Guarino set to end famed career at Fredonia

Take one look at Nick Guarino and you would immediately label him as just another peer on the campus of SUNY Fredonia. A green Abercrombie jacket, a tee-shirt that reads "328 Temple," a pair of jeans and sneakers. His appearance can be compared to just about any student that you see on campus daily.

However, there is much more to Nick than meets the eye. The senior computer information systems and history major from Bergen, N.Y, may appear to be just another face in the crowd but he is, more than likely, the best athlete any of us have ever been within five feet of. To this date, Nick has earned three national championship titles as a distance runner for the Fredonia State Blue Devils. He has two national championships in the men's indoor mile, with his first one coming in March of 2010. This past March, he successfully defended that same title while ranked as the country's top mile runner in NCAA Division III. He also claimed the title of champion in the men's 1,500 meters last May at the conclusion of  the spring track and field season.

From an early age, Nick knew he was fast. The only question was how fast was he in competition. During his school's fourth grade olympics, a day filled with all sorts of track and field events for the grade, he and his twin brother Josh were able to blow the rest of the field away with their speed.

"Me and Josh ended up being the fastest two in the longest event," Nick said. "It was still a sprint, but we were the two fastest kids."

While track seemed like it was his calling, Nick had to wait until modified sports in seventh grade to start out on the road to excellence. He did not sit idle, however, when it came to competition. Nick and his brother played youth football as kids, where they used their speed to evade tacklers. Nick even recalled one particular play when he was standing in at quarterback and ran a bootleg for 80 yards.

"I just blew everyone out of the water," Nick said with a laugh. "Basically Michael Vick style."

In high school Nick was a three season athlete with soccer in the fall, indoor track in the winter and outdoor track in the spring. The moment that helped change everything for Nick was when he was cut from his travel soccer team after his sophomore year because it allowed him to focus on just running.

"My dad always says it's a blessing in disguise, I guess," Nick said.

It was during his junior year at Byron-Bergen Central School that Nick began running for the cross country team. Conveniently enough, with him and Josh on the team, Byron-Bergen advanced to states. As a team, the Bees finished fourth in their class with the Guarinos on board.

During the outdoor track season his senior year, Nick broke the Byron-Bergen school record in the 800 meters with a time of 1:56, shattering the old record of 2:02. He also holds the school record in the 400 meters.

"Somebody could possibly break my 400 record," Nick said. "But the 800, I don't think anybody will get that for awhile. For being a small school ... we have some pretty good records."

Nick's success in the second half of his high school career caught the attention of former Fredonia State head coach Nolan Swanson, who Nick said is the reason for his coming here to run for the Blue Devils. Being a former runner and a great coach made Nick's decision to run for Swanson easier, but it was the amount of interest Swanson showed that sold Nick on Fredonia over SUNYAC rivals Brockport and Geneseo.

"I really didn't have a preference of the schools I got into," Nick said. "All of the other coaches didn't seem like they really cared at all. He actually looked like he cared and said 'you'll make an impact the first year you're here.' Basically all of my motivation for what I want to do right now came from listening to him."

It took some time before Nick's impact was finally felt. Many athletes who come right out of high school make some sort of impact for their college teams immediately. This wasn't the case for Nick as he didn't win a national championship until his junior year. He wasn't struggling; he just needed to adapt to his training. Once he did, the domination of Division III middle distance running began.

Coaching changes were plentiful during Nick's time at Fredonia. Swanson was relieved of his duties, allowing Jeff Beck to take over on an interim basis, who Nick continues to train with. Last summer, Mike Garger was appointed as the new head coach before an abrupt departure at the end of the Fall 2010 semester. Former pole vault coach Tom Wilson then succeeded Garger and has been overseeing Nick as he tries to finish his collegiate career on a high note.

At the end of his sophomore year, Nick asked Beck what time range he could be in when it came to the mile. Beck went on to tell Nick that he could run somewhere between 4:08 to 4:10. Nick admitted that if anyone tells him he can run a certain time, he 's going to believe that he can run it.

It was at a meet in Boston during his junior year that the possibility of a national championship looked to be becoming a reality for Nick. In that race, Nick broke the tape in 4:08, which was the best time in the country at that point in the season for a Division III runner.     

"It just seemed like it happened so fast," Nick said of automatically qualifying for the national championship with that time. "I definitely put in the work before then, but it finally started kicking in then."

Nick's first real test on the way to his first national championship was winning the SUNYAC championship in the mile. There were no problems for Nick in that race as he went on to take the SUNYAC crown in the event. While Boston gave him hope for a national championship, the SUNYAC championships gave him the confidence to go to nationals and perform well there.

Nick was indeed confident about running for the national championship but was more than nervous come race time. He said that he didn't do a whole lot of thinking during the race; it was more of just reacting to the rest of the field. After awhile he took the lead and started pulling away from the field. While his lead was significant at the end of the race, it wasn't until the final straightaway that he knew he had the race won.