Spokane Swifts Running Team

About Us

Heather McLaughlin LeFriec, Team President

Heather grew up on Whidbey Island, WA, where she graduated from Oak Harbor High School. After being told she was too short for volleyball or basketball, she spent most of her high school athletic career as a varsity tennis player. It wasn't until her junior year of high school when she started "jogging" in an attempt to lose weight. Her senior year, Heather and her twin Heidi (Bresson) decided to turn out for the cross country team for "fun." Heather quickly discovered she was a much better runner than a tennis player. She won her first high school cross country race and went on to place 14th at the State 4A championships. She never returned to tennis, ran track in the spring and qualified for the state 4A championships in the 2 mile. She is still on the OHHS "top five 2 mile times" list with a best of 11:08. She was a 6 time letter winner in varsity tennis, varsity cross country, and varsity track.

Heather went on to Gonzaga University where she was the captain of the women's cross country and track team from 1992-1995. She placed 4th at the West Coast Conference Cross Country Championships in 1992 and went on to earn All West Coast Conference honors in cross country from 1992-1995. She specialized in the 10,000 meters in track and went on to break the school record in 1993 with a time of 37:20 (it has since been broken) at Husky Stadium. Heather earned a Bachelors and a Masters of Education degree from Gonzaga University. She is currently a Fitness & Health Teacher at Lewis and Clark High School, and also serves as assistant girls cross country coach and assistant girl's tennis coach.

After college Heather transitioned into the marathon. She ran her first marathon in 1995, went on to run her 2nd marathon at Boston in 1996 and has since completed 34 marathons (several of these races were done in a costume). She has ran over a dozen marathons at sub 3 hour and her marathon P.R. is 2:56.55. She took a two year "break" from running, learned how to swim (back stroke at best) and started competing in triathlons. She finished Ironman Coeur d'Alene in 2006 and 2007. Her personal best for Bloomsday is 45:14 (2002) and 37:18 (10k) at the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, Ga. She has an 8k P.R. of 29:10 (Nordstrom Beat The Bridge), and 1:22.26 for the half marathon (Coeur d'Alene 2002)

Heather continues to race, and is most grateful to be injury free all these years. This last summer she married Andy "Frank" LeFriec who also shares a love for running, and is a member of the Spokane Distance Project.

Sarah Ranson, Coach

Sarah spent her high school years in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. She was a stand out high school runner and swimmer at Hampton High school where she was a 11 time letter winner (she was a cheerleader one season!) Sarah was a member of record setting relay teams in the pool and on the track. She set the 2 mile school record in 11:07 and placed 3rd in the state meet two years in a row in both cross country and the 2 mile on the track.

Sarah was a member of the University of Missouri track and cross country teams from 1991-1996. She holds numerous ALL Big 8 titles from the 3,000M to 10,000M, was an NCAA qualifier in the 10,000M and Cross Country, and an Athletic Academic All- American. While pursuing a Master's degree in Sport Management at The Florida State University, Sarah was a graduate assistant coach for the track and cross country programs.

Sarah has PR's of 2:51 marathon, 1:21 half marathon, 35:20 10K, and 16:52 5K. Her running career was put on hold for a few years as she and her husband grew their family with the addition of two little boys. Sarah is back to training and is looking forward to improving upon her marathon and half marathon PR's and hopes to qualify for the 2012 Olympic marathon trials.

Additional Board Members

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