Email: "Coach honored for service to track and field"
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The Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches will be awarding Boardman coach Denise Gorski the Ed Barker Award at their annual clinic on Friday, Jan. 30. The Ed Barker Award is the highest honor bestowed on an individual by the OATCCC and recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contribution to Ohio cross country and track and field.


Gorski has been the head women's track and field coach at Boardman High School for 26 years. During her tenure, her teams have compiled a dual meet record of 241 wins, 53 losses, and one tie. Coach Gorski has guided her teams to 12 Steel Valley Championships and 13 Mahoning County Championships. At the District level, her teams have captured seven championships and 10 runner-up finishes.


During Gorski's career, she has had athletes qualify to the state meet 22 years in 13 different events. Of her 30 state qualifiers, 16 athletes earned All-Ohio honors. Additionally, 30 of Boardman's track and field athletes have gone on to compete at the collegiate level. Gorski coached two state champions Laurie Gomez Henes and Amber Bland, and one state runner-up, Adriane Blewitt.


Gorski has received many well-deserved personal coaching honors. In 2003, she was awarded the Track and Cross Country Contributor Award from the Ohio Track and Field and Cross Country Officials Association for significant contributions to interscholastic track and cross country in Ohio. In 2002, Gorski was named the Fred Dafler Career State Coach of the Year in Women's Track and Field in Ohio. Additionally, she earned District 1 Coach of the Year and Mahoning Country Track Coach of the Year honors on four occasions, and was named the Vindicator All-Star Coach of the Year in 2001.  Gorski has also been recognized by the Greater Youngstown Track Officials Association when she received their Fred Dafler Sportsmanship Award in 1998. Also, Gorski was named National High School Coach of the Year for the North Region of the United States by the U.S. Women's Track and Field Coaches Association in 1998.


Gorski's service to track and field is also appreciated at the state level. She has served on the coaching staff for the Ohio Midwest Meet of Champions for three years, with one of those years serving as head coach. For 10 years, she represented District 1 coaches on the OATCCC executive board. She then became secretary of the organization from 2003 to 2005. Gorski served on the Ohio Track and Field and Cross Country Advisory Council for three years, and has been a speaker at the OATCCC clinic for three years. She currently serves as District 1 alternate to the OATCCC and remains actively involved.


Along with all of these contributions, Gorski also shows care and concern for her athletes and her community. She orchestrated many support events for athlete Adriane Blewitt, who recently competed in Olympic trials and has served on the Boardman Parks Board. She is currently in her 31st year of teaching physical education at Boardman High School. Her husband Dan has also been in the Boardman school system for 31 years, including stints coaching boys basketball and teaching history at BHS. He is presently the boys' head basketball coach at Liberty High School and has served as District 1 rep for the Ohio High School Basketball Association for the past 20 years. 

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