Skip to content


Track Coaching Staff

Head Coach:  John Gingery

Sprints & Relays

Assistant Coach:  Brian Kabourek

Middle Distance/Distance

Coach Kabourek has coached track & field at Lincoln East since 1991.  He is also the head cross country coach since 2015, and was an assistant since 1993.  Coach Kabourek has also coached boys’ and girls’ basketball at Lincoln East.

Coach Kabourek has assisted in coaching several state medalists in cross country, and has had several medalists in the state track meet.  Coach Kabourek has helped coach the 2012 Girls State Cross Country team, as well as runner-up finishes in 2006, 2011, 2013, and helped guide the Spartan girls to a 2016 State Runner-Up.  He was an assistant coach on the 2001 State Championship Boys’ Basketball Team.

“The Pursuit of Excellence with Honor” is Coach Kabourek’s motto.  Working hard to maximize the talent that you have and doing it in a way  that honors the sport is something he tries to instill in his athletes.

A native of David City, Nebraska, Coach Kabourek was a state qualifier in track.  He ran the 800m,1600m, and 3200m runs.  He competed in basketball, where his team qualified for the state tournament in 1985.  Coach Kabourek also played American Legion Baseball, where he was part of several successful, state qualifying teams as a third and first basemen.

He attended Kearney State College, and graduated in the Spring of 1991.

Coach Kabourek teaches in the Business Department at East High School, and enjoys teaching Economics.

Assistant Coach:  Kevin Hubbell

Middle Distance/Distance

A Lincoln native and a 1981 graduate of Lincoln East, Coach Hubbell competed in football and track, and was a member of the 1979 state championship football team.  He attended the University of Nebraska, where he participated on the UNL Track team as a pole vaulter for two years.  He was married in 1985, and then in 1986 he and his wife Anne moved to California for six years where they taught high school.

In 1992, Coach Hubbell joined the East High faculty and he has taught a variety of subjects in the social studies curriculum.  He is currently teaching 9th Grade Civics, 10th-12th Grade Civics, World Geography, Intro to Geography, and U.S. History.

Coach Hubbell started as a volunteer in track in 1992, helping out his old high school coach, Bob Eyth.  The following fall he began coaching cross country under Coach Skiles.  As the programs grew the positions became full time.
Coach Hubbell says it’s been a wonderful experience to work with and see so many runners develop into great athletes and people.  He feels very blessed to be able to do something he enjoys, and at the same time see his own children experience success and personal growth.
Coach Hubbell and his wife Anne have three children.  Katie, who is a 2005 graduate of East High, Kylie a 2009 graduate of East High, and his son Corbin who is a 2016 graduate of East High and currently runs XC and track at Doane College.

Assistant Coach:  Andrea (Baker) Kabourek

Middle Distance/Distance

A runner for the past 30 of 36 years, and a track and cross country coach at Lincoln East for the last five years, Andrea Kabourek believes that running is a lifestyle.

In high school, Andrea competed for Lincoln Southeast High School and was a member of four state championship cross country teams (1991-1994).   She finished 5th (91), 10th (92), 7th (93), and 6th (94) at the state cross country meet individually, and her team never lost a meet all four years.  Her cross country teams were ranked several times in the top-10 nationally, and her team has the lowest team total score at state with 28 points.  Andrea competed in three state high school track meets (her junior year she couldn’t compete due to illness).  She finished 6th in 1992 in the 3200 and 7th in the 1600, 2nd in the 4×800 in 1993 and competed in the 3200 and the 1600, and was 2nd in the 4×800 in 1995, setting a school record and competed in the 1600.

Andrea ran for Nebraska Wesleyan University, where her team was very successful, winning conference and regional championships.  Her team’s highest finish was 6th place at Division III cross country nationals in 1997.  Andrea was an All-American in 1998, finishing 31st at nationals.  She competed in three national cross country meets and five national track meets.  Andrea also held five school records for track at NWU, including a record of 5:04 for the indoor mile.

She has competed in the Chicago Marathon in October of 2004 and 2006, finishing under four hours for her first marathon.  Two weeks after completing in the New York City Marathon in 2009, Andrea was diagnosed with breast cancer, and was diagnosed two years later with leukemia.  After receiving a stem cell transplant, she has now been cancer-free for almost three years.  Coaching is now her main priority, but she intends to run several more half and full marathons in the future.

Assistant Coach:  Devin Kosmicki

Jumps & Sprints

Coach Kosmicki has coached jumpers and sprinters at Lincoln East High School for the last seven years.  In that time he has worked with several state medalists and participants.  Prior to joining the staff at Lincoln East, “Coach Koz” – as he is often referred to – was a volunteer coach at the University of Nebraska for three years.

A graduate of Grand Island Senior High School in 1984, Coach Kosmicki was an active member of the football and track and field teams, as well as the Grand Island baseball team.  It was in track and field that earned him a scholarship to the University of Nebraska at Omaha where he earned All-American honors in hte pole vault.  After his freshmen year, he transferred to UNL where he continued to pole vault, as well as competing in a few decathlons along the way.  Upon graduating, Coach Kosmicki’s mark in the pole vault of 17′ 9 1/4″ stood as the school record for ten years.

Coach Kosmicki serves as a physical education instructor at Maxey Elementary and holds fifteen years of teaching experience in Lincoln Public Schools.

Coach Kosmicki is married to Sara (Novak), and enjoys spending time with her two beautiful girls, Maggie and Sydney.  Coach Kosmicki and his wife just recently became the proud parents of Cooper Kosmicki who entered the world on March 12.

Assistant Coach:  David Seizys

Sprints, Relays & Jumps

Coach Seizys was a standout athlete at Fort Calhoun High School here in Nebraska.  It was from there that he took his skills to the University of Nebraska to play football.  In his own words, “God gave me the ability to an awesome special teams career for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  I was fortunate to letter in football from 1991 to 1993, and played for a national title in the Orange Bowl in January of 1994.

Coach Seizys has coaches football at Lincoln East since 1997 starting with the Junior Varsity, and now currently an assistant varsity coach.  He has been coaching track since 2004, working mainly with sprinters and helping with jumpers.  He is also the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Huddle Coach for Lincoln East.

Coaching has provided him with the opportunity to work with student/athletes in a different realm.  Coach Seizys has enjoyed the opportunity to influence lives and develop excellent relationships with them.  His motto throughout has been “soli deo gloria” – latin for “to the glory of God alone.”

Coach Seizys currently teaches 6th graders at Culler Middle School; he is married to Kim (Tonniges), and the two of them have three beautiful children – Haleigh, Hannah, and A.J.

Assistant Coach:  Jim Elsener

Hurdles

Coach Elsener is a Lincoln native, having graduated from Piux X High School.  He has a bachelors degree in education from the University of Nebraska, as well a masters degreee in special education from the UNL.  Coach Elsener is currently working on his masters in history.

Coach Elsener has been teaching and coaching for fourteen years.  He started his teaching career at Central City where he taught elementary special education, and coached the varsity girls’ basketball team.  After moving to Lincoln to teach in the Middle School at East, a year later he moved to the high school.  Coach Elsener says he loves it at East High School, and would like to teach here the remainder of his career.

Fishing and all sorts of outdoor activities are high on Mr. Elsener’s list of things to do.  He has also coached both boy’s and girl’s basketball at East High, and he has been working with the East Track and Field program since 1997.  Coach Elsener has worked with the hurdlers and throwers during that time, and has had the opportunity to work with several state medal winners in that time.

Assistant Coach:  Steve Morrison

Throws

Coach Morrison has been involved in Track & Field for 47 years. His track career began when his father, a track coach, brought home broken pole vaulting poles. He started holding neighborhood track meets at the age of 7. Steve went on to be a 4 year varsity letter winner in track at Red Oak High School in Red Oak, Iowa. He competed in the sprints (100-220 yard dashes), relays and the discus.

After graduating from the University of Nebraska , Coach Morrison became a Husker Track official where over the last 30 years he helped judge the pole vault and clerked the starting line. Presently, he is the meet manager for UNL track meets. Coach Morrison has accomplished the highest level of officiating in USATF as a Master official. During the last 10 years he has been the meet manager for Big 12 Conference indoor & outdoor champtionships, a Golden Spikes Pro track tour meet, a national high school indoor classic, NAIA national championships, Cornhusker State Games Director for the master and youth track meets, Three USATF track & field national championship, USATF cross country national championship, Nebraska State High School track meets, and USATF Nebraska Association meets.

Coach Morrison is married to Roberta Morrison, a Speech Therapist at Calvert Elementrary school. They have 3 kids, Jamie, Robbie and Jeff.

Volunteer Coach:  R.J. Kokrda

Sprints

Coach Kokrda has been a volunteer track coach at Lincoln East for the last six years and has been a full time volunteer coach for the last three years. He works with the sprinters and the sprint relay teams and also enjoys learning as much as he can about the other events in track & field.

A 2004 graduate of Lincoln East, Coach Kokrda lettered in basketball and track in high school. He was on the varsity track team for three yers, runn the 100m, 200m, and was also a member of the 400m and 1600m relay teams. He was a part of the second and fourth fastest 400m relay teams in school history. He participated in the State Track Meet his last two years in the 400m relay, placing 5th as a junior and 7th as a senior.

Currently Coach Kokrda is training for his third straight Lincoln half-marathon and enjoys watching University of Nebraska and Kansas University athletics.