PERSONAL TRAINING INCLUDES
Members who renew with the $110 “Annual + Coaching” option are entitled to the following:
Choose 2-3 races to train and compete for during the year, and your Coach can prepare a 10-12 week customized training plan for you for these events.
Coaches will also be available to meet with you for 1-2 in-person training sessions.
Members may also make arrangements with a Coach for further coaching beyond this for an additional fee.
Members who renew with the $110 “Annual + Coaching” option are entitled to the following:
Choose 2-3 races to train and compete for during the year, and your Coach can prepare a 10-12 week customized training plan for you for these events.
Coaches will also be available to meet with you for 1-2 in-person training sessions.
Members may also make arrangements with a Coach for further coaching beyond this for an additional fee.
Coach Joe Compagni
Coach Joe Compagni as the Shore Athletic Club's head coach. No age limits and open to all particularly SAC members, race participants, and sponsors. Joe is an Experienced Coach and Program Director with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Strong education professional skilled in Coaching, Recruiting, Fund-Raising, Communication, Event Management, and Team Building. Joe will be helping the club coordinate open teams for major competitions such as the Millrose Games, Penn Relays, USATF Championships and other events. Email Joe |
Coach Kerri Gallagher
Kerri Gallagher is in her seventh year at Manhattan College and currently in her second year as the Director of Cross Country, Track and Field. A former IAAF Outdoor Track and Field 1500m Semifinalist, Kerri's main events during her collegiate and professional running career were the 800m and 1500m. Kerri's coaching specialty for collegiate athletes ranges from 800m to 10,000m. She has worked with post-collegiate athletes for various track and road events including the 1500m, 3,000m Steeplechase and Marathon distances. Kerri is based out of the Bronx, NY and works with distance runners in New York City and Northern New Jersey. Email Kerri |
Coach Joe Kalnas
Coach Joseph C. KALNAS, CSCS enters his 17th year at Rowan College of South Jersey - Gloucester Campus as the Assistant Coach for both Men's and Women's Track & Field overseeing all Throwing events and Strength & Conditioning for all event groups. To date, Coach KALNAS has helped coach 4 Teams to NJCAA DIII National Championship Titles, another 4 teams to NJCAA DIII National Champion Runner Up titles and is also a coach within his family's organization, Strength Athletes, which he has coached numerous nationally ranked athletes in while helping to secure over $1.5 million in scholarship awards. During Coach KALNAS's time at RCSJ-G his throwers have earned 30 Individual National Champion titles, over 50 All Americans (top 3 at National Championships), 120+ podium finishes plus every school record broken and reset. The success of Coach KALNAS's Throwers has led him to earn the NJCAA/USTFCCCA National Assistant Coach of the Year six times and the NJCAA/USTFCCCA Region Assistant Coach of the Year 10 times. He a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), is a Level I Certified Track & Field Coach, a Safe Sport Certified Coach and registered within the Coaches Registry for the United States Track & Field Association (USATF). Email Joe! |
Coach Rich Airey
With over 40 years experience racing middle, long and ultra distances Rich Airey has been helping athletes of all ages successfully achieve their endurance goals covering a wide range of distances from 800m up to the 100 mile distance and beyond. As a certified strength & conditioning coach, Rich brings a unique approach to his athletes training that incorporates strength, speed & stability utilizing multiple energy systems coupled with a focus on biomechanics and proper nutrition. Additionally Rich is a certified VDOT O2 coach and uses the principals and philosophies of Dr. Jack Daniels with his athletes. Email Rich |
Coach Albert Essilifie
Albert (Coach Al) Essilfie is in his second season on the Rutgers University track and field coaching staff working with the sprint and hurdle event groups. In his first season with the Scarlet Knights, Essilfie made an immediate impact, helping the event group achieve 32 All Time Top 10 performances, 2 school records, a USATF National Qualifier, U20 USATF National Qualifier, NCAA Championship Qualifier and six NCAA East Preliminary qualifiers. Essilfie, one of the top youth club coaches in the country, has earned a reputation for developing talent. The South Jersey native, is the founder and head coach of the Camden Track Club and owner of UChampion Sports Academy. He has over 27 years of coaching experience at the club and high school level. On the club level he has coached 79 National Champions and 338 USATF/AAU All Americans. In addition, his athletes have broken five USATF/AAU national records. On the high school level, he has coached 10 New Jersey Meet of Champions winners and 74 New Jersey State Champions. Essilfie holds a World Athletics Academy Level 5 Elite Coach Certification in Sprints & Hurdles and a USATF Level III Certification in Sprints & Hurdles. He also currently serves as the USATF NJ Youth Chair. Email Al |
Coach Brian Hirshblond
Coach Hirsh enters his 22nd year coaching. After 16 years at Monmouth University and 3 years at Central Regional High School, Brian is in his first year as an Assistant Coach at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He has coached sprints, hurdles, jumps, and multi-events. While at Monmouth, Hirshblond coached two All-Americans, one Junior All-American, 65 NCAA Regional qualifiers, more than 200 conference champions, and 128 All-East honorees. Named the 2015 Mid-Atlantic Assistant Coach of the Year, he also guided several Hawks to individual and relay titles at the Indoor and Outdoor ECAC Division I and IC4A Track and Field Championships. The team earned 58 team conference titles across the men's and women's programs while he was in West Long Branch. Email Brian! |
Coach Erika Flores
Erika Flores became a member of Shore AC in January 2022. She graduated in 2012 from Rutgers University with a BS in Exercise Science. She considers herself a lifelong athlete, and for the past 16 years has been running competitively. Her post-collegiate running career began in 2012 with the Garden State Track Club, where she was also a Running Coach. Over the pandemic, Erika started her own online coaching and fitness training business called Best Home Training. Her experience includes working for the RU Recreation department as a Personal Trainer, Fitness Instructor, and Running Coach for The Big Chill 5k and Rutgers Unite Half Marathon. She has also worked as a Physical Therapy Assistant and Trainer at RWJ Somerset Patriots Ballpark and was the Assistant Manager at Princeton Running Company. She currently works as a Timing and Scoring Coordinator with BEST Racing System [Timing Company] and as an associate at Trader Joes in Bridgewater. However, she is always a full time Mom. Her coaching experience includes a wide range of athletes from beginners up to elites, children to older adults. The main distances she runs are half and full marathons, but one of her favorite races is the Spring Lake 5 Miler. She has completed 5 marathons, but also enjoys half marathon and 5K distances. Her PRs are - 18:20 5k, 30:44 5 Mile, 1:24:52 Half-Marathon and 3:02:08 Marathon. Email Erika |
Coach Chuck Williams
Chuck is the former Head Coach of the Women's Cross Country/Track & Field program at Marist University. Williams spent 25 years as an Assistant Coach and Head Coach, while also spending 5 years as student-athlete at Marist. Since his graduation from Marist in 1999, Williams was affiliated with the track and cross country programs – first, as an assistant in the sprint and field event areas, and more recently as the head coach of the women’s cross country team and the women’s distance runners in track. During his 30 years as an athlete and a coach, Williams has been part of the greatest teams in school history, and he has played a significant role in the development of the greatest athletes in school history – in both men’s and women’s track and field, and in the women’s distance events. Since taking the reins of the women’s distance program in the fall of 2008, the women’s cross country team enjoyed unprecedented success on the conference and regional level. The women’s cross country team was ranked top 12 in the Northeast Region for three consecutive years from 2017-2019. He coached many All-conference runners in cross country, All-ECAC performers and one ECAC individual XC champion in Michelle Gaye and multiple ECAC champions in outdoor track. On the track, all of the women’s distance records have been broken and re-broken under his expert tutelage. Williams was particularly skilled at recruiting talent to Poughkeepsie and then maximizing their abilities, with current school records being held by some walk-on student athletes. In addition, Williams has become one of the most successful race walk coaches in the country, having coached multiple athletes in the 2021 and 2024 Olympic Trials in the 20k Racewalk event. His former athlete, Lauren Harris just swept the Millrose Games 1mi National Championship and the 2025 USATF Indoor Championships in the women’s 3000m Racewalk. Williams is Level 1 USATF Certified Coach and Certified USATF Cross Country specialist. Email Chuck Williams |
Dan Mecca
Dan Mecca was the award-winning head coach at Manhattan College from 1993-2019. He was the first Head Coach of the men’s and women’s combined program for the Jaspers, and the first president of the IC4A/ECAC combined men’s and women’s Coaches Association. He was President of the Metropolitan Coaches Association, and also the MAAC NCAA Executive Committee conference representative for 20 years. In 2005, Mecca was named the NCAA Northeast Region Head Coach of the Year. He was the MAAC Coach of the Year on 33 occasions. He is the only coach in MAAC and school history to coach a team to a conference championship in men’s and women’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field. His teams won over 100 team titles between 61 MAAC titles, 39 Metropolitan tiles and 2 IC4A titles. His athletes won more than 40 NCAA All-American honors, and won 5 NCAA Championship titles. Mecca was also a national team coach on multiple USA teams (World Juniors, World Championship, Pan Am Games, Olympics) as well as for the 1993 Irish team. Manhattan College athletes won numerous national titles for USA, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, England, Wales, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Estonia. Manhattan College athletes also represented Team USA and medaled at the Pan Am Juniors (1500, hammer & triple jump) and Pan Am Senior and NACAC Championships Mecca spent 4 years as a volunteer assistant at the United States Military Academy, coaching multi events and vaulters. He is now the lead coach for throws and multi-events at the 12th Rock facility in Middletown New York. E-mail Coach Mecca or call at 917-608-5349 |
Bob Andrews
Bob is a USA Track & Field certified coach, a personal fitness trainer and a life-long runner who has 30+ years of coaching experience. He is a former school record holder at University of Pennsylvania, a Shore AC Master Runner and the former American Master record holder in the 4 x 800. In addition to being the founder and director of Gone Running, LLC, Bob is a volunteer assistant track and cross country coach for Manalapan High School in New Jersey. Carl Huff
Except for a 15 year lay-off, Coach Huff has been pole vaulting since age 13. At age 71, he won the silver medal in his age group at the World Masters Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Along with honing his craft, Coach Huff has coached at some of the premier high school and college track programs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for over 40 years. As an assistant coach at Rutgers University, he coached all of the field events, and at Lafayette College, he coached the throws and co-coached the pole vault. Among the high schools Coach Huff has worked at include Highland Park High School, Hanover Park High School, North Brunswick Township High School and Notre Dame High School in New Jersey and Nazareth Area High School in Pennsylvania. While at Hanover Park High School, he coached the last boy to win the NJSIAA outdoor Meet of Champions pole vault two years in a row. Currently, Coach Huff coaches the pole vaulters at The Lawrenceville School. His wealth of experience as a competitor and coach would be valuable to pole vaulters at any level. Email Carl Huff |