Spring Coaching Staff

BASEBALL

SOFTBALL

This coming season will be the 14th year for Coach Illias at the High School level, 12 have been at Valley Catholic. She led the team to a State title in 2001 and again in 2007, 2008 and 2009. She was named 3A Oregon State Coach of the year in all four of those years, League Coach of the Year in 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Coach Illias is an active member of the NFCA and the OCAA. She is the Secretary for the THPRD fieldssteering committee and is President of the Oregon Spirit Softball ASA organization. She continues learning advanced coaching skills through the NFCA College Coaches Clinics where she has earned her 1 star master coaches certification.

This will be Coach Di’s 14th  year coaching High School Softball. She coached at Wilsonville High School for 1 year, and then went to Sherwood where she was the JV Coach for 4 years and Varsity Assistant for 1 year. Coach Di and Coach Roni will be going into their 8th  year of coaching together. She graduated from Pacific University where she played soccer, basketball and softball. She played in the College National Softball Tournament in 1983 and 1984. Her husband is the Head Baseball Coach at Concordia University in Portland. In her spare time, Coach Di remains activeplaying women’s soccer and softball.

Coach Whitney joins the softball staff after many years assisting the girls’ soccer program, helping out with track meets, and working fall and spring on Valley’s fields. His daughter Katee was one of the all-time great Valiant athletes, a three-sport star (soccer, basketball, and track) and 2004 Athlete of the Year. She then played basketball and soccer for Loras College, where in soccer she earned 2nd-Team All-Conference Honors as a sophomore and 1st Team as a junior and senior. Coach Whitney has coached ASA youth softball teams for many years.

TENNIS

Michael Kilbury is entering his fifth season as Boys Tennis Coach at Valley Catholic. Michael brings 15 years of teaching experience to Valley Catholic. He grew up in Little Rock, AR, where he played USTA and high school tennis before going on to play college tennis at Rhodes in Memphis, TN. Having worked as a teaching pro, Michael is USPTA certified and has taught at various clubs, recreation centers and camps around the US.Each season Coach Kilbury has sent at least one competitor to the OSAA state championships.   Michael lives in Portland with his wife, Meg and two kids.

Chris Johnson returns in 2010 for his fifth season as Head Coach of the girls tennis team. Coach Johnson brings a lifetime of tennis to his duties at VC. He played collegiate club tennis for Portland State during the late 1980s, has been an USTA team parent/manager for a local tennis club, is a member of the USPTA, and teaches boy and girl juniors at the developmental level. Coach Johnson plays local USTA events and both his sons also play at a competitive level. In 2008 Coach Johnson guided his girls to a second place team finish at the State meet and Sophie Englehardt to the Singles title.  VC took home a fourth place trophy in 2009.  2010 saw Coach Johnson coach another singles player to a state championship, Kaitlyn Lomartire.  

TRACK & FIELD

Coach Lommen came to Valley Catholic in the fall of 1991 with the school’s first class of boys. He is in his 34th year of coaching track, soccer, football, basketball, and cross country. Before coming to Valley Catholic he coached at Warrenton High School, Fremont High School, and Urrbrae High School in Adelaide, Australia. In high school he was a two-time District Champion in the mile and 2 mile and held six school and county records at one time. He also played football and basketball throughout high school and competed for many years in soccer, cross country and road racing. He graduated from Pacific University where he ran track. He has coached State Champion boys and girls in the Shot Put, High Jump, Javelin, 400m, 800m and 5000m. Coach Lommen was inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame in 2007 for his track career there and his coaching. In 2008 he was the West Valley League Girls Coach of the Year. Coach Lommen has helped the girls track and field team to three consecutive league championships (2008, 2009, 2010).

Tommy Manning comes to Valley with an impressive running resume in both track and cross-country. He took over the boys cross-country program in 2008 after a stellar high-school and collegiate career and now also is head track coach. Coach Manning is a graduate of Jesuit High School, where he earned eight varsity letters in track and cross-country and in 2000 helped lead the Crusaders’ cross-country team to the 4A State Championship. He was also track State Champion in the 1,500 meters in 2001. He went on to compete in both track and cross-country at Georgetown University (Division I; Big East Conference). As a Hoya he earned All-American honors in the 800 meters and the Distance Medley Relays. In addition to coaching, Mr. Manning teaches History and Government at Valley Catholic and serves as the Chairman of the Social Studies Department. In the fall of 2007 he helped Brooks Feldman win the District Cross Country Championship and in 2008 two Valley freshmen were among only four individual runners from Valley’s district to qualify for the State cross-country meet.In 2009 Coach Manning was named the districts coach of the year, and his girls track team capture their third consecutive district championship.   Coach Manning is looking forward to the opportunity to make Valley’s distance and middle-distance programs among the state’s best.

Eric Berge ran four years of varsity cross-country and track for Gonzaga University, representing the Bulldogs in the West Coast Conference cross-country championship all four years. In 2003 and 2004 Gonzaga finished 2nd in the WCC and competed in the NCAA Division 1 West Regional Championship. Coach Berge was a member of the 2004 WCC All-Academic team. He was a teammate of Valley colleague Tommy Manning at Jesuit High School in Portland, when the Crusaders won the cross-country State Championship in 2000. Upon graduation from Gonzaga in 2005, he worked for a year with the Passionist Volunteers International in Kingston, Jamaica. He began teaching religion at Valley Catholic in fall 2006 and is now finishing up a master’s degree at Portland State University. Coach Berge serves as head coach of the Valiants’ girls cross-country team and as an assistant in the track program. Coach Berge has brought home consecutive fourth place OSAA state trophies (2008 and 2009). 

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 BS in Biochemistry. She walked on as a track and field athlete at PSU as a freshman, and then was awarded a scholarship for the next three years. She held PSU records in the weight throw and the 4x100m relay. This will be her 7th   year as an assistant coach at Valley Catholic and her 9th  year coaching track and field. Coach Bomber, who works with Valley sprinters and throwers, helping the girls’ team to their third consecutive West Valley League championship.   

GOLF

Adam Miller - Head Boys Golf Coach (2010-Present)Adam Miller will begin his second year as golf coach for the boys team. Adam is took over a program that qualified for state in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2010 Coach Miller coached the Valiants to a second place district finish and a 3rd place state trophy.  Adam is a graduate of the University of Washington and was a two year basketball letter winner at Anacortes (WA) High School. Coach Miller is an avid golfer who currently works as a manager at Red Tail Golf Center. Last  winter Adam made his coaching mark in the basketball program as the 7th grade CYO boys coach

Megan Fisher - Head Girls Golf Coach (2010-Present)

Megan Fisher is a graduate of Dickinson State University where she was a four year member of their golf team. She was captain of the Blue Hawks in the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008. In 2008 she carried a scoring average of 79 while on the course. She also finished 3rd in the 2008 North Dakota State Women’s Amateur. Megan is a TSPC certified teacher (Art) and currently works at the Red Tail Golf Center. Megan is looking forward to building an excellent girls program at Valley Catholic.