Valley Catholic High School Coach Biobook 2015-2016 by Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon

VALLEY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

Athletic Department STAFF 2015-2016

ATHLETIC ADMINISTRATION Joel Sobotka, Athletic Director Joel Sobotka joined Valley Catholic’s staff in 2012 as Athletic Director and head boys basketball coach. He came to Valley after six years as lead assistant and recruiting coordinator at the University of Portland. Joel brings eighteen years of college-coaching experience to Valley, including four years as a Division I head coach at Portland State University. (When hired in 1998 at the age of twenty-eight, Joel was the youngest D-I head coach in the country.) Joel has coached also at Eastern Oregon University, Cal State Northridge, and Arizona State. While at PSU he served as college and NBA analyst on 1080 the Fan. In his thirteen years in the Portland area Joel has worked with many charitable organizations. He was a founding board member of the Oregon/Southwest Washington Chapter of the ALS Association, with which he is still involved. He was selected in 1999 by State Senator Ron Wyden to lead the Backboards and Blackboards program, which educates children on academic and basketball goals and opportunities. He has also been camp director for the Chris Dudley Basketball Camp for Kids with Diabetes and worked with the Special Olympics Youth Games in Beaverton. In 2013, Joel’s first year of coaching at Valley, the basketball team won the Lewis & Clark League championship and reached the final four at State. In 2014 Joel led the Valiants to the State Championship and was named State Coach of the Year. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 Valley Catholic won its second, third, and fourth consecutive Oregonian Cups and Oregon Athletic Coaches’ Association’s All-Sports Championships.

Kelly Alfieri, Assistant Athletic Director and CYO Director Kelly Alfieri has served as Valley Catholic’s Assistant Athletic Director since 2011 and CYO director since 2008. Kelly was a three-sport star at Hillsboro High School, running cross-country and track and playing basketball. She was All-State in track and still holds school records in the 400m and 300m hurdles. In her senior year Kelly was named Hillsboro High’s Athlete of the Year and Scholar Athlete. She received an athletic scholarship to Oregon State University, focusing on the 400m hurdles, in which she twice qualified for the Pac-10 Championships. Kelly earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology and worked for OHSU’s Human Performance Laboratory before becoming a full-time mother. Six of her children have attended Valley Catholic. Kelly has also volunteered in a variety of Valley projects, most notably founding and chairing the very successful Valley Catholic Elementary School Jog-a-thon.

FALL SPORTS: Football Doug Ierardi, Head Coach Doug Ierardi came to Valley Catholic in 2010 as Dean of Academics and Social Studies and Religion teacher. He is now Academic Vice-Principal and head football coach. Doug had been principal for four years at Regis High School in Stayton, where he had previously served as Dean of Students, teacher, and very successful head football and track coach, leading the football team to undefeated conference championships and quarter-final and semi-final State appearances in 2005 and 2007. In each season he was Pac-West Conference Coach of the Year. Even when he was school principal in 2008, he served as offensive coordinator during a conferencechampionship season that saw another trip to the State quarter-finals. At Regis, also, Doug coached the girls track team to a State Championship in 1998. Doug also helped lead two football teams in New Hampshire— Bishop Brady and St. Thomas Aquinas—to undefeated league titles and appearances in the State semi-final and Championship games. Doug has coached soccer and cross-country with similar success.

Nick Hegwood, Assistant Coach Nick Hegwood, defensive coordinator, joined the Valiants’ staff in 2013. For the previous ten years he had coached at Beaverton High School, his alma mater, ending his career there as head freshman coach. At Beaverton Nick played football and ran track and was a member of the 1997 State runner-up football team. Nick also coached Valley Catholic’s middle-school basketball team for four years before moving to the highschool basketball staff. Nick has taught at Valley Catholic Middle School since 2007.

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Conor Walsh ’10, Assistant Coach Conor Walsh joined the football staff in 2012, working primarily with running backs and linebackers. Conor was a three-sport athlete at Valley Catholic, playing football, basketball and baseball. He was an All-State catcher on the State runner-up 2010 baseball team and a member of the inaugural Valiant football team in 2007. Conor serves also as an assistant on the Valiants’ baseball staff.

Brandon Jones, Assistant Coach Brandon Jones joined the staff in 2014 as wide receivers and defensive backs coach. Brandon coached from 2006-2011 at Blanchet Catholic High School in Salem, serving as a member of the football, basketball, and baseball staffs. Brandon graduated from Blanchet in 2005, where he played quarterback from 2002-2004 on the inaugural Cavalier football team. He earned All-League honors his senior year on Blanchet’s first State playoff team and helped lead the team to their first playoff win. Brandon graduated from Western Oregon University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science and works for Acumed, a medical-device company, in Hillsboro.

Aaron Tanabe, Assistant Coach Aaron Tanabe, who teaches Physical Education and Health at Valley Catholic, grew up in Hilo, Hawaii, where he was a star high-school football and baseball player. He attended Southern Oregon University on a football scholarship, and, after his sophomore year, transferred to Linfield College, from which he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Activity and Health. He earned a Masters in Teaching from Eastern Oregon with endorsements in Physical Education and Health. Aaron lettered four years in college football and was Linfield’s starting center for two years, helping lead the Wildcats to the Final Four in 2009. He began his coaching career at Amity High School before joining the Valiants’ staff as offensive and defensive line coach.

Joe Walsh, Assistant Coach Joe Walsh joined Valley Catholic’s football staff in 2011 as wide receivers and defensive backs coach. Joe graduated from Glencoe High School in 1995, where he played lacrosse for the undefeated state champion Crimson Tide. He continued playing lacrosse at the University of Oregon, where he received his B.S. in Communications in 2000. After graduation Joe became the Athletic Director at the Hillsboro Boys & Girls Club, where he managed the basketball, soccer, and football programs. Joe currently coordinates Clark County’s youth gang-prevention task force.

FALL SPORTS: Cross-Country Tommy Manning, Head Boys and Girls Cross-Country Coach Tommy Manning, now Head Boys and Girls Cross-Country Coach, had served as head boys cross-country coach since 2007, leading the Valiants to State Championships in 2011, 2013, and 2014 and a State runnerup finish in 2010. In 2014 the team also won the National Championship for schools under 600 students. In each State Championship year Tommy was named State Cross-Country Coach of the Year by the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association. He is a graduate of Jesuit High School in Portland, where he ran #1 for the Crusaders’ cross-country team that won the school’s first Cross-Country State Championship in 2000. In track the next spring Tommy was State Champion in the 1500 meters. He ran four years of cross-country and track for Georgetown University, where he earned several All-Big East honors and was an All-American in the 800-meters and Distance Medley. Tommy joined Valley Catholic in 2006 as a Social Studies teacher and currently serves as the Social Studies department chair.

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FALL SPORTS: Cross-Country (Continued) Ian Berge, Assistant Coach Ian Berge joined the cross-country program as an assistant coach in 2011. Ian has helped lead the boys team to three State Championships and a National Championship. He is a graduate of Jesuit High School, where he ran cross-country and track. He ran four years of cross-country and track at Gonzaga University, where he served as team captain and was coached by the legendary Pat Tyson. He began teaching history at Valley Catholic in 2012 and now coaches high-school track, elementary and middle-school CYO track, and the Valley Catholic cross-country club. Ian made his marathon debut in October 2011, finishing 13th in the Portland Marathon with a time of 2:42.

Marcia Bomber, Assistant Coach Marcia Bomber is primarily a track coach at Valley Catholic but has assisted also with the cross-country teams the last few years. Marcia attended La Salle High School, where she was a State competitor in the shot put, discus and 4x100m relay. She graduated from Portland State University in 2002 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. She walked on as a track-and-field athlete at PSU as a freshman and was awarded a scholarship for the next three years. She held PSU records in the weight throw and the 4x100m relay. Marcia joined the Valiant staff in 2006, working primarily with sprinters and throwers. Marcia has helped the Valiants’ girls team to five consecutive league championships, a 2014 State Championship (in which the 4x100 relay team set a State record to clinch the title), and a 2013 State second-place finish.

Shannon Haberkorn, Assistant Coach Shannon Haberkorn has taught at Valley Catholic Middle School since 2009, where she is now head of the English department and teaches English and religion. Shannon majored in psychology at Willamette University and remained at Willamette to earn a Master’s in teaching, receiving the Mary Stuart Rogers Award for strength in service and leadership. Shannon played volleyball and basketball and golfed in high school but switched to running after college. She runs 10K’s but is primarily a half marathoner: her best is 1:24… a time that wins a lot of races. Shannon also enjoys the Hood to Coast race, which her team won in 2011. Shannon coached three years of high-school running and three of middle-school before joining the Valiants’ high-school staff in 2015.

Marie del Toro, Assistant Coach Marie, who began coaching cross-country at Valley Catholic in 2015, ran the mile and half-mile in high school and cross-country and middle distance at Carleton College. Marie taught geology and earth science at Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, where she coached track and cross-country. She has also coached CYO track in Portland for the last nine years. Marie races 5K’s to marathons. Her son, Wilder, a 2015 graduate of Valley Catholic was 2015 4A State Champion in the 1500-meters and 3,000-meters and helped lead the Valiants to three cross-country State Championships and was one of Oregon’s top finishers in the 2014 Nike Border Clash.

FALL SPORTS: Volleyball Becky Kemper, Head Coach Becky Kemper, who has taught math, primarily Geometry and Advanced Geometry, at Valley since 1994, returned to the volleyball court in 2013 to lead the Valiants’ for a second time. Becky had been head coach at Valley from 1995-2002; in 1997 she was named Tri-Valley League Coach of the Year. In 2002 she left high-school coaching to coach her daughters, Samantha and Tori, in CYO and club volleyball. At Valley both Samantha and Tori became 1st- team All-League and All-State selections. Becky was club director of West Valley Juniors for seventeen years, during which time she coached every age level from 12’s to 18’s. She graduated from Western Oregon University in 1990, where she was a member of the Wolves’ volleyball team from 1988 to 1990. During her years at WOU her team finished 2nd in the nation, and she was named an

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NAIA All-American and NAIA Scholar-Athlete. Becky’s son Clay is now an All-Conference football and baseball player at Valley. In 2013, her first back at the helm, Becky led the Valiants to the State title match and in 2014 to the final eight and a State Academic Championship.

Tiffany Zwick ’01, Assistant Coach Tiffany Zwick was a four-year All-League volleyball player at Valley Catholic. She was co-MVP at the State Tournament in her junior and senior years. She played also for the Oregon All-Star team in Australia, where they won the international tournament. Tiffany started at libero at Western Oregon University for four years. In her junior year she was awarded 2nd-team All-GNAC libero; in her senior year she was 1st-team All-GNAC libero and ranked 25th in the nation in digs per game. Tiffany still holds this digs record at Western. At Valley Tiffany was also a four-year varsity starter on the basketball and softball teams and in track won All-State honors. After college and graduate school, Tiffany quickly began coaching club volleyball. She has coached for West Valley Juniors (14’s, 16’s, & 18’s) and Falcon volleyball club (14’s). She also coached JV at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory High School for four most successful seasons.

Kat Gram Coussens ’06, Assistant Coach Kat, a 2006 graduate of Valley Catholic, joined the Valiant volleyball staff in 2013. At Valley she played volleyball and basketball, receiving All-League honors in both sports and All-State honors in volleyball. Kat graduated from Oregon State in 2011, where she played two years of club volleyball, and she has coached four years of CYO volleyball.

Brittany McDonough, Assistant Coach Brittany McDonough coaches the Valiants’ JV2 squad. Her previous experience includes two years as an assistant at Thurston High School and a year for the Webfoot Volleyball Club.

Fall Sports: Boys Soccer Mike Chertude, Head Coach Mike Chertude, who assisted the 2008 and 2009 Valiant squads, returned to Valley Catholic in 2013 as head coach. Mike has coached 20 years of area club soccer, including 10 years for the Westside Metro Soccer Club. He currently coaches for the Crossfire Oregon Soccer club, coaching multiple teams ranging from U-15 to U-18. (Mike is able to keep the soccer budget straight: for the last 20+ years he has been a senior revenue specialist for the Washington State Department of Revenue.) Mike holds a USSF National D coaching license (98).

Christopher Chertude, Assistant Coach Christopher attended Jesuit High School, playing 4 years of varsity soccer and helping two teams to State Championships. Christopher played for the Portland Timbers U-18 academy team, ODP Region IV team, and trained with and was called up for the Timbers Reserve team against the LA Galaxy at Providence Park field. During the 2014-2015 season he played with Peninsula College’s team. During his playing time in Port Angeles, he assisted the Port Angeles High School boys team and was an individual trainer for the Port Angeles academy teams and helped train many Crossfire Oregon teams and individuals.

Victor Calderon, Assistant Coach Victor Calderon played Varsity soccer for Burbank High School (CA) and joined the Valiant staff in 2015.

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FALL SPORTS: Girls Soccer Kayla Gaspardis, Head Coach Kayla Gaspardis came to Valley as a Health and P.E. teacher and head girls soccer coach in the fall of 2011. She played high-school soccer at Jesuit High School for four years, leading the Crusaders to two State titles and a 2nd place, and then four years at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, an NAIA powerhouse. Kayla was team captain and star forward: in her four-year playing career she led Westmont to the Final Four once and Elite Eight twice. Kayla also was given Westmont’s Golden Eagle Scholar-Athlete Award for excellence in academics, character, and play. Kayla coached five summers at the University of Portland summer camps and after college graduation became an assistant for the Pilot women in the ’09-’10 season. Kayla has a B.S. in Kinesiology from Westmont College and an M.A. in Teaching from the University of Portland. She is also certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Kayla’s Valiant girls team was State runner-up in 2012 and State Champion in 2013 and 2014; Kayla was named State Coach of the Year in both championship years.

Emily Keagbine ’07, Assistant Coach Emily Keagbine began assisting the girls soccer team in 2011. Emily won twelve varsity letters at Valley, where she was a star softball, basketball, and soccer player and 2007 Athlete of the Year, when she was State Player of the Year in softball and led the Valiants to the State Championship. That winter she was also 1st-team AllLeague in basketball and led the Valiants to the State Championship title game. She was also an All-Conference soccer player. Emily’s career in college got even better: she was the 2011 1st-Team All-American shortstop (there’s only one) and led Linfield to the softball National Championship. She was one of the nation’s best defensive players at any position and one of the nation’s top hitters—her 17 homers was 4th in the country.

Megan Gabourel ’10, Assistant Coach Megan begins her third year with Valley Catholic girls soccer as an assistant coach. Her primary responsibility is working with goalkeepers. Megan played four years of soccer at Valley Catholic, earning team MVP in her junior year. She was a four-time All-League selection and led the team in scoring her junior and senior years. Megan is currently attending Western Oregon University, majoring in psychology with a minor in human biology.

WINTER SPORTS: Girls Basketball John Innes, Head Coach John Innes, a three-sport athlete at St. George’s High School in Spokane, attended Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, for whom he played golf and was the radio announcer for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. From 1997 to 2001 John coached boys basketball under Jennifer Mountain, who, after leaving St. George’s, has coached at Gonzaga, Santa Clara, and Portland State and is now head coach at Pacific University. In 2003, John came to Oregon to teach English at Valley Catholic and coach under Ross Thomas, who had won seven State titles in Washington. In 2004, John was named head coach of Valley Catholic. His teams have captured four West Valley League championships (2007-2010) and three Lewis and Clark League titles (2012, 2013, 2014). He was named West Valley League Coach of the Year in 2007, 2008, and 2009, and LCL Coach of the year in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The Valiants were the 2013 OSAA 3A State Champions—in which year John was State Coach of the Year—2nd at State in 2007, 2012, and 2014, 3rd in 2008, 4th in 2009 and 5th in 2015. During their time under Coach Innes, the Valiants have compiled a record of 261-61.

Pat Thomas, Assistant Coach After having coached baseball and basketball for the Valiants, Pat Thomas returned to Valley in 2006 from Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett, where he had taught English and served as assistant varsity boys basketball coach. Pat graduated from St. George’s School in Spokane in 2001, where he was a multi-year AllConference baseball player and cross-country runner and started for the 2001 Dragons’ basketball team that

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played for the Washington State Championship. In his senior year he was named Co-Athlete of the Year. At Whitman College he was a starting pitcher and two-year baseball captain. Pat teaches English and history at Valley and is the Valiants’ head baseball coach. The 2015-2016 season will be Pat’s tenth assisting Coach Innes.

Meg Coussens ’04, Assistant Coach Meg Coussens has been a member of Valley Catholic’s basketball staff since 2010. At Valley Meg has coached at the middle school, JVII, JV, and varsity levels. As a player, Meg’s sharpshooting helped the Valiants to two State Tournament appearances. In her senior year she was a starting forward for the Valiants’ State Tournament team, playing for principal Ross Thomas, then head coach, and current head coach John Innes. Meg graduated from Gonzaga University and now teaches 2nd grade at Vose Elementary School.

Allison Waibel Gates ’05, Assistant Coach Allison Waibel Gates earned three varsity letters in both basketball and soccer at Valley Catholic. She was a defensive whiz at the point of the full-court press on Valley’s 2004 State Tournament basketball team and in 2005 was team captain. Allison attended Oregon State University, from which she graduated in 2010. In 2009 Allison was named co-director of the CYO basketball camp held annually at Valley Catholic. Allison is now Valley Catholic’s alumni director.

WINTER SPORTS: Boys Basketball Joel Sobotka, Head Coach Joel Sobotka joined Valley Catholic’s staff in 2012 as Athletic Director and head boys basketball coach. He came to Valley after six years as top assistant and recruiting coordinator at the University of Portland, where he was honored as one of the top two assistant coaches in the West Coast Conference. Joel brings eighteen years of college-basketball experience to Valley, including four years as a Division I head coach at Portland State University. (When hired in 1998 at the age of twenty-eight, Joel was the youngest D-I head coach in the country.) Joel has also coached at Eastern Oregon University, Cal State Northridge, and Arizona State. Joel played at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Arizona and graduated from Arizona State University in 1993 with a B.S. in Business Management. Joel led the 2013 Valiants to the Lewis & Clark League Championship and a Final Four appearance at State and in 2014 to the State Championship. Joel was named the 2014 Oregon’s boys basketball Coach of the Year.

Nick Hegwood, Assistant Coach Nick Hegwood joined the high-school basketball staff after four years coaching Valley’s middle-school CYO teams. Nick is also defensive coordinator of Valley’s football team. He had coached high-school football for the previous ten years at Beaverton High School and ended his career there as head freshman coach. At Beaverton Nick played football and ran track and was a member of the 1997 State runner-up football team. Nick has taught at Valley Catholic Middle School since 2007.

Dan Hannon, Assistant Coach Dan Hannon, who came to Valley in the fall of 2013 and teaches sophomore Religion classes, played his high-school ball at Moreau High School in Hayward, California in the WCAL, one of the strongest basketball leagues in the country. After graduating from the University of Portland, Dan joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and taught and coached boy’s and girls basketball at the Link Community School in Newark, New Jersey. Before coming to Valley Catholic, Dan worked for four years at UP’s Office of Residential Life and Moreau Center for Service and Leadership, advising Service and Justice coordinators in residence halls and students considering post-graduate service.

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WINTER SPORTS: Boys Basketball (Continued) Chris Bernards, Assistant Coach Chris Bernards, who teaches junior and senior religion at Valley Catholic, came in 2014 from Bellarmine Preparatory School in Tacoma, where he had taught and coached for eight years. Chris earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of San Diego and master’s in teaching at the University of Portland. He is a graduate of Jesuit High School in Portland, where he was a wide receiver and defensive back in the fall and outfielder in the spring. Before teaching at Bellarmine, Chris served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Billings, Montana. Chris’s wife, Malia, an alumna of Valley Catholic, now teaches at Jesuit, while Chris, an alumnus of Jesuit, teaches at Valley Catholic.

Winter Sports: Dance Dr. Jessica Anderson, Co-head Coach Jessica came to Valley Catholic as an assistant coach with The Charisma, Valley Catholic’s dance team, in 2008 and was named head coach the next year. In 2010 Coach Anderson led the Valiants to their first dance State Championship and to successful defenses of the State title in 2011, 2012, and 2013. After finishing 2nd in 2014, The Charisma won the State title again in 2015. Jessica and co-head coach Megan Hoffman were selected 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 Valley Catholic Coaches of the Year. Jessica was an assistant coach at Wilsonville High School in 2003-04 and a three-year captain of the Wilsonville dance team, earning State Championships in 1999 and 2000. Jessica graduated from Oregon State University in 2005 with a B.S. in Biology and a minor in Psychology. She performed with OSU’s Elite dance team in 2004. Active in the Dance Drill Coaches Association, Jessica is an advocate for all 1-4A dance teams and frequently serves as a try-out judge for team selection. In 2011 Jessica completed her doctoral studies in naturopathic medicine.

Megan Hoffman ’04, Co-head Coach Megan helped lead The Charisma to four straight State Championships, in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013, 2ndplace finishes in 2009 and 2014, and another State Championship in 2015. Jessica and co-head coach Megan Hoffman were selected as the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 Valley Catholic Coaches of the Year, and in 2015 Megan was named State Coach of the Year. In 2000 Megan was a member of the first Charisma dance team and in her junior and senior years served as team captain. Megan graduated from the University of Portland where she was a member of the UP dance team. She graduated with a B.S. in Nursing and is now a nurse at Emanuel Children’s Hospital, working in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Winter Sports: Swimming Ben Karlin ‘03, Head Boys & Girls Coach Ben Karlin became the Valiants’ head coach in 2015, after having served three years as an assistant. Ben, Valley Catholic’s most successful swimmer ever, finished 2nd at State in the 50 and 100-yard freestyles as a junior and was State Champion in both events a year later. He added a third State Championship by anchoring the Valiants’ 200-yard freestyle relay. Ben continued his swimming career at Linfield and now works in the SSMO IT department.

Jennifer Wendel, Assistant Boys & Girls Coach Jennifer came to Valley Catholic in 2013 after having coached at Jesuit High School in Portland. She graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation.

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Spring Sports: Softball Frank Rethwill, Head Coach Frank Rethwill came to Valley in 2014 with eighteen years’ experience in high-school head coaching and athletic direction. He has served for eleven years as head coach of the Silver Bullets ASA U-10 through U-18 A Level teams and of Westview’s U-12 and U-14 teams. He was also for three years assistant coach for the Red Heat ASA team that won the 1993 State Championship.

Chelsea Corrado, Assistant Coach Annie Coussens, Assistant Coach

SPRING SPORTS: Baseball Pat Thomas, Head Coach After three years as pitching coach—helping lead the Valiants to the State Championship game in 2010—Pat became Valley’s head baseball coach in 2011. He has led the Valiants to the post-season every year and to Lewis & Clark League Championships in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, when the Valiants posted a 28-2 record and placed three players on the 1st Team All-State team—one Co-State Player of the Year and another CoState Pitcher of the Year—Pat was named State Coach of the Year. Pat graduated from St. George’s School in Spokane in 2001, where he was a multi-year All-Conference baseball player and cross-country runner and started for the 2001 Dragons’ basketball team that played for the Washington State Championship. In his senior year he was named Co-Athlete of the Year. At Whitman College he was a starting pitcher and two-year baseball captain. Pat teaches English and history at Valley Catholic and is an assistant on the girls basketball staff.

Ross Thomas, Assistant Coach Before coming to Valley Catholic as principal in 2002, Ross Thomas spent 21 years at St. George’s School in Spokane, where he coached over forty seasons of high school baseball, basketball, and cross- country, winning seven State Championships and eight State 2nd places. He led four baseball teams to the final eight in State and the girls basketball team to a Washington state record of 114 consecutive league wins. In 2011 he was inducted into the Washington State Cross-Country Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Ross has served as a Valley baseball assistant since 2010.

Conor Walsh ’10, Assistant Coach Conor Walsh joined the baseball staff in 2011, working primarily with catchers. Conor was a three-sport athlete at Valley Catholic, playing football, basketball and baseball. He was an All-State catcher on the State runner-up 2010 baseball team and a member of the inaugural Valiant football team in 2007. Conor serves also as an assistant on the Valiants’ football staff.

R.J. Peterson ’10, Assistant Coach R.J. Peterson joined his alma mater’s staff in 2014. He was starting 3rd-baseman, relief pitcher, and emergency catcher on the Valiants’ State runner-up 2010 baseball team. R.J. is head coach of the JV team and works also with varsity infielders.

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Spring Sports: Boys GOLF Ed Braun, Head Boys Golf Coach Ed Braun, a long-driving scratch (in good years) golfer—and certainly the class of the campus’s linksmen— began the Valley Catholic golf team and in 2015 returned to the helm to lead the boys team to State runnersup. Ed has taught religion at Valley Catholic since 1992 and is longtime head of the department. Ed is the father of a Valley Catholic alumna, Sannah, and of a current Valiant, Joey, a top guard on the basketball team, a football player, and golfer.

Mark Donovan, Assistant Coach Mark’s start in golf was as an elementary school junior caddie at a country club in New England. Over his four years of high school, he compiled a 40-0 match play record and earned a scholarship to a Division II college in New Hampshire. His best golf highlight came in the summer of his sophomore year when he set a course record of 29 on the course he helped build. Mark has won 10 club championships as well as competed in a Nike Tour event with his wife, Mary Donovan, as his caddie.

Nathan Fisher, Assistant Coach Nathan Fisher came to Valley Catholic as a physics teacher and assistant in Student Life and school administration in 2015. Nathan was a high-school golfer and basketball player at Charles Wright School in Tacoma and golfed for Whitman College, where he majored in Mathematics and Film / Media Studies and minored in Physics.

Spring Sports: Girls GOLF Kathleen Birrell, Head Girls Golf Coach Kathleen Birrell became Valley’s head girls golf coach in 2014. Kathleen was a scholarship golfer for the University of Oregon and served as head girls golf coach at Jesuit High School for five years, leading Jesuit to a 2001 Metro League Championship. She has also coached thirteen years of high-school volleyball. In her first year at Valley, Kathleen led the Valiants to a 3rd-place State finish.

Spring Sports: Tennis Jim Martin, Director of Tennis Jim Martin is Valley Catholic’s Director of Tennis. He has been a USPTA certified coach since 2003, a professional coach since 2000, and has competed for over thirty years, twice ranking in the Northwest’s Top 10. He has won the Oregon State Mixed Doubles Championship and was a semi-finalist in the Men’s Open Doubles in 2010. Jim played his college tennis at Lewis & Clark State and Boise State.

Brian Short, Assistant Coach Donna Kennish, Assistant Coach

Spring Sports: Track and Field Tommy Manning, Track Coach Tommy Manning, also Valley’s head cross-country coach, coaches all Valley’s track runners, boys and girls. He led the girls to a State 2nd place in 2013; in 2014 he led the girls to Valley’s first State track-and field State Championship and the boys to a 2nd-place finish. He was named Oregon State Track Co-Coach of the Year, his second Coach of the Year in 2013-2014 and third in the last three years, having been named

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Cross-Country State Coach of the Year twice. Tommy is a graduate of Jesuit High School, where he led the Crusaders’ cross-country team to a State Championship in 2000 and was a track State Champion in the 1500 meters in 2001. He ran four years of cross-country and track for Georgetown University, where he earned AllAmerican honors in the 800 meters and Distance Relay. He joined Valley Catholic High School in 2006 as a Social Studies teacher and currently serves as the Social Studies department chair.

Herb Lommen, Field Coach Herb has taught middle and high school Health and Physical Education at Valley Catholic since the fall of 1991, when he joined the school with the first freshman class of boys. He earned a B.S. in Health and Physical Education from Pacific University, a graduate degree in Outdoor Education from the University of Adelaide, and a master’s degree in Human Sports Performance from Portland State. He has coached track and field for thirty-six years, basketball for eighteen, soccer for fifteen, cross-country for eight, and football for three. In 2000 he was honored with the Athletic Director’s Spirit of CYO Award and in 2008 was named West Valley League Girls Track Coach of the Year. Herb has also served as varsity girls and boys soccer coach, coached CYO basketball and track, and was CYO Director for fifteen years. In 2007 he was inducted into his high school’s hall of fame.

Marcia Bomber, Assistant Track and Field Coach (Sprints, Relays, and Throws) Marcia Bomber attended La Salle High School, where she was a State competitor in the shot put, discus and 4x100m relay. She graduated from Portland State University in 2002 with a B.S. in Biochemistry. She walked on as a track-and-field athlete at PSU as a freshman and was awarded a scholarship for the next three years. She held PSU records in the weight throw and the 4x100m relay. Marcia joined the Valiant staff in 2006, working primarily with sprinters and throwers. Marcia has helped the Valiants’ girls team to five consecutive league championships, a 2014 State Championship (in which the 4x100 relay team set a State record to clinch the title), and a 2013 State second-place finish.

Ian Berge, Track Coach (Distance) Ian Berge, who teaches Global Studies and Northwest History at Valley, works, fall and spring, with the Valiant distance runners. He ran four years of cross-country and track at Gonzaga University, from which he received his B.A., graduating with a double major in History and Political Science. He also holds an M.A. in History from Portland State. Ian is a graduate of Jesuit High School, where he ran cross-country and track for the Crusaders. Ian made his marathon debut in October 2011, finishing 13th at the Portland Marathon with a time of 2:42.

Dale French, Track & Field Coach (Hurdles and Jumps) Dale French has been at Valley Catholic since 1999, the first three years as a coach on the boys basketball staff that directed Valley to its first District Championship and appearance at the State Tournament. In 2002 Dale became Athletic Director, where he remained until 2005 when he moved into the front office to become Dean of Students, then Vice-Principal. Dale now coaches Valley’s hurdlers and jumpers. At Glencoe High School Dale was one of Oregon’s top athletes—Metro League Player of the Year and 1st-Team All-State in basketball and a star in hurdles, shot put, and triple jump. Dale graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1992, where he was a 4-year letter winner and, in his senior year, Most Valuable Player for the Falcons basketball team.

Spring Sports: Lacrosse Pat Dailey, Head Coach Pat came to Valley Catholic in 2014. Pat earned his Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s in Engineering at Oregon State. He played high-school lacrosse and continued to play at OSU. He began his coaching career in 2010 as a volunteer at Corvallis High School. A year later he joined OSU’s coaching staff as a defensive assistant, a position he held until his move to Valley Catholic.

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