Who is Indiana
All Star Running Club?
Indiana All Star Running Club is a
not-for-profit
running organizaton founded in 2000 by a group of local cross country
and track coaches and running enthusiasts. Our purpose is to provide
off-season training and competition opportunities for youth runners.
The ultimate goal being the development of habitual daily exercise in
our young population. We believe that running
instills discipline, focus, and principles of hard work which inspire
people to be the best that they can be in every area of their
lives...as students, athletes, friends, family members, and citizens!
Who
are the founders?
Coach Chuck
Koeppen,
former longtime Carmel HS Coach and current IUPUI CC Coach.
Coach Kevin
Kelly,
former Fall Creek Valley CC Coach and current Lawrence Central Asst.
Coach
Dr. K. Douglas
Schmidt,
DDS, Pediatric Specialty
How big is the
club?
This varies from year to year. We have
four
officers, family and friends volunteer faithfully, and currently we
have 100 youth members who participated in our most recent Junior
Olympics program.
Where
do your members come from?
All over central Indiana, generally. In the beginning, we had student
members from all over the state (as the runners wanted true "all star"
teams for JOs). In the mid-2000s, this narrowed to the north side
of Indianapolis and Carmel, but recently our draw has again expanded to
include runners from schools as far away as two hours. The school
districts most recently represented include Zionsville,
Carmel, Westfield, Columbus, Bloomington, and Fort Wayne.
Who
runs things?
The club Co-Directors are Connie Martin and Matt Wire. Kelly Wire is
our Secretary and Craig Martin is the Treasurer.
Connie
is an RN by
education, but a running fan at heart. She started working with the
Junior Olympics teams as a volunteer in 1998 when her oldest child
began cross country in middle school. She was involved in the forming
of the club, became an employee in 2002, and started running in 2003
when she couldn't get around the cross country courses fast enough to
cheer for her kids! She worked very closely with Club Founder Doug
Schmidt until his passing in June, 2007. Since then, she and Matt have
worked diligently to honor Doug's dreams for Indiana All Star Running
Club.
Matt is
a teacher
at Carmel High School and Asst. Girls CC Coach. A life-long runner,
Matt has been coaching for sixteen years.
Kelly
is a former
Special Needs teacher, a current avid runner, and is currently working
outside the school system. Like Matt, Kelly is a life-long runner and
has been coaching for sixteen years.
Craig
is a former
HS All-American and ex-IU runner. His focus was on the 800m, the 1500m,
and the mile. He ran for several seasons with the Chicago Track Club in
the 1980s. He got involved with Indiana All Star Running Club as a
volunteer in 1998, serving as a Club Coach through the 2003 season.
While running has remained a very big part of his life, back issues
have prevented him from doing it since the mid-2000s. His role with the
club continues with him being a vital role-player in the running of our
Middle School CC Championships.
Alot
is said about Doug. What's his story?
There's a link at the top of this page - please click on it for Doug's
story...
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