McGinn is set to coach Tuckers track and cross country

Jordan McGinn will have the opportunity to coach Mattituck High School boys runners under unified leadership.

McGinn, who also is the boys’ winter and spring track and field coach, has been named the boys cross country coach, succeeding Michael Jablonski.

“It forces me to come up with different workouts and expands my knowledge of how the kids work, how they learn best, how they’re able to compete, what type of coaching they like,” he said. “Being able to see them year-round, because a lot of them do cross country, winter and then spring, I can really figure out how to help them in their event, whatever they’re doing.”

The Tuckers are coming off a 3-1 season in which they finished second to Bayport-Blue Point (4-1) in Suffolk County League VIII.

“I mean, the goal is always going to be to win a league championship,” he said. “We want to win a league championship as a team, and get as many people upstate [as we can], and hopefully as the league champions, we would send the whole team. We did that a couple years ago.”

McGinn, 25, whose brother Logan is the girls lacrosse head coach at the school, will get an opportunity to see how his runners do when they participate in the Peconic Invitational at Red Creek Park in Hampton Bays on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 9 a.m.

“I’m excited,” McGinn said. “We’ve got a young team. Still, we have two seniors. We have two kids returning, who competed upstate last year. So, we have a team that just loves to run. They run for fun. No issues at practice. It should be a good year with them.”

Juniors Logan Carr and Marlowe Collamore gained valuable experience at the state championships last year.

Competing against the best can only raise the level of a runner. “Running is completely a mindset, so you have to want it,” McGinn said. “You have to want to be out there and just beat the people around you. And having that confidence that you can succeed is huge in this.”

Cross country trails can produce a series of challenges for runners, whether it is winding routes or hills. “It’s kind of tough,” McGinn said. “Mattituck doesn’t have a lot of crazy amount of hills. So, we kind of do the hills by the school. We went to Indian Island today for practice, and then we’ve also done Nassau Point that’s got some hills. We just try to make it work with what we’ve got.”

Diego Rodriguez, who had a promising rookie season as a seventh grader last year while qualifying for the states, won’t be returning.

“I believe he moved out of Mattituck,” McGinn said. “It’s definitely a tough loss. He would have definitely helped. He’s doing his thing with soccer, for sure.”

Besides cross country, Rodriguez also played youth soccer for a local team.

The Tuckers will begin their League VIII season against Babylon at Sunken Meadow State Park in Kings Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, at 4 p.m. They will host Center Moriches in their home opener at Indian Island County Park on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 4:30 p.m. Other home meets include Southampton on Oct. 7 at 4:30 p.m. and Port Jefferson on Oct. 21 at 4 p.m.

Away meets are scheduled against Pierson/Bridgehampton at Mashashimuet Park in Sag Harbor on Sept. 22 at 3:30 p.m. and Bayport-Blue Point at Sunken Meadow on Oct. 14 at 4 p.m.

The boys and girls squads compete at the same meet.

The dates of the county championships and state qualifiers, which are traditionally held at Sunken Meadow in early November, have not been posted yet. The New York state championships are scheduled for Queensbury High School in Queensbury on Saturday, Nov. 15.