Please join us for the 22nd Annual Ryan Steidl Memorial MK5K Run/Walk! We are excited to have you participate in the 22nd year anniversary of this race to support and remember Ryan, please join us...
Please join us for the 22nd Annual Ryan Steidl Memorial MK5K Run/Walk! We are excited to have you participate in the 22nd year anniversary of this race to support and remember Ryan, please join us and bring your friends! Looking to see all of the faces that have been there through the years! Race course will be the same as previous years.
All Registrants will receive a Race T-Shirt if you sign up for one before the deadline!! Race location is across from Saint Clare's Hospital in Denville at 25 Pocono Road.
Please read the story of Ryan below and why we honor him today while we are supporting our team and his scholarship fund.
RYAN STEIDL -AN IMPACTFUL LIFE
Ryan Steidl was a 2006 Morris Knolls High School graduate who never shied away from people; outgoing and always full of energy, he would gravitate to those who were shy and to those who needed help. Whether it was to introduce someone at a party or to help a young boy on the baseball field, Ryan had the ability to make others feel more confident and better about themselves. These were his gifts, and he loved using them.
Morris Knolls was a big turning point in Ryan’s life. Everyone knew that Ryan was a baseball player but head football coach Bill Regan noticed Ryan one day running in gym class. It was then that Coach Regan introduced him to Dr. Thalman the cross country and winter track coach. It was a match made in Heaven. Ryan went on to set school records in the 4x400, 800m, 4x200m, and the SMR. He loved Morris Knolls, the teachers, the kids, the atmosphere, and of course his baseball coach, Adam Bonfiglio.
As a senior at Morris Knolls he was the team’s pitching ace leading the Golden Eagles to the Morris County Semifinals and went the entire season without making an error on the mound or at first base. After high school he went on to play baseball at Georgia Southern University and William Patterson University and graduated with a degree in finance before settling into professional life here in Morris County.
Tragically, on March 17th, 2011 he was struck by a car while training to participate in the 7th annual MK5K. Ryan’s brother, Evan, was on the Morris Knolls baseball team in 2011, which dedicated its season and eventual State Sectional Title to fighting alongside Ryan as he pushed hard to heal from a traumatic brain injury. Sadly after a hard fought battle, Ryan passed away six months later from the injuries sustained during this accident.
As a tribute to Ryan and his great love of baseball and Morris Knolls the MK5K was renamed the Ryan Steidl Memorial MK5K as a way of both remembering his short but impactful life and to promote runner safety.