The township high school’s Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director Jack McGee (left) and Director of Athletics Kevin Murphy present Rich Bostwick with a plaque commemorating his induction into the township Coaches Hall of Honor.
Washington Township High School inducted long-time cross country and track and field coach Rich Bostwick – affectionately known as “Coach Boz” – into the school’s Coaches Hall of Honor during a ceremony at the Pride Pavilion on June 16.
He was joined by his wife Muony; his son, Hunter; the high school’s Class of 2025; and his daughter, Sophia, who graduated with in 2023.
For more than two decades, Bostwick has been head coach of the boys outdoor track program (2000 to 2014), boys indoor track program (2003 to 2014), and the boys cross country program (2009 to 2025), according to the district.
His teams have produced group and individual championships at the conference, county, sectional and state levels. His 2009 4×800 relay team won the school’s first prestigious Penn Relays, earning the coveted championship disc plaque, one of the top high-school athletic awards on the national level.
Bostwick’s Minutemen cross country team won the South Jersey Group IV championship in 2012, while he was named South Jersey Track Coaches Association and South Jersey Times coach of the year. He won those honors again in 2023, adding to his list of coaching laurels.
“He’s an excellent coach who treats everyone with respect,” said Xavier Fraction, a 2009 state Group IV champion in the 1,600. “When you do bad, he doesn’t lash out at you, he shows you what you did wrong and he helps work you through things.
“To me, Mr. Bostwick is like a second father.”
The coach – who was also a physical and education teacher at the high school – was a decorated runner in his own right, earning all-American status in cross country and track and field at Rowan University, where he graduated in 1992. He remains the school’s only two-time all-American in cross country. Bostwick was also a New Jersey Athletic Conference champion and NCAA qualifier while at Rowan.
He began his coaching career at Glassboro High School from 1992 to ’94, then moved to the collegiate level for Rowan College of South Jersey (1993 to 1999), formerly Gloucester County College, where he helped the Roadrunners to a national championship and four runner-up finishes. He was an assistant cross country coach at Rowan from 2002 to 2008 as well.
Bostwick is a member of the Vineland High School Sports Hall of Fame, the Rowan University-Glassboro State Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 and the Gloucester County Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. The high school’s athletic department formed the Athletic Coaches Hall of Honor and inducted 13 former coaches, including three honorees posthumously, in its 2019 inaugural class.
