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Ethan McIntyreUnionville High School Track and X-Country runner Ethan McIntyre has been awarded a full four-year scholarship (athletic and academic) to attend Saint Joseph’s University this fall.
McIntyre won the Ches-Mont League Championship in the 1600m (mile) this past Saturday and will represent Unionville at the District One Championship meet this month.
With finance as his major, the Pennsbury native McIntyre will be running for Saint Joseph’s University’s X-Country and Track program, a Division 1 team in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
Recruited by many schools, he finally committed to SJU in April, citing the quality of its finance program, the campus, and its proximity to home as big draws.
“Coach (Mike) Glavin and I connected well from the beginning,” said McIntyre of the Saint Joe’s head coach. “We communicate well. During the recruitment I became convinced that not only can he help me improve as a runner, but that he cares about my development and growth generally and as a student. As most know my Dad has been like a second coach to me since Middle School, and without him at Saint Joe’s it’ll be good having a coach that communicates well with me, and cares.”
McIntyre has had a successful running career at Unionville. As a Patton Middle School runner he booked one of the fastest middle school 1600 meter times in the country. He’s medaled twice in the PA State AAA X-Country Championships, been named All Ches- Mont League every year, been elected to All State 1st and 2nd teams, and has been honored as Unionville’s class MVP each of the years he has competed in track. More accolades may have come, but COVID hit.
His Unionville coach Mark Lacianca pointed out that as for track, remarkably “Ethan did not get to race at the high school level since his sophomore year.”
McIntyre wants more before he leaves High School.
“I appreciate all the praise I’ve gotten, but I really hoped to have recorded even better personal records by now”, he said. “Covid really derailed things,” he said. “No track season junior year limited my racing development, and a X-Country season with masks and hardly any races didn’t help my shot at the AAA State X-Country title this year. I have more to accomplish before I leave Unionville including a faster personal record in the 1600m at Districts and at the State Championships. “
Lacianca, Unionville’s head X-Country and Track coach with a long history of coaching teams to success, said that much of McIntyre’s success comes from within.
“Ethan is very self-motivated, a rare trait for a high school athlete. Many of our runners work hard, but not when they are not with the team.”, said Lacianca. That self motivation to work is coupled with his being a student of the sport. Lacianca said that “Ethan wants to learn about the sport and asks insightful questions, he thinks about his races ahead of time and asks questions about the why’s of practice.”
Saint Joseph’s 30 year veteran head track and X-country coach, Mike Glavin, takes note of McIntyre’s ability to run under pressure.
McIntyre, on his formal signing day with St. Joseph’s, flanked by his parents.
When asked what attracted him to McIntyre as a recruit he said, “The fact that Ethan seemed to race best as the races got bigger and more important. My dad used to refer to that type of athlete as a ‘money runner’. When we get to competitions like the Atlantic 10 Championships, we will always need ‘money runners’ “.
Glavin said he anticipates McIntyre contributing significantly to the Saint Joseph’s program, saying ” …he shows the ability to contribute to some really nice team efforts at the A10 level and beyond.”
McIntyre attributes a large part of his success to Lacianca’s training, and in turn Lacianca praises McIntyre for putting in the work.
“My program is built on structure” , said Lacianca, “it is how my engineering mind works. Ethan has bought into the work and the benchmark workouts that make up our program.”
McIntyre said he believes Lacianca has the program for success.
“Lac (coach Lacianca) has a real methodical process to his training that’s very thought-out. He has key workouts to gauge what we should expect on race day, and how to improve. He also seems to know how to peak us just right for the big races.”
Running has brought its own rewards to McIntyre. Besides the scholarship, he believes dealing with the challenges of performing well has helped him in other ways.
“Developing as a runner has helped me in other areas of my life,” he said “Running well required me to balance and give simultaneous attention to many things that seem to compete with each other! Like rest vs workouts, comfort vs discomfort, speed vs endurance, caloric intake vs careful eating, fun vs discipline of training, the solitude of individual performance vs the camaraderie of team performance. Not easy, but I got better at it and it’s helped me juggle all the other competing things in my life.”
Despite the awards and victories coach Lacianca says the best is yet to come for McIntyre, particularly since Covid interrupted what would have been further development.
“A long time ago someone told me it takes 7-10 years to make a great runner and Ethan is still evolving and improving,” Lacianca said. “Ethan has had a great high school career, but still has a big upside heading to college!”
