June 20, 2007

Stallions' athletics get leaders
Various varsity coaching spots filled at San Juan Hills High
Compiled from San Juan Hills High School press release

San Juan Hills High School principal Tony Ferruzzo sent a press release announcing the appointment of 12 varsity coaching positions filled for the opening year in fall 2007.

San Juan Hills will open with a 9 {+t} {+h} grade class of about 600 students and the varsity coaches will help to develop the sports programs throughout the next four years to compete in the Pacific Coast League.

Individual boys and girls sports teams will enter varsity competition as they are ready and in 2009 the expectation is all sports will be playing on the varsity level.

Boys' Basketball – Head coach Brian Carmer

Coach Carmer brings 13 years of experience at Santa Margarita Catholic High with him to SJH including four seasons as associate head coach of the boys' basketball program. Carmer helped to guide the Eagles to three consecutive appearances in the CIF championship game including back-to-back CIF titles in 2004 and 2005. Carmer has worked with numerous Division I players including James Keefe, a 2006 McDonald's All-American, now at UCLA. Carmer will also be teach AP European History and World History at SJHHS.

Baseball – Head coach Jeremey Wooten

Coach Wooten has been an assistant varsity baseball coach at Tesoro High since 2004 and last season helped guide the Titans to a third place finish in the South Coast League. Tesoro won the South Coast in 2005 and reached the CIF finals in 2004. Coach Wooten has helped about 20 players move on to the next level from teams he has been involved with. Wooten has been the Director of Field operations for Celebrity Baseball Clinics the past two years managing 500 kids through 40 stations with 20 professional baseball players. He also works with the RBI foundation to help inner city kids afford to attend camp for free. He was a middle infielder for UC Riverside and attended Rubidoux High School where he was an all-league varsity baseball player. Mr. Wooten will also be a full-time special education teacher at SJHHS.

Girls' Basketball – Head coach Jheri Stempson

Coach Stempson comes to SJHHS from Aliso Niguel High where she was the assistant varsity and head junior varsity girls' basketball coach for the 2006-07 season. Her JV team earned second place with a 20-6 record in the South coast League, first in the Laguna Hills JV tournament and fourth in the Rancho Winter Shootout in San Diego. Coach Stempson has been an assistant varsity coach at Santa Ana Valley High and Downey High School. As head JV coach at Downey she compiled a 35-15 record from 2003 to 2005. Stempson plans to complete her Masters from Cal State Long Beach in July.

Softball and girls' golf – Head coach Cary Baker

The Stallions have grabbed a lot of horse power to propel their softball program in Coach Baker. Baker has been the varsity softball coach at Fountain Valley High School for the past 26 years and is currently first in wins among active softball coaches in Orange County with 446. Baker's teams have won 10 Sunset League Championships and made 22 post-season appearances. He's been named the Sunset League Coach of the Year 10 times and the Orange County Coach of the Year once. As a teacher he has been named Teacher of the Year twice and received three Disneyland Community Service Awards. He will retire from Fountain Valley High at the end of the school year and head to 'the Hills' in the fall.

Girls' soccer – Head coach Colleen Marcum Kelly

Coach Kelly has spent six years at the NCAA Division I level. She was the first head coach at Kent State which began in 1997 and stayed for four years. She went from 3-14-2 in her first year to having the Golden Flashes recognized as the NCAA's top turnaround by Soccerbuzz.com as they went 13-7-1 and a fourth place finish in the Mid-America Conference in 1998. Kelly went on to coach the women's team at California Baptist University in Riverside to their best season and basically put the Lancer program on the national map. In her first year she guided them to a 12-3-1 overall mark and 8-1-1 in GSAC, good for second place. In 2003 the CBU qualified for the NAIA tournament for the first time making it to the quarterfinals and last year the Lancers completed their third straight season with at least 10 wins and a three year record of 37-15-2 (.704). She played at CSW in Hobbs, NM and at De Anza College where she helped to start the women's soccer program. Kelly currently holds her USSF National 'B' license.

Boys' soccer – Head coach Chris Swift

Coach Swift has spent the past five years working with the boys' and girls' teams at Aliso Niguel High School. He helped to lead the boy's team as assistant varsity coach for the past two seasons which included their first ever South Coast League championship in 2007. Swift has coached the boys JV and boys and girls Frosh/Soph in previous years. Swift is also active in club soccer in San Juan Capistrano as a coach with the United Futbol Club. His U15 boys won their league bracket last season and he coaches a U12 girls' team as well. Coach Swift recently finished his collegiate career at Vanguard University which finished 11 {+t} {+h} ranked in the NAIA and lost in the Regional finals in overtime. Swift currently holds a USSF National 'C' license and a State Goalkeeping Diploma from the NSCAA.

Tennis – Head coach (boys and girls) Eric Paulsen

Coach Paulsen has coached the boys' tennis team at Kaiser High in Fontana for the past three years building it into a solid program. In his first year the team participated in CIF playoffs and one player placed third in league in individual finals. Paulsen began playing tennis when he was 11-years-old taking private lessons at Dana Hills High. He played competitively as a singles player at the San Juan Creek Racquet Club team during his middle and high school years. Mr. Paulsen will also teach English at SJHHS.

Swimming – Head coach (boys and girls) Karen Everson

Coach Everson grew up in Mission Viejo where she attended Castille Elementary, Newhart Middle and graduated in 1999 from Capistrano Valley High School where she was Valedictorian.

Everson swam competitively in high school for four years and elected captain her senior year. She has worked for Swim America as a swim instructor for young children. She has been teaching Math at CVHS for the past three years and finished her seventh year as the JV girls' swim team coach. She is beginning her fifth year running the summer swim lessons program at CVHS. She graduated from Cal State Fullerton Magna Cum Laude in 2003.

Look for future information on new head coaches David Burnett (boys' and girls' cross country and track and field); Morgan Byers (boys' and girls' volleyball) and Nate Roberts (boys' and girls' surfing).

Greg Gibson was hired last fall as the Varsity Football head coach.