Vicky (Lynch) Pounds
Vicky has been involved in the sport of track and field for over 30 years. She started as an age class club athlete in Alberta, Canada. With the Leduc Track Club, she was given opportunities and support that enabled her to achieve many provincial records and even to represent Canada on Junior National Teams. This led her to receive a full athletic scholarship at the University of Alabama. While attending Alabama, Vicky received All-American Honors 14 times. She was University of Alabama Track and Field Most Valuable Athlete 1991-1994. Some performance highlights include a double SEC Conference Championship Title in the 800m and 1500m her junior year and a NCAA 2nd Place finish in the 800m her sophomore year. After graduating, Vicky pursued a professional career, running for Nike and then Mountain West Track club. Under the coaching guidance of Mark Timmons, Vicky had a very successful career with MWTC earning the title of Canadian National 800m Champion in 1998 and competing on numerous Canadian National teams including; Commonwealth Games, Pan American Games, and World Championships.
Vicky’s coaching experienced started after she graduated, at the University of Alabama. There she was an assistant coach for the men and women’s distance program. Before moving out to Missoula, Vicky was a volunteer distance coach at Georgia Tech University. She also volunteered for a short time at the University of Montana before starting up Mountain West Youth Track Club in 2009. Her motivation for starting up the Youth Division was to give young athletes the same opportunity and support that she was given growing up. Vicky has also received her USATF Level One Coaching Certification in 2010 as well as USATF Level 2 in 2011.
Diane Cummins
Coach D has spent the last 15 years as a professional track athlete. The last 8 of which were with Mountain West Track Club here in Missoula as a 400m, 800m and 1500m runner. She competed for Canada at the Olympic, Commonwealth, Pan American, Francophone Games, and World Championships. She is the current Canadian record holder in 4 events; the indoor 800m and 1000m, and the outdoor 800m and 1000m. Her personal best times for 400m 800m 1000m and 1500m are 53.89, 1.58.39, 2.34.19 and 4.05.02. She is also the proud owner of the current Missoula street mile record for elite women. D has traveled the world competing in track events for many years and has gained extensive knowledge of what it takes to be among the best in the world. She has a BA Human Movement Science degree from the University of Natal South Africa, USATF level 1 and Core Align level 3 certifications. D strives to provide a fun safe environment for young athletes to learn the drills and skills of Track and Field. She has been the assistant Track and Field, and Cross Country coach at St Mary’s DSG in Kloof South Africa. She has volunteered with the Special Olympics Track and Field Program in BC Canada and has been a coach with Mountain West Youth Track club since 2010.
Jo Ruby
Jo has been running and coaching for many years. She began her running career in High School in California. She went on to run Cross Country and Track for Seattle Pacific University. Her specialty was the 800. As she continued to run, she leaned more towards the Marathon Distance. Jo has run the Missoula, Boston and New York City Marathons.
Jo has extensive experience (18 years) working with high school youth in a wide range of community service oriented activities. She began her coaching career in 2007, working with adults at the Missoula Family YMCA. She has developed the YMCA’s running programs that include speed, interval, tempo and pool training. She specializes in developing running programs for 5k-42k races. She has been with Big Sky High School since 2013 as the Head Cross Country Coach. She has been the Long Distance Coach with Mountain West Youth Track since 2012.
Jo is also a Certified Personal Trainer and has knowledge in interval and tempo training for cross country and track athletes. She loves to strength train and has coached many athletes through her long distance running programs.
Lindsey Hall
Bio coming.