Mark Hunkele-High School Head Coach

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Mark is a coach, competitive runner and triathlete.  He is passionate about coaching Pine-Richland student athletes and athletes of all ages. This is Mark’s 5th year as head high school cross country coach and 6th year as PR high school cross country coach. Mark is also the Pine-Richland Head Track and Field Coach and this will be his 5th year as head coach and 7th year as a track coach for Pine-Richland. He specializes in coaching the distance and mid distance runners. As head coach, Mark oversees the entire cross country and track and field programs for the Pine-Richland School District.

Mark loves coaching Pine-Richland runners and is proud to be part of this great program. His goal as a coach is to help every athlete have the best experience possible in cross country and for the team to also be the best that it can be.  Mark individualizes training so that every athlete gets the best training possible.  He feels it is very important for every runner to have fun, keep a positive attitude, focus on achieving their goals and be determined to always do their best.  He hopes that every Pine-Richland runner becomes a lifelong runner.

Mark has extensive experience coaching both youth and adults in running, triathlon and fitness programs, as well as youth baseball and soccer.

Mark is the race director for the Ram Run 5K and 1 Mile Race in October at North Park in Pittsburgh, which is hosted by the Pine-Richland Cross Country Boosters. The annual event, which started in 2014, has over 500 participants each year with about half of them being children.

Mark has been running since he was 13. He started running after picking up an application for the Pittsburgh Great Race 10K, one of the largest races in the country. He ran this race one month later and was hooked on running. Mark has run hundreds of races including cross country and track meets, road races and triathlons. He enjoys racing all distances, but his favorite events are the marathon and Ironman Triathlon. Mark has run 64 marathons including 10 marathons run during Ironman Triathlons. HIs personal best is 2:43.34 run in the 2004 Philadelphia Marathon. Mark has run 16 Boston Marathons and in 2004 finished 126th overall male. His best place in the Pittsburgh Marathon is 14th in 2000. Mark’s best Ironman time is 10 hours 23 minutes. In 2017 he finished 8th out of over 400 people in his age group at Ironman Lake Placid and missed qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships by 2 places(3 minutes). 

Mark and his wife Jenene have 4 children and have lived in Pine Township since 2004. Three of their children attend Pine-Richland schools and one is a 2022 graduate and is a sophomore cross country and track runner at the University of Pittsburgh. They are all active in running and other sports.

Mark feels fortunate to have an amazing dedicated high school and middle school coaching staff!  All of our coaches are very dedicated to our athletes and have great running and coaching experience.

Mark is excited about this season and the future of our incredible cross country teams, which he is confident will continue to be one of the most successful and best programs in Pennsylvania every year.

Coach Cole Baker -Middle School Head Coach
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Hi my name is Cole Baker. I ran cross country and track for north Allegheny. I graduated from Appalachian State University in 2021 with a bachelors in Criminal Justice and a minor in Arabic. I started subbing in January of 2023 and coached track this spring. I am looking forward to coaching cross country this fall and helping our athletes succeed.

Coach Don Thomas

Don Thomas started his track coaching career in 1988 as an assistant coach and, together with Ed Novak, the head coach, led the boys team to the 1992 Track Championship. Upon the retirement of Ed Novak in 1996, Don became the Girls Head Track Coach and he held that position until his retirement in 2012. During his tenure Don has coached WPIAL champions and has had many track athletes win or place at the WPIAL Championships as well as compete at the State Championships at Shippensbury University. Don has continued to coach and volunteer his time in retirement to coach boys and girls sprinters of the Pine-Richland Track Team.

Timothy Converse 

Info coming soon...

Sarah Mantella

As an alumnae of Pine-Richland, I’m proud to be able to be on the middle school coaching staff this year.  I have been involved with the Pine-Richland cross country program since 2008 and have enjoyed every moment!  

Running has always been a love of mine and I want to share that passion with others.  I have found that this sport allows runners to develop a greater knowledge of the sport, knowledge of what they can achieve, and camaraderie of being on a team.  This year I take pride in seeing everyone succeed—whether those successes are small or large. This year, I look forward to motivating and challenging each runner to meet their individual and team goals.

Let’s Go Rams!

                                                   Greg Powell

I have always loved running from a young age and am very thankful that I am still able to train and compete, but most importantly I love the running relationships I have gained along the way.
In high school I ran for North Allegheny and had a great overall experience being part of a very successful program. I was their top runner all 4 HS years and finished top 10 in the WPIAL Championships 3 of my 4 years... finishing 25th as a freshman and missing States by one place.
After HS I was offered a scholarship to run Cross Country and Track at Duquesne University.  I was on the Atlantic 10 All Conference team, and won the IC4A Cross Country Championship  10k race in 31:26 my senior year.  My XC 5 mile PR was 24:45.
I love the opportunity to share my experience and knowledge of the sport as part of the PR program.