 By: John Spinelli ‘22
If there was a modern-day David vs. Goliath, this middle-distance runner would certainly be “David” in the iconic underdog story. This year at the 2024 Elliott Denman International Meet we honor a young woman who needs no introduction to New Jersey and USA Track and Field. Shore AC honors Professional Runner Allie Wilson ‘19. Before she gained national attention, she began her journey right here at Monmouth University and the Shore Athletic Club. During her time as a Monmouth University student, she worked as the Operations Coordinator for Shore AC under (then) President Walter MacGowan. “The Shore A.C. has had five different Monmouth Track & Field student-athletes work with the club over the last ten years, and they have all been super valuable in that role,” said former Monmouth University Head Coach and current Shore A.C. Vice President Joe Compagni. “Allie did an excellent job with the club and was also an amazing teammate at Monmouth. Wilson made history this winter by becoming a national champion this year in the 800 meters at the USA Track and Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico Feb. 17 with a time of 2:00.63. Before the gun went off, Wilson was not predicted to be a contender for the national title. Unlike her competitors, at the time she was not sponsored by any professional club or agency. She had also never won a national title nor had she run in a World Championship. But after that race before she knew it, Nike would be calling her agent to get a deal ASAP. Only two weeks later she represented Team USA in Glasgow, Scotland, finishing fourth in her preliminary heat at the World Athletics Indoor Championship, an opportunity that was long overdue for her. Currently ranked top fifteen in the world in the 800-meter by World Athletics, Wilson will have to face some stiff competition to make Team USA again, however this time with better odds. Some of her friendly professional competitors include other well-known New Jersey athletes, like Ajeé Wilson (no relation) from Neptune Township and Olivia Baker from South Orange. Just recently to sharpen the iron, she ran 2:00 again at the elite Drake Relays in Iowa. Allie Wilson’s career first began to spark with the Monmouth Hawks under coaches Chris Tarello and Joe Compagni. For the first time during her senior year in 2018, she qualified for the NCAA Championships. Only one year later, while earning her MBA at Monmouth in 2019, she joined the All-American club with a 5th place finish at NCAAs in a time of 1:59. Even in college, representing a lesser known Division 1 school like Monmouth University, she has always been used to being overlooked in the discussion about national title contenders. . This critical year she now hopes to qualify again for Team USA at the United States Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, June 21 and earn a plane ticket to Paris, France for the Olympic Games. But with this time compared to her attempt in 2021, the odds are much more in her favor. When I was a freshman, I had the pleasure of being her teammate on the track team at Monmouth University. Wilson exemplifies what it means to be a member of Shore AC: working hard to live out your dreams, giving back to the community to inspire people to give Track and Field a chance, and being humble and kind. She also proves what it means to be resilient. In the buildup to the Olympic year, she left the Atlanta Track Club to stay with her coaches, Amy Yoder Begley and Andrew Begley, as they moved to Indiana. This meant being unsponsored leading into an Olympic cycle, a risk that paid off as she was able to train on her own and pull through to win a national championship. There are many lessons to learn from an inspirational athlete like her. Good luck to all the competitors today, and remember never count out the underdog!
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Shore Athletic Club and Atlantic Physical Therapy Center Forge Exciting Partnership for 2024-20255/10/2024  [Sea Girt, April 1, 2024] – Shore Athletic Club (Shore AC) and Atlantic Physical Therapy Center (APTC) are thrilled to announce a dynamic partnership aimed at elevating the health, performance, and community engagement of athletes throughout the region. This collaboration brings together two esteemed organizations committed to excellence in athletic development and wellness. The primary goal of this partnership is to foster a collaborative environment where athletes can access top-tier services and resources to enhance their performance and overall well-being. Atlantic Physical Therapy Center offers a wide range of sports performance services including Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Running Gait Analysis, VO2Max Testing, Medical Body Composition Analysis, Pulmonary Function Test, Gait Analysis, AlterG Treadmill, Dry Needling, Myofascial Cupping, Kinesio Taping, Blood Flow Restriction, and EPAT. As part of this partnership, Shore AC members will have exclusive access to complementary Medical Body Composition Analysis. Full-paid Shore Athletic Club members can receive up to 4 body composition analyses throughout the duration of this partnership, from March 1, 2024, to March 1, 2026. Additionally, top finishers at Shore AC’s premier races will win a VO2Max Testing Appointment at Atlantic Physical Therapy Center. This comprehensive test includes a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular, respiratory, and metabolic health. Athletes will also receive a pulmonary function test, medical body composition analysis, HR training zones, and a 3-month training guide. Shore Athletic Club “We are very excited about our new partnership with Atlantic Physical Therapy,” said Shore A.C. President Erin O’Neill. “Their locations throughout New Jersey and the services they provide will be a valuable partnership for our 300+ club members. Their presence at and sponsorship of our events during the year will also give those within and beyond the club an opportunity to benefit from their expertise in training and cutting-edge performance.” Atlantic Physical Therapy Center “This is such an exciting alliance for us at Atlantic PT Center. Shore Athletic Club is the leader in our area for all things running. They have supported the running community for decades and we are eager to support the 500 members of the Shore AC! Our missions align, with both organizations driving to help clients / members improve their lives and their performance! This is a true win-win for our organizations and for the people in our Jersey Shore communities.” Mike Manzo, PT, MPT CEO of Atlantic Physical Therapy Center. For more information about Shore Athletic Club, please visit https://www.shoreac.org/#/. To learn more about Atlantic Physical Therapy Center and its services, visit https://atlanticptcenter.com/ For more information performance testing, contact: Jeremy Kuper, EdM, MA, ACSM-EP Director of Exercise Physiology & Center for Running Excellence Atlantic Physical Therapy Center [email protected] 732-528-3850 WEST LONG BRANCH, NEW JERSEY – The first Paris Olympic Games were held at the turn into a brightening new century, when the Modern Games were in their infancy.
It was 1900. The second Paris Olympic Games were held two dozen years later, a century ago, with the world now reconstructing itself from “The War To End All Wars” – and failing. It was 1924. And now it’s Paris’s turn to do it all over again – and join London (which held the Games in 1912, 1948 and 2012) as the second city to host the Games for a third time. The 2024 Games of the XXIII Olympiad are scheduled to open in Paris on July 26, and race on to 16 days of epic competition in 32 sports concluding on August 11. In the Borough of West Long Branch, there are ties that bind itself to the Games in an array of directions. WLB’s Monmouth University has already delivered a pair of USA gold medalists to the Games – swimming’s Wendy Boglioli (1976) and soccer’s Christie Pearce (2004-8-12.) But the borough’s Original Olympian was a man far too few in this town now remember - but was surely one of the greatest athletes New Jersey has produced, Monmouth County has produced, WLB has produced. His name was Chester (“Chet”) Bowman and he’d surely be remembered a lot more today than he was in his lifetime if it weren’t for those coulda-woulda-shoulda asterisks often attached to his name. Born in November 22, 1901, he was a brilliant two-sport athlete (track and field/football) at Long Branch’s Chattle High School (predecessor of today’s Long Branch HS) who went on to brilliance in both sports at Syracuse University, and track and field renown for the Newark Athletic Club. And Team USA, at the Paris Olympics of 1924. He “coulda” have been the Olympic 100-meter dash champion of those 1924 Paris Games. He’d already won the 60-yard dash at the classic Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden, the 100-yard dash at the famed Penn Relays at Franklin Field, and, biggest win of all, the 100-meter final at the USA Olympic Trials at Harvard Stadium. He “coulda” have wrecked the future script of the classic sports film, “Chariots of Fire,” focusing on the British pair of Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, if he’d have won at Paris. After all, he’d already beaten Liddell at the Penn Relays. And he’d already beaten top USA rivals Charley Paddock and Jackson Scholz in the Trials. He “woulda” have won in Paris, too, if only he’d come through with yet another blazing start. But Abrahams won it in 10.6 seconds, while Paddock, New Zealand’s Arthur Porritt and Bowman crossed the line in a “blanket finish” just behind. After considerable debate – and long before photo timing would revolutionize the sport – the officials awarded the silver medal to Paddock (clocked in 10.8) and the bronze to Porritt (10.9), and thus keeping Bowman (fourth, also 10.9) inches off the podium. Bowman had won the USA Trials in 10.6. He “shoulda” have had another chance at a medal in the 4x100-meter relay days later. But, for reasons unknown, he wasn’t selected for the relay foursome. The golds still went to the USA foursome of Frank Hussey, Louis Clarke, Loren Murchison and Alf Leconey – decisively over the Abrahams-led British team. At the post-Olympic USA vs. the British Empire meet in London, he joined Paddock, Scholz and Leconey on the winning 4x100-yard relay team. As a three-year (1922-23-24) letterman for Coach Chick Meehan’s mighty Syracuse football teams of the era, he helped power ‘Cuse to successive records of 6-1-2, 8-1-0 and 8-2-1 (a combined 22-4-3.) A Boston newspaper once listed some of his superlatives: He’d returned a William and Mary kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown, had a 65-yard TD return against Alabama. “His work on the striped field has been nothing short of sensational; opponents of the Orange are constantly in fear lest the speedy Chet break loose on one rampage after another,” the story told you. There were even rumors – unfounded – that Meehan had furtively widened the home gridiron to capitalize on Bowman’s speed. He gained honorable mention All-American recognition. With the NFL still in its early industrial-era beginnings, the pros were not a good option. So Bowman returned to track and had six more glorious years (1925-30.) Running for Newark AC, he won the 1926 National AAU indoor 60-yard title In the world-record time of 6.2 seconds and the 1927 National AAU outdoor 100-yard crown in the world record-equaling time of 9.6. Perhaps his greatest two days in track were July 2 and 4, 1927, in Lincoln. Nebraska. After opening the AAU Nationals with that 9.6 100, he concluded the meet as leadoff man on the Newark AC team (with John Currie, James Pappas and Henry Cummings) that blazed to a 4x100-yard relay world record of 41 seconds flat. Bowman and Newark AC had already won that sprint relay crown in 1923-24-26. With the Amsterdam Games of 1928 just ahead, he again seemed primed for Olympic glory. But it just wasn’t to be. The Olympic Trials returned to Harvard Stadium in 1928 but Bowman was unable to return to the top rung. With his fourth place in the first quarter-final of the 100 meters, his dream was over. But he still was in top form in 1930, winning the National AAU 60 yards in 6.4. Bowman came home to West Long Branch but was destined to live just six more years. Tragically, his life ended – at age 34 1/2- on May 31, 1936. Reports said he’d had a heart attack. At this ironic moment – with Jesse Owens just two months away from his own Berlin Olympic glory – West Long Branch was saying goodbye to its own Olympic sprinter, its own hometown record-breaker. Chester Bowman is interred in Glenwood Cemetery, West Long Branch. He has few visitors but has not been forgotten. Shore Athletic Club presented its first Chester Bowman “Chariots of Fire” Memorial Award in 2023 to Bob and Lisa Bazley, applauding their many contributions (as athlete, coach, physical therapists to so many in the track and field world.) And the 2024 award will go to Mel Ullmeyer, the Monmouth University track and field Hall of Famer and veteran Shore Regional High School coach. Presentation will be on Sunday, June 2, at the Elliott Denman New Jersey International Track and Field Meet at Monmouth University’s Kessler Stadium. (West Long Branch resident Elliott Denman was a USA Olympian, too, placing 11th in the 50K racewalk at the 1956 Melbourne Games. |
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November 2025
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