In 2025-26, Dave Thomas enters his 20th season as the Rams' cross country head coach and the 13th as the head coach of the track and field program. In his time at the school, Thomas has built the Rams into a dominant force within the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC). Thomas also assists all athletics programs with strength & conditioning.
18-TIME CACC CHAMPION
Women's Cross Country (14): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024
Men's Cross Country (4): 2009, 2014, 2017, 2021
15-TIME CACC COACH OF THE YEAR
Women's Cross Country (11): 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024
Men's Cross Country (4): 2008, 2010, 2014, 2021
CROSS COUNTRY
The cross country programs have combined to win 18 CACC championships (women – 14, men – four) in Thomas’ first 19 years at the helm. The women won 14 out of 16 CACC titles from 2008-23. The men claimed the conference title in 2009, 2014, 2017, and 2021. The 2020 CACC Cross Country Championships were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 15-time CACC Cross Country Coach of the Year (women – 11, men – four), Thomas has helped Joshua Vander Veen (2006), Sarah Simonetti (2010, 2011), Emilie Barton (2015) Curran Kneebone (2015), and Ana Eshraghi (2023, 2024) earn the CACC Runner of the Year award, given to the runner that wins the CACC Championship meet. In 2009 and 2011, Simonetti represented Philadelphia University at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship. She is the only runner from the University and the CACC to compete in the national championships.
Thomas’ coaching has allowed the Rams to achieve All-CACC recognition 139 times (women – 89, men – 50), including four-time honorees Faith Anderson (2006-09), Gabrielle Dei Tos (2008-11), Simonetti (2008-11), Taylor Falvey (2011-14), Eric Lacy (2011-14), Tim Malloy (2011-14), Alyssa Litty (2012-15), Emilie Barton (2012-15), Ethan Fadale (2015-18), and Eshraghi (2021-24). 10 Rams have earned the CACC Rookie of the Year award: Simonetti (2008), Chelsea Attaway (2010), Malloy (2011), Falvey (2011), Litty (2012), Jessica Thies (2013), Juliana Coculo (2015), Kali Safer (2017), Annalee Capuano (2022), and Hannah Powell (2024).
Regionally, the women achieved their highest finish at the NCAA Division II East Region Championship in 2011 with a third place, while the men recorded their best finish of seventh in 2014, 2021, and 2022. Simonetti earned United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) All-East Region recognition four times. Anjelica DiNucci (2010), Christina Wetzel (2011), Malloy (2013), Lacy (2013), Litty (2013), Falvey (2013), Erin Young (2018), Safer (2019), Owen Bradley (2022), Ana Eshraghi (2022, 2023), and Capuano (2022, 2024) have also earned all-region honors during Thomas’ tenure.
In 2017, Milan Duka of men's cross country earned all-region honors as he placed 12th overall of 159 runners at the NCAA East Region Championship from Audubon Golf Course in Amherst, N.Y. He was the highest finisher ever at the meet for a Philadelphia University/Jefferson runner since the school added the cross country program in 2005. Duka missed making the NCAA national championships by about 25 seconds behind the last individual qualifier. In 2018, Fadale was an All-Region honoree after crossing 23rd at the NCAA East Region Championship.
TRACK AND FIELD
On the track and field side, the women recently placed sixth and the men were seventh at the 2025 CACC Track & Field Championships. The Rams set three new school records during the campaign.
The women took fourth in 2018, 2019, and 2024 at the CACC Championships. In 2025, Annalee Capuano and Natalie McFadden each earned All-CACC First Team and Second Team honors at the CACC Championships. Capuano won the 1500 meter event while placing second at the 800 meter race. McFadden finished second behind Capuano in the 1500 meter race while retaining her title in the 3000 meter steeplechase. Jefferson broke In 2024, McFadden was named CACC Track Rookie of the Year after winning the 3000 meter steeplechase in only her second time running the event. Jefferson had two record broken (800m, steeplechase) that season. Rams earn All-CACC First and Second Team honors in their races. The Rams broke six records (800m, 1500m, steeplechase, 4x100m, 4x400m, 4x1500m) during the season. In 2019, Kali Safer was named the CACC Track Athlete of the Year after winning both the 5000 meters and 3000 meter steeplechase. Over the two years, eight women were named to the All-CACC First and Second Teams for their top-two finishes at the conference championships. In the 2018 campaign, the Rams broke eight program marks (100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 4x100m, 4x800m, 4x1500m) then set five school records in 2019 (800m, 1500m, steeplechase, 4x400m, DMR). The squad named 14 student-athletes to the CACC-All Academic Team between 2018 and 2019.
The men placed 8th at the 2018 CACC Track & Field Championships as graduate transfer Milan Duka was named to the All-CACC First Team in the 1500m; his time of 3:58.69 came as a conference championship benchmark. Duka also broke the 5000m program record on the campaign. A total of five Rams earned a spot on the All-CACC Academic Team. In 2019, the men were 12th at the conference championships and had six athletes earn CACC All-Academic honors. Ethan Fadale was chosen to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team. In 2024, Chase Watson was a two-time All-CACC runner as he won the 1500 meters while coming in second in the 800 meters. During the 2025 season, Mason Moore won the 1500 meter race and earned All-CACC First Team recognition while Jaden Foster finished second in the 400 meter race for All-Second Team honors.
PERSONAL
Thomas has competed in over 75 marathons, including the Boston Marathon 17 times. He posted a personal-best marathon time of 2:28:54 in the 1985 Chicago Marathon. He was the first American to compete in England’s London to Brighton race in 1992 and South Africa’s Comrades Marathon in 2000; both races are 56 miles.
A graduate of Temple University with a B.S. in exercise science, Thomas has worked in the preventive medical field and as a conditioning coach for over 30 years. During his career, Thomas—who is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and the International Sports Sciences Association—has been involved in coaching many professional and amateur athletes including members of the Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Olympic gold-medalist boxer Meldric Taylor.
For two decades, Thomas has coached the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training, an organization in which runners train for sporting events, such as marathons, while raising money for cancer research.
A Level 1 USA Track and Field Coach, Thomas is the president of the Philadelphia Athletic Charities and Fast Cat Sports Productions, the race director of the Schuylkill River Loop Run, and a member of the American College of Sports Medicine.
In 2002, Thomas founded the Belmont Plateau Hall of Fame which honors distance runners, coaches, and administrators from cross country, road racing, and track who made considerable contributions to the sport and have a connection to the city of Philadelphia. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022. Thomas is also a founding member of the Greater Philadelphia Track Club.
A Philadelphia native, Thomas lives in the Roxborough section of the city with his wife, Marie.
