Liz Marcil joins the Fillnow Coaching group with nearly a decade of Division 1 collegiate cross country / track & field coaching experience and a lifetime background in competitive athletics.  Previously the head coach of the TCU men’s and women’s cross country programs (Texas Christian University; Fort Worth, TX), she is a 2007 graduate of Duke University where she spent nine years as an athlete and assistant coach before leaving for TCU in 2011.

A native of Califon, New Jersey, Liz graduated from Voorhees High School in 2002 as a multi-sport varsity athlete (field hockey, basketball, swimming, track, cross country) before running became her full-time focus in college.  While at Voorhees, Liz became the first Lady Vike to win a NJ State Meet of Champions title (3200m) and led off her 4x800m relay team that won a high school national title and set a New Jersey state record at the Adidas National Championships in Raleigh, NC (June 2002 – 8:59).

As a Blue Devil, Liz was a three-time All-American on the track, finishing 4th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3000m Steeplechase (2005, 2007) as well as 10th at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Championships in the flat 3,000m.  She won an individual ACC and NCAA East Regional title (3000m Steeplechase, 2005) and was named Duke’s Most Valuable Player for the 2005 & 2007 outdoor track seasons, in addition to earning Duke’s Most Improved Senior award in 2006.  She was a four-year captain for the Blue Devils in both cross country and track & field, leading the 2004 and 2005 XC teams to podium finishes at the NCAA Championships (2nd place – 2004; 3rd place – 2005) as well as back-to-back ACC and NCAA Southeast Regional women’s team titles.  She also qualified for and competed in the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 3,000m Steeplechase.  After her running career came to a close, she switched her focus to coaching the Blue Devils alongside Kevin Jermyn (current head coach of women’s cross country at Duke) and learning from the best!

In seven years of collegiate coaching at Duke and TCU, Liz coached multiple NCAA All-Americans, All-ACC and All-Big 12 performers on both the track (in distances ranging from 800m thru 10,000m) and the cross country course, including NCAA Individual Champion, Juliet Bottorff, who won the NCAA 10k title for Duke at the 2011 Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  In her first year at TCU, her middle-distance and distance runners contributed 33 points indoors and 28 points outdoors to help TCU Women’s Track & Field win both indoor and outdoor team conference titles to leave the Mountain West as champions before TCU entered the Big 12 Conference in July 2012.  Her athletes set three new school records on the track in her time at TCU (mile, 3k, 3k steeplechase) and she enjoyed coaching men for the first time in both 8k / 10k cross country as well as on the track.

A psychology major at Duke with a certificate in elementary education, Liz has a passion for helping people become their best.  She has dabbled in a few half marathons, winning her first attempt at the distance in 1:21 at the 2011 Tobacco Road Half Marathon in Cary, NC.  She enjoys yoga and pilates and believes in training the whole body for endurance racing through strength training programs, speed sessions and flexibility/core work in addition to pure running training.  Whether you simply want to improve yourself or you want to take on a new challenge, Liz will work with you to achieve your goals through positive, encouraging and individualized communication that meets you wherever you are.  She has led and motivated others for most of her life and enjoys working with goal-oriented people who are willing and excited to work hard and have fun while doing it!