Kent Denver's Coaches

Athletics at Kent Denver Kent Denver’s Athletics department offers a robust program for young athletes of any level or experience. In Athletics, we encourage teamwork, commitment, responsibility, sportsmanship, leadership and a competitive spirit.

Every student-athlete has the opportunity to have a successful and positive experience at Kent Denver. Our program provides a wonderful environment for student-teacher collaboration outside of the classroom. The majority of our coaches are also members of our faculty, and most have been here for more than 10 years.

Scott Yates Director of Athletics, Head Football Coach Scott Yates has coached football at Kent Denver for more than 35 years. His record is tied for the winningest football coach in Colorado high school sports! Coach Yates has been recognized as Coach of the Year on numerous occasions and is a member of the Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He has also coached baseball and basketball at Kent Denver, as well as football at Arizona State University.

He played football for the University of Colorado.

Under Coach Yates, Kent Denver has won three football State Championships. In Spring 2016, he was honored with CHSAA’s Ed Lesar Award for coaching excellence.

Kathy James

Gay West

Head Field Hockey Coach

Head Girls’ Tennis Coach

Under Head Coach Kathy James, Kent Denver’s field hockey team earned a spot in the playoffs for 20 consecutive years, won 10 Championships—most recently in fall 2016—and finished in second place twice. A five-time Colorado State Coach of the Year, three-time NFHS Sectional Coach of the Year and NFHCA National Junior Coach of the Year in 2011, Coach James knows field hockey. In 2016, Coach James was a finalist for NFHS National Coach of the Year.

Head Girls’ Tennis Coach Gay West grew up playing tennis in Melbourne, Australia and has been coaching full-time for more than 26 years. She began coaching at Kent Denver in 1996.

Since then, she has led our tennis team to five State Championships, including a “four-peat” from 2002-2005.

Coach West is a USPTA Elite Pro and has been the coach of Team Colorado for 27 years.

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org

Athletics Department Corky Dean Arty Smith Head Cross-Country Coach, Head Track & Field Coach

Corky Dean has coached our Cross-Country team for eight years and our Track and Field team for seven. In addition to his individual successes as a runner—most recently a fifthplace finish in Iceland’s Fire and Ice 250K Ultramarathon—Coach Dean has enjoyed tremendous success as a coach. Under his leadership, the girls’ teams have shown impressive improvement.

They earned third-place in the 2015 state tournament, up from 12th place during Coach Dean’s first year. His Track and Field teams have produced numerous individual State Champions and several top-10 qualifiers in State jump and distance events.

Wherever Coach Dean is running, success tends to follow!

Coach Dean also teaches photography at Kent Denver.

Head Boys’ Soccer Coach Arty Smith has coached at Kent Denver for 17 years. Coach Smith and his teams brought home Kent Denver’s first-ever soccer championship in 2014 and repeated this feat in 2015 and 2016. In the last two years, Coach Smith’s team has not lost a game.

Coach Smith has been coaching for 25 years, both at Kent Denver and multiple schools in the northeast. He became Varsity coach two years into his Kent Denver coaching career.

In 2016, Coach Smith was named CHSSCA Colorado 3A Coach of the Year, CHSSCA Colorado Coach of the Year, NSCAA Colorado Private/Parochial Coach of the Year, NFHS Colorado Coach of the Year and NFHS Southwest Region Coach of the Year after leading his team to two consecutive undefeated seasons.

Marty Wittmer Head Ice Hockey Coach Marty Wittmer has been the Head Hockey Coach for six years, and is a long-standing coach in the Kent Denver’s athletics program. For 15 years, he has been an assistant coach for boys’ Varsity soccer, which recently “three-peated” as State Champions from 2014-16, going undefeated in 2015 and 2016.

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org

Kent Denver School Denise Wylde Head Girls’ Swimming Coach Denise Wylde has been a competitive swimmer since elementary school and has been coaching at Kent Denver for seven years.

As Head Coach in 2016-17, the swim team went undefeated in conference meets and won the TriPeaks League Championship. The team also won the meet in 2014-15 and took second in 2015-16. The Kent Denver swim team made a splash in 2017 by qualifying the most swimmers—seven—for the 4A State Meet in 14 individual events, a state record! Kent Denver also sent three relay teams to the State Meet in 2017.

This year, every swimmer and diver on the team finished with personal best times in every event in which they entered.

“I feel confident that I can speak for each of our coaches when I say we are so very proud of the hard work, dedication and accomplishments of the entire team this year,” says Coach Wylde.

Todd Schayes Head Boys’ Basketball Coach

Todd Schayes has been Head Boys’ Basketball Coach for 23 years. As a sixth-grade teacher at Kent Denver, he acts as a mentor for his students and student-athletes throughout their time here.

Coach Schayes has taken Kent Denver’s Varsity basketball team to the playoffs many times, and he has won the Metro League on numerous occasions. In 1997, he brought home Kent Denver’s first Basketball State Championship.

Coach Schayes coached for five years before coming to Kent Denver. He is a member of the Metro League Hall of Fame.

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org

Athletics Department Ben Brenneman ’01 Head Boys’ Lacrosse Coach A Kent Denver School alumnus, Ben Brenneman was a member of Kent Denver’s State Champion lacrosse teams in 1999 and 2001. He was named First Team All-State in three sports: football (once), ice hockey (three times) and lacrosse (twice). Coach Brenneman was also named Best Male Athlete for the 2001 graduating class of Kent Denver. Coach Brenneman was a member of Duke University’s ACC Conference Champion lacrosse team in 2002 and NCAA Runner-up team in 2005. He is currently in his 11th year coaching, with nine years at Kent Denver. He became Head Coach six years ago.

Bob Austin Head Boys’ Golf Coach

Casey Brittain Head Girls’ Golf Coach Casey Brittain has coached girls’ golf at Kent Denver for eight years.

Coach Brittain has been coaching nearly 12 years in total and was named Assistant Professional of the Year in 2012 by the Colorado Professional Golfers’ Association. She works at Cherry Hills Country Club when not at Kent Denver. Coach Brittain has a bachelor’s degree in PGA Golf Management from Ferris State University.

A University of Denver graduate and lifelong golfer, Bob Austin played on two high school state championship teams, is a member of the Colorado Junior Golf Association board and spends his summers traveling as a golf rules official for the NCAA and USGA. During his 12-year Kent Denver coaching career, Coach Austin has won eight State Championships—more than any golf coach in Colorado high school history. Coach Austin’s teams have also finished twice as runners-up, and seven of his players have gone on to play college golf.

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org

Kent Denver School Emily Danitz

Ali Giovannone

Head Volleyball Coach

Head Girls’ Lacrosse Coach

Emily Danitz has been teaching and coaching volleyball at Kent Denver School for six years. She came on to the athletics program as Junior Varsity head coach and assumed the Varsity coach role four years ago. In her time as head coach, Emily has taken the Varsity team to the playoffs twice.

Outside of Kent Denver, Emily has been coaching volleyball since 2008. She also competed as a player during her time at the University of Nevada, Reno.

With a young group of Varsity athletes, Emily is excited for what future seasons have in store. She plans to keep Kent Denver’s volleyball program competitive for years to come!

Kent Denver’s newest coach, Ali Giovannone has been coaching girls’ lacrosse for seven years.

This is her first year coaching Kent Denver’s team, though she volunteered with the team in 2016 during the post-season.

“Athletics build character, teaches sacrifice, develops communication skills, and encourages compromise,” says Coach Giovannone. “Athletics prepare students to overcome challenges in a smaller setting, and those lessons are applicable later in life.”

For Coach Giovannone, team and individual strength are intertwined: the team’s strength comes from the strength of the individuals, and that individual strength is bolstered by the team.

Tom Oldfield

Richard Judd

Head Baseball Coach

Head Girls’ Basketball Coach

Tom Oldfield is in his first year as head coach of Kent Denver’s baseball team. He has been coaching for 34 years overall—several of them at Kent Denver—and believes sports are a great way to learn invaluable life lessons.

“Each day is a chance to test yourself in the life lessons you learn on the field,” says Oldfield. “I encourage student-athletes to be safe, do their best and have fun while learning about themselves and their teammates.”

Richard Judd has coached at Kent Denver for 20 years. He has spent 17 years as a coach in the boys’ basketball program and four years as the Head Coach of the Varsity girls’ team. The girls’ team has qualified for the state tournament four out of the last five years, and finished third in the Metro League in 2015-16. Coach Judd is also Kent Denver’s Upper School Associate Athletic Director.

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org

Athletics Department Krista Pearman

Randy Ross

Head Girls’ Soccer Coach

Head Boys’ Tennis Coach

Krista Pearman has been Head Coach of the girls’ soccer team for 10 years, as well as JV girls’ soccer and JV girls’ basketball coach and Varsity boys’ soccer assistant coach for 13 years. Since coming to Kent Denver in 2006, her girls’ soccer teams have qualified for the State Tournament every year except one. Her teams won State Championships in ’06, ’07 and ’16, and have been to the semi-finals four times. One national All-American and three regional All-Americans have come from her teams. Coach Pearman won the Metro League Female Coach of the Year— awarded to the best coach in all female sports—in

2012 and 2013.

A Varsity soccer, basketball and tennis player in high school, Coach Pearman went on to play competitive soccer and basketball at Bowdoin College. There, she was First Team All-State, First Team All-NESCAC and a First Team Regional All-American. Coach Pearman was also part of the first women’s soccer team from Bowdoin to ever qualify for the NCAA tournament in 1995, and her team won the NESCAC Basketball Championship in 1995. Coach Pearman went on to play soccer for the Women’s Premier Soccer League as a member of the Rhode Island Rays.

Randy Ross has played tennis for 50 years as an amateur and professional. He has coached at Kent Denver for 22 years, bringing home nine State Championships, including a “four-peat” in 20132016.

Coach Ross has worked with tennis players for more than 40 years overall and is a USPTA Elite Professional. He is excited to continue Kent Denver boys’ tennis’ winning tradition for years to come!

In 2016, Coach Ross was named CHSAA 4A Coach of the Year, as well as High School Coach of the Year by the Intermountain Division of the United States Professional Tennis Association.

For more information on our Athletics department —or any other department!— please visit our website! www.kentdenver.org

4000 East Quincy Avenue | Englewood, CO 80113 | (303) 770-7660 | www.kentdenver.org