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.