Menlo Masters Coaches and Staff
- Tim Sheeper, Head Coach
- Rick Peterson, Swim Coach
- Susie Mogensen, Swim Coach and Swim Pro
- Judy Strauss, Swim Coach
- Mike Ingardia, Swim Coach
- Matt Gilman, Swim Coach
- Carole Hayworth, CFO
Tim Sheeper
Founder and Head Coach
For over 20 years Tim Sheeper has coached athletes of all ages. He has and is currently coaching the beginner, intermediate and elite level athlete. In that time he has led more than 4,000 athletes through more than 20,000 training sessions, and has become one of the most prolific triathlon coaches the country.
Tim has been competing in triathlons for 25 years and has been racing in running competitions since the age of 8. His passion for building community among multi-sport athletes resulted in founded of a triathlon team in the mid 1990's, which is now called Team Sheeper. Tim's mission in life is to encourage and motivate people to live a life full of activity, strengthening the body and the mind, and discovering we are capable of doing much more in life than once thought possible.
Tim also makes family a priority. He has three children who are active in sports and his wife Lisa is herself a champion swimmer and team advocate. Tim's interest in developing whole-person athletes extends to including families in aquatics and outdoor activities while supporting members' personal commitments.
Rick Peterson
Swim Coach
Rick Peterson has helped coach the Menlo Masters swim team almost since its organization in 1988. He has been an active Masters swimmer and cyclist since 1976, a runner since 1974, and a triathlete since 1982.
Rick has also coached the Leukemia Society's Team in Training triathlon and run programs for TNT since the late 1990s.
Susie Mogensen
Swim Coach and Swim Pro
A competitive swimmer since the age of five, Susie Mogensen has a combined 30 years of swimming, teaching and coaching experience. A California native, she swam throughout high school and college, was the team captain for both varsity squads and became a collegiate record holder and NCAA All-American. Susie taught both learn-to-swim lessons and competitive lessons for 13 years and helped coach the Pinole Seals recreational swim team to five of their seven Contra Costa County championships.
Susie took a short break from swimming and coaching when she entered law school, but returned to the sport in 1998 when she started training for triathlons. Since then, Susie has competed in numerous triathlons and several Masters' Swimming events, including qualifying for Masters' Nationals, and continues to train for fun and fitness after the birth of her son, Brady, in January of 2008.
Judy Strauss
Swim Coach
Judy Strauss has been a competitive swimmer for the last 40 years. She competed in college before Title Nine was enacted. She is currently an active competitor in Masters Swimming.
She began coaching swimming in 1976 as an assistant in an age group program in Syracuse, New York. In the mid 1990s she coached a high school swim team. When she is not coaching or swimming she is teaching mathematics at Los Altos High School. Judy says "I like to bring math into my workouts and swimming into my classroom."
Mike Ingardia
Swim Coach
Mike Ingardia has been a competitive swimmer since 1978. He still proudly holds several high school records, one Tufts University pool record in the mile, and several New England Masters swimming records.
Mike has been coaching swimming since 1997, mostly individual and smaller group practices. "It's very rewarding to help someone improve in the pool, " he says. "I love working with swimmers and getting them to achieve more than what they originally thought possible."
Outside of the pool, Mike has been a competitive runner and triathlete since 1992, when he jump-started his running career by running the Boston Marathon on six weeks of training. "Not highly recommended," Mike notes. He ran several marathons over the next couple years until a friend suggested he try triathlons. So, without a wetsuit and riding a borrowed bike, he did his first two triathlons in 1994, winning his age group in the second race. "I was hooked from there," he says, and he has been racing triathlons ever since, amassing 10 overall career victories and numerous age group wins. Mike has completed eight Ironman distance triathlons, placing as high as 17th overall at the 1998 Great Floridian. He held the swim record at that event for two years and was the overall swim winner at Ironman Lanzarotte in 1998.
Matt Gilman
Swim Coach
Matthew Gilman has been in the coaching scene since 1998. He coached the AGUA age group team for 5 years in addition to serving as the Assistant Coach for the Columbia University Men’s team for two years. Matt took a break from coaching from 2003 – 2005 where he went to school and changed careers. Since moving to the Bay Area, Matt has resumed coaching part time for Stanford Masters and Menlo Masters in Menlo Park. He can be found full time down the road as a Marketing Manager at Xfire Inc.
Carole Hayworth
CFO
Carole has worked in finance and accounting since before 1990. She is a Canadian Chartered Accountant and a CPA in the U.S. Prior to joining Menlo Masters and Team Sheeper as our financial guru, Carole served as Director of Finance for Ajuba Solutions, where she was in charge of Accounting and Finance, a member of the senior management team, and was an integral part of negotiating the sale of the company. Prior to Ajuba, she was with Cygnus Solutions as Director of Finance, responsible for the full financial operations, planning, and finance department of the company, and a member of the senior management team.
Carole graduated from The University of Western Ontario, Canada in 1989, with an Honors degree in Business Administration. There, she was on the Varsity Synchronized Swimming Team that won the National Collegiate Championship team event in 1987. Carole has been a Masters swimmer since 1998, and began competing in triathlons in 2000. Carole has since completed two Ironman triathlons.