Our HOF'ers

Laurel Leone (2024)

Laurel (Burdick) Leone is a 2002 Fayetteville-Manlius graduate whose love and skill for running originated in high school. Laurel has long been an impressive athlete, participating in varsity cross-country and indoor/outdoor track under the training and guidance of legendary coach, Bill Aris.

Highlights of her early running career include New York state championship in cross-country as a sophomore and the 3000-meter event in outdoor track as a junior. She also was a three-time Foot Locker National Finalist from 1999 to 2001. She went on to earn an athletic scholarship at Boston College and became an All-American in her senior year of cross-country. In 2017, she was inducted into the F-M Athletic Hall of Fame.

Post collegiately, Laurel trained with a small local elite group, Stotan Racing, headed by John and Bill Aris. An impressive achievement of her post-college running career was her 2010 Boston Marathon finish of 2:44:16, which qualified her for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials. Laurel has won the Mountain Goat run a record-breaking six times and has cut the tape at countless races across Central New York. Her name is synonymous with dominance in women’s running locally, from 5Ks to half marathons.

Laurel is a busy mom to two kids, Jack, 12 and Hannah, 9, and she and her husband, Pat, own and operate Leone Timing and Result Services.

Pat Riccardi (2024)

If one were to sum up the attributes of an inductee to the Mountain Goat Hall of Fame, it would likely look something like that of 2024 inductee Dr. Pat Riccardi. From his first participation in the Goat in 1982, he has run some iteration of approximately 30 Mountain Goat weekends. Pat is a multiple age group award winner over his history of running the race. But his contributions and involvement in the race didn’t stop there.

Pat previously served on both the Mountain Goat Race Committee and Board of Directors. During a particularly crucial time in the race’s history, he also served as the race’s medical director. Pat established many of the protocols, policies and procedures that are still in place today to keep runners safe should they need medical help or treatment during the event.

For a long period of time, Pat’s race weekend went something like this: coordinate with the medical personnel just before the start of the race; assist on race morning setting up the infrastructure of the finish line medical response area; go out with Jack “Water Boy” Stauffer to drop off water at the water stops; come back and run one of the races. Once his event was over, he’d often work the finish line as a volunteer.

Outside of the Mountain Goat, Pat is a vital member of the Syracuse Track Club having received multiple awards including the Dave Beach Humanitarian Award. He coordinates the STC’s UltraVet Men’s team for the club’s team running efforts. Most importantly (to some, at least) he is the de-facto leader of the STC Grumpy Old Men Mountain Running Team.

Jack Stauffer (2024)

There are few elements of The Mountain Goat Run that Jack Stauffer has not been involved in. Stauffer, spent 20 years on the Mountain Goat Race committee. He was instrumental in countless parts of Syracuse’s most iconic road race including serving as one of the original water czar’s (back when 25 volunteers manned trash-can water stations on the course for about 500 runners). As the race grew, so did Stauffer’s water efforts as the volunteer staff swelled to more than 130 volunteers serving 2,500 runners.

Jack’s contributions to the Mountain Goat have been quietly influential for many years. During that time, he created the race application booklet before online registration was available, worked countless pre-race training runs and spent three years on the Mountain Goat Foundation board.

Jack has run the Mountain Goat eight times – usually crossing the start and finish lines in between helping set up and take down portions of the race, including all of those critical water stations. He has run the Mountain Goat 3K three times including a top 10 finish at age 49.

In addition to his many contributions to the Mountain Goat, Jack has been instrumental in the Central New York running community in just as many ways. The Dave Beach Humanitarian Award recipient served as vice president of the Syracuse Track Club for 10 years, produced its newsletter and website for nearly twice that long and is the founder and former race director of the Super Couch Potato 5k. He has also completed 24 marathons including seven in Boston.