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Introducing the LAHS XC Coaching Team!!!!
Head Coach Varsity: Steph MacKenzie stephmack75@gmail.com Coach Steph has been running competitively for over 30 years! She has coached cross country and the distance track group at LAHS since 2016. She competed in track & cross country in Canada and New Zealand and currently competes for West Valley Track Club. Steph has a strong interest in exercise physiology and believes it is important for athletes to understand the science behind the workouts they are given. She believes in keeping the workouts interesting and loves exploring new trails, especially if they lead to the top of a mountain. She hopes to encourage everyone on the team to become lifelong runners. Head Coach JV/FS: Keegan Duesterhaus keegan@duesterhaus.net Coach Keegan has been running cross country since sophomore year of high school, the same year he and several friends restarted the track and field program at Spartanburg Day School. He knows the importance of practice and communication due to an experience with shin splints his first season that could have been avoided by making practice apriority and talking with his coach. He will repeatedly tell his athletes that practice makes permanent, so do it well and focus on practice. In college he competed as an NCAA DIII athlete in cross country, swimming, and both indoor and outdoor track & field. He recently graduated from Millikin University with honors and a degree in philosophy; his favorite response to the question of what you do with a degree in philosophy is: whatever you want, obviously. Strength & Conditioning Coach: Bregje Lawlor lawlorbregje@gmail.com Coach Bregje, Coach B for short, is originally from Holland but she lived in Ireland for many years too. She moved to America just over 2 years ago. She is a Physical Therapist and worked with children for 15 years in Ireland. She will be taking charge of the core workout that the kids do everyday to train and strengthen their running muscles and she will be working on specific exercises to prevent injury. Coach B assisted the Cross Country team last year and was part of the Track and Field team. Coach B was in High School in London where she did not run but was part of the Swim Team. Varsity Assistant Coach: Andrew Zaeske azaeske@gmail.com Coach Andrew is a track and cross country nut - so much so that he'll watch meets where he doesn't know any of the competitors. He's been coaching with LAHS for four years in various roles for both XC and Track, and he previously coached youth athletes from ages 8 to 18 in USATF XC and Track. While he's read piles of training philosophy and theory, he likes to apply that practically to the individual athletes to help them reach their goals while avoiding injury. He can be commonly heard shouting out running form and economy improvements. He ran cross country and track in high school and early college. |
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