Meet the members of the Frederick Steeplechasers Racing Team. Our Racing Team is comprised of an Elite and a Developmental Team. We all enjoy competing in a variety of distances from 200m to 100 miles. We have members that are relatively new to the club and a handful that are seasoned veterans who truly round out our team with their experience. We look forward to our 2024 season and hope this is the stepping stone for many more years of fast times.
Elite Men’s Team
Michael Anderson
Daveen Bavari
Chris Burgenson
Amos Desjardins
John Hallock
Jesse Henderson
Dan Jacobs
Rick Kern
Arthur Leathers
I started running in 2004 while in high school. My favorite distances to race are XC 5k and 10 miles and half marathon on the roads. I used to be really good at 5ks before I got older. My bucket list race is the London Marathon. I have found that I get the most out of myself when I am running for a team. I am happy to be running for the Steeps. I hope that one day we will have more team races and maybe even a XC team!
Travis Leyhe
Jesse Magolon
Joe Marks
My running story begins during fall 2010 when I had occasionally gone out for a run to work on building fitness since I had none. Never being the athletic-type, this was quite a feat – I still vividly remember lying on the ground after jogging that first tenth of a mile being completely out of breath and tasting blood. But with some great summer 2011 long run companionship I had managed to lumber across the finish line of the 2011 Harrisburg Half Marathon in 526th place at 2:24:34.26. Walking away with a knee injury (due to undertraining by cheating on the plan and only running the weekend long runs) I decided to step away from running for years – occasionally going out for a run but primarily focusing on my career and the accompanying stress eating. Years later summer 2019 arrived and I decided to get back into running again to improve my health and signed up for a destination event – Triple Threat Half Marathon in Gloucester, MA which I completed in 402nd place at 2:35:33. This race resurrected the running bug and since then I have been mostly consistent – I was still getting injured but managed to avoid anything serious as I learned to improve my form over time. By the end of 2019 I was able to go sub-2 in the half and sub-25 in my first 5K so was making steady progress.
2020 came along and with it the ability to telework which further aided me to get out and run although I didn’t really get serious until the birth of my daughter in July having mostly recovered from another leg injury. With no races to plan/train for I ran aimlessly through summer 2021 when the Frederick Half Marathon came around – I had an absolute blast running in this awesome community! I managed to go sub-1:40 showing that my fitness was improving and in the fall went back to the Harrisburg Half and just missed sub-1:30. 2022 saw me back in Frederick again for the HM and I had another great race lowering HM PR to sub-1:25. I then focused on the marathon distance and completed two in under 3 hours securing a BQ for both 2023 and 2024 (planning to run 2023). After marathon season ended, I then turned to improving speed and managed to run two 5Ks above 73% AG allowing me to apply for the racing team.
I reside in Carlisle, PA but have been following the Steeps after my tours of Frederick and seeing what a stellar organization it is with amazing folks, I felt compelled to join and apply for the racing team. My goals for 2023 are to time qualify for the 2024 NYC Marathon, continue to post above 73% AG times, and improve on PRs across all distances from the mile to the marathon with emphasis on the shorter distances. Since my age/genetic barriers are catching up like no one’s business, it’s been exhilarating to keep shaving off those seconds as I attempt to run back into youth! I enjoy listening to stories about running while I’m running and just about all of them embrace the team concept and I’m appreciative of this opportunity. As far as racing is concerned, I believe Christopher McDougall said it best: “The reason we race isn’t so much to beat each other but to be with each other.” I’m thrilled to be a part of this team and club and look forward to a great 2023 racing season!
Edwin Marroquin
Andrew Spangenberg
John Way
Elite Women’s Team
Taylor Ludman Hallock
I have been a runner for most of my life. I started running competitively when I joined my middle school cross country team. I continued to run competitively for almost a decade, but ultimately decided I wanted a break from racing in my early twenties, after struggling with injuries. During this time, I tried to run a couple of times a week just for wellness. Now in my early thirties, I have caught the running bug again and have returned to racing.
Right now I would say 8k-10k are my sweet spots, in terms of my favorite distances to race. I also have a love-hate relationship with both the 5k and half marathon.
While I don’t have a specific race on my bucket list, I think it would be fun to race abroad.
Elizabeth Olderhouser
Kendall Sigman
Erin Snyder
I am a writer/equestrian/runner from Jefferson, MD, currently finishing up my MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction. I didn’t discover my passion for running until my sophomore year of undergrad, and enjoyed it so much I joined the cross country team the next year. I joined the Steeps the year after graduation when I realized how much I missed running competitively, and applied for the racing team not long after!
Ruth Taylor
My name is Ruth and I’m a reformed soccer player. Been running all my life as part of sports but have only been running races since 2007. I’m a running generalist… I love all distances from our decathlon track series and 1 mile races all the way up to ultra-marathons (50k and 50 miles). I am an original member of the Frederick Steeplechasers Racing Team since its formation. Since 2012, I’ve completed over 35+ races each year. Recent racing pursuits have included completing the MD Grand Prix RRCA race series (placing 1st in the past 2 years) and pursuing marathons in all 50 states. I have completed 4 trail ultra-marathons with three 50k’s-including two Catoctin 50K and two Stone Mill 50 milers. Of my 28 marathons, over 80% have been Boston marathon qualifiers. To date, I’ve run 28 marathons in 14 states . My favorites include the Abbott world major marathons, Berlin and 3 with time-qualifier entries for New York, Boston (5x), and Chicago (2x). I have competed in the National Senior games in 2022 and 2019- placing 1st in my age group in the 5k and 2nd in my age group for the 10k in 2022. I’m an active volunteer for the Frederick Steeplechasers including co-chairing the competition committee for 7 years.
Developmental Men’s Team
Mike Kearney
Mike rediscovered his love for running and racing in 2015 and joined the Steeplechasers in 2017. With the support of his Steeps friends and coaches, he ran his first half marathon in fall 2017 and completed his first marathon in fall 2018. Mike also joined the Racing Team in 2018. In October, 2021 he ran his first Boston Marathon, and his second in April, 2022.
J. Adrian Morales
Louis Schiavone
Louis, 30, was a “late bloomer” in terms of competitive running, as he had never run on a team in high school nor in college. His interest in distance running was sparked by his first 5K, the Frederick Turkey Trot in 2012. From there, he continued running and racing in a few 5Ks here and there until he caught the “running bug” and decided to run a full marathon (Rock N Roll D.C., March 2015) before graduating from UMD. Louis has been involved with the Steeplechasers since late 2016. Running with the Steeplechasers has brought Louis an immense amount of joy and growth as a runner, and he hopes to help provide that to other runners in the Frederick community and beyond. A few of his highlights and PRs are a 2:58:15 marathon at the 2018 Wineglass Marathon in upstate New York, a 16:51 5K at the 2017 Frederick Turkey Trot and a 58:50 at the 2018 RRCA Club Challenge 10 Miler. He was hoping to run the Boston Marathon in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to settle for the virtual version that year. Fortunately, he re-BQ’d with a 2:58:30 at the 2022 Erie Marathon and plans to *finally* run Boston 127. You can usually find Louis running around the Ballenger Creek area, typically wearing either Asics or Hoka shoes—and always shorts no matter the weather!