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| Year Inducted: |
2009 |
| Sport(s): |
Track & Field / Cross Country |
| Years at YSU: |
1996-99 |
Matt Folk had a very successful running career at Youngstown and is the only male cross country runner to participate at the NCAA Championships. Folk also served as an assistant coach with the track and field/cross country program for nine years following his career. He has twice qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trails in the marathon.
Folk reached the NCAA Championships in 1998 where he finished a respectable 77th with a time of 31:48.69 in the 10K event. He is one of just six men from the Mid-Continent Conference to participate in the NCAA Championships.
Prior to competing on the national level, Folk was 21st at the Great Lakes Regional in leading the program to an all-time best 12th-place finish as a squad. He finished fourth to earn first-team all-conference honors at the 1998 Mid-Continent Conference meet with a time of 25:07. Also during the 1998 season, he placed fifth at the All-Ohio Championships.
During his career as a student-athlete and coach, he was part of 13 conference championship squads.
In 1996, he placed third, earning first-team All-Mid-Con honors with a time of 25:36, as YSU won its third straight cross country title. At the District IV regional meet, he placed 39th with a time of 32:01.
In 1995, the Penguins won their second straight Mid-Con team title while Folk earned second-team all-conference honors by finishing ninth with a time of 26:02.
As a freshman in 1994, he was part of the first YSU men's team to win the conference title that fall. It became the first group in YSU program history to claim a Mid-Con title.
He was a nine-time Mid-Continent Conference All-Academic selection and helped the cross country and track and field program to win five Mid-Con titles.
Folk was named The Vindicator's YSU Male Athlete of the Year in 1999 following his spectacular 1998-99 campaign. He was a second-team Academic All-District selection by CoSIDA, the first track and field honoree in school history.
He graduated with a degree in accounting in 1999 and received a master's in business administration in August 2001.
Folk continued to train while an assistant coach at YSU, and, in October 2003, he qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon by running a time of 2:21.10. He reached the qualifying time again in the marathon in January 2007, running the Chevron Houston Marathon in 2:20.41. He placed 50th at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and improved to 39th at the 2008 Trials.
Currently, Folk is the co-owner and general manager of Second Sole in Toledo.
He graduated from Clay High School in Oregon, Ohio, where he was a three-time state qualifier, placing 10th in 1993.
Matt is married to former YSU runner Lindsay Frontz. The couple resides in Perrysburg, Ohio.
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