Owls Alumnus Cote '20 Slides Into 2026 Winter Olympic Games

Westfield State track and field alumnus Vail Cote '20 spent February in Italy – as the U.S. Olympic Committee's logistics lead for the United State freestyle ski and snowboard team's village in Livigno.

While Cote's day job is as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the US Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, N.Y., where his primary duty is training member of the sliding sports teams (luge, bobsled, skeleton), he was offered the chance to travel to fill the logistics role for the games.

"There wasn't an opportunity to go to the Olympics specifically as a strength and conditioning coach, as there are just fewer athletes to work with at the games, and that was the role that my boss filled," said Cote. "There was a vacant position that some of the folks higher up in my branch thought that I would fit in, so they recommended me and the village director chose to take me on."

Cote served as "Logisitics lead for the village and what we call NGB services, for National Governing Body," he said, helping manage the village that housed the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events.

"First two weeks was really getting all the stuff into the village, make sure all of our shipment arrives," said Cote.  "Making sure all the branding, the equipment, the sports medicine team's equipment, and all the merchandise and apparel the athletes receive, from their teams, the Olympic committee, it was four, five, six bags of gear for each athlete, and we put together a USA-specific weight room and assembled all of that equipment."

"Once everything was set up, we're managing stuff as the games went along, if the athletes need something, we make sure they have it," he said. "So just making sure the athletes had a great experience, and that they are able to perform when they need to perform."

"It was a unique situation," said Cote, working with another branch of the Olympic team. "I work with athletes on a daily basis, but these weren't the athletes that I work day-to-day with in Lake Placid.  But when one of them medals, it's huge."

US athletes won a total of eight medals in the freestyle ski and snowboard events.

"You see all the work that they put in, the sacrifices. I still understand, through the lens of the athletes that I work with, the work that it takes. And at the same time the athletes are normal people, they're cool to have regular conversation with most of them. But it's great to recognize their accomplishments when they are able to perform at the highest level and finally see a physical result of what they accomplished."

A native of Mashpee, Mass., Cote said "it's hard to pinpoint one specific experience," as the best part of having the opportunity to work at the games.  "For me personally, it was my first-ever time in Europe.   Even when I arrived in the airport in Italy, seeing all the Olympic signage 'Milan Cortina 2026', people receiving you there – 'Team USA Meet here' - to a four or five hour drive up through the mountains. It's very beautiful going up through the Italian Alps, and arriving in Livingo, it's a beautiful ski town, with mountains on the side going down to a valley of a town, and then just seeing all the people, all the different countries, the town decked out for the Olympics was awesome.  Everyone is decked out in their gear and stoked to be there.   And then working with the staff that I worked with, everybody was having a good time. We worked hard every day, sometimes suffered together and made sure everything got done, but the month went by very quickly."

"I think landing in the airport was the moment" that it hit Cote that he was a direct part of the Olympic Games.  "You step out of customs and they have the big Olympic rings right there, and then you meet up with the USA delegation. And I was like, 'Alright, I'm here!'"

While handling his duties at the Livigno site, Cote was also closely tracking the athletes he had trained in the sliding sports, who were competing more than four hours away in Cortina.

Among his sliding athletes "We had a bronze medalist in the women's singles (Ashley Farquarson in luge) which was awesome.   When I had one of our athletes go in the sliding events, I was able to drop everything and watch on TV or the I-pad, and everyone understood that."

"When one of the athletes won, you know, I started celebrating and everybody else celebrates too, because, you know, America just got a medal, and like we talked about seeing them put in the work day in and day out and really sacrificing a lot to make this dream happen for herself, and finally see it come through with a medal was awesome."

"We were close with our men's doubles team in the luge.  They were in first right up to the last 10 seconds of the run (before eventually finishing sixth – and just off the medal podium) – so I went through a whirlwind of emotions on that one, but I was very proud of the boys, it was their first Olympics, and they are young.  To do that well and be in that position for the two runs, to be on top of the world for that long, it definitely showcases what they are able to do. I was proud of everybody who made it there, that tried their hardest to get there."

Cote said it was a "unique experience, very grateful to do it. I hope everybody enjoyed watching the games, and are proud of America on that one. We certainly are, it was the most successful games from a medal count perspective."

The U.S. won a total 12 gold medals at the game, and 33 medals overall.

Cote majored in movement science with a minor in exercise science at Westfield State. He completed grad school at Springfield College while working at Full Plate Conditioning in Westfield before moving to Lake Placid to take on a strength and conditioning role at with the US Olympic and Paralympics Committee."  

"It was a new area, and I thought this was a pretty cool opportunity.  At the time it was a temporary position, and I figured I could try it for a year, and that was three years ago now."

Cote said he still draws on his experiences as a student-athlete at Westfield State.

"I learned a lot about the information that still applies to the work that I do here. I'm training the human body to perform at its highest level. So between doing the coursework and competing in track and field – while I wasn't the greatest athlete myself – the process of being an athlete, and training, and handling that lifestyle really helped me to gain a perspective of what these guys go through. Obviously, they are doing it at completely different level, but it allowed me to communicate with them about how to go through the training process and give them perspective."

"People had an impact on me at Westfield State, definitely the track coaches Obie (Sean O'Brien) and Marlee (Berg-Haryasz).  They gave me the instruction and the chance to experience being an athlete and compete at Westfield State, and Dr. Sal  (Amanda Salacinski), in movement science."

"Vail was a student of the sport and was up for learning new events to help the team," said Berg-Haryasz.  "He was a supporter to his teammates and brought positive energy.  He set goals for himself and was driven in all aspects of his life as an Owl."

When Berg-Haryasz had the Owls cross country team in northern New York for the NCAA regional last fall, "Vail invited the team to the Training Center for a tour.  Aside from being a great overall experience, getting to learn about the facilities and programming, seeing how they trained and sitting inside a bobsled/skeleton, seeing artifacts in their museum - it was special for our current student-atheletes to see a former student-athlete doing what he loves, explaining his role and showing us the facility, you can feel his pride."

Cote worked with another   WSU alumnus, Steve Czerniejewski at Full Plate where he "ended up doing an internship there with him through my Westfield State network, and that's where I cut my teeth coaching and practicing how to communicate," said Cote.  "He really helped give me a start to my career, and we continue to network still."

"I asked some of our long-term athletes about Vail, and they said he was without doubt the most positive coach they had worked with," said Czerniejewski.  "Vail stood out in his desire to grow and learn, and always looked for feedback … he developed his own goals and would execute an action plan to get better."

"I feel proud for him," added Czerniejewski. "A lot of coaches want to work with the highest caliber of athletes, Division I football, NFL, Olympics, but for many that goes unrealized.    I am vicariously proud of him.   To travel and support your elite athletes is an opportunity any strength coach would cherish."

"My experience at Westfield was great," said Cote. "Every moment that was had there, has led to this moment now."