Conference Committee

  • Hayden James, RDN, CSSD, CDCES | Director

    Hayden is a 9 year dietitian & owns satiate nutrition, a sports nutrition private practice working mostly with endurance, ultra-endurance & mountain athletes. She also works part time in adult endocrinology as a diabetes educator where she served on the conference planning committee for the Intermountain Diabetes & Endocrinology Conference for 2 years. She was voted #1 Dietitian in SLC in Salt Lake Weekly in 2023, and #2 in 2024. She She’s an avid trail runner, climber, skier, & lifter living in Salt Lake City, UT.

  • Kelly Pritchett, PhD, RDN, CSSD | Education Chair

    Kelly is a Professor in Nutrition and Exercise Science at CWU. As a CSSD, she has consulted with both elite and collegiate athletes as well as with active individuals. While in college, she competed on the swimming and diving team at the University of Alabama. Pritchett serves on the leadership committee of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Sports, Health and Performance Nutrition dietetic practice group as the Social Media Coordinator, and served as a National Media Spokesperson for the Academy. She has authored research articles for scientific journals and presented at regional and national conferences. Her current research interests include post exercise nutrition for recovery, vitamin D and the athlete, and energy availability in athletes with spinal cord injury. In her spare time, she enjoys running and spending time with her three active boys.

  • Kylee VanHorn, RDN | Marketing Chair

    Kylee is the founder and owner of her sports nutrition business Flynutrition, which helps runners, triathletes, cyclists, and skiers to learn not only the ‘why’ but the ‘how’ behind fueling for performance. In addition to running her business, she is the newly published author of her book Practical Fueling for Endurance Athletes.  She has been a freelance writer for Trail Runner Magazine, Women's Running, and Outside Online.  An endurance athlete herself, you can find her running or skiing in the mountains of Aspen, CO, where she resides with her ultra-endurance husband, Sean, and their three Australian Shepherds.

  • Starla Garcia, M.Ed, RDN, LD | Sponsor Chair

    Starla is a registered dietitian with a focus on endurance exercise and oncology nutrition. She received her nutrition degree in Human Nutrition and Foods from the University of Houston where she also earned her master’s degree in health education.  Starla works to provide quality nutrition to cancer patients to improve treatment outcomes and prevent recurrence full time and lives out the rest of her professional  nutrition interests supporting endurance athletes via her private practice, The Healthy Shine.  Her approach to nutrition is to help patients  or clients understand their bodies needs, separate nutrition fads from nutrition facts, and align their food preferences with their health goals. Fun fact about Starla is that she also ran at the University of Houston as a Division I cross-country and track and field athlete, as well as competing at the 2020 USA Olympic Marathon Trials