The Cavalier Distance Running Camp

The Staff of the Cavalier Distance Running Camp has been hand selected to provide you with great leadership and expertise during your stay.  The staff includes coaches with multiple state and national champions, both at the high school and collegiate level.  The staff has also earned multi Hall of Fame inductees at numerous colleges across the country, as well as regional and state coach of the year awards... from NCAA, NAIA, USATF certified, to local high school coaches, all with one goal in mind- to provide you with a high caliber distance running camp in a Christ-centered environment!

To be announced soon...

Coach Larios is the head cross country and track coach at Montreat College.  Larios enjoys developing a variety of distance running talent and has been considered a great communicator and motivator by many of his athletes and assistant coaches.  While at Warner Southern College (FL), his teams earned multiple conference and regional track and cross country championships.  He's been named NAIA Regional Coach of the Year nine different times, including 2003 NAIA MONDO Southeast Regional Cross Country Coach of the Year. 

Larios' training philosophy is progressive and specific to the race's demands.  In his six years at Warner University, in Lake Wales, FL, his Runnin' Royals produced two national champions, two national runner ups, and 23 All-American accolades, including numerous cross country, indoor, and outdoor track national qualifiers.  His teams have always been very active in the community, giving time to organizations like Habitat for Humanity, serving the elderly, and other church activities.

In two years at the helm of the Montreat's programs, Larios' teams have begun to make a mark on the conference and national level; the Cavaliers have qualified athletes for the NAIA cross country and track championships sixteen different times.  Last spring, Montreat brought home two Top-20 finishes in the marathon championshps when Ben Hall (2:38) and Arilicia Adkins (3:19) made school history by becoming the first two Cavaliers to successfully compete at the NAIA Track & Field Championships.  

Coach Larios and his wife Heather enjoy building relationships with his teams by attending church together and providing fellowship opportunities at the Larios home many times throughout the season. 

Coach Dawson is one of the most elusively successful cross country coaches in the country.  He's successfully coached in four different decades, beginning his collegiate coaching at West Virginia State in 1967.  He's been inducted into the West Virginia State Athletic Hall of Fame, as well as Morehead State University's Hall of Fame, where he went on to lead his track teams to OVC titles.  For his contributions to track & field, MSU went on to rename its track facility in Dawson's honor. 

In addition, he went on to start a cross country program at Warner Southern College in 1993, taking those teams to multiple national championships.  He recently retired from Florida Southern College, where his teams won ten consecutive conference titles and competed at the NCAA championships numerous times.  He is also a member of the FSC Athletic Hall of Fame.  Coach Dawson gives God and his supporting wife, Roberta, all the credit for his coaching success. 

Coach Hopfe has had as much recent high school and college coaching success as anyone in the Sunshine State.  He and his wife, Cynthia, are strong Christian leaders, and have both competed at the post-collegiate level.  In 1988, Hopfe earned the right to compete for the United States in the Moscow Marathon. 

He's coached great high school runners such as multiple state champions Sammy Vazquez and Justin Harbor, both of Flagler Palm Coast, Florida.  His FPCHS teams won the 2001 and 2002 FHSAA boys cross country state titles, earning Hopfe two FHSAA Coach of the Year awards.  He currently serves as the assistant cross country and track & field coach at Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach, Florida.  

He's been instrumental helping ERAU develop into a nationally respected cross country and track program.  ERAU's programs have been multiple NAIA Region XIV champions and NAIA National qualifiers.  

Coach Lewkowicz is currently the head cross country and track coach at the Hanibal Legrange College, in Hanibal, Missouri.  Jason has a tremendous testimony and has a passion for worshiping through contemporary music.  Recently, Coach Lewkowicz has improved the HLC program in his short stint, qualifying a marathoner for the NAIA National Track & Field Championship.  While at UVA-Wise, he led the Cavaliers to one of its best performances in the NAIA Region XII cross country meet in 2007.  He's as passionate about making his athletes better as any other young coach in the NAIA.  

Coach Lewkowicz's camp duties will include, among other things, leading praise and worship and camp activities.  

Coach Don McMahill
Retired YMCA Camp Director, race director, and ex-college cross country coach

Coach McMahill has provided Western North Carolina an immense amount of support and Christian leadership.  He's directed numerous races, lectures, and running clubs.  He continues to serve the road racing community on a volunteer basis while competing at national senior level in race walking.

Coach Sharon Riley- 2008 WNC Girls Coach of the Year                                                                         Head Boy's and Girl's Cross Country Coach, Asheville Christian Academy

Coach Riley has built a strong program at Asheville Christian Academy.  In the 2008 they dominated the small independent league by winning their first State Cross Country Championship.  Coach Riley's concept of team work is the cornerstone of the successful, small school program. 

Coach Joe Hyder- 2008 WNC Boys Coach of the Year                                                                            Head Girls and Boys Cross Country Coach, Owen High School

Coach Hyder has two state titles under his belt with both the boy's and girl's teams.  Owen high school has been a dominate force in North Carolina's 2A division; the boy's team have won three state titles in the past four years.  Coach Hyder and Coach McMahill give so much of their time in grooming and maintaining our cross country courses.

Montreat College Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams

A number of the men's and women's cross country and track teams will be on hand to give their time and leadership to our campers.  Montreat's cross country program has continued to progress over the 2008 and 2009 seasons, among some of their accomplishments: 

• Voted 2008 and 2009 Champions of Chracter Track & Field Team
• 2008 Women's Cross Country Appalachian Athletic Conference Runner-Ups
• Six runners qualified for the NAIA National Cross Country Championships
• Three All-Conference XC Runners; three All-Freshman team selections
• One AAC Runner of the Year Award (Wilbourn Kosgei- 2009)
• 10 runners qualified for NAIA Track & Field Championships