Outdoor Track & Field - Boys - Varsity

A history of excellence:

21 Olympians who have earned nine medals (seven of them gold), including legends Ted Meredith (1912), Bill Carr ’29, and Charlie Moore ’47.
16 members enshrined in the Olympic, United States, and Pennsylvania Track and Field Halls of Fame.
Penn Relays: 11 Championships of America, seven records, three teams inducted in the Wall of Fame.
Over the last several years, Mercersburg athletes have gone on to compete on the collegiate level at the NCAA Division I, II, and III levels, including at Air Force, Army, Navy, Nebraska, Penn, Davidson, Emory, Rhodes, and Shippensburg.
Much of the coaching staff overlaps from one season to the next; assistants include former Division I athletes and veteran coaches in almost every track & field event.
The schedule features high-level competitions at premier high school and college venues, as well as the Penn Relays.
Track & field athletes train and compete on the Jimmy Curran Track, an all-weather, Regupol rubberized six-lane track named for legendary coach Jimmy Curran. Three jumping areas, a pole vault pit, and and infield areas for discus, shot, and javelin complete the facility. The Hale Field House (adjacent to the Curran Track) provides year-round practice space and hosts meets during the indoor season.

Nikki Walker

Science Department Head, Head Outdoor Track & Field Coach

Bio

Nikki Walker has been a member of the Mercersburg faculty since 2006 and has lived on campus since 2003, when her husband, Dan, joined the faculty as a history teacher and the school's then-head football coach. She became head of the physical education department in 2013 and head of the science department in 2019. While at the Academy, she has taught biology, anatomy, human development, physical education, and the Business of Sport (a Springboard capstone course); served as head coach of the girls' outdoor track & field and softball teams; and worked on the school's Accreditation for Growth committee. Nikki has also been an instructor and clinical coordinator for athletic training in the kinesiology department at Penn State University. She earned a bachelor's degree from Frostburg State University and a master's degree from California University of Pennsylvania, and is a certified athletic trainer and a certified strength and conditioning specialist. The Walkers have two children: Colby '19 and Holden '23.

Rob Lee

indoor Track & Field Assistant Coach

Bio

Kathryn Brake

Head Girls' JV Volleyball Coach/Assistant Girls' V Basketball Coach

Bio

Christian Bancroft

English Faculty

Bio

Christian Bancroft, a faculty member in the English department, most recently was an English instructor at Temple University in Philadelphia, as well as an English teacher at STEMCivics, a charter school located in Ewing, N.J. He has 10 years of teaching experience. Christian graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor of arts in English and creative writing. He has a master's in creative writing from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. in English language and literature from the University of Houston.

Sydney Caretti

Arts Faculty and Director of Galleries

Bio

Before coming to Mercersburg, Sydney Caretti was an art faculty member at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, Pa., in addition to New Hampton School in New Hampshire, where she taught AP studio art, studio art, painting, drawing, design, and ceramics/sculpture. Sydney, who is also the director of galleries at Mercersburg, has served as a dorm parent and head of dorm, as a head coach for the equestrian and ski teams, and as an assistant coach for varsity track & field and cross country teams. Her husband, Erin, teaches history at Mercersburg. They live just off campus with their two children, Quinlan and Allister.

Skip Sydnor

Director of Campus Safety

Bio

Skip Sydnor is the school's director of campus safety. He joined the Academy in 2005. Sydnor graduated from West Chester State College with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education. He previously worked for 26 years for the Pennsylvania State Police (10 years in the patrol unit and 16 years in the criminal investigation unit). He is an assistant track & field coach; his daughter, Kiersten '12, and nephew, Brice '15, both graduated from Mercersburg.

Rachel Mallory

Associate Director of College Counseling

Bio

Rachel Mallory arrived at Mercersburg from Vanderbilt University, where she was a graduate assistant for the Peabody Office of Graduate Admissions and Vanderbilt Programs for Talented Youth. She was also a member of the residential leadership team for the Vanderbilt Summer Academy, a residential summer-learning program for students age 13-17. Rachel previously worked as an admission officer at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and volunteered with the Pennsylvania Association for College Admissions Counseling as a coordinator of workshops for secondary-school counselors. Rachel captained the cross country and track & field teams at Mount Holyoke College (her undergraduate alma mater) before earning a master's of education in human development counseling with an emphasis in school counseling from Vanderbilt. Rachel is an assistant cross country and track & field coach at Mercersburg; her sister, Megan, works in the school's Office of Marketing and Communications. Rachel lives in Fowle Hall.

David Holzwarth

Science Faculty

Bio

David Holzwarth graduated from Mercersburg in 1978 and began teaching at the school in 1990. At Mercersburg, Dave applies his background in mechanical engineering to the physics classroom. In addition to helping develop the lab-based course curriculum of Mercersburg's physics courses, he has also worked to incorporate the study of astronomy into the classroom. He designed the school's Class of '38 Observatory, which is equipped with three high-precision telescopes. Dave continues to serve as a computer interface consultant with PASCO Scientific by leading technology workshops for teachers across the country. At Mercersburg, Dave has coached football and track & field, and in 1994, he established a varsity ski team. He is a USSA Alpine coach and certified referee and continues to train and compete in track as a USTFA Masters athlete. Dave and his wife, fellow faculty member Allison Stephens, have two children: Wynn Holzwarth '11 and Zack Holzwarth '13.

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