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The fun began in early 2007 when head women′s basketball coach Ron Galbreath picked up career victory #600. Galbreath, who spent the first 30 years of his coaching career coaching men, spent the majority of his time as the men′s head coach at Westminster College. In the last six years, Galbreath has enjoyed incredible success with Geneva′s women GTs and, at the end of 2007, became just the second women′s basketball coach in school history to pick up his 100th victory.
This past fall, head football coach Geno DeMarco recorded his 100th victory on the sidelines. With more football coaching victories than anyone else, DeMarco has been a fixture on the Geneva sideline for 16 years.
In men′s basketball, 12-year head coach Jeff Santarsiero recorded his 200th Geneva victory this week and sits just two wins shy of moving past his predecessor Jerry Slocum for second place on the all-time victories list for men′s basketball.
In volleyball, Geneva′s program sits firmly in the hands of co-head coaches Wendy Smith and Curt Conser. That duo has teamed up for the past seven years and has recorded over 100 victories, which is more than any volleyball coach prior to their arrival.
Mandee Craft has guided the women′s tennis team for the past seven seasons and has accumulated 35 victories during that time. Craft has also led Geneva to three-consecutive post-season appearances.
If you are looking for more milestones, you can turn to the Geneva baseball program. The elder statesmen of the Geneva athletic department, Alan Sumner has been leading Geneva′s baseball team for 19 years. Sumner has recorded more victories than any other coach in any sport in school history. Leading Geneva to a conference title last year, Sumner has won 457 games in his first 19 years and should be less than two years away from claiming career victory #500.
In softball, Van Zanic has won 146 games in his first five years, which ranks him number one on the all-time softball list. Zanic is 19 victories shy of surpassing long-time basketball coach Kim Gall for the most coaching victories in the history of Geneva women′s athletics.
In a sport that is not always judged by team victories, Geneva′s track and field teams have enjoyed annual success under the guidance of 10-year head coach Bret Otte. To understand Otte′s coaching significance, one need only to check out the school′s record book. Only a handful of records remain from prior to Otte′s arrival on campus. In fact, a total of 86 records have been erased in both men′s and women′s track in the last ten years.
While the majority of Geneva′s coaches have spent years on College Hill, the men′s and women′s soccer programs are currently being guided by a pair of young and enthusiastic coaches. On the men′s side, Todd Beall has spent the last two years turning the Golden Tornadoes around and made significant strides doing just that in 2007. Geneva finished the 2007 campaign with 12 victories, which was an improvement of nine games from his first season. Linda Sumner took over the women′s program this past summer and will look to make a similar transformation next year and in the year′s to come.
Geneva′s student-athletes continue to shine in and out of the athletic arena everyday. When you take a deeper look into why the Golden Tornadoes continue to be successful, you can simply take a look up and down the halls of the athletic department to see a group of coaches that are not only dedicated to winning, but dedicated to transforming the lives of student-athletes academically, athletically and spiritually. The milestones continue to be reached and records continue to fall, but for the Geneva coaching staff it has been and always will be about making an impact on our athletes.
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Assistant coaches Michelle Daniels and Stevie Goist, along with captain Allyson Clarke celebrate with Coach Galbreath on achieving Geneva victory #100. |
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