Meet the Team
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Andrew Simmons
Head Coach
High School Team
Peak Elite Team -

Katie Whidden, CSCS
Chief Orchestration Officer
Camp Director
Strength Coach
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Kimberly Buxton
Business Development Director
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Johnny Capobianco
Assistant HS Coach
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Marah Guzman
Assistant Peak Elite
Assistant HS Distance
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Matthew Bacchus
Peak Speed
Head Sprint Coach -
Alex Holm
Juniors Team Coach
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Jennifer Tucker
Juniors Team Assistant Coach
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Max Bierman
Juniors Team Assistant Coach
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Founder, Head Coach
Andrew oversees the day to day operations of Peak Performance Running. Andrew coaches the Peak Elite program and co-coaches the PEAK HS program.
Andrew was a 2021 Positive Coaching Alliance “Double Goal Coach” award recipient. He coached the Team USA U18 Mountain Team in Saluzzo, Italy in 2022. Andrew has coached multiple Americans. national finalists, and teams in track and cross country.
Highlights:2016 13-14 Girls Nationals Champions
6th Place girls HS 4x800 (Eugene)
6th in nation girls Freshman Mile (Mucharsky)
3rd Place Girl - RLNXC, Bronze (Tucker)
5th in Nation Boy, RL 2021 (Reeburgh, 4:08)
4th CO State Mile
(Reeburgh, 4:12.79)7th CO State 800m (21)
1:53.47 (Thompson)9th CO State 800m (22)
1:57.38 (Stubenrauch)
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COO, Camp Director, Strength Coach
As the COO of Peak Performance Running Katie is responsible for executing projects and managing programs at all levels. She leads the day to day operations of the organization along with the overnight camps Peak hosts each summer. Katie has a gift for event management seamlessly leading events with 400+ participants. She has the ability to see the big picture and the expertise to organize all the details.
Katie is also the Head Strength Coach of Peak Performance Running. Katie has worked with youth since 2012. She has the highly regarded CSCS in strength and conditioning as well as certifications from USA Triathlon and USA Cycling. Katie is a multi-sport coach for Lifelong Endurance. Katie is a former Division 1 athlete playing basketball at Elon University in North Carolina.
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Kim is a mom of three that have participated in the Peak Running program at varying levels throughout the years. Kim was a hurdler in High School and continued to compete in hurdles at UVA, while adding pole vault and heptathlon to her events. Kim coached for the Eagle Flyers in Eagle county before kids.
Having spent many years in the technology world, Kim is excited to work with the great team at Peak to help grow the program to reach more kids while maintaining the great culture that the coaches and kids have created.
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Assistant HS Coach
Johnny is the assistant HS Coach at PEAK. He brings in his experience as s stand out HS and Collegiate runner. Johnny competed for 4 years in XC and Track at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he raced XC, and the 1500m to 10K with a focus on the 30000m Steeplechase. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s in engineering from RPI and currently works as a water resource engineer in Colorado
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Marah has called Colorado home for the past 14 years. She has lived in Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and has recently moved to Arvada to be a middle school teacher at Bell Middle School. She has been running since age 5th grade and continued her journey through college, competing for four years at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in both cross country and track; while studying Biology and Education she competed in two NCAA DII XC Nationals Championships and eight RMAC Regional/Conference Championships.
After college, Marah found the love and joy for coaching and has worked with athletes from kindergarten through 12th grade ever since. Her passion is in helping all runners grow—not just in speed or endurance, but in confidence and love for the sport. Marah believes in supporting the whole athlete and building relationships that last, with the goal of creating lifelong runners.
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Matthew Bacchus is the Sprint coach for our HS and Peak Elite teams. He works directly with our 100, 200, and 400m athletes. Matthew is also one of the founding coaches at the Crack of Dawn Sprint Crew.
Matthew was a sprinter at Biola University.
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Alex is currently an elementary school teacher at Compass Montessori School in Golden, Colorado. He is in his 7th year of teaching, and absolutely loves it. Alex has been the head cross country coach at Compass for the last five years.
His experience at Compass has provided him the opportunity to build a program from the ground up. With his love of running, Alex also works are Runners Roost Lakewood! While working at Runners Roost, Alex is able to continue to grow in his knowledge of running, his understanding of the technology available to athletes, and connect with the running community
Highlights:2022 Junior Olympic XC
Piala 9-10, 5th
Piala 8U, 12th
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Jennifer Tucker (Coach JT) comes to Peak after retiring from a busy corporate job in health care. Her mantra is to have as much fun as possible while also working hard, growing, and building relationships.
As a competitive multi-sport athlete herself, JT is also the mom of two daughters (Reese ran with Peak for 6 years and is now a Division 1 distance runner; Holland is in high school and plays soccer/runs track) and has a passion for youth athletics (she also coaches a youth swim team).
She believe what's most important is our attitude and how we show up for ourselves and one another.
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Max is currently a (remote) graduate student at Oregon State University studying fisheries science and a coach for the Foothills Fast Fins swim team. He is immensely passionate about guiding young endurance athletes in their lifelong pursuit of sport.
A swimmer by trade, Max only picked up organized running his senior year of high school. He competed in collegiate triathlon while attending the Air Force Academy which culminated in a top-20 finish his senior year. A 7-time member of the Air Force Triathlon Team, Max also represented the US Military Triathlon Team at the World Military Games in 2019. Max is currently staging a comeback in triathlon to compete in the professional field.

