McCartney, Ryan
Ryan McCartney
Ryan McCartney was born and raised in Lorain, graduating from Lorain Admiral King High School in 2003 as the salutatorian of
his class. At King, Ryan earned four varsity letters in tennis, playing number one singles for three of those years. During the course
of his high school tennis career, he received three MVP awards, three Morning Journal “Player of the Week” honors, and was selected as the Lake Erie League Player of the Year for his senior year. Ryan amassed a four-year record of 63-27. His Hall of Fame coach, Paul Falencki, remarked that he strived to be a great role model for the younger players on King’s roster. His character, thoughtfulness, and coachability led to him being one of King’s best.
After high school, Ryan moved on to the next level and entered Baldwin-Wallace University. There he earned four varsity letters and
served as co-captain his junior and senior years. As a freshman, Ryan was given the Rookie of the Year Award. During his four years at B-W,
the team compiled an 85-8 record, and Ryan personally amassed a 54-19 record as a singles player. When he graduated in 2007, he was tenth on the list of B-W Men’s Tennis all-time career singles victory leaders. He was a starter on two Ohio Athletic Conference Championship teams, one of which had a perfect 24-0 season in 2004. Ryan’s college coach, Brian Rector, noted the following about Ryan: “His outstanding time
management skills, self-motivation, persistence, adaptability, and passion to constantly improve made him the standout player that he was.” Ryan also received All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors and was a finalist for the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. He graduated summa cum laude from B-W in 2007 with a major in mathematics, finishing with a 3.94 GPA.
After graduation, Ryan gave back to the sport he loved by entering the coaching world. He spent five years as the head girls’ tennis coach at St. Joseph Academy in Cleveland and one year as the head boys’ tennis coach at Westlake High School. He was also a part time tennis instructor at the Cleveland Racquet Club in Pepper Pike and River Oaks Tennis Club in Rocky River.
Ryan’s playing days continued after college across various United States Tennis Association leagues playing singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. He was the number-one singles player on a team that won a Northeast Ohio district championship and was a starter in doubles on a team that won a Midwest sectional championship.
After hanging up his tennis racquet shortly after college, Ryan turned to competitive long-distance running. He adapted well to the strenuous training and discipline involved in this sport and immediately became motivated to compete at a high level. Ryan ran his first full marathon (26.2 miles) at the 2010 Columbus Marathon, where he qualified for the prestigious Boston Marathon. Ryan has qualified for every Boston Marathon since, and is slated to compete in the 2024 Boston Marathon, which will be his 29th full marathon and 8th time running Boston. His best performance at Boston was during the chaotic weather of the 2018 race, where he finished in 2:55:45, placing in the top 4% of the great runners who have qualified and entered this event. Outside of marathons, he has been the overall winner in over 30 races, most notably the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Half Marathon, 2022 Hermes Cleveland 10-Miler, and 2023 Towpath 10-Miler. He also has victories in the 5K, 5-mile, and 10K distance. This should certainly qualify him as the greatest distance runner ever from Lorain. Also to Ryan’s credit, he is still running, but more importantly, he is still winning.
After the birth of his daughter Daniela, Ryan started pushing her in a running stroller and even began competing in races with the stroller. He was the overall winner of both the 2021 Hermes Dead Sprint and 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Half Marathon while pushing Daniela in the stroller. His best stroller mile time came in the 2022 Guardian Mile, where he pushed Daniela en route to a 5:08 mile.
Ryan continued to work on improving his marathon times and in 2018, he ran a personal best of 2:46:54 at the Akron Marathon, placing 6th. Perhaps his proudest moment in the marathon was running a 2:47:43 at age 38 in the 2023 Akron Marathon; Ryan trained for this marathon while also tackling the demands of having a newborn baby boy and 4-year-old daughter at home (with significant gratefulness and appreciation toward his wife, Jessica!). With over 250 races under his belt, Ryan’s love for running is as strong as ever, and he is especially excited to start competing in the Masters Division (40 and over) starting next year.
Ryan spent time teaching high school mathematics at St. Joseph Academy and Cleveland Heights High School. He still very much puts his mathematics degree to use while working in Large Group Underwriting at Medical Mutual. He resides in Cleveland with his beautiful, supportive wife Jessica (who he met while running) and their two children, Daniela (4 years old) and Deagan (1 year old).
