Bloomfield College Coach Leads Team USA to Victory Overseas

By Alicia Cook

Bloomfield College Track & Field Coach, Lisa Morgan-Richman, is a five-time National Coach for USA Track & Field. On Sunday, the final day of the IAAF World Under-20 (U20) Championship, a sweep of relay golds and a pair of individual bronze medals lifted Team USA, led by Morgan-Richman, to a tie for its highest-ever medal count at Zawisza Stadium in Poland.

With 21 total medals, including 11 golds, Team USA matched the 2002 and 2014 teams. Morgan-Richman’s women’s team won five of those gold medals with players Taylor McLaughlin and Alyssa Wilson, both of New Jersey, earning individual medals as well.

McLaughlin, of Scotch Plains, surged back after struggling through the final bend in the men’s 400m hurdles to take silver. Wilson, of Toms River, claimed bronze in the women's shotput on her only legal throw of the competition in round two.

Morgan-Richman, a University of Kentucky graduate, turned in another successful stint on the Team USA staff. In 2010-2011 she served as the distance coach at the IAAF World Youth Championships in France. Morgan served as head coach for Team USA in 2012-2013 when she led 43 athletes and 12 staff members on a three-week overseas trip to Ukraine for the World Youth Championships. In 2014, Lisa coached Team USA at the most-recent staging of the World Junior Championships in Eugene, Oregon. The IAAF World U20 Championships were previously known as the IAAF World Junior Championships before undergoing a rebranding heading into 2016.

Bloomfield College welcomed the Newark Athletic Hall of Famer along with new track & field programs in 2015. The track & field teams joined the College’s 10 intercollegiate programs that compete in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC).

“I have the opportunity to leave a legacy here at Bloomfield College,” said Morgan-Richman. “That’s what I want to do. I want to make a contribution to this College.”

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