olympic Trials marathon held in Atlanta in February, an event sponsored by the Atlanta Track Club and Rich Kenah.
Goddard-kenah, 49, had
Olympic dreams of her own but missed out after falling short in the U.S. Trials in 1992 and 1996 and had high hopes in 2000 before an injury derailed her chances, though she was pleased that Rich Kenah qualified for the 2000 Games.
“My whole post-collegiate career, my husband and I trained for the Olympics,” Goddard-kenah said. “We were both in the 1992 trials, that was just a learning curve. In 1996, we were both hoping to make the team. He was fourth in his event, which is the worst place to be since the top three go and I was sixth and eighth in my two events and in 2000, I got injured six weeks before the Olympic Trials but he made the team.”
A Hall of Fame member at both Saratoga and Villanova athletics, Goddardkenah watches her kids compete, though she admits their passion is more basketball than running.
Either way, running will always be a part of her life.
“Once a runner, always a runner,” Goddard-kenah said. “I’ve been to maybe 13 countries and most of the states in the U.S. because of running. I met my husband due to running and would not have it any other way. It gives you purpose, it gives you focus.”