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    Perry High School New Baseball Coach for 2015-16 - Damien Tippett
     

    Damien Tippett begins his eighth season as the varsity team's pitching coach and first as the head coach. Tippett is an Arizona native, having played high school and parts of his collegiate career in the desert. He has coached on Harrold Bull's staff at McClintock High School (2004-05), Todd Welch's staff at Cienega High School (2006-08), and spent his entire career at PHS working under long-time coach, Shane Hilstrom. In addition, he coaches for the Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Academy and has worked for USA Baseball.  As a player, Tippett was a corner infielder and catcher. 

    Tippett is a 10th grade English and journalism teacher at PHS. He can be reached at tippett.damien@cusd80.com.

      
     Perry High School New Boys Soccer Coach for 2015-16 - Brian Crayon 
     

    Coach Brian Crayon is entering his first year as head coach to the Perry men's varsity soccer team. He has spent the previous two years as the varsity assistant coach.  Over the past two seasons he helped turned the program around by bringing excitement to the team and even helping bring on a second JV team to the program.  Last season Coach Crayon helped lead the Pumas to the quarterfinals of the state championship. Born and raised here in Phoenix he played club soccer in the north valley before moving on to play high school soccer at Greenway. After that he spent one year playing at Glendale Community College coming up just short on going to the national championship. Coach Crayon holds a USSF "D" license and has been coaching locally for the last 10 years.  He and his wife, also an Arizona native, have two children Brennden, who will be a sophomore and is part of the soccer program already, and Grace who will be joining the Pumas in a few years.

     
    Perry High School New Head Cheer Coach for 2015-16 - Desiree Stinnett
     

    Coach Desiree Stinnett is excited to enter her fifth year with the Perry Pom & Cheer Program, and her first year as the Head Cheer Coach. She began her coaching career in high school when she coached at a junior high team in her school district. She found a love for coaching and has pursued it ever since. Over the past four years Coach Stinnett has been the assistant varsity coach at Perry as well as the head JV coach. As the head JV coach she took the team to multiple competitions where they won 1st and 3rd place titles.

    Coach Stinnett was born and raised in the valley, she is an Apache Junction High School alumni, and was captain of her high school squad. She moved on to cheer at Mesa Community College where she had a great time furthering her skills and expanding her knowledge of the sport at the collegiate level. After MCC she continued on to earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Education from Arizona State University; Coach Stinnett will begin her Master’s program in English Education in the fall as well as her 2nd year as an English teacher at Perry High School. She is excited about the potential she sees in the program; her number one goal is to take the cheer program to state for the first time in 3 years! Coach Stinnett has set high goals for her squad and she hopes to continue as part of the Perry Pom and Cheer legacy for years to come.
     
     Perry High School New Girls Pom Coach for 2015-16 - Tenneal Howard
     

    Coach Tenneal Howard had her first taste of dance and performing when she was in high school and has loved it ever since! Born and raised in southern California, she graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a B.A. degree in Sociology. Throughout college she was involved in the dance program and also was a devoted member of the Cheer Team!
    After college Coach Howard danced for semi-professional teams including the Long Beach Ice Dogs (ECHL ), Anaheim Surf (basketball),  and Summer Pro-League games. She also was a guest performer for Disneyland Christmas Parades. Her coaching and choreography experience includes Cheer, Dance and Pom at various high schools in the Southern California area. Coach Howard married in 2002 and moved to Arizona. After moving, she missed coaching so much that she decided to start her own youth teams and also taught dance out of her house! In Arizona, Coach Howard has coached at Highland High School,  Higley High School, and most recently JV Cheer at Perry for the 2014-2015 season!  She is very excited to coach Varsity Pom for this upcoming season. She is a busy mom of 4 and loves being a Puma!!!!

      
    Perry High School New Girls Cross Country Coach for 2015 - Jeff Gurecki
     
    The Perry Athletic Department would like to announce the addition of Jeff Gurecki as the new Girls Cross Country Coach for the 2015-16 school year. Coach Gurecki was born and raised in Arizona.  He attended Chandler High School and excelled in wrestling, being a part of the AZ National Wrestling Team.  As a high school senior, he won the Berlin Open Greco Roman Wrestling Tournament in Germany and successfully defended the title the next year while attending Northern Arizona University.  Coach Gurecki has coached wrestling for 11 years, producing numerous state placers.  In addition, Coach Gurecki was the Head Girls Cross Country Coach for Perry in 2011 and was the boys assistant coach in 2014.  He will also serve as an assistant track coach with the distance runners in 2015.  Coach Gurecki has great aspirations and expectations for the 2015-16 competitive season.
    On a personal level, Coach Gurecki brings his competitive spirit to the sport of triathlon.  This includes podium finishes at local races and completing Ironman Arizona in 2014. Coach Gurecki has been married to his wife, Jenny, for 9 years.  Together they have a 4 year old daughter, Tegan, and 1-1/2 year old identical twin boys, Logan and Luke. 
    Coach Gurecki teaches social studies at Perry High School and can be reached at gurecki.jeff@cusd80.com.