10:36 PM EDT on Sunday, August 1, 2004

BY TOM MEADE
Journal Sports Writer

Three Providence College runners have qualified to race in the Athens Olympics, Aug. 13-30, continuing a long-standing connection between PC and the Games.

When they began their studies at the school, however, track coach Ray Treacy knew that the runners' Olympic dreams were just that -- dreams that would have to be molded into reality.

"All of the recruits that you bring in aspire to be Olympians," he said. "Some of them make it and some don't get to that level, the highest level you can go in track and field. We've been lucky enough to be able to develop some of the runners into Olympians . . .

"You've got to have patience with them," Treacy said. "They're all very good athletes . . . but distance runners don't peak until they're in their late 30s, so you can't get blood out of a turnip when they're 18 or 19. You've got to have patience."

A veteran of the 2000 Olympics, Mark Carroll, 32, of Providence, class of 1995, will represent Ireland at 5,000 meters in Athens. He also qualified for the marathon.

Marie (McMahon) Davenport, 28, of Chester, Conn., who graduated in 1998, will also represent Ireland. She has qualified for the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters.

Kim Smith, 22, about to enter her senior year at PC, will run the 5,000 meters for New Zealand.

PC's connection to the Olympics began in 1976 when basketball coach John Thompson became assistant coach to the U.S. Olympic team.

Four years later, then-basketball coach Dave Gavitt became the U.S. team's head coach.

Two young Irishmen and a British runner would mark PC's first connection to Olympic track and field.

In 1980, Mick O'Shea, represented Ireland in the 5,000 meters. He was eliminated in a preliminary heat. O'Shea remained in Rhode Island through the 1990s, but now lives in Limerick, Ireland.

Geoff Smith, now a resident of Mattapoisett, Mass., competed in the marathon for Great Britain in the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and although he didn't win a medal, Smith would mature into one of the greatest marathoners in the world, eventually winning the Boston Marathon four consecutive times.

John Treacy, the world cross-country champion in 1979 and 1980, represented Ireland at 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters in 1980. During the Los Angeles Olympics, in 1984, he won a silver medal in the marathon. He competed again in 1988 and 1992. A longtime Warwick resident, Treacy returned to Ireland to become chief executive of the Irish Sports Council.

Following the 1988 games, Treacy became a hero in Ireland, and Providence College, a Roman Catholic school, began to attract the attention of young Irish runners, including Ray Treacy, John's brother.

"As an athlete, I wanted to see how good I could get," Ray Treacy recalled.

PC was the place. He was a cross-country All-American in 1979, '81 and '82, and the Big East 5,000-meter indoors champion in 1980, '81 and '82. He graduated in 1982 and returned to Ireland to coach for two years. When he returned in 1984, Treacy became PC's women's coach, and a year later was named coach of the men's team, as well.

An aggressive recruiter, he enlisted some of the best runners from the United States, Ireland and Great Britain. Treacy molded them to become all-Americans, Big East champions, and national champions in track and cross country.

Several became Olympians: Steve Binns in 1988; John Doherty in 1988 and 1992; Brendan Quinn in 1988; Andy Ronan in 1992; Marie (McMahon) Davenport in 1996 and 2004; Sinead Delahunty in 1996 and 2000; Amy Rudolph in 1996 and 2000; Mark Carroll in 2000 and 2004, and Kim Smith, making her Olympic debut in Athens this month.

Recruiting is only part of Treacy's formula for success.

"There is as much talent going to other schools and they don't produce as many Olympians as we do," he said. "It's a combination of a lot things here at the school. It's how well they're looked after, and not just from an athletic standpoint. It's every aspect of their lives. They're around other athletes who aspire to be Olympians or who are already Olympians, and they can see the future in themselves. When young girls are around somebody like Amy Rudolph or Marie Davenport or Kim Smith, they can see the possibilities."

But it takes time.

"I teach them patience and being consistent in their training so they get better every day," the coach said. "It may be minimal improvement every day, but the point is, they get better and better every day. You have to be very patient."