CJ Morgante begins his 13th season working with The Rock track and field program, where he assists coach Bill Jordan with the pole vaulters.
Morgante brings a hard-nosed work ethic and extensive experience to the job. Under Morgante‘s tutelage, Rock jumpers have won four NCAA Division II national championships and 16 PSAC individual titles.
In 2010-11, Morgante coached Cameron Daugherty, who earned All-America honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Daugherty, who won the PSAC title in the indoor pole vault, placed fourth at the indoor national championships and sixth at the outdoor national championships. Morgante also helped Daugherty to a school-record clearance of 5.11 meters during the indoor season.
Also under Morgante’s guidance last season were women’s pole vault specialists Kelly Fischer and Angela Schroeder. Fischer won the pole vault title at the PSAC Outdoor Championships while Schroeder earned All-PSAC honors with a third-place finish.
From 1997-2000, Morgante coached SRU’s long jump and triple jumpers, including school record holder and PSAC champion D.J. Flick.
Morgante also coached 2000 Olympic Trials participant Nikita Lewis, a four-time national champion and the current school indoor and outdoor record holder in the long and triple jumps. He has also coached at Butler High School. He tutored Kendall Butch and Melanie Boczko, both of whom were 12-feet-plus high school vaulters and earned spots on NCAA Division I rosters.
Morgante graduated from Allegheny College with an environmental degree. At Allegheny, Morgante competed as a decathlete. Morgante then came to SRU and served as a graduate assistant before serving as the top assistant to Rock head coach John Papa.
Morgante is a certified FIFA international soccer referee and has officiated high level international soccer matches all over the world. He resides in Grove City with his wife and his daughter.
