Lauren Brodey (J1-2)

Lauren began skiing and racing at the age of three.  She grew up in Fayetteville and began racing at Toggenburg before moving over the Labrador Mountain Ski Team when she became a J2.  In addition to "driving Bob Okoniewski crazy for four years” (her quote) she reached the Junior Olympics each year while a member of the LMSC.  

After graduating from Jamesville-DeWitt High School in 1998, Lauren attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she went to Nationals each year, was a four-time All American, captained the team for two years and ended her college racing career ranked fourth in the nation.

Lauren graduated from UMASS in 2002 and began working in pharmaceutical sales for Boehringer Ingelheim.  She now lives in Armory Square – for all the right reasons, including being close to her wonderful mom (Tina), dad (Mitchell) and brother (Ethan).  Her roomy is her big, loving, adorable Bernise Mountain Dog!!

This is Lauren’s first year coaching and she is really excited about giving back to everyone what she was so lucky to have learned throughout her years as an Alpine Racer.

Amy Brown (J3 Trainer)

Bob Bryant (All Levels)

Bob is the senior statesman of our coaching staff and has been coaching - at all levels - since 1965. For a number of years Bob was the Central New York and New York State Junior 3-4 Head Coach - years before the current junior racing structure was established.

Bob has skied Labrador Mountain all of his skiing life and was a member of the Syracuse University Ski Team where he participated as a four-event person, including ski jumping and cross-country.  As a sophomore at SU, Bob helped to rebuild the ski jump at Skytop that was used during competitions. (The only jump in the country, by the way, that had a right-left jog in it half-way down.)

Bob lives with his wife Pam on the West side of Syracuse.  All three of their children raced for the Labrador Mountain Ski Team and all three raced in college.  Bob Junior - fondly known as Bobbo - and his son Jim followed in their father's footsteps also coached for the Club.  Bob's grandaughter Maya is a Flying Forerunner.

Caleb Consenstein (J5)

Rick Downing (J4 Head Coach)

Rick is a Central New York native.  He graduated from Jamesville Dewitt High School and from the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry in 1978.

Rick has skied at Labrador Mountain all of his life.  He has been an instructor at Labrador and was the Technical Director of the Ski School for four years and the Director for five years.  He has been coaching our racers at the J3 and J4 level full-time for ninc years.

Rick is a US Ski Coaches Association Certified Regional Coach and a PSIA Level 3 instructor.  Rick is also a PSIA Examiner and conducts clinics, education courses and exams.  In 1999, Rick was honored as the Central New York Ski Council's "Coach of the Year."

Rick, his wife Margaret and their daughter Nadine (J5) live in Cortland.  Rick is a database developer for Sensis Corporation.

Jim Hueber (J1-2)

Kim Kimmes (J4)

Bill Lipe (J5)

Sue Lipe (J5)

Sandy Mackintosh (J3)

Sandy taught skiing at Stowe Mountain for over 20 years - mostly teaching advanced lessons on the advanced terrain and during difficult, advanced level conditions.  He has been fully certified by the Professional Ski Instructors Association since 1974 and is a USSA Level One Certified Coach.

 

When he and his family moved to Labrador, he started coaching for the racing team, concentrating on providing individual instruction to athletes at all levels.
This year, Sandy became our J4 Head coach.

Sandy firmly believes that "The techniques for 'good skiing' and 'good racing' are the same.  The basic difference between the two is when you turn, not how. So Sandy is convinced that you can't spend too much time emphasizing the fundamentals of skiing and confidence is everything.  A racer has to learn to trust his or her skis and themselves and their abilities.   And finally, I never forget that the more fun one has, the better they ski!"

Sandy and his wife Mary, our J1-2 Coordinator, live in Manlius and have four children.  Two are still racing for the LMSC - Katherine (J2) and Patrick (J4) .

John Magruder (J1-2)

Karen Meschter (Forerunner Head Coach)

Karen grew up in Connecticut and started skiing at a small mountain much like Labrador.  For years she skied with her family and then met her future husband, Stephan, who roped her into teaching at Butternut Basin, a ski area in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  Karen instructed there from 1981 to 1986.

In 1982 she joined PSIA and she received her Level II certification in 1986.  After moving to the Binghamton area, they met an instructor from Labrador at a PSIA Level III exam that her husband took. They came to Labrador in 1987 and have been here ever since.  During the 1992 and 1993 seasons, Karen was in charge of the Ski School's Children's Program.  Karen is both the Head Forerunner Coach and the Forerunner Coordinator.

Karen, who has a Bachelors in Elementary Education from Central Connecticut State University, lists her other interests as bicycling, windsurfing and volleyball.  She lives in Edicott with her husband Stephan and their two boys - Andreas who is a J3, and Tomas who is a J5.

Karen's motto is Don't Worry. Be Happy

Kerrie Nesbitt (J4)

Bob Okoniewski (Head Coach/J1-2 Head Coach)

Bob was born and raised in Baldwinsville, NY and grew up skiing and racing at Song Mountain and Labrador.  He went to the Junior Olympics as a J3 and J2, and was the New York State Slalom Champion as a J1.

Bob raced the NCAA Carnival Circuit for four years while attending Keene State College in New Hampshire.  He was the captain of the ski team at Keene State for two years.

Bob is the owner of Okie Court Systems - a tennis court building and resurfacing company.  Each summer, he co-directs the Euro Edge Ski Camp  in Saas-Fee Switzerland.

Bob resides in Cazenovia, is married to Kathy O. and is the father of four:  Susi, Gavin (J3), Sasha (J4) and Galen (J5).  Bob is the Club's Head Coach and J1-2 Head Coach.

Kathy Okoniewski (J3 Head Coach/Program Director)

Kathy is a native of New Hampshire.  She started skiing at age 3 and skied as a youngster with her family at many of New Hampshire's great ski areas (e.g., Waterville, Wildcat and Cannon).

Kathy started ski racing at age 10 at Mt. Sunapee.  She was named to the US Ski Team's "D" team at age 14 and she began specializing in Downhill.  When she was 16, Kathy was the top Junior Downhiller in the United States and was ranked 25th in the world among 16 year olds.

She started coaching as a 19 year-old at Heavenly Valley, California and has been coaching ever since.  Kathy was the Head Coach of the Labrador Mountain Ski Club for 15 of the 20 years she has been coaching.  She is also the Chair of the NYSSRA 3-4-5 Development Committee which makes and governs policy concerning children's ski-racing in New York State.

Kathy has Level I PSIA (Instructor) and National Level US Ski Coaches Association (USSCA) certifications and has been a Clinic Leader at both PSIA and USSCA Coaches' Clinics.  In 1998, Kathy was honored as the Central New York Ski Council's "Coach of the Year," and in 2001 was the USSA New York State Coach of the Year.

Kathy is married to Bobby O., lives in Cazenovia and is the mother of four: Susi, Gavin (J3), Sasha (J4) and Galen (J5).  Kathy attended the University of New Hampshire and Keene State College in New Hampshire.  During the summer, Kathy is co-director of the Euro Edge Ski Camp  in Saas-Fee Switzerland.

Tim Rosbrook (J4)

Tim is in his ninth as a coach for the Club.  He is from
Camillus/Skaneateles and currently lives in Syracuse with his wife Joni and their three children Katie (J3), Benjamin (J3) and Nicholas (J5).

Tim works for National Grid as Director Labor Relations.  He
went to St. Michaels College in Vermont where he studied economics, skied bumps and hiked the Green Mountains.  He has a masters degree in Human Resources Management.

Tim started skiing at an early age and thanks Coach Bob Bryant for introducing him and his siblings to the Labrador Mountain Ski Team.  Tim raced for Lab many years competing through his junior year in high school.  He raced his freshmen year for St. Michaels but was injured in dry land training his sophomore year ending his college race days.  But he continues to make attempts to beat his fellow coaches in the Tuesday night racing at Labrador.

Tim is an avid runner and competes locally.  He will be training for
the Mountain Goat this winter when he is not skiing.

Beecher Sack (J3)

Chris Spina (J3)

Chris grew up in Manlius and learned to ski at Toggenburg when he was 10.
He moved over to Labrador Mountain shortly after and has skied there ever
since.  He graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School in 1980 and
Caniusius College in 1984 where he played soccer, lacrosse and baseball.  

Chris got his first exposure to coaching when in college, coaching Senior
League Baseball and the Canisius' Club Lacross Team.  He currently coaches
for F-M's CNY Junior Soccer Association.  Chris is also a certified US
Soccer Federation Level 8 Referee for the Western New York region.  Chris is
a USSA Level 2 Referee and this past year he became a USSA Level 1 Technical
Delegate.

Chris is married to Kerstin (Peterson), who was a ski school instructor at
Labrador in the late 70's and early 80's.  Chris and Kerstin have three
daughters: Kaitlin (J3), Caroline (J4) and Hailey (J5). 

Chris works as a Chemistry Capital Equipment Consultant for Beckman Coulter Corporation.  When not working, shuttling kids around and cooking dinner for Kerstin and the girls, Chris races for Team Mutt with Tim Rosbrook, Jim Hueber and Judy
Kopp.  He is also an avid cyclist.

Dan Suits (J1-2)

Dan was born in Montour Falls and was raised in Homer, New York.  He learned to ski at Greek Peak and was coached by Dave Wenn who is now the director of the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, NY.

Dan participated in the Empire State Games from 1975 through 1979 and in the U.S. Nationals in Downhill in 1977.  He attended Mountain House in Lake Placid, which is now called the National Sports Academy, in 1978 and 1979.  In those two years, Dan participated in the North American Alpine Championships and placed 3rd in the Junior Olympics in 1978.  He was the ski team captain at St. Lawrence University and competed in Division I NCAA racing in 1980 through 1982.

Dan is married to Mary Pat and they have four children: Genevieve, Michael (J1), Natalie (J1) and JP (J3).  The Suits Family live in Dewitt and Dan works in developing and constructing Senior Living Facilities out of Court Street Companies in Binghamton.

Dan's ski racing philosophy is to stress Teamwork and Sportsmanship and to make sure that all racers learn to ski and race to the best of their ability.

Greg Wormer (J4)

Greg is excited to be back on the slopes of Central New York this year after recently graduating from the University of Colorado.  As he says, " There's a little too much sun out west and the snow is way too fluffy."  He grew up with the Labrador Mountain Ski Club program starting as a J5 back in 1992 (or somewhere around there) and has always loved coming down to Labrador to learn from "the best coaches... ever."

Greg is currently working for Sensis as "some kinda engineer."  He keeps his pocket protector handy in case "anyone forgets their shin guards on slalom night."  See if he can explain the physics of skiing to you by only using numbers and equations (not recommended).

In the summer Greg enjoys wakeboarding "a little too much sometimes," but figures "you gotta have something to do when there's no snow around right?" Let's hope for some good snow this season to keep Greg occupied!