Head Coaches
Program Director & Head Coach – Merle Richter
I am Merle, and I am originally from a very small town in the East of Germany, right next to the Czech border. The last 5 years I studied in the USA, at Northern Michigan University, and just finished my Master of Science in Applied Sport Psychology with a Concentration in Positive Coaching. I have been a skier my entire life, already competing at my first cross country ski race when I was 2 years old. My whole family are skiers so I was always surrounded by the skiing Community. I was always very passionate about the sport and loved being a skier. In the eastern part of Germany it is very common for a 7th grader to go to sports-boarding school, which I did of course. I enjoyed my years there, but unfortunately had some negative experiences with coaches, as well as the overall training environment. It was extremely strict and our coaches focused solely on results, rather than us as a person. The result, I struggled a lot with motivation for training, and was not able to perform as well as I would have liked. After this period I switched schools and went to another sports-boarding school in the German alps. I had a very different training environment and I was finally able to enjoy skiing again. During that time I finished high school, was motivated, and was ready for more skiing in my life. In Germany we didn’t have very many options to combine studying and skiing, which was the reason I started looking into universities over the pond 🙂 Now, I am grateful and happy that I got to experience a very different approach to training in the USA. Our team was always focused on supporting each other and trying to find a good balance of being healthy, having fun, as well as being a professional and competitive athlete. Now, I look forward to bringing all these experiences to BNT as your Program Director. I want to show everyone how to find your balance of fun and professionalism.
Assistant Coaches
Agnes Macy
Aggie grew up in New Hampshire, where she skied for her town’s club team, Dublin XC. Her favorite type of skiing is tromping around in fishscales after a big storm and going for big adventure skis. She competed in Junior Nationals for Team New England during high school. She then skied for Bowdoin College in Maine, and she raced at NCAAs one year. After graduating, Aggie moved to Lander, Wyoming, where she coached the Lander Valley High School ski team. She recently moved to Boulder for a master’s in Geography. She’s excited to stay connected to the Nordic community and continue coaching!
Everett Sapp
Everett is from the Adirondacks in upstate New York. He grew up skiing with his family and friends as his go to activity that quickly became a lifelong passion. Everett skied for NYSEF as a junior and raced for Harvard throughout college where he was the team captain and represented the Crimson at the 2023 NCAA Championships. Everett has spent time coaching for NYSEF, Jackson Hole Ski Club, and starting coaching for BNT in 2023. Outside of skiing, Everett works as a clean energy analyst in Boulder and gets out and about for biking, river trips and hiking. He loves the Boulder ski community and is excited to be a part of the club for a second year!
Matt Klick
Coach Matt Klick (PhD) has been competing in endurance sports for over 25 years. From skiing across Baffin Island and first ascents in Alaska to local cyclocross races and the Birkie, Matt has long identified with the time-crunched but goal-oriented athlete. In nordic skiing, Matt has been Master National Champion, won his age group at Birkie classic (18th overall; 2nd in skate the year prior) and has multiple age-group podiums and top elite wave finishes in some of America’s biggest races. Matt has also been a Colorado cyclocross state champion and competed across the country in cycling, gravel, skimo, and ultra running races. Matt has previously coached juniors in Montana, Colorado, and Norway as well, (including a young Petter Northug). But it was his experience achieving his own goals through careful preparation amid a hectic job that included international travel, plus his enthusiasm for working with people and empathetic communication, that led Matt to start Red Elephant Racing. Matt (seen here with Aksel, his long-time agility coordinator) possesses his USSS L100 coaching certification, and is currently pursuing his USAC Level 3 cert.
Maggie Druckenmiller
Maggie Druckenmiller is a lifelong skier from Fairbanks, Alaska. She started skiing for Dartmouth College in 2020 but was unable to ski throughout the rest of college due to mono. At that point she started teaching her friends how to ski and loved being on the other side of coaching ever since. Maggie also loves running, biking, and art in all forms. She just moved to Boulder and is excited to start coaching this season!
Waverly Gebhardt
Waverly grew up in Steamboat Springs and raced for SSWSC and RMN, then raced for the University of Vermont. After graduating she moved to Boulder for graduate school; Waverly is currently a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology. Love’s skiing and coaching, and is excited for the season ahead!
Rena Schwartz
Rena grew up weaving through the woods behind her home in Vermont, determined to catch her siblings and fueled by boundless joy for Nordic skiing. Rena competed in Junior Nationals for New England throughout high school and went on to ski for Dartmouth College. There she was a member of the NCAA team and represented the U.S at the FIS U23 Cross Country World Ski Championships. Rena has coached all ages – from U8s to adults – across summer and winter programs with Green Mountain Valley School, Craftsbury Outdoor Cnter and Ford Sayre Nordic Team. Rena has recently moved to Boulder to complete her social work masters practicum. She is excited to share her joy of skiing and racing!
Lilly Bates
Lilly grew up in Colorado and New Hampshire, first learning/loving to ski in Aspen with AVSC and Crested Butte with CB Nordic. After moving to NH, she competed at Junior Nationals for New England throughout high school, then attended Williams College in Massachusetts where she raced for the Ephs. During the 23/24 season, Lilly coached the youth development program (U8-U14) and elite masters training group in Crested Butte, then continued on to run the summer training program for high school and college athletes. A master’s in applied math from CU brings Lilly to Boulder, and she is grateful to have the opportunity to stay connected to the Nordic community while she is here! She is passionate about coaching because it allows her to stay involved with the sport through the next generation of inspiring young athletes.
Ellie Smith
Ellie grew up in Durango, Colorado, where she learned to ski. Her family moved to Boulder, Colorado when she started high school and she joined BNJRT at the beginning of her sophomore year. While in high school, she qualified for and competed at Junior Nationals and Senior Nationals in Alaska, Utah, Vermont and Michigan. She then skied at Bowdoin College for two years before deciding to transfer back home to CU Boulder. She has helped out with a few BNJRT (now BNT) practices in the past and is very excited to become a more consistent coach with BNT! Ellie sees her coaches and teammates as the main reason she enjoyed skiing: for their energy, kindness, grit and humor. Because of them she fell in love with nordic skiing and she looks forward to sharing this passion with younger generations of skiers! Outside of skiing & coaching, she is a senior at CU Boulder, where she is majoring in Nueroscience and pursuing a minor in Public Health. She also loves trail running, mountain biking and backcountry skiing!
Volunteer Assistant Coaches
Nathan Schultz
Nathan Schultz grew up in Boulder and skied for BNJRT (Lake Eldora Racing Team at the time) 1987-1989. He went on to be a 2-time NCAA All-American at the University of Colorado and a professional mountain bike racer and cross-country skier through 2002. Nathan now owns and manages Boulder Nordic & Cycle Sport.
Dan Weinberger
Dan is in his fourth year as a volunteer coach for the U10 to U14 age groups. He has three kids on the team, Klara – a U16 Lexi – a U14 and William – a U10. Dan was a competitive racer in the Minnesota High School league where he fell in love with the sport. This brought him to the University of Colorado Ski team where he was 2x captain, and part of the 1999 NCAA Championship team. Upon graduation he was an assistant coach for CU for three years while pursuing his MBA. He was fortunate enough to coach a World Cup race in 2006, as well as win another NCAA Championship in 2006. He is happy to be able to give back to the sport which has given him so much. He wants to get as many kids involved in the sport as he can by making it both fun as well as teaching kids the skills to make them faster.
Liam McInroy
Liam is another born-and-bred Front Range skier, growing up in Laramie, Wyoming. After skiing and running in high school, where he attended several Junior Nationals competitions for the High Plains region, he moved to the city and joined the Harvard Ski Team while studying there. Once graduated, Liam moved back out West. This is Liam’s third season coaching for the Boulder Nordic Team.