Breton Bonnette
bbonnette@pvihs.org
Head Coach

Coach Bonnette is in his fifth year of coaching after graduating in 2006 from the University of Pennsylvania.

A local product, he had run cross country at Haddonfield High School for a year, switching over from soccer his senior year. That year, he was a vital part of Haddonfield’s only Meet of Champions title and South Jersey’s first title since Paul VI won in 1994. In the process, Coach Bonnette dipped under the elusive 16-minute barrier, running 15:55. That particular Haddonfield team was ranked as high as 4th in the nation and finished 2002 ranked 5th. Before graduation, he went on to win two national championships – one in the 4×1600 relay and another in the DMR and a Group II State Championship in the 3200. He also was part of the DMR relay that finished second at the prestigious Penn Relays.

At UPenn, he ran cross country, winter, and spring track for the Quakers all four years. Most notably, his team consistently finished in the top 4 of the Ivy League and was always competitive in the Mid-Atlantic Region, ranked as high as 4th. In 2006, he finished 7th in the 10,000M at the Ivy League Championships (Heps). With a time of 25:24, Bonnette also sits in the list of the top 50 fastest UPenn harriers on Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. The XC guys also allowed Coach Bonnette the time to head out to Chicago in 2009 to make his marathon debut, running 2:36 in less than comfortable weather. He’ll be doing it again in 2011.

After losing an unbeaten streak that lasted over 25 years, Coach Bonnette and Coach Rankin, have gradually, over the span of several seasons, molded a team that has state championship potential year in and year out. In 2008, the Eagles finished #5 in South Jersey after being unranked the previous season. In 2010, Michael Rankin took his place in the history books after running 9:08 in the 3200m, earning All-American honors during the winter track season. Fellow senior Brian Walter improved upon his first year of running in 2008 and eventually broke 4:20 in the 1600m and broke a long-standing school record in the 800m at 1:54.  

He also volunteers as distance coach for the winter and spring track seasons.

Mike Rankin, Sr.
Assistant Coach

Coach Rankin is starting his fourth year as assistant coach at Paul VI, after being quickly elevated from the position of supporting father to assistant coach with the arrival of Coach Bonnette at Paul VI. An avid runner, Coach Rankin specializes in the development of the younger runners and looks forward to the resurgence of the program here at Paul VI. The strength of the freshman and sophomore classes over the past two seasons make it pretty clear that the resurgence is in motion.