TOHS Cross Country Team Coaches
Coach Shawn Morris - Head Coach Coach Shawn Morris is in his 2nd season as head coach of the Thousand Oaks Cross Country program, and brings 16 years of running experience. Shawn competed in high school cross-country and track in Minnesota in the mid-1990's. He was fortunate to be part of a rich high school running tradition at Osseo High School where he trained under legendary and accomplished coach Jim Deane, whom lead his teams to over 20 State meet appearances. Shawn was a 4 time all-conference runner in cross country and track, and qualified for two Minnesota State meets where he helped carry his team to 7th and 5th place finishes his junior and senior year, respectively.
While at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he competed with the Wisconsin Running Club where he trained for and completed his first marathon. After college he continued his road racing; running a personal best 2:57 marathon in 2004, and qualifying for and competing in the 2005 Boston Marathon. Shawn currently runs with the FutureTrack Running Club in Agoura Hills, CA. He served six years in the military with an Army National Guard infantry unit. Prior to the high school level, he coached the Thousand Oaks Flyers youth running program.
Coach Morris has a B.S. in mechanical engineering and an M.S. in biomedical engineering with an emphasis in biomechanics. He currently works in the field of orthopedic implant research and development for Kinamed, Inc.
Coach Keena (Carstensen) - Assistant coach, Keena has been active in track and field since 1990 when she began coaching with the Newbury Park Track Club youth track program. After moving to Thousand Oaks in 1992, she began coaching with the Thousand Oaks Flyers youth track program, assisting as a long distance coach with Youth/Intermediate girls. Several years ago she was designated as the Monday practice long distance run coach. This allowed the older athlete groups (Midget, Youth and Intermediate) to add a run of 3-6 miles each week that was off campus.
In 1998 when Robert Radnotti took over the TOHS Cross Country and Track and Field program, she came onboard as Robert's assistant coach. Her main duty was to run the workouts with the student athletes and to learn as much as possible about cross country since it was a new sport to her. In 1999 she continued to assist Coach Radnotti as a long distance coach in track, accompanying student athletes on off-campus runs and track speed workouts. Coaching clinics were added to increase her knowledge and expertise in this area.
Keena is still an active, competitive runner. During the winter and spring she trains for and competes in masters track meets. In 2005 she earned USATF All-American awards in the 800, 1500, 3K and 5K and won 3 gold medals at the USATF Western Regional Masters Championship Track Meet. In April she was asked to compete at the Mt. SAC Relays in an invitational 800m race where she placed 2nd in the race with a time of 2:35. In the summer and fall she trains for and competes in masters cross country races and 5K road races. In the fall of 2005 she won the Calabasas 5K, narrowly beating a competitor 10 years her junior! Her greatest claim to fame in running is that she placed 10th in the women's division of the Los Angeles Marathon in 3:02.16!! This past winter/spring she was recruited to run for Moorpark College's track team where she competed in the 1500, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 narrowly missing qualifying for the State Meet by one place!
In the fall of 2006, Keena decided to go back to school to enhance her coaching with academics. She took First-aid/CPR, Core Exercise, and a class in Fitness, Nutrition and Stress Management. This past semester she took Nutrition, Sports Nutrition, Intro to Human Performance and P.E., and The Prevention and Treatment of Athletic Injuries, which included over 30 hours in the Moorpark College Athletic Training Room. This fall she will put in more hours in the training room to further her knowledge in this area. She will also continue her education by attending coaching seminars at Mt SAC this summer.
This cross country season is Keena's 11th year coaching at the high school level.
Coach Bob (McCarter) - Assistant coach, began coaching youth sports in 1968 with the introduction of Region 9 AYSO Soccer in the Conejo Valley. In 1975 he began helping coach track and cross country with the Newbury Park Panthers, one of the founding clubs of the Ventura Co. Youth Track Conference. In 1980 he formed the Thousand Oaks Flyers, which began its first competitive season in 1981 with 50 boys and girls, ages 6 through 15. In the early 2000's the Flyers had grown in size to 360, prompting the conference to impose a club size of 275, which the Flyers has maintained over the last four years. In the belief that if you are not learning you will be left behind, he has attended 130 - 150 hours of beginning through advanced track, field and cross country clinics over his 32 years of coaching those sports. He has had the privilege of working with hundreds of fine young people, some of which were also fine athletes. In 1984 his youth girls cross country team won the Junior Olympic National Championship held in St. Louis. The team's top runner was second overall with a time of 14:51 over the 2.5 mile course. He spent 46 years working in the aerospace industry, starting as a draftsman and retiring in 2001 as a design engineer. He and his wife Anna have raised six boys and one girl, mostly while living in the Conejo Valley over the last 48 years. During the last two years he has been the hurdles coach for the Thousand Oaks High School track team.He is looking forward to working with & learning from the members of the TOHS Cross Country team and its coaching staff again.
Coach Craig (Mead) - Assistant coach, accomplished runner at the Masters level, retired from Amgen. Craig started running while attending UCSB and has been running ever since. Craig races from the 1500m to the marathon, and boasts PRs of 4:17 for the 1500m, 16:22 for 5k, 33:20 in the 10k, and 2:49 in the marathon. In 2004 he achieved the USATF Masters Track All-American Standard in both the one mile and 3000m events. Craig has been with the cross country team for five years and is excited about being even more involved this season. Since beginning his coaching career Craig has been regularly attending coaching seminars to develop his knowledge and expertise. Role - Working with the boys' team helping to administer workouts and sharing his experiences as a racer to benefit our program. Craig will also run with our athletes, providing even more supervision and encouragement.
Coach Andy Thompson - Assistant Coach, Andy begins his first year as assistant coach for the Thousand Oaks Lancers, bringing with him 10 years of running experience as an ex-Lancer, NCAA Division 1 athlete, and post-collegiate runner. Coach Thompson graduated from Thousand Oaks High School in 2001, where he ran cross country and track under Coach Jack Farrell and then Coach Robert Radnoti. He was an All-Marmonte league selection and captained both teams his senior year.
He went on to run cross country and track at Loyola Marymount University under head coach Scott Guerrero. While at Loyola Marymount he captained the team for three years and helped to build the program into a contender in the West Coast Conference and Western Region. He has continued to be actively involved in their cross country and track programs since graduating in 2005.
Since college, Andy has continued to train and compete in road races, triathlons, and marathons including the 2006 Boston Marathon. He trains with the Future Track running club of Agoura and competes for the Thousand Oaks Running Company which he founded in 2006 as an elite running club for Thousand Oaks cross country alumni. He coaches many of the athletes in the club including some still competing at a semi-professional level.
He holds a Bachelors degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance and a Theology minor from Loyola Marymount University. He currently lives in Thousand Oaks, and is the Sales Director for Spark Industries, a product development company based in Newbury Park.
Coach Thompson is excited to be back at Thousand Oaks High School and looks forward to helping the athletes dream big, work hard to achieve their goals, and most importantly to have the time of their lives doing it.