Montverde, Fla.— Montverde Academy Department of Athletics has announced the hiring of Dustin Spanbauer and Michelle Howell to the coaching staff for the Montverde Academy cross country and track & field teams for the 2022-23 school year. Spanbauer has been named Associate Head Coach for the cross country team and the Long Distance Coach for the track & field team, while Howell has been named Assistant Coach and Operations Manager.

Spanbauer comes to MVA from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida where he served as distance coach since 2016. While with IMG Academy, Spanbauer directed individualized plans and implementation of the distance program, provided weekly assessments on skill development and advanced team performance results which led to 15 school records being broke in one season.

Prior to that, Spanbauer spent three years with Team Indiana Elite, which included the latter two years as head coach after serving one year as assistant coach.

Spanbauer's other experiences include serving as head coach of the Indiana University Run Club and youth group head coach for the Indiana Track Club. He also served as team manager for the Indiana University track & field and cross country teams.

Howell also comes to MVA from IMG Academy, where she served as assistant coach this past season. At IMG Academy, she assisted in management of the distance athletes in all aspects from training and college placement preparation.

Howell's experience also includes serving as head coach of the Edmund Burke School in Washington, DC from June 2020 to June 2021 and an assistant coach at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia for two years prior to that.

She is also a professional athlete with the Tracksmith Garden State Track Club in New Jersey where she is a nationally ranked middle distance runner, competing in distances from 800 meters to five kilometers.

Howell is a graduate of Jacksonville University, where she was a member of its cross country and track & field teams. While there she was named to the ASUN All-Academic team and was a student government peer review board member.

Both coaches join coach Gerald Phiri's coaching staff off the heels of very successful campaign last year. The boys' track & field team won the Citrus League championship and the FHSAA 2A state championship last season, while the girls' track & field team finishing runner-up in the state championship. The boys' cross country team also won the district championship meet last season.