Suffern middle-distance ace Jeff Van Wie remains one of Rockland County’s most accomplished performers on the national stage.

A lean-at-the-tape champion at the 1983 Golden West Invitational in Sacramento, Calif., Jeff blazed a 1:48.56 in the 800-meter run to set a New York State record that remains in place. That mark was No. 2 all-time for Eastern high schoolers and No. 9 in the nation at that time. Still at his peak, Jeff defeated a top field in Elmhust, Ill., one week later to win the Keebler International 800, then the following weekend missed first place by a mere .01 at the U.S. Junior Nationals.

In today’s Rockland County record book, Jeff remains on top in the 800 meters (1:48.56), 1,000 yards (2:14.06) and 1,000 meters (2:27.75). He’s also the anchor on two 4x800-meter relays – 7:59.1 indoors and 7:47.9 outdoors – that stood as County records for 27 years and currently (as of 2010) rank No. 2 all-time.

Jeff’s state meet highlights include a 4x800 relay gold medal during his senior year, following a runner-up effort in the 600 meters earlier in the day; and a second-place in the 1,600 meters during the 1982 outdoor state meet.

Jeff’s trophy case also includes Loucks Games hardware from his two victories in the 800-meter run and one 1,600-meter run.

Jeff’s career encompassed more than medals and stellar times. At the 1983 Rockland County outdoor meet, he left it all on the track with an iron-man triple that may never be seen again: A 1,500 in 4:00.5, an 800 in 1:54.2 and a 400 in 49.7 in a span of about 40 minutes. And, overall, in high school, he broke the 1:52 barrier a dozen times, another legendary accomplishment.

Aside from the Golden West victory, which he cherishes as his most meaningful accomplishment, Jeff says a few races early in his career “helped me establish some confidence and dig deeper.” He cited his 1,000-yard triumph in the 1981 indoor Rockland County meet over Pearl River’s Andy Kohlbrenner, the state indoor 1,600 champ, and Suffern’s 4x800-meter relay victory at the state meet his senior year.

During his years at Notre Dame, Jeff earned All-America honors with the 4x800-meter relay that placed third at the 1986 Division I indoor championships; he split 1:49.7 on the relay. He ran a 3:48.7 1,500 meters at the Willie Williams Classic in Arizona and the following week ran a 1:49.29 800 at the Dogwood Relays in Knoxville, Tenn. He also clocked 1:49.39 to defeat Mike Boit, an Olympic bronze medalist, at the Drake Relays. And his name is still in the school record books as a member of the Fighting Irish indoor and outdoor 4x800-meter relay records.

Jeff, who is 45, resides in Chatham, N.J., with his wife, Torri, and three daughters, Anna, 8, Audrey, 6, and Ava, 4.  He was a longtime employee for the consulting firm now known as Accenture and was promoted to partner in 2000 after 13 years with the firm. Jeff sold and managed large-scale computer-system installations around the country.  

After 22 years with Accenture, Jeff took the position of Vice President of Information Technology Services at Johnson & Johnson.  In this role, he served as President for one of their 240 operating companies. Recently, he has moved away from Information Technology work and is dedicating his time as a screenwriter. He was the co-writer for the film, The Last Song, starring Miley Cyrus and is currently working on several new films that are expected to come to the screen in 2011-2012. 

About his induction into the Hall of Fame, Jeff says: “When I think of all the names of the great athletes that competed in our county, I am grateful that I have been singled out. During my era I competed against some great runners like Todd Sinclair and Andy Kohlbrenner … I also was fortunate to have followed some real legends that defined our sport in Rockland County. When I think of the accomplishments of Hagon and McNiff, I am again honored to be considered among these legends.”