Running to Success
Ryan Gallagher Has Used Effort and Dedication to Become a Leader
	By John Sudsbury, Associate Director of Media Relations
Running; usually it's used as a form of punishment. Football coaches, basketball coaches, nearly all coaches, at all levels use it. When a player misbehaves or makes mistakes, the coach makes the player run. So what does a cross country coach do when one of his athletes needs some discipline? That's it, no running for you?
That tactic is unlikely to work on an athlete like Tulane senior Ryan Gallagher. On a typical weekday, the Green Wave cross country team has two sessions of running. These training stints are "short" runs of "just" six or seven miles. Sunday is reserved for a single 13-mile run. In a normal week, Gallagher and his teammates will log nearly 70 miles.
In the Gallagher family, there's a story that's oft-repeated about Ryan's running. The family borrowed Ryan's grandmother's car one summer. When they compared the odometer with Ryan's running logs, they realized he had run further than she had driven since she owned the car.
"When we had to run for basketball or baseball [in high school], I hated it," Gallagher said. "I didn't like running. But when I joined cross country, something just clicked."
Like any high school athlete who hopes to avoid the "punishment" of running, Gallagher dodged Brother Martin High School cross country coach Dennis Panepinto for nearly two years before relenting.
"I really had no interest in it, and then finally my junior year, he had nagged me enough," Gallagher said jokingly. "So I just did it so he would leave me alone."
His father, William Gallagher, an assistant basketball coach at Brother Martin, was quick to support his son's decision. He needed Ryan in shape for basketball season.
"I was a little surprised [that he joined cross country], because it overlapped with basketball and he loved basketball so much," his father said. "But we encouraged him to do it, because the kids who did both were in great shape for basketball season."
But something surprising happened. "I fell in love with it [cross country] immediately," Gallagher said. "Coach Panepinto was awesome. He gets people to buy into his system. It wasn't just running. When I started, I didn't plan on running in college, but I had such a great experience under him that I wanted to continue."
"After he started running and we realized he was good, we wondered why he waited so long to do it," his father said with a laugh.
A native of New Orleans, Gallagher helped the Crusaders to a pair of cross country state titles and upon graduation and acceptance at Tulane, a school he had supported all of his life, he walked on to the Green Wave cross country team. Four years later, he is an unofficial captain of the Tulane squad, leading the team against schools like LSU, Southern Miss and Auburn.
"It is definitely weird the way things worked out," Gallagher said. "My first two years, I was just hanging on for dear life; I didn't have a major role on the team."
In his first year with the Wave, Gallagher ran in five races, finishing 21st at the four-mile Ragin' Cajun Invitational with a time of 23:25.57 (approximately 5:51 miles). As a sophomore, the slender 5-11 runner competed in four races, tallying a 27th place finish in the three-mile Tulane Invitational at 16:23.00 (about 5:26 miles).
Last season, Gallagher ran in all seven Tulane cross country meets, scoring points in each meet (the top five runners for each school score points in cross country). His time in the Tulane Invitational improved to 16:04.59. And this season, he improved once again, helping his squad to victory over five other programs in the event.
"I'm not surprised [about improving]," he said. "My first year was pretty rough, coming in was such a big transition from high school to college running. But if you run long enough and keep with it, you have to improve at some point. I knew as long as I got a chance, I would get better."
"I am very proud of him," the elder Gallagher said. "I know how determined he is in everything. He does it all full speed. I'm not at all surprised that he has accomplished what he has."
"Ryan exhibits exactly what I want from all of my student-athletes," Tulane head coach Heather Van Norman said. "He is a great example of how hard work and dedication will lead to success."
An added bonus of being a collegiate athlete working toward a well-respected degree is that he is competing for the school he grew up following.
"I have been a Tulane fan since I was a little kid," he said. "My dad went here and my mom went to LSU. My two brothers liked LSU, but for whatever reason, I have always liked Tulane. I was thrilled when I got to come here. Being a part of this athletic department is really cool."
While he puts in the hours of practice just like football and basketball players, the newspapers and tv stations do not follow his team. An amazing performance in a meet will not earn air time on Sportscenter. Sports Illustrated is unlikely to come calling for an interview. However, being a part of a lower-profile program such as cross country does not bother Gallagher.
"Every runner knows what they're getting into," Gallagher said. "It's not a glorified sport. There's no media attention, but we don't do this for glory. It is personally gratifying, because we know how hard we work."
Gallagher credits his parents for that affinity for hard work and ability to dedicate himself to running.
"When my parents do something they go full steam ahead, they do it right, they're consistent with it," Gallagher said. "They have a great work ethic that I have adopted."
Despite the amazing time commitment of being a collegiate runner, Gallagher has a myriad of other activities to fill his days. An English major, he maintains a high grade-point average and has earned Conference USA Scholar Athlete honors for his sport. During the academic year, he works as a tutor with local elementary students and writes for the Hullabaloo, Tulane's student newspaper; in the summer he is a Little League baseball coach. He also finds time to be active with the Student-Athlete Advisory Board and is one of two students on Tulane's Hall of Fame Selection Committee. All of this, and Gallagher is on track to graduate in the spring of 2005 with a bachelor's and master's degree through a special combined degree program.
"I see myself as a student that runs cross country," Gallagher said. "In four years, it's over, as far as running for a team. I will still run my whole life; I can run in road races and stuff like that, but I am not going to be a professional runner."
Instead of a future in professional athletics, Gallagher plans to use his degrees and his experiences to go into teaching and coaching. He hopes to use his own story to influence future distance runners and to return the gift that his high school coach bestowed upon him six years ago - a gift that, at the time, he did not even know he wanted.
"I don't have any regrets," Gallagher said. "I consider myself lucky. There are a lot of people here who just go to school and that's all they do. I think being able to run cross country has been a huge bonus. I have enjoyed it thoroughly."
In other words, yes, the harshest punishment for a cross country runner such as Gallagher would be to take away his running time. As he says, "It's definitely a different lifestyle, runners are different."
But different does not begin to describe Gallagher. One of the most well-rounded student-athletes on any college campus, this Green Wave senior has proven that with effort and dedication, anything is possible. With luck, his future students and athletes will take his story to heart and follow in his footsteps to success.