Coaches from Season 1
Learn from some of the best high school coaches in America. Every coach featured in the 2014-15 season has coached both teams and individuals that have been successful not only in their state, but on the national stage as well. We’re proud to have such a stellar group of coaches willing to share their training with us.
Greg Weich – Broomfield HS (Colorado)
Greg Weich has served as the head coach at both Smoky Hill High School and Broomfield High school in Colorado. At Smoky Hill, Weich amassed three state championships, five FootLocker finalists, including 2003 national champion Katelyn Kaltenbach, and the 2004 Nike Team Nationals runner-up girls team. Notably not among his five FootLocker finalists is Brent Vaughn, who ran 8:45 for 3200m.
At Broomfield High School, Weich coached his boys team to the 2013 Colorado State Cross Country championship and the 3200m relay state championship.
Adam Kedge – Albuquerque Academy (New Mexico)
Adam Kedge is the boys and girls head cross country coach and boys head track coach at Albuquerque Academy in Albuquerque, NM. Kedge’s teams have won 20 New Mexico State titles in the past 18 years. Since the spring of 1999, Kedge’s Academy Chargers have finished no lower than 3rd place at the state track or cross-country championships, for a total of 32 state trophies in 15 years.
Kedge’s cross-country team has been ranked as high #1 nationally by The Harrier High School Cross Country Report. The Chargers have competed in five Nike Cross Nationals event held annually in Portland Oregon. Academy harriers have been Foot Locker, USATF, and Nike Cross All-Americans. In track Kedge has coached two different national record holders and numerous individual state champs. In 2011 Kedge was named the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Boys National Cross-Country Coach of the Year.
Dr. Jeff Messer – Desert Vista HS (Arizona)
From 2006-2012, Dr. Messer served as co-head coach for cross-country and assistant coach (distance) for track-&-field at Xavier College Preparatory, Phoenix, Arizona. The Xavier College Preparatory cross-country program has earned six consecutive (2007-2012) Arizona high school girls’ state cross-country championships. During the three-year period from 2010-2012, the Xavier College Preparatory cross-country program concluded the associated cross-country seasons ranked 22nd, 8th, and 21st in the United States. During the 2012 Arizona high school track-&-field season, Xavier College Preparatory had twelve (12) student-athletes average 5:13 for the 1,600-meter distance.
In February, 2013, Dr. Messer began to serve as head coach for girls’ cross-country and assistant coach (girls’ distance) for track-&-field at Desert Vista High School, Phoenix, Arizona. The Desert Vista High School cross-country program earned the 2013 Arizona high school girls’ state cross-country championship. In late-May 2014, the Desert Vista High School girl’s distance program was ranked by MileSplit US as one of only two programs in the United States with “top ten” groups in each of the 800-m, 1,600-m, and 3,200-m events.
Mark Wieczorek – Gig Harbor HS (Washington)
Mark Wieczorek is the head coach at Gig Harbor High School in Washington. In his first year of coaching, Wieczorek coached the Gig Harbor boys to a Washington 4A state cross country title, a US #10 ranking, and the first berth to Nike Cross Nationals in school history. In December of 2013, his Gig Harbor boys won the Nike Cross National meet by a margin of 28 points.
In his own running, Wieczorek is the owner of a 1:45.36 800m best, and a two-time US Outdoor finalist.
Timo Mostert – American Fork HS (Utah)
Coach Timo Mostert has coached the Boys Cross Country Team at American Fork High School since 1998 after being at Murray High for 10 years. His American Fork boys teams have competed at the State Championships every year he has coached, including 5 State Championships,4 Runner-up trophies, 12 top 5 finishes, and 8 Region Championships.They have been ranked 8 of the past 10 years in the Southwest United States. His 2009 -2013 teams all won the NXN Southwest Regionals, placing 8th, 8th, 6th, 2nd, and 7th at Nike Cross Nationals. He has coached 14 individual State Champions in Cross-Country, the 800 meter run, the 1600m run, the 3200 meter run, and the Javelin.
Micah Porter – D’Evelyn HS (Colorado)
Micah Porter is entering his 19th year as the head Boy’s Cross-Country and Track & Field Coach at D’Evelyn High School, a school of just under 630 students. Coach Porter has produced three State Championship teams, 6 individual State Champions, and two Footlocker finalists, one finishing 4th in 2004. Micah has been Colorado’s State Coach of the Year in both Cross-Country and Track & Field.
On the Track, Coach Porter has been blessed to guide over 20 State Champions in a variety of distance events. Porter’s relay teams have broken 8:00 minutes 16 times and hold the Colorado 3A State record at 7:53.53 and the 4A State record at 7:48.60. And with a different team, D’Evelyn’s school record was run at Nike Outdoor Nationals in a time of 7:43.64 as his team finished 4th, earning All-American honors.
Rick Rothman – Spanish River HS (Florida)
Coach Rick Rothman has coached for a total of 38 years. His teams have won 151 major championships, including Seven State Championships, and finished runner-up in 45 other major championships. He has a compiled record of 7968-2183 for a 78.5% winning percentage-multi-team meet record (this is teams beat versus teams that beat us, in large meet competition) and has 303 meet wins. His record includes 7 State Titles in Girls Cross Country; two runner-up in girls and boys Cross Country; 12 Region titles, and 25 District titles. His athletes have received over 1000 Post -season honors in Cross Country, through the 2013 season. He has been selected Coach-of-the-Year 117 times, including State Girls Cross Country Coach-of-the-Year in 1999 2002, and 2003 along with the Florida Track and Field Hall-of-Fame State Girls Cross Country Coach of the year in 2009. He has been a Finalist for the NHSACA National Coach of-the-year in 2006 and again, this year, in 2012,being named National Coach-of-the-year for Girls Cross Country.
Patrick McHugh – North Shore Country Day School (Illinois)
Patrick McHugh has coached at Culver Academies, Friends Central School in Philadelphia, Amherst College, and North Shore Country Day School. In that time, he has developed 100’s of all-conference runners, a bunch of all-state athletes, and two who have made US Teams — Frances Lord, FCS ’92; Georgetown ’96, and Peter Callahan; North Shore ’09; Princeton ’13; currently at the University of New Mexico. He prides himself on overcoming training obstacles. The greatest lesson he has learned in the five decades he has been in the sport is that everyone is different. There is no one perfect plan for all. That he coaches people not runners.
Doug Soles – Great Oak HS (California)
Doug is entering his 15th season as a head cross country & track coach in Southern California.
He has led his Girls’ XC teams to 7 league titles in the first 10 years of the school, including 6 straight from 2008-2013. His girls have qualified to CIF all 10 years, making CIF Finals 9 out of those 10 times. The girls’ team has won four CIF Southern Section Division 1 XC Titles (09, 10, 12, 13), as well as State Runner up in 2009, and Division 1 State Championships in 2010, 2012, & 2013. His boy’s teams have won 3 league titles and are rapidly improving each year. His combined cross country program usually has around 180 athletes in it, with various training groups and levels. Coach Soles was named the California Coaches Association Girls Cross Country Coach of the year for 2012.
His girls’ track program has 4 league titles in the school’s short history as well. He has consistently built some of the largest and most competitive track teams in the country, making cuts to around 300 athletes each season. This past track season he had 3 girls break 4:50 for the 1600 in the same race, going 4:44, 4:45, and 4:48! His girls 4×1600 team ran 20:09 in 2013. His boys relay teams also put up some amazing numbers in 2013; 4×800 – 7:42, 4×1600 – 17:21, DMR – 10:07. His boy’s teams have won 2 Mt. SAC Relays titles in track (2012 & 2014). His boys won their first league title as well as their first CIF SS Division 1 track title in 2013. This season his girls averaged 10:35 for his top 5 in the 3200 to win the Postal Nationals, and his boys averaged 9:24. In 2013 he coached 47 girls under 6:00 for 1600, and 40 boys under 5:00.
Eric Heintz – Marist HS (Georgia)
Eric Heintz the Head Cross Country coach and Track and Field coach at Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia. Under his tutelage every Marist cross country team has finished 4th or higher at the state cross country championships since 2006. He has won eleven boys’ and girls’ state championships in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 in class AAAA as a AA sized school playing up two classifications in addition to 16 region championships in his career. Several of his teams have finished as the top team in Georgia regardless of classification or school size. He contributed to four team state championships in track and field as the distance coach is 2012 and 2013. He has also coached twelve individual state champions and seven state runners-up. In cross country alone, Coach Heintz has coached 34 All-State qualifiers and 80 All-Region qualifiers in eight years.
Coach Heintz has been named “Coach of the Year” 28 times by various organizations. Coach Heintz is also actively involved in the Atlanta Track Club as a former board member, team coordinator, and a current masters’ track and field coach. He was also the director of the War Eagle Running Camp for middle school runners and a staff coach for Coach Benson’s Smoky Mountain Running Camp in Asheville, North Carolina.
James DeMarco – Blacksburg HS (Virginia)
James DeMarco coaches at Blacksburg High School in Blacksburg, VA, a high school that has 1100 students and has won 21 state championships in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field in the time DeMarco has been there (20 as head coach). He started coaching the girls cross country team in 2005 and they have won six state championships of the nine years and the other three years were second. They have qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals in 2009 and 2013 as a team and had an individual qualify in 2008. They were the smallest public school to qualify in 2009 (6th) and 2013 (21st) on the girls side. DeMarco took over the boys program in 2006 that had not qualified for the state meet the previous three years (even regionals one of those years). The team made it that first year to the state meet and finished sixth. The next few years they finished fifth, second, and then won the next four years in a row. In 2013 they finish 4th. In 2012 the boys qualified for the Nike Cross Country Nationals (10th).
Blaksburg broke the USA National High School girls DMR record in 2010 and also won the New Balance Outdoor National title (11:31.26). The same team won the Penn Relays DMR Championship of America division and broke the meet record in 2010. The Blacksburg boys ran 5th fastest 4×800 in US history in indoor in 2014 (7:41.95). Blackburg won national titles in boys indoor 4xmile (2010 – Nike Indoor Nationals), Girls DMR outdoor (2010), Girls 4xmile 2014 (New Balance Indoor Nationals). Coach DeMarco has coached 15 athletes to 41 state titles in track and four state cross country champions (two boys and two girls).