Head Coach, Jesse Facey: Varsity Girls Cross Country

For Jesse Facey, the most rewarding part of coaching track and cross country at Peddie is working with students who are excited about running and creating a supportive and fun community amongst their teammates.

To Facey, the essence of running lies in teamwork, an aspect that never fails to stir her emotions when witnessing her students racing side by side. She loved watching Ethan Sbarro ’24 and Matilda Kardhashi ’25 coming down the straightaway together on Peddie-Blair Day. And witnessing Soh Sugimoto ’25 helping to pace Rishi Swaminathan ’25 and Matt Luo ’25 to personal records in the mile in their last race of the season, inspired by the support he had received earlier in the season from Baker Pott ’25.

Facey attributes her passion for coaching to the exceptional mentors, teachers and teammates she encountered during her time as a cross country runner and club water polo player at Williams College.

“My college team was very into the concept of the spectator race, meaning that if you were not running that race yourself, you should take your cheering to be its own type of race,” she said. “Grant Edwards [head coach, varsity boys cross country] has been great about integrating that concept into the Peddie team culture with me, and I think that kind of supportive team culture is what makes me love running so much.”

In high school, Facey ran cross country and track and swam in the winter. During her college years, she spent summers teaching swimming, and she interned at a sports day camp for girls in Amman, Jordan.

Outside of Peddie, Facey loves to bake and enjoys running, hiking, swimming and biking.