Nike Smoky Mountain Running Camp

Prior to Boston University, Coach Spangler led the University of Florida Women’s Cross Country team to an SEC Championship, becoming the first coach in school history to win a league title in their debut season. Coach Spangler spent almost a decade coaching at the Virginia Military Academy, where he was recognized as the Big South Conference Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year, and prior to VMI, began his college coaching career at Florida State University.

Coach Spangler graduated from the University of Alabama, where he was a two-time NCAA XC Qualifier, as well as being named an All-NCAA South Region and All-SEC honoree for the Crimson Tide. Coach Spangler also holds a master’s degree in Sports Management from Florida State University.

His middle school teams have won numerous top rated meets in Georgia and most recently have been runner up in the club division of the Georgia state meet the last two years, along with winning the Atlanta Track Club Wingfoot meet.

He is still an avid runner and races some distance from 50k to 5k each month

In his first year at Auburn, Kindt coached Joyce Kimeli to her first SEC Outdoor title as she won the 3000m Steeplechase, the first in program history. Along with Presley Weems, the two combined for a pair of All-America honors outdoors. Weems broke three school records in 2022, setting Auburn marks indoors and outdoors at 800m along with the indoor mile.

Under his direction, Kindt led the USM women's program to a pair of runner-up finishes at the Conference USA cross country championships in 2017 and 2019, while his distance program was instrumental in the program's first-ever Women's Indoor Conference USA Championship in 2020. The Golden Eagles' distance medley relay won the 2020 CUSA title, the first indoor distance conference championship in program history.

In seven seasons overseeing the women's distance program, between cross country and indoor and outdoor seasons, Kindt coached six first team all-conference performers along with 17 second team selections and 17 that were named to the third team. Academically, each of his cross country teams were USTFCCCA All-Academic Team recipients.

Prior to Southern Miss, Kindt served as assistant coach at the University of North Florida for two years. While at UNF, Kindt helped with the development of the women's A-Sun cross country runner up in 2012 and distance medley indoor relay champion in 2014 while assisting with the men's third-place finish at the 2013 A-Sun Indoor Track Championship.

Kindt began his career at the University of Florida, serving as a volunteer assistant coach for the cross country and track programs from 2010-12. Kindt assisted with the training and development of the distance athletes.

The Orlando, Florida, native graduated from the University of Florida in 2010. Kindt was a four-year letter-winner with the cross country and track and field programs at Florida running a wide range of distance events, including the 10,000m, 5000m, 3000m and 1500m.

The Virginia distance runners put together an impressive campaign which saw many highlights throughout the year including a spectacular team performance at Boston University’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational. Five Cavalier milers (Conor Murphy, Gary Martin, Wes Porter, Nate Mountain, James Donahue) broke the prestigious four-minute barrier on the same day. Of those two, Conor Murphy broke a 41-year-old Virginia record running 3:55.24 while Gary Martin set a Virginia freshman record with his time of 3:56.83. The UVA milers would go on to put five milers (Wes Porter, James Donahue, Jack Eliason, Nate Mountain and Gary Martin) through to the field of 10 in the finals at the ACC Championships. Virginia took 13 points from the event with Porter leading the Hoos with his third-place finish.

“I’m very excited by the opportunity to be the Director of the Nike Smoky Mountain Running Camp. I began my college coaching career in the mountains of North Carolina and to return to lead this renowned camp is truly special,” says Thomas. “Asheville is an outstanding base and I’m looking forward to working with my staff and all of the campers coming to Asheville to provide a great experience full of individual development and improvement for each runner.”

Coach Thomas has a strong connection to the North Carolina running community and brings his years of cross country and distance running knowledge, experience, and success in coaching student-athletes, to the Nike Smoky Mountain Running Camp, a camp with a long tradition and deep connection to Nike Running and the coaching philosophy of legendary Oregon coach, the late Bill Bowerman.

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Career Accolades

• NCAA individual XC champion (2022)
• Eight-time All-American
• USTFCCCA National Men's XC Athlete of the Year (2022)
• USTFCCCA National Men's XC Scholar-Athlete of the Year (2022)
• CoSIDA Academic All-America third team (2022)
• Two-time European under-23 XC champion (2021, 2022)
• U.K. under-23 10,000 record holder
• European and U.K. under-20 10,000 record-holder
• Three-time USTFCCCA West Region XC Athlete of the Year (2020-21, 2021, 2022)
• Two-time West Region XC team champions (2021, 2022)
• Two-time Pac-12 XC Athlete of the Year (2021, 2022)
• Two-time Pac-12 XC individual champion (2021, 2022)
• Two-time Pac-12 10,000-meter champion (2021, 2022)
• Two-time Pac-12 XC team champions (2020-21, 2022)
• Pac-12 XC Freshman of the Year (2020-21)
• Three-time All-Pac-12 XC first team (2020-21, 2021, 2022)
• USTFCCCA National XC Athlete of the Week (Oct. 31, 2022)
• Two-time All-West Region XC (2021, 2022)
• Two-time Pac-12 Men's Track Athlete of the Week (April 21, 2021; May 3, 2022)
• Stanford Athletics Board Bob Murphy Award winner for best moment of the year in Stanford Athletics (2023)
• Stanford Athletics Board Biff Hoffman Award winner (2023)
• Stanford Athletics Board Block 'S' Outstanding Freshman
• CoSIDA District 8 All-Academic team for T&F/XC (2022)
• Five-time USTFCCCA All-Academic (XC 2020-21, 2021, 2022; T&F 2021, 2022)
• Four-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll (XC 2021; T&F 2021, winter 2022, 2023; spring 2022)

Price ran and studied at Duke University (‘18), leaving with 6x All-American honors as well as a Masters in Management Studies at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business (‘19). She is also a mentor to the next generation of female athletes and advocates for athlete mental health. Maddy is training and coaching in Durham, North Carolina in hopes of competing in the upcoming World Championships this summer in Budapest and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Canadian Olympic Link: https://olympic.ca/team-canada/maddy-price/

Title of Talk:

"Embracing the Journey: From Uncertainty to the Olympic Final"

Coached school record holder in men's javelin throw Simon Haake, a former walk-on student athlete who qualified twice for the NCAA Division I East Preliminary Round (top 48). He finished 21st in 2011. Before Asheville, Williams coached at Watauga High School. Watauga captured three straight state girls’ outdoors titles and won the 1997 girls’ indoor championship. Former Watauga athletes whose careers Williams influenced achieved noteworthy success post high school: Brenda Taylor: 2001 NCAA 400mH Champion (Harvard); 7^th place for team USA in the 2004 Athens Olympics-set PR 53.36 at the USOT-time was #5 in the world. Taylor also earned a bronze medal in the U.S. 4x400m at the 2003 World Indoor Championships. Williams created her post collegiate strength program.

Lindsay Taylor: For Watauga HS, high jumped 5-11.5 PR, finished 2nd at USATF Junior Nationals, 4th at Pan Am Junior Championships-ranked 3rd in the U.S. in 1997 by Track & Field News. In college (Brown) was 2x heptathlon qualifier at NCAA championships.

Abraham Morlu: Competed for Liberia on 4x100m relay team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 2001/2003 World Championships.

Williams is a 2004 graduate of Appalachian State with a B.S. in Health Promotion, Exercise Science and Sociology.

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A native of Oswego, New York, Eliza participated in cross country, equestrian and track. Her love of sports drove her to attend King University, where she received a Bachelor of Science in athletic training. After completing her undergraduate education, she attended Life University, where she received her Master of Science in sports nutrition.

An avid runner, Eliza can often be found running around the Asheville area or competing in a local race. In her free time, she also enjoys exploring the beautiful western North Carolina landscape, be it on foot, mountain bike or horseback.

Coach Morse has coached several middle school state champion cross country teams & individuals in track. Her own daughters were part of the CHS girl’s cross country team that had top 10 State finishes in 2014 & 2015. One of them placed sixth as an individual at the FHSAA 3A State Meet in 2015. She has been on staff at the Nike Smoky Mountain Running camps every summer since 2010, along with Assistant Coach Ed Morse. Several FGC cross-country athletes also assisted at the Nike SMRC in 2022.

She graduated from the University of North Florida, and from Eastern Oklahoma State College, helping them to NJCAA National Championships in 1982-84, and NAIA Top 10 cross country National Championship teams. In high school, she placed 2nd at the Oklahoma State Meet in the girl’s mile run in 1982.

During his time in Boston, Jakubek coached seven Patriot League champions incuding Andrea Claeson who qualified for the 2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships. Jakubek also helped lead the women's cross country tream to back-to-back Patriot League Championship Titles in 2019 and 2020.

A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Jakubek earned a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University in 2020.

His quest to continually challenge himself led him in 2016 to tackle the 100-mile distance. Saft completed the Grindstone 100-mile race on his way to winning the Beast Series (3 50k's, 100-miler, 50-miler, & a 100k during that year). In 2019, Saft had the honor of running the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) and in 2021 the fabled Hardrock 100. This year, Saft hopes to complete the Grand Slam of Ultra Running by racing The Western States 100 in June, the Vermont 100 in July, the Leadville 100 in August, & the Wasatch 100 in September.

Saft is the father of Keagan (16) & Ambrin (12) and the husband to Dr. Beth Saft. He is a coach to Rugby Middle & West Henderson High Schoolers as well as 90+ adults that race 5k to 200+ miles.

Before UNC Asheville, Puett served as an assistant coach at Western Carolina University for three years. The Alabama native coached 13 All-Conference performers and 6 Southern Conference champions during his tenure. He helped lead the Catamount programs to five different league championships.

Puett graduated from Western Carolina in 2006 with an undergraduate degree in Business Administration. He then earned his master's in Physical Education from WCU in 2009. Adam has a strength and conditioning certification through the USTFCCCA.

Adam enjoyed an outstanding running career at Western Carolina University. He was the 2005 Western Carolina University Male Athlete of the Year and 2006 Southern Conference Outdoor Performer of the Year. Puett earned All-Conference honors three times in cross country and 11 times in indoor and outdoor track. He was a five-time Southern Conference champion in indoor and outdoor track plus a four-time NCAA outdoor regional qualifier in the 1500 meter. In 2022 Adam was selected to be a part of the Southern Conference 100^th
Anniversary Team for both Cross Country and Track and Field.

Coach SPO keeps coming back to SMRC for the beautiful training in Asheville, to continue his own learning from the accomplished staff, and to help share his experiences competing at the college level. As well, he comes back to prove that he and Coach Cowart can put together a 4x4 that terrifies the collegiate athletes.

Off the course, Ricketts is a professional sports broadcaster, serving as the Play-by-Play Voice for Florida International University on ESPN+, and calling college baseball, volleyball, and track on ACC Network Extra for the University of Miami. Ricketts has also been a part of MLS, USL, and NWSL soccer coverage, and will call MLS NEXT Pro games on Apple TV+ beginning in the spring of 2023. He began his broadcasting career as a sports anchor at WECT/FOX Wilmington, North Carolina where he earned first place in Sports Reporting at the annual RTDNAC Awards, honoring broadcast journalism throughout the Carolinas, after a two year stint as the voice of Miami women's basketball on WVUM 90.5 FM.

Ricketts is also the head coach of Riviera Preparatory School in Miami, where he has guided the Bulldogs from a roster of three athletes when he began to FHSAA State Championship appearances in three of the last four seasons. He has attended Nike Smoky Mountain Running Camp since 2011 prior to his freshman year at Miami.