The Greater Capital Region Track, Field and Cross Country
Hall of Fame
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President
Peter Sheridan
Treasurer
Tom Greene
Trustees
- Ashley Gansle
- Marbry Gansle
- Cybil Howard
- Frank Myers
- Rick Stellrecht
- Jeoffry York
Scroll down for their bios.
Seated: Cybil Howard, Pete Sheridan, Marbry Gansle
Biographical Sketches, Greater Capital Region Track, Field and Cross Country HOF
Cybil C. HowardRETURN TO TOP
Cybil C. Howard of East Chatham brings an extensive background in business and marketing, and also developed a youth track club in her community.
Cybil currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent for Business for the Taconic Hills Central School District, overseeing the budget and financial management of the district. She has been responsible for a variety of cost-savings programs, and came into her position with seven years of experience teaching business, economics and marketing courses.
In the area of sports, Mrs. Howard developed the NY Minute Youth Track & Fields Club, providing opportunities for approximately 25 children ages 5-18 to compete and develop their skills. She also supports the school’s Titans Booster Club and has been active with the PTO.
Cybil and her husband Neil Howard II have two gifted track athletes as children. Neil Howard III, completing his junior year at Taconic Hills, is national decathlon champion and Section 2 record-breaker who excels in the pole vault, hurdles, sprints and long jump.
Clare Howard, who will be a junior at William and Mary, was a multi-sports standout at Taconic Hills and was named to the Capital District Sports Women of the Year All-Time Roster in 2021. She recently ran a personal best of 63.30 in the 400-meter hurdles for the Tribe.
Ashley GansleRETURN TO TOP
Ashley Gansle was born and raised in a family in which track, field and cross country, Physical Education, and leadership roles were part of the fabric of life. Her mother, Marbry Gansle, a member of the GCRTFCCHOF, taught and coached at Shaker High School for many years and uncle Paul Gansle had a very similar career path at Colonie High School.
Ashley has competed in every event offered in track & field and ran cross country for Shaker High School. She competed at SUNY Cortland, with a focus on the throwing events. After college she quickly followed the family tradition of teaching Physical Education and coaching. Ashley has coached cross country and track for 12 years at a variety of schools including Mohonasen, Bethlehem, Shaker, and Columbia. In this arena, she has had two New York State Champions: Grace Smith in the high jump and Hall of Fame member Tedi DeMaria in the pole vault. She currently teaches middle school physical education and is the Varsity Head Coach for Cross Country, Indoor, and Outdoor Track and Field at Columbia High School in the East Greenbush School District. A significant recent accomplishment has been coaching her Columbia girls team to back-to-back sectional championships in indoor track. In her role with the Blue Devil programs, she has been named Rookie Coach of the Year in 2019 and Coach of the Year in 2023. She is currently the Section 2 Girls Cross Country coordinator, a position she has held since 2019.
In her free time Ashley can be found officiating meets, volunteering at road races, attending national championships events, and exploring the world on mother-daughter adventures.
Tom GreeneRETURN TO TOP
Tom Greene was born and raised in Colonie. He is one of eleven children. He now lives in Guilderland with his wife, Natalie. He has two daughters and two grandchildren.
Tom ran track and cross country for Colonie in the mid 70’s and was primarily a JV runner on a very strong Colonie team. He improved quite a bit in college at Hudson Valley and Cortland where he focused on XC, 5k, 10k and Steeplechase. After college he continued his running career in road races, Colonie summer track meets, and The Empire State Games. He even ran The Boston Marathon with Alberto Salazar (and about 6,000 other runners).
He has personal bests of: 1:58 (800m), 4:24 (mile), 9:32 (Steeplechase), 31:52 (10k), 49:39 (15k), 1:15 (1/2 marathon), 2:49 (marathon), 5237pts (decathlon), 6’2” (HJ) and 19’3” (LJ).
Tom has coached cross country and track for 43 years at a variety of schools including Bishop Maginn, Guilderland, Columbia, Lansingburgh and Colonie. In addition he volunteerd as a coach of coaching at The Empire State Games for several years.
He taught Physical Education and/or Health in the Capital District for 34 years. He was the Suburban Council League Chairperson in both cross country and track and field for 15 years. He is currently the Section 2 Boys XC coordinator; a position he has held since 2015.
Frank MyersRETURN TO TOP
Frank Myers graduated from Colonie High School in 1963 with one cross country season under his belt, and SUNY Albany in 1968 with two more seasons of cross country. From 1968-70, Frank placed in the New York State AAU Championships, winning a gold on the 4 x 440 relay team in 1970. In 1983, Frank ran a leg on a relay team set a submasters record in the 4 x 800M relay.
Since graduating from Albany State, Frank has coached three seasons every year at his high school alma mater with the exception of the two covid-cancelled seasons. During that time, he has produced 13 New York State Champions, three National Champions, and 44 All-American athletes and 56 "New York State Meet placers". His total dual meet record for all sports: 443 wins, 186 losses.
If you can’t find him at a track meet coaching or officiating, you will probably find him volunteering at the Tuesday night meets at Colonie High, a tradition he started over 50 years ago.
Retired from teaching at Colonie since 2000, he now has time for fiddling with the guitar and going to concerts between workouts and meets.
Frank Meyers epitomizes Section 2 Track & Field
Frank is a founding member of the HOF Trustees, as well as a 2020 inductee.
Peter SheridanRETURN TO TOP
Pete Sheridan grew up several blocks down Washington Avenue from the University at Albany. He attended Cardinal McCloskey (1968) where he produced a remarkably mediocre track record over two years of cross country, indoor and outdoor track.
Pete attended St. Bonaventure University, and upon completing a BA in History in
1972, commenced a 35-year social studies teaching and administrative career in at the Scotia-Glenville CSD. He started the indoor track and field team in the winter of 72-73 and coached 23 seasons of indoor/outdoor track for the Tartans
before “hanging it up” to follow the sports careers of his own children. An inveterate “track nut,” Pete recalls watching indoor meets from Madison Square
Garden on the black-and-white screen in the early 1960s. He has been lucky enough to participate in the Track and Field News Tours to four Olympics: Athens, Beijing, London and Rio.
Pete brought together a group of like-minded individuals to create The Greater Capital Region Track, Field and Cross Country HOF in the summer of 2017. It was his belief that the time had come to recognize and honor the runners, jumpers and throwers, coaches and contributors to the sport in and around the Capital Region.
Sheridan has three adult children, six grandchildren and lives in Burnt Hill with his wife Andrea.
Rick Stellrecht RETURN TO TOP
Rick was tapped to serve on the HOF committee its inaugural year as he had covered and closely followed local track and field for 44 years as a sportswriter and assistant sports editor at the Daily Gazette. He started there during his senior year of high school (October 1968) and retired in 2013.
During his time at the paper, Rick kept meticulous records, including 30-deep lists in every event each season, and extensive all-time area lists long before the Section 2 Harrier website existed. They served as useful databases for coaches, athletes and fans. Along the way, he traveled to numerous state meets, Eastern States Championships and a few Millrose Games at the Garden.
During the spring of his senior year in high school, he competed in the Class A Sectionals under the lights at Mont Pleasant, then drove down to the Gazette offices -- still in his orange Mohonasen sweats -- and got behind his typewriter to compose the prose of the meet results.
He studied at both the University at Albany and Hudson Valley CC, earning an associate degree, but kept his job at the Gazette covering cross country, soccer, football, basketball and curling while mentoring young writers along the way.
Currently he is a school bus driver for Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake Schools, and lives in Malta with his girlfriend Barb Shaver and their two pups, Oliver and Sissy. He has two children, Shawn and Melissa. He has been extensively involved in scouting for more than 55 years, working primarily with camping programs, and spent many summers leading teams of volunteers to inspect summer camps in other councils. He is a lifetime member of Rotterdam Elks Lodge No. 2157 where he put together the monthly newsletter for more than 25 years and was named Elk of the Year in 1993.
He enjoys long weekends at a camp in the southern Adirondacks.