RWU’s Tassey eyeing national title after heartbreaking disqualification

Ryan Medeiros,

BRISTOL, R.I. (WLNE) — After Roger Williams University’s Nathan Tassey was stripped of what would have been a national title in the spring, he has a shot at redemption this fall.

The senior from Whitman, Mass. has established himself as the best distance runner in program history, a three-time national qualifier and four-time conference champ.

“I was hoping maybe to get an All-American title by the time I graduate,” Tassey said in an interview with ABC6 on Wednesday. “So to come in and be this guy that everybody sees as the definitive top of the school. It’s just surreal and unbelievable.”

But there’s one thing missing from Tassey’s impressive resume: a National Championship victory.

He came seconds away from that dream racing in the D3 Outdoor Track National Championships in June, crossing the finish line in first place.

“I couldn’t believe it. I went into the race with zero expectations,” Tassey said. “I didn’t even think I was going to get top five because I got a little hurt.”

For 30 minutes he thought he was the champ, before his coaches delivered devastating news.

“They just told me, ‘You stepped over the line,'” Tassey said.

Tassey was just half a lap away from becoming the Hawks’ first individual champion in any sport.

But as he was lapping another runner, he took three steps off the track, disqualifying him from the title.

“I don’t remember it. I was too in the moment of the race,” Tassey said. “It was so insignificant to me and probably everybody else besides the official.”

Tassey said he never heard directly from the official who made the decision but he’s still takes an optimistic outlook on his performance.

“Some people get false starts, and they don’t get to start the race at all,” he said. “But anybody that watches that video back or anybody that saw that race, saw me cross the finish line first.”

Roger Williams Head Coach Sean Livingston is a cross country lifer, dating back to his hall-of-fame career with the Ithaca Bombers in the 1990s.

“He doesn’t get the accolades of being the national champ because of what happened with the stepping on the rail,” Livingston said. “But he did run that race. He beat everybody in there that ran. And so we took away more good than not from from that day.”

Livingston expressed disappointment with the ruling.

“[The rule] is there for a reason,” he said. “To not give someone a competitive advantage to step in the inside. But the you could clearly tell it did not help him run that race any faster.”

Livingston said they went through the appeals process and the decision stood.

Nevertheless, he said Tassey’s response since then has been admirable.

“I always tell these guys, let your legs do the talking for you,” Livingston said. “He just does that. He goes out and runs, and when he’s at a meet he’s respectful of his opponents, whether he beats them or they beat him.”

“A humble, hard-working guy, unassuming,” he continued. “But when he gets on the line, when he gets in the race, you got to watch out because he’s tough.”

Tassey certainly hasn’t let the crushing blow define him.

During the fall, he captured his second straight D3 Mideast Region Crown, and now has his eyes set on the grand prize in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

He’ll be racing alongside his teammate, Lincoln native Nathan Evans.

“It was always in the cards that he could make it,” Tassey said. “He was always a potential, and he’s definitely the hardest working and the most motivated person on our team.”

Regardless of the results, Tassey said his running career has given him lessons he’ll take with him for the rest of his life.

“Never limit yourself to what you think you’re capable of,” he said. “Because you’re always capable of more.”

Categories: College Sports, News, Rhode Island, Sports

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