About
High Peaks Elite is extremely proud of the abilities and accomplishments of the team of coaches affiliated with our mission. Our camp has an athlete-to-coach ratio of 4:1, with many regional, as well as national-level coaches. Several nationally known clinicians will conduct clinics on various training methods, physiology of endurance training, injury prevention and treatment, as well as leading discussions on various aspects of the lifestyles of the emerging elite athlete.
Lauren Burke
Fairport High School graduate in 2011 where she was a school record holder outdoors in the 200, 400, 4 x 400 relay as well as the 4 x 800 relay. Indoor Section V record holder in the 4 x 400 relay, 4 x 800 relay and Distance Medley relays. Outdoor Section V record holder in the 4 x 800 relay. Lauren is currently completing a Doctor of Pharmacy program at the University of Rhode Island, Class of 2017.
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Kathy Champagne
Kathy has been coaching at camp since the summer of 2009. Kathy’s philosophy is that young runners need to develop over time. While providing great coaching practices, true success is in the hands of the athlete and how willing they are to do the day to day mundane tasks to take them from good to great. |
Kyle Dacey
5K - 16:32 10K - 35:32 1/2 Marathon - 1:18 Marathon - 3:01 Currently competes year round in road/xc races for the Roadkill Racing club team. Two time Chicago Marathon finisher and has a goal of running in all 6 Marathon Majors beside Chicago; NYC, Boston, Berlin, Tokyo, London are next on his list. Has been a part of the coaching team at High Peaks Elite Distance Camp since 2013. Likes hiking, eating cereal, coaching athletes to their fullest potential, watching Netflix, running on trails and the canal path, and enjoying a hearty breakfast with Coach Guido at Rikki's in Fairport. |
Dr. Jack Daniels
The legendary coach: Among recreational runners, Jack Daniels is best known as the author of Daniels' Running Formula. This how-to book is chock-a-block with training schedules for distances from 800 meters to the marathon, based on Daniels' decades of research in exercise science. Dr. Daniels coached at the State University of New York at Cortland for more than 15 years; during his time there, the women's team won one track and seven cross country Division III national titles. More recently, Daniels coached at Brevard College in North Carolina until 2012 and since accepted the position at Wells College in Aurora, NY.
Jack was a silver and bronze medalist in two Olympics competing in the Modern Pentathlon. He was also the High Altitude Director of the USATF facility in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has been a clinician at High Peaks Elite Distance Camp at the US Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid for more than 35 camps since the early 1990s. He is also a regular clinician at Jim Ryan’s running camps. Daniels has guided the training of dozens of elite runners over the years including many Olympians, most recently Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who competed at the Bejiing Olympics and Jeff Eggelston at the World Track & Field Championships as American’s top marathon finisher in Moscow in 2013. |
Katie DeRusso
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Christy Finke
Christy Finke is currently the Varsity Girls' Cross-Country Coach at Fairport, where she also teaches sixth grade. She is a Fairport alum, and enjoyed attending camps at the OTC while running cross-country and track in high school. She was a high school All American while competing Indoors. She later went on to run for Geneseo and helped the team win the NCAA Championship in 2005 and was an Indoor track All American.
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Jesse Garn
Jesse attended High Peaks camp at the USOTC while in high school and is now affiliated with High Peaks, as well as Aim High Running Camp. Philosophy - "Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent" - Calvin Coolidge
Jesse Attended Marcellus High School and Binghamton University. Jesse trained from a 4:55 miler in high school to a 4 flat miler now, 2:15 800 runner to a 1:48 800 and school record holder.
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Rick Guido
Email: HighPeaksElite@gmail.com |
Ross HunkovicCoach Hunkovic currently teaches Social Studies at Victor High School, where he is the head varsity boys track & field coach. He ran cross country and track for hall-of-fame coach, Mike Woods at SUNY Geneseo ['02-07], and is the SUNY Geneseo school record holder for 1500m [3:49.3].
As a teammate of Dan Moore and Christy Finke at SUNY Geneseo, they won numerous SUNY Championships and qualified for a number of D III NCAA Championships. His coaching Philosophy: "I believe that coaching should be an extension of the education students learn in the classroom, and we should strive to develop each runner physically, psychologically, ethically and socially." |
Chad Maloy
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Dan Moore
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Belinda O'Brien
Coach Belinda O'Brien began her coaching career as Boys JV coach for Fairport. In 2001 she began as head coach for Victor High School, coaching both boys and girls. Both boys and girls were sectional winners, and several state champions came along the way in addition to one Footlocker Finalist. While coaching Victor, the boys overall record was 282 wins, 13 losses. The girls 267 wins and 23 losses. Coach O'Brien was Coach of the Year several times for the Finger Lakes League and in the Monroe County League. She has been inducted into the Greater Rochester Running Club Hall of Fame as well as the Section V Cross Country Hall of Fame. Her own running accomplishments include being on the USATF Masters national winning team for Genesee Valley Harriers and running many marathons numerous times; Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Buffalo, Disney, Columbus and ultra marathons such as the JFK 50 Miler and the Hat Run, where she placed overall as winning her age group.
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Meghan McCormick
I am excited to come back to camp as a Mentor Coach and help give athletes the same kind of camp experience that I had! |
Mike Napierala
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Jordyn Naylon
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Dr. Mike Reinhardt
Dr. Mike Reihardt is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, New York Chiropractic College and a veteran of the United States Air Force. During his graduate studies, he was intrigued by the complexity of the muscular system. This led him to his current expertise in treating the many soft tissue injuries that occur in runners. Using a combination of Active Release Techniques, physical therapy modalities and instrument-assisted soft tissue manipulation, his primary goal is to get athletes back to running quickly and safely. Identifying the cause of the injury and guiding runners to train safely and effectively is something he takes great pride in doing.
Dr. Reinhardt has qualified for both the Boston and New York City Marathons and is an Ironman Lake Placid Finisher. Dr. Reinhardt also coached the Harley School distance runners [2015] and helped them win the Section V Class D, T & F Championship in 2015. He maintains a private practice in Rochester, NY where he lives with his wife and daughter. |
Angela Ryck
Angela is a 2009 graduate of Fairport High School, where she was a part of the Section V record-setting 4 x 800m relay team as well as the 4 x 400m relay & DMR Section V record setting Indoor Section V records. A 6-year member of both the Fairport Cross Country and Track & Field teams, Angela helped lead Fairport track to numerous Section V titles, and was voted MVP at the 2008 Section V Indoor Track Championships
Angela ran cross country and track at the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, where she earned entry into the Monogram Club, and was a part of the 2013 Indoor Track Big East Champion team. Primarily a mid-distance runner in the past, Angela is now using the remainder of her NCAA cross country eligibility competing for George Washington University Colonials, her 1st place finish at the Catholic Invitational earned her “Performer of the Week” for the Atlantic 10 Conference. Angela has played the violin for 18 years and was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra. She brings her violin to camp each summer and always enjoys sharing her music with the athletes and other coaches. |
Jenn Spitzer
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Richard L. Wolfe, Ph.D.
As a sports psychologist I have had the opportunity to work with elite level athletes for over 35 years. While I tend to focus on psychological factors, such as attention, concentration, anxiety, and motivation, my experience has taught me that the foundation of most sports, and especially running, is the sheer physical enjoyment of the activity. Therefore, my work with athletes often involves helping them re-connect with the physical (and psychological) experience of their sport and “disconnect“ from the negative effect of pressures, (e.g., unrealistic expectations, anticipatory anxiety) that normally accompany athletic success.
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Mike Woods
Head coach, Mike Woods, is in his 22nd year as the mentor for the men's and women's cross country teams at SUNY Geneseo. One of the nation's most decorated distance coaches, Woods has coached numerous national champions and All-Americans during his tenure with the Knights, while having been a part of 47 state University of New York Athletic Conference [SUNYAC] Championships, and garnering a total of 26 SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors.
Woods led the 2005 women's cross country team to the first team national championship in insitution history, and was named the NCAA Division III Women's Coach of the Year for his efforts. A 20-time SUNYAC Cross Country Coach of the Year [10 men, 10 women], he has guided 23 SUNYAC Championship teams [12 women, 11 men], while 13 of his Knights have run to 18 SUNYAC individual Championships and 59 of his runners have been inducted into the SUNYAC Cross Country Hall of Fame. Under his tutelage, the women won an unprecedented 10-straight SUNYAC titles from 2000-09. The men won a string of six from 2000-06. Woods has served as the head coach for the Geneseo track & field programs for 12 years until 2004, when he started focusing solely on the distance runners as an assistant coach. As head coach, he led the Knights to seven indoor titles [three men, four women], along with four outdoor championships [3 women, 1 men]. All told, a total of 51 track & field/cross country competitors have combined for 124 All American certificates since Woods has been a part of the team. He has also been part of 25 women's and 22 men's SUNYAC Championships. During the 2002-'03 academic year, Woods led Geneseo to an unprecedented sweep of all six SUNYAC titles in cross country and track & field, before also helping the Knights repeat the feat three years later in 2005-06. Prior to coming on board at Geneseo, Woods taught English at nearby York Central High School. He also coached boys and girls cross country teams for 21 years, compiling a dual meet record of 219-24, as well as the track & field teams for 20 years, running up a dual-meet mark of 208-36. In 2001, Woods was elected to the Section V Cross Country Hall of Fame. |