Date: Fri 13-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Rick-Medve-Track

Full Text:

Rick Medve Has RHS Track Dedicated After Him

B Y T.W YATT

Newtown High School girls' track and field coach Rick Medve, was scheduled to

be honored on Thursday night, September 12, at halftime of Ridgefield High

School's opening football game.

Medve, who has taught social studies at Ridgefield High for more than 30

years, and coached boys' and girls' cross country and track and field in four

decades there, will have the Ridgefield track named in his honor and marked

with a special plaque.

Medve began his coaching career at RHS in 1965 when he began the boys' indoor

track program and then headed up the outdoor track and field team as well. He

also began Ridgefield's girls' cross country program, which he also coached,

in 1975, and then started and ran the girls' indoor track and field program

the following year.

In a total of 28 years coaching boys' and girls' indoor track, outdoor track,

and cross country at Ridgefield High School, Medve's teams won a total of 670

meets and lost 170.

During that span - in which he was also named CIAC Coach of the Year in 1977 -

Medve's teams won 16 FCIAC championships and finished runner-up nine times;

won four state championships and finished state runner-up three times; and won

a total of 23 FCIAC Eastern championships. His boys' track team compiled the

conference's longest winning streak of 54-straight meets between 1974-77, and

his girls' cross country team won 39-straight from 1975-77.

While at Ridgefield, Medve also coached a pair of state-champion decathletes -

Chip Wood, who broke Bruce Jenner's state record in the event, and Richard

McCarthy. Medve, who lives on Elm Drive in Newtown, began coaching at Newtown

High School in 1988 when he headed up both the boys' and girls' indoor track

teams. He coached both Newtown and Ridgefield in indoor track from 1988-92.

In 1988, Medve also coached the boys' outdoor track team at NHS (for one

season) where the team went 12-0 and won the WCC title while his son Matt

Medve was team captain.

Medve began coaching the Newtown High girls' track team in '88 as well, which

he still currently does. In his nine years at NHS, Medve's girls compiled

three undefeated seasons, won a conference title, and are currently in the

midst of a 26-meet winning streak.

Over the course of his incredible coaching career, Medve's teams have compiled

a record of 755 wins and 185 defeats.

Ridgefield High School decided to name its track in Medve's honor back in the

late 1980's, but nothing was ever done at that time, and the project was never

completed.