Meet the Team

Jared Ward first began to love running in elementary school -- when he realized he was relatively good racing the mile in PE. Each year Jared would ask his PE teacher relentlessly when his class would be running the mile, and in the week leading up to the big day, would "train" after school by dropping his backpack at the corner, running the mile course (2.5 laps around the perimeter of the school grounds), then pick up his backpack and run home. His passion and commitment to training and racing has continued.

After attending Davis High and running for Coach Roger Buhrley, Jared served a mission in Pittsburgh, PA. At BYU Jared married his high school sweetheart Erica Christensen (a Davis High/BYU hurdler), graduated with a Masters degree in Statistics, and earned First Team all-American honors 6 times. Jared and Erica have 5 children and live in Mapleton, UT.

Jared signed with TEAM SAUCONY after graduating, and has continued to perform well -- winning 3 US national titles and representing the USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics (finishing 6th in the marathon) and in various other world championship races. In addition to Saucony, Jared is sponsored by nutrition company Honey Stinger and his own company, MyoStorm.

My Garmin has been in miles and in Kilometers. It’s measured below sea level and above 10,000 ft. It’s been in thunder storms, blizzards, dust bowls, insect swarms, heat waves, and rock slides. When she is not wearing a garmin, she is teaching and taking care of her baby girl Kenny Lou, who is currently six months old. Married to Michael Myler. She dabbles in overall health, soccer, climbing, dancing, skateboarding, surfing and any chance to be in any body of water. Always trying to identify the animal, plant or insect in front of her.

"Most people never change, don’t be one of those people"
- Grandpa Richard

800: 2:07
Mile: 4:40
3k: 9:10
5k: 15:45
10k: 33:35
Half marathon: 1:17
Full Marathon: 2:47
Ironman half: 5 hours 08 (half marathon was 1:19:58)

If I was paid as a runner for the amount of passion and effort I put into the sport, I’d quit my day job. I first found interest in the sport growing up in Puyallup, WA during my elementary school’s “walk-a-thon” fundraiser. Teachers and family members would pledge money for every lap walked. My competitive personality pushed me to run the laps to get more than all of my peers, thus launching my unhealthy addiction to distance running. Speed did not come easy to me despite competing in track since the 5th grade. I failed to make a varsity team until I was a sophomore in high school. Later, I also failed to get recruited by my dream university, BYU. I love the sport immensely, but have always felt that I have something to prove.

After a 2-year church mission in France and 2 years of running unattached in college, I finally made the BYU cross country and track team as a walk-on. While on the BYU team, I clocked 13:53 in the 5000m, 28:55 in the 10,000m, and was a member of the NCAA cross country championship team in 2019.

Currently, I am a husband and a father to one daughter. I work full-time as an engineer at a medical device company. And I still have something to prove with running. I truly believe that my best running days are yet to come as a marathoner. I’m new to the event, but more anxious than ever to dive into the professional running scene.

Jake Heslington is running for REP as a recent graduate from Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He is a local to Utah Valley, attending Timpanogos High School in Orem, Utah. In high school, he played soccer, basketball, and won 6 individual and 1 team state championships between track and cross country.

Shortly after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Guatemala, he suffered from blood clots in his legs and dual pulmonary embolism in his lungs, which caused both to collapse. Despite doctors saying he would never run competitively again, he went on to earn All-American honors in the steeplechase, indoor 5000m, and cross country. In 2019, Jake served as the cross country team captain and helped lead them BYU's first men's cross country national title.

Jake currently lives in Orem, Utah and works for LiveView Technologies. He lives with his wife, Hope and his 1 year-old daughter Emry. They are expecting their second daughter in July. He enjoys the outdoors, especially fishing, and spending time with his family.

Scott attended Grand Valley State University (GVSU) in Allendale, MI for his undergraduate degree in clinical exercise science and doctorate degree in physical therapy. He was a member of the track and field and cross country teams specializing in middle distance events. Scott continues to compete in longer distance races today.

Scott is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and is the former strength and conditioning coach for the GVSU men’s and women’s cross country and track teams. Both teams won NCAA Division II National Championships during his tenure. He is an expert in the rehab and performance of runners and endurance athletes. Scott has completed certification for 2-D slow motion video gait analysis, trigger point dry needling and the Functional Movement Screen.

Originally from Michigan, Scott moved to Utah in 2019 and enjoys running, mountain biking, snowboarding, camping and adventuring with his wife Ali.

Kala is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist located at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in Murray, UT. She is a Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics (CSSD) specializing in performance nutrition and disordered eating. While she has predominantly worked in collegiate athletics, she also has experience working with youth team sports, semi-professional athletes, and competitive endurance athletes and is confident working with a wide variety of sports and age groups. She focuses on health-promoting behaviors that will benefit the athlete in and out of their sport, prevent injury, and encourage a positive relationship with food and body image.

In her spare time, she enjoys spending time in the mountains with her hound rescue, Wally. She also loves to be on her mountain or gravel bike training for an upcoming event or preparing for her next big travel adventure.

To schedule an appointment with Kala at TOSH, please call (801)314-4955 or email sportsnutrition@imail.org.

Dr. Tony Kemmochi provides psychological services to professional and student athletes in the greater Salt Lake region. As a bilingual immigrant, he is mindful of multicultural factors that impact our experience in the world. He has worked with highly diverse clientele in terms of nationality, culture, race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, religion, spirituality, age, socioeconomic status, disability, etc.

He obtained his doctoral degree from the American School of Professional Psychology in the San Francisco Bay Area where he received culturally rich training in one of the most diverse communities in the world. He also possesses 2 master's degrees: Clinical Psychology and Sport Psychology. Prior to becoming a psychologist, he worked as a certified athletic trainer in a variety of settings such as hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, orthopedic clinics, division I intercollegiate athletics, USA Track & Field Championship, etc.

As a clinical psychologist, he is well versed in the treatment of a wide variety of psychological struggles. He has worked with extremely severe psychiatric disorders in inpatient facilities. As a former athlete, an athletic trainer, and now a sport psychologist, he has deep appreciation for various challenges faced by athletes. He combines his clinical knowledge and sport psychology to provide comprehensive care, from emotional struggles to performance enhancements.

Clint attended school at Brigham Young University where he obtained a Master’s of Science in Athletic Training in 2008. Career opportunities took him to southern Nevada for 7 years working with Virgin Valley High School. When an opportunity presented to join Intermountain Sports Medicine, he relocated back to his home state of Utah. He spent the next 7 years taking care of the athletes at Murray High School. Clint states that working in the secondary school setting was particularly rewarding. Being present to interact with student athletes and watch them grow from freshman to seniors was the driving force behind choosing that work setting.

One of the many highlights of Clint’s career occurred during graduate school when he was able to join the BYU football team as a graduate assistant for their 2007 campaign. Growing up a lifelong Cougar fan and season ticket holder, having the opportunity to be embedded in the program was incredible. Clint was given the opportunity to change his career focus from front line caregiver to management in 2022, and now acts as the rehab manager for Intermountain Health in Utah County covering 9 high schools and REP.

Clint loves a variety of activities in his spare time, from video games to sports, and spending time in the beautiful Utah mountains. Clint and his wife Jenifer have 3 children.

I graduated from the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York in 2017 with my doctorate in physical therapy.

I started working for Intermountain at The Orthopedic Specialty Hospital (TOSH) in 2018 with a duel position. I treat outpatient orthopedic injuries and specialize in knee and shoulder rehabilitation. My other role is in the TOSH Sport Science Lab completing biomechanics assessments to help patients return from an injury or to help healthy individuals reduce a risk of a future injury.

When not at work I enjoy travel, skiing, and hiking and just started getting into trail running.

Jon Jackson completed 20 years in military medicine in May 2022. He was Chief of Sports Medicine at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado from 2020 to 2022, and he completed the last nine years of his military career at the Academy where he worked with the cross country and track and field teams. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University (1998) and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland (2002). He graduated from the David Grant Family Medicine Residency in 2005 (at Travis Air Force Base, California). He completed a Sports Medicine Fellowship in 2009 and a Faculty Development Fellowship in 2013, both through the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Dr. Jackson served two overseas deployments with the U.S. Air Force: to Afghanistan in 2009-2010 and to East Africa in 2019-2020. He joined the Intermountain Health Utah Valley Orthopedics and Sports Medicine group in July 2022. He is the team physician for the Brigham Young University and the Utah Valley University Cross-Country and Track and Field teams. His current work focus is running medicine, endurance athlete care, and care and research regarding sport-related concussion injury. He and his wife Megan have three children. Jon and Megan enjoy running, Nordic skiing, and hiking. He’s hoping his children will eventually inherit these same loves, but it has been a somewhat sluggish inheritance pattern.

Jared Ward first began to love running in elementary school -- when he realized he was relatively good racing the mile in PE. Each year Jared would ask his PE teacher relentlessly when his class would be running the mile, and in the week leading up to the big day, would "train" after school by dropping his backpack at the corner, running the mile course (2.5 laps around the perimeter of the school grounds), then pick up his backpack and run home. His passion and commitment to training and racing has continued.

After attending Davis High and running for Coach Roger Buhrley, Jared served a mission in Pittsburgh, PA. At BYU Jared married his high school sweetheart Erica Christensen (a Davis High/BYU hurdler), graduated with a Masters degree in Statistics, and earned First Team all-American honors 6 times. Jared and Erica have 5 children and live in Mapleton, UT.

Jared signed with TEAM SAUCONY after graduating, and has continued to perform well -- winning 3 US national titles and representing the USA at the 2016 Rio Olympics (finishing 6th in the marathon) and in various other world championship races. In addition to Saucony, Jared is sponsored by nutrition company Honey Stinger and his own company, MyoStorm.

Isaac Wood serves as the Club Director of the Run Elite Program. Along with this role, Isaac is the Athletic Development Coordinator at Brigham Young University. In 2019, as a member of the BYU Cross Country coaching staff, Isaac helped the men to a NCAA National Championship. Isaac has also played roles in two runners up finishes at the National Championships in Cross Country (Women in 2019 and Men in 2018). Prior to those roles, Isaac has also been the Assistant Track and Field and Cross Country Coach at Weber State University and an Associate Producer for FloTrack.

Isaac grew up in North Salt Lake, Utah where he competed in track and field and cross country at Woods Cross High School and was a two-time team captain. Isaac served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2008-2010 in the California Sacramento Mission speaking Cambodian. He attended Brigham Young University and received a Bachelor’s Degree in History in 2013. Isaac has also attended graduate school at Florida State University and Weber State University.

Isaac currently lives in Lehi, Utah with his wife Elise (nee Fassmann) and his son Beckert. He enjoys all sports, serving in his Church, traveling and trivia.

Landon Southwick serves as the Media Director of the Run Elite Program. In additional to his role with REP, Landon runs the digital marketing and public relations for Lifetime Products, a worldwide manufacturing company. He has helped the company grow and expand the digital footprint during his 6+ years. Landon also is the current play-by-play voice for the Real Monarchs, a professional soccer team in the Real Salt Lake organization where he gets to use his “gift of gab” as his family calls it.

Landon grew up in Kaysville, Utah. During his adolescent years Landon played a number of sports, eventually focusing on soccer. He went on to play high school soccer with Davis High School. Post high school, Landon received a soccer scholarship to play for Iowa Western, where he was an all-conference honorable mention as a freshman. After his freshman season he decided to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Northern Spain. Landon then received a soccer scholarship to Brigham Young University-Hawaii where he served as a team captain. His name is in the school records for most minutes played, games started, and games played. He was named team MVP in 2012 and was a 3-time all-conference player in the Pacific West Conference.

Landon currently lives in Syracuse, Utah with his wife, Sara and his two children, Emma and Boston. He enjoys a bowl of cereal, traveling, spending time with his family, all things sports, serving others, and date nights with his wife.

Jared (the other one) is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a passionate Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, and Flyers fan. He will let you know how terrible cheesesteaks are outside of Philly.

Throughout his youth, Jared was engaged in leadership with his local cooperative 4-H program, becoming a 6-time sheep showmanship and 8-time gardening champion. Inspired by his oldest brother David, Jared began running in 9th grade. His insatiable love of the sport kept him running through countless injuries and a lung surgery. While he wanted to run in college, attending BYU (his dream school) was more important. After his freshman year, Jared served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Houston Texas.

After returning from his mission, Jared became the Director of Marketing for an experience delivery firm in Carlisle, PA, allowing for its most profitable Summer season in years.

Upon returning to BYU, Jared began running again. Following in the footsteps of David, who founded the BYU Running Club, Jared soon became its president. He also served as captain/president of the Farm Team, the elite competitive branch of the BYU running club. In his time there, Jared lowered his PRs in all events.

Jared recently graduated from the BYU Marriott School of Business with a BS in Experience Design and Management. His infectious passion for running, sports, and seeing people improve make him a valuable addition to our team.