My wife Marie and I met in high school on the track team, so running seems to have been a theme in our relationship and family from the very beginning. All 3 of our kids competed as distance runners at Whitney. Jenica (class of 2014), Logan (2017), and Ethan (2020) each ran both XC and track all four years. And they all outperformed anything I was ever able to do as a runner!

Running has been a big part of my life since high school back in the early 1980’s. I didn’t even know cross country was a sport til I was at Oakmont High School, but picked it up there and other than a couple lazy spells in my early adulthood, I’ve been running and training ever since. I competed at the college level a couple years, then in my 20’s took to the road circuit, running many 5K’s over the years. Although I was more of a speed guy and did better on the track (800m was my best race distance), I have to say as a coach I resonate more with cross country. That’s primarily because cross country is more conducive to the team element; it’s all distance runners all the time, and we can really build the culture.

I was never an elite runner, so I can’t bring an aura of stardom to this program. What I do feel is my signature is an approach that emphasizes patience, purpose, and pacing in training and racing, while paying respect to the math and physiology of the sport. Because I’m not naturally elite, much of my focus over the decades was on how to maximize potential, as well as develop strategy, so that I could outperform someone with more talent in a big race when it counted. And so through much of my 30’s and 40’s, I spent a lot of time studying what was effective and what was ineffective, not just for me personally, but from observation and conversation with other runners as well. Through this years-long process, I’ve found it interesting how many conventional trends seem to be counterproductive, while many less emphasized or even ignored practices have surfaced as very effective.

I don’t compete nearly as much as I used to, but I still run and train as a lifestyle. My attention is less on my own running and more on this incredible group of young runners I get to work with. Immersing myself into the Whitney Distance Team, training these runners, establishing a family culture, and building relationships, has become my biggest passion.

I was a Whitney runner myself and graduated in 2014. I continued to race in college, first for two years at American River College, then at Idaho State University for three years. Once I graduated with my Bachelor’s in 2019, I moved back home, got married, got a teaching job, and started coaching.

As a high school runner, I was convinced that the 1600 was my specialty. Even as a junior when I knew that I had more potential in the 3200, I still loved the excitement of those four fast laps. By the time my senior season rolled around, I finally accepted my “fate” and went all in with the 3200. In college, I specialized in the 5k & the 10k on the track. I ran my first marathon (CIM) in December 2021 and had a great experience. My husband and I welcomed our son, Jackson, in April 2023. My return to running has been challenging and fulfilling (just like motherhood). Next up: more marathons.

My favorite part of coaching is connecting with each runner, hearing what their goals are for themselves & their team, then watching it all come together on race day. Nothing beats seeing a happy group of runners after a great race. I love working with our Whitney Distance runners and I always look forward to each year of cross country and track.

I started Running for Whitney in Fall of 2018. I Graduated Summer of 2022 which was the end of my High School Career. I went to Sierra College which I currently am at to get my associates degree. The jobs I'm interested in are either EMS or Welding. After I graduate I will still be coaching.

During the first half of running in high school, I would have goals that I would make during my running season. My Freshman and Sophomore years were a really good and beginning start for understanding the next step in running. My Junior year was when COVID hit and it was hard to have any competition against other schools. I had the coaches and my teammates help during the long training throughout the time during Covid. It was also one of my biggest improvements in the 5k in Cross Country. It was also my biggest improvement in the 800, 1600, and 3200 in Track and Field. My Senior year was when I had to make it my best season out of the rest of my running in high school. My Senior Year for Cross Country was the best one yet and Track and Field was finishing off with a well career finish for my final race.

After finishing High School and going to Sierra College which didn't have a mens running program I came back and helped the team to run with them during practices and give them a lot of motivation during their race. It was also when I got offered to become assistant coach for the Cross Country team. I want to give the best of luck to the Whitney athletes on the team to have a great season.

I graduated from Whitney High School in 2025, having joined the Cross Country team in 2023. I had a great time as a runner in the program, and the experience truly cemented my passion for running into something that will likely be a lifelong constant.

Though I joined a wide range of sports during my middle to late childhood to varying degrees of success, my strength in each of these sports came from my apparently innate running ability. Thus, it was only logical that I attempt to develop this skill further as I entered high school. This turned out to be an excellent decision, perhaps one of the greatest choices of my life. I turned out to be quite a solid 1600m and 3200m runner (I managed to nab the 1600m school record during my senior year), but it was not the decent running times that were most beneficial to my development as a leader and a citizen; instead, it was the self confidence, patience, friendships, and sense of responsibility that was gifted by the program which proved to be of the greatest benefit to my future.

When it came time to focus on what I wanted for myself after receiving my high school diploma, it was these tangible and intangible benefits which helped me to most easily discover what I deemed most important in life. From this program, I discovered an intense interest in education, mentorship, and teaching, and that I wanted to give back to my community and country in any way I could by exploiting this budding interest within myself. I thus decided to prioritize my education and leadership training while continuing to challenge and compete with myself recreationally at the cost of being unable to run at the collegiate level. The family dynamic of Whitney Distance was a sealing aspect for me, the potential for assisting in the continuation of such a positive culture serving as the driving motivation to accept an assistant coaching position. Helping to give every runner a meaningful experience by joining the team in a coaching capacity is my goal.

Currently, I am a student at both CSU Sacramento and Sierra College, majoring in Civil Engineering. I am a contracted AFROTC Cadet with Detachment 088, with whom I am training to hopefully commission as a Civil Engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force. I still hold a strong love of running and training, and work my hardest to balance this time with my other commitments.