Western States 2025: CTS Athletes to Watch

Building upon the success CTS Athletes achieved in the 2024 Western States Endurance Run, including a podium sweep in the women’s race with Katie Schide, Fuzhao Xiang, and Eszter Csillag, CTS is once again heading to WSER to support nearly two dozen athletes in 2025. With fewer than two weeks to go before the big event, here’s an update on several of the pro and age group CTS Athletes to watch.

Coach Cliff Pittman also wrote a detailed description of the training plans that CTS Coaches have used with CTS Athletes Shea Aquilano and Jeff Mogavero for Ultrarunning Magazine.

Western States is one of the oldest and most prestigious ultramarathons in the United States. CTS Coaches and Athletes have a ton of experience and expertise competing in and coaching athletes for the race. CTS Coaches worked with champions like Katie Schide, Kaci Lickteig, and 2023 fourth place finisher Jaisheng Shen. Former winner Stephanie Howe is on our coaching and nutrition staff. And although hands-on experience with specific races isn’t always necessary for coaching success, CTS Coaches Jason Koop, Andy Jones-Wilkins, Sarah Scozzaro, and John Fitzgerald have run a combined 13 editions of Western States. We know the event and the course intimately, and know how to prepare champions, competitive age-groupers, time-cut chasers, and first-timers.

CTS Coach Insights on Athletes to Watch

CTS Athlete: Ryan Montgomery

Coached by: Jason Koop

Ryan Montgomery‘s training really centered on qualifying for Western States in the first place. It took a couple of tries to earn a Golden Ticket. Because of this, his training architecture more closely resembled a mountain bike racer’s, with shorter build periods leading to qualifier races, then recovery periods and builds to subsequent races. It was kind of a race/recover/race/recover structure more than a steady build. Thankfully, he earned his ticket and recently moved to the San Francisco area for his last high volume training block. His training has also been complicated by his first year in an MBA program. Like a lot of time-crunched athletes, we had to take advantage of the times when he didn’t have big school projects and deadlines.

CTS Athletes: Fuzhao Xiang and Eszter Csillag

Coached by: Jason Koop

Fuzhao Xiang finished second in 2024 and Eszter Csillag finished third, both of these athletes are great contenders for victory in 2025. Their training has been somewhat similar in that they have had two phases: outside the US before May 2025 and in the States for May-June 2025. Before coming to the US, both athletes completed big blocks of threshold work and a series of preparation races. For instance, Fuzhao won the 40km race at the Mt Fuji 100 at the end of April, and Eszter raced in Australia.

Fuzhao and Eszter traveled to Auburn, California in May to start training more specifically on the WSER course. Fuzhao participated in a 3-day Memorial Day Weekend Camp that covered significant portions of the course. I typically structure that camp with Day 1 Robinson Flat to the river, Day 2 Michigan Bluff to the river, and Day 3 the river to the finish. Eszter did a very similar camp, just a few weeks earlier than Fuzhao.

Training for both athletes has incorporated blocks with 4- to 6-hour runs. Fuzhao has been doing two-day blocks followed by two days of recovery, and working with Nicole Rassumussen on strength training. Eszter transitioned to training in Flagstaff, Arizona and did a Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim crossing so have some natural heat acclamation as well. Both athletes have been following a pretty standard sauna protocol for heat acclimation.

CTS Athlete: Keely Henninger

Coached by: Jason Koop

Keely Henninger is in her first year of medical school, so we’ve had to integrate her training in with her studies. Essentially, that means loading her with more training when she’s not studying (or when the school load is lower) and deloading when she is studying for exams, etc. Overall, it hasn’t cost her too much training volume, maybe 10% off what she might have done otherwise. And the peak volume blocks have been remarkably similar to previous years. The pattern of her training is a little different, too. Because medical school takes a lot of physical and mental bandwidth, we’ve opened up more space between long days or added more recovery days between harder efforts. Her sauna protocol for heat acclimation has been a little less consistent, too, but I feel confident she’s ready for a great performance at WSER.

CTS Athlete: Abby Hall

Coached by: Jason Koop

Abby Hall’s journey to the 2025 WSER was a bit unusual. She tried to earn a Golden Ticket for WSER at Black Canyon. When that didn’t work she traveled to Italy to race in Chianti. That effort didn’t yield a Golden Ticket, either. Then, a person who finished ahead of her at Black Canyon used Western States’ pregnancy deferral option, which bumped Abby up on the list. However, that didn’t happen until sometime in May. As a result, her WSER-specific training cycle has been a little compressed, but she’s making great progress.

Abby’s long runs are in the 4-6 hour range, which is pretty standard. I have her doing two- and three-day blocks, sometimes structured as six hours on Day 1 and then two four-hour days, or six, four, and three hours over three days. These would be alternated with two-day blocks as well.

She has a great opportunity for altitude and heat training, too. She’s been living in Flagstaff, Arizona (6,800 feet above sea level) and has access to a house on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona (4,150 ft). She’s been able to take advantage of “Live High-Train Low” methods as well as a hybrid heat acclimation protocol that combines exercise in the heat in Phoenix and passive sauna exposures. Abby is part of the CTS High Performance Program, so she’s been working with Meredith Terranova for nutrition and Sarah Scozzaro for strength training as well.

CTS Athlete: Shea Aquilano

Coached by Ryne Anderson

Shea Aquilano is the youngest runner at Western States this year at the age of 24. That said, she is no stranger to big races, having competed at a total of six Golden Ticket races throughout her young ultrarunning career. She recently captured a 6th place finish at Black Canyon 100k in February and took the win and course record at Gorge Waterfalls 100k in April. Her win at Gorge earned a spot (her second) to represent Team USA at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in September. Shea’s training over the past 6 months has been a gradual and specific build to Western States. Shea is poised and ready to race for a coveted top 10 finish.

CTS Athlete: Aaron Saft

Coached by Ryne Anderson

This is Aaron Saft‘s second time running Western States. We emphasized the least sexy but most important aspect of training: consistency. Excellent communication and intensity distribution allowed Aaron to have one of his most consistent blocks of training ever, with no days missed due to excess fatigue or injury.

Although heat training is a key piece of training for Western States, not everyone responds well to a typical sauna protocol due to the extra stress. By his own admission, Aaron’s sauna protocol before Western States in 2023 wrecked him. He lives in Western North Carolina and the increasingly hot and humid conditions in May and June provided a nice progression for heat acclimation. A critical aspect of programming is using past patterns to make better and informed future decisions. The sauna protocol did not work for Aaron last time. Therefore, we focused on fitness first, practicing hydration on every single run to train his gut and habits for diligent hydration on race day, and better management of overall stress in the last 3 weeks to the race.

CTS Athlete: Tyler Kilbury

Coached by Addison Smith

Tyler Kilbury is running WSER as his first 100 miler after qualifying through running 100ks over the past seven years. As a heavy sweater (3 to 4.5 pounds per hour) we’ve really focused on dialing in his hydration and electrolyte needs, as well as making sure he is diligent with cooling himself at streams and with ice and water at each aid station throughout the course. With so much time dedicated to getting the ticket to Western States over the years, as well as all of the training, planning, and dreaming he’s done in the past 6 months, I’m confident he’s physically and mentally prepared to take on the iconic race and to execute a well thought-out game plan.

CTS Athlete: David Skeehan

Coached by Cliff Pittman

Dave Skeehan is a surgeon in Auburn, CA, and has been a dedicated volunteer at Western States for many years. This race holds deep personal significance for him, and after years of supporting it from the sidelines, it’s finally his turn to test his limits in the high country, the canyons, and ultimately cross the finish line in his hometown.

Dave and I began working together after he completed the Canyons 100K. Given the time constraints, we made the decision to prioritize utilization rather than building capacity. This meant that, while there wasn’t much time to significantly improve his fitness, we focused on maximizing every ounce of the fitness he already had. We overhauled and refined his nutrition and hydration strategies, established a realistic pacing plan to finish within the golden hour (or just ahead of it), and implemented strategies to better manage the heat.

Dave has put in an incredible amount of hard work over the past few weeks, maintaining excellent communication and providing valuable feedback. His progress, particularly in his fueling strategy, has been impressive. I’m excited to see him execute his plan and put everything together on race day!

CTS Athlete: Matthias Gluck

Coached by Adam Ferdinandson

Matthias lives and trains in Germany and will be making the trip out to the USA to run Western States. Matthias is one of the most dedicated and detail-oriented athletes I’ve had the pleasure of working with. The training didn’t go perfectly (it never does) but he navigated challenges calmly and carefully, meanwhile prioritizing key weekends for bigger training blocks on race-specific terrain. He has also prepared a team of people to be crew and pacers and coordinated everyone’s roles months out from the race. Ultras are always unpredictable, but Matthias has done everything right and I expect him to have a great day out there!

#SeeYouAtStates

So, where will you see CTS at Western States? We’ll have tents staffed by CTS Ultrarunning Coaches at Robinson Flat, Forest Hill, Pointed Rocks, and Michigan Bluffs. CTS Ultrarunning Head Coach and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” author Jason Koop will travel to multiple aid stations as the elite field progresses through the race. And we look forward to cheering all racers to the finish line on the Placer High School track!