♦ School(s) Attended: 1 of original 120 students to graduate from CAL; Northeast Missouri State; graduated from Iowa
♦ Sport(s) Played: Cross country & track at NE Missouri State
♦ Church: New Life Church
♦ Occupation: Marketing & IT for Pettit Environmental
♦ Family: Wife, Sheri; Daughter, Dria 

How did you come to CAL? I was a youth pastor and moved to Louisville 8 years ago looking for a job. Having gone to CAL, we wanted our daughter to go here. It just so happened they were in need of a track coach.

When did you start running and why? I started running in 8th grade. I had played other sports and during those sports people noticed how fast I ran. I soon realized that winning races was more fun than sitting on the bench. I guess you could say my sport found me.

How has running impacted your relationship with Jesus? I have always viewed running as an act of worship. I like to run with people, but I also like to run by myself. It is my quiet time with God.

In what ways do you use running to teach your athletes about Jesus? I physically run with them. It gives us time to share and talk to each other about God and what’s going on in their lives. We have spent a lot of miles together. I try to emphasize service. The Harry Greschel Invitational was a way for us to serve others in our community. What I remember most about running are the relationships I have built along the way.

How do you create a team-like atmosphere with a sport that requires so many individual events? It’s tough to do with track because it is extremely diverse. I encourage the kids to participate in all events to gain appreciation for what their teammates do. We just finished our inter-squad meet with the middle school and the West End School (a free, private, college-prep middle school for at-risk young men in downtown Louisville). We split into 3 equally divided teams for the meet and had a cookout afterwards. It was a great teambuilding experience.

What is the most memorable moment you’ve had coaching at CAL thus far? Individually, it was having 2 state champs—Sadie Stone & Jenna Rogers. From a team standpoint, it was in 2007 when the boys were state runner-ups in cross country and in 2009, my daughter’s senior year, when our girls placed 3rd at state in cross country. We were only 1 point from 2nd place. We have a very tough region. Typically the top 4 teams from our region place 1-4 at state.