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Wildcat Athletics

Student & Administrative Services Center, Rm. 1083 · (570) 320-2443

Staff

Archery

Baseball

Basketball

Bowling

Cross Country

Dance Team

Golf

Soccer

Softball

Tennis

Volleyball

Chad Karstetter, Archery, Coach

Chad Karstetter, Archery, Coach

Coach Karstetter came to Penn College in the spring of 1997 with 14 years of archery experience, winning nationals and a world title as a young adult.

Karstetter attended Penn College from 1997 to 1999 and graduated with an associate's degree in Forest Science. He was a three time All-American in archery from 1997 through 1999 and was part of the Penn College team that won nationals in 1998 and 1999. He made the USA World team in 1997 and 1999, winning team golds.

Since beginning his coaching career at Penn College in the spring of 1997, Coach Karstetter has coached seven All-Americans with some of them being multiple time All-Americans. He also started a male recurve team as well as a female compound team. The Penn College archery team has been competitively ranked with top colleges across the country since 1997.

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Chris Howard, Baseball, Head Coach

Chris Howard, Baseball, Head Coach

Coach Howard brings an impressive portfolio of work to Penn College. He started his career at Bishop Miege High School, located in Kansas City. Chris then continued his education at the University of Oklahoma, earning scholarships in football and baseball.

Coach Howard began his professional baseball career in 1988 when he was drafted out of the Southwestern Louisiana amateur draft by the Seattle Mariners, a single A affiliate of Wasa, Wisconsin. Chris moved to AA baseball in Williamsport in 1989 and played for the Williamsport Bills for one year. In 1990, he played AAA baseball in Calgary. From 1991-1995, Chris played for the Seattle Mariners and ended his baseball career in 1997 while playing in the Boston Red Sox organization.

Coach Howard resides in Williamsport with his wife, Tricia, and three children; Alec, Cynthia, and Sofie.

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Tom Persing, Baseball, Assistant Coach

Tom Persing, Baseball, Assistant Coach

Gene Bruno, Men's Basketball, Head Coach

Gene Bruno, Men's Basketball, Head Coach

A graduate of Bucktail High School in Renovo, PA, Coach Bruno played basketball at Bucktail for three years on the varsity team, scoring 1072 points. He went on to play at Bucks County Community College for two years, then finished playing at Trenton State College and graduated with a Health and Physical Education degree.

Coach Bruno has been a school teacher at Milton Area Middle School for 20 years. He coached junior high basketball for four years. He held the head varsity coach position at Lewisburg High School from 1990 to 1993. He was an assistant coach during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 school years at Lycoming College. Coach Bruno then came to Penn College in 1995 as the head coach of men's club basketball team and has been the only head coach in the team's history.

Bruno was also an assistant baseball coach at Milton for thirteen years and junior high football coach for five years.

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Kevin Pletz, Men's Basketball, Assistant Coach

Kevin Pletz, Men's Basketball, Assistant Coach

Coach Pletz joined the Penn College coaching staff after serving as an Assistant Basketball Coach at the Williamsport Area High School. During Kevin's three seasons as the Assistant Basketball Coach, the Millionaires accumulated an overall record of 69 wins and 15 losses, winning two District four championships and advancing to the PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinals in two consecutive seasons. In addition, Pletz coached for the Williamsport Basketball Club for four years, serving for two years as the director of the organization. He also served as both Assistant and Head Coach for the Keystone State Basketball Games.

Pletz is a 1994 graduate of the Williamsport Area High School and is currently working towards a degree in Sports Management at California University of Pennsylvania. He is employed by Brodart Company in Williamsport.

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Alison Tagliaferri, Women's Basketball, Head Coach

Alison Tagliaferri, Women's Basketball, Head Coach

Coach Tagliaferri graduated in 2001 from Jersey Shore Area High School where she was a four-year varsity starter on the basketball and softball teams. She was selected 1st Team All - State in softball and is the all time career points leader in boys and girls basketball history.

Tagliaferri graduated from Mansfield University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Accounting. She was a four-year starter on the Women's Basketball and Softball teams. She holds 13 career and season records for the Mountaineer’s Women’s Basketball program, including all-time career points leader in men’s and women’s basketball history. A four-time, 1st Team All - Conference selection, Alison was also a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete every year that she attended Mansfield University. In 2001, she was named PSAC East Rookie of the Year and finished her college career by earning PSAC East Player of the Year in 2006. During her senior season at Mansfield University, Alison was named to the Second Team Daktronics Division II East Region and Honorable mention for the 2006 Division II Bulletin All - American Team.

After college, Coach Tagliaferri played basketball professionally for the Clube do Povo de Esgueira, a member of the Portuguese Basketball Federation. She was the team leader in scoring and rebounding and was selected to represent the North Conference for the Portuguese Basketball Federation All-star team.

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Amy Kile, Women's Basketball, Assistant Coach

Deb Vincenzes, Bowling, Coach

Deb Vincenzes, Bowling, Coach

Mike Paulhamus, Cross Country, Coach

Mike Paulhamus, Cross Country, Coach

Coach Paulhamus, will begin his seventh year as Head Coach of the Penn College Men's and Women's Cross Country teams. His men's team has been conference champions four out of the past six years with winning the last three in a row (2001, 2003, 2004 & 2005). The women's team has been conference champions twice (2001 & 2004).

Under his guidance, one woman and four men runners have been Individual Conference Champions. Coach Paulhamus has been instrumental in guiding the Penn College teams to a higher level of competition by scheduling non-conference meets again Division I, II and III schools.

Record Overall Conference
Women 28 - 11 28 - 11
Men 108 - 95 - 2 82 - 6

Championships Won: PCAA State Champion Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference Champion Commonwealth Campus Athletic Conference Champion Pennsylvania State University - Athletic Conference Champion

Coach Paulhamus resides in South Williamsport with his wife Donna and son Derek.

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Milissa Augustine, Dance Team, Coach

Milissa Augustine, Dance Team, Coach

Chet Schuman, Golf, Coach

Chet Schuman, Golf, Coach

Chet graduated from Susquehanna University in 1972 with a bachelors degree in political science followed by graduate school at Memphis State University where he graduated in 1974 with a masters degree in education. Schuman started his golf coaching career in fall 2000 with Penn College. Prior to this he coached basketball in the Junior High Conference for the city of Memphis, Tennessee.

In 2003-04 and 2004-05, the men's team garnered two Pennsylvania Collegiate Athletic Association (PCAA) state championships and two Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference (EPCC) championships with a record of 84-0.

For the past five consecutive years, 2004-2008, the team has won both the Penn State University Athletic Conference (PSUAC) Championships and Tournaments while having the medalists Brandon Smith in 2004, Shaun McQuay in 2005 and both T.C. Reynolds and Matt Winder in 2006. They ended the 2008 season undefeated for the past six years at 148-0.

Coach Schuman has been named Coach of the Year twice in the PCAA and EPCC. During the past few years, a number of players have garnered all-state and all-conference awards in addition to having medalist at the Regional Conference and State Conference matches.

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Enrique Castillo, Men's Soccer, Head Coach

Enrique Castillo, Men's Soccer, Head Coach

Mark Anderson, Men's Soccer, Assistant Coach

Mark Anderson, Men's Soccer, Assistant Coach

As a 1997 Alumni of Williamsport Area High School, Coach Anderson graduated with over 13 years of competitive soccer experience. Coach Anderson played a key role in leading his high school soccer team to state quarterfinals during his varsity seasons. Upon graduation, Coach Anderson went on to play soccer at Penn College and is a 2001 Alumni with degrees in Applied Health Studies and Physical Fitness Specialist along with Management and Business Administration minors.

As an Exercise Specialist and Certified Personal Trainer, Coach Anderson's passion is sport performance of athletes. After graduating from Penn College, Coach Anderson worked in Philadelphia for five years as an exercise physiologist. It was during this time that Coach Anderson was able to advance his soccer skills while training some of city's most elite high school and college athletes. Upon returning to the Williamsport area, he continued his passion for working with athletes by coaching boys soccer for a local school district.

In 2006, Coach Anderson joined the coaching staff at PCT as the assistant men's soccer coach for the 2006-2007 season. His first year coaching at men's soccer at PCT proved a success as the team went on to win their third consecutive PSU-AC title. Coach Anderson continues to coach 7th and 8th grade boys soccer for a local school district in addition to his coaching at Penn College.

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Kimberly Antanitis, Women's Soccer, Head Coach

Kimberly Antanitis, Women's Soccer, Head Coach

Angela Alexander, Women's Soccer, Assistant Coach

Roger Harris, Softball, Head Coach

Roger Harris, Softball, Head Coach

Coach Harris has devoted the last 10 years (1995-2005) to coaching in the A.S.A., N.S.A., and Pony Softball Leagues, with a record of 200-100, and took sixth at the Pony Nationals in North Carolina in 2001. In the Williamsport Area School District, he coached the Lycoming Valley Middle School girl's softball team from 1998 through 2002, finishing with a record of 54-10. Throughout the past 10 years, he has also taught both group and individual hitting and pitching clinics for boy's and girl's softball and baseball.

As the head coach for Penn College's women's softball team since the 2001-02 season, Coach Harris has led his team to the playoffs in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. He looks forward to enjoying many more years of coaching success.

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RoseAnn Walsh, Softball, Assistant Coach

RoseAnn Walsh, Softball, Assistant Coach

As a 1997 graduate of Milton High School, Coach Walsh demonstrated her outstanding athletic ability on the softball team by earning a four-year starter position. In addition, she was a five-year starter [JG1] for the Keystone State Games where she earned gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Coach Walsh earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, and a minor in Biology from California University of Pennsylvania in 2002. During college, Walsh was a member of the 1998 NCAA Division II National Championship women's softball team, the 1999 Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship team, and the 2000 State Championship team.

After college, Walsh continued her softball career as a pitching coach at Susquehanna University. In addition, she volunteered with the Milton Little League and Selinsgrove ASA where she conducted clinics and individual pitching instruction.

Coach Walsh currently is working as a counselor at White Deer Run.

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Aimee C. Plastow, Tennis, Coach

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Wes Strayer, Men's Volleyball, Head Coach

Coach Strayer graduated from Jersey Shore High School in 1980 with three years of experience playing volleyball. In those three years he helped his team go to state championships twice.

Strayer went on to play for 22 years in the United States Volleyball Association (USVBA) playing mostly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland. He started in the BB division and played his last eight years in the AA division. He also coached a USVBA team from 1995-1996.

Although it was his first year coaching for Penn College, Coach Strayer and his team placed second in the Eastern Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference (EPCC) championships in 2003-04. In the 2004-05 season, he led the Wildcat Men's Volleyball team to 1st place in the EPCC championships.

The team will be moving to the Mid-Atlantic Volleyball Conference (MAC/VC) for the 2005-06 season, competing from January through April.

Wes and his wife, Karen, have two sons, Mark and Joe, and reside in the Williamsport area.

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Bambi Hawkins, Women's Volleyball, Head Coach

Bambi Hawkins, Women's Volleyball, Head Coach

Coach Hawkins has been blessed with opportunities to play organized volleyball since 1979 as she grew up in Oregon. She became an east coast transplant when she moved to New London, Connecticut to attend the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where she had the opportunity to play on the intercollegiate team for three years – earning Rookie of the Year and MVP awards while serving as the team's captain, middle hitter/blocker, defensive player, and sometimes setter. She moved to the Williamsport area in 1991 to attend paramedic training and is currently teaching Paramedic Technology at Penn College's School of Health Sciences.

Since starting as a first-time coach in the 2000 season, Coach Hawkins has seen the women's volleyball team blossom into the 2004 CCAC State Champions. In conjunction with the athletic success of the team, she holds the student athlete's academic obligations in high regard. The volleyball team's average GPA has exceeded the overall student GPA, and members of the team are consistently named to the dean's list. The volleyball coaches also provide academic support to the student athlete by requiring participation in mandatory study time.

Coach Hawkins envisions a bright future for the program and is eager to work with young women interested in enjoying an intercollegiate volleyball experience while maintaining a high level of academic performance.

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Amber Geckle, Women's Volleyball, Assistant Coach

Amber Geckle, Women's Volleyball, Assistant Coach

Coach Geckle's passion for volleyball started back in 1995 when her best friend asked her to play intramurals in junior high. Although she was reluctant at first, she gave in, and volleyball has been a passion ever since. While in High School at Indian Valley, Coach Geckle was a varsity starter in her sophomore, junior and senior years. She also maintained a captain's position all through her high school career. During a year off between high-school and college, coach Geckle continued her involvement with volleyball by playing in a Power-A League at the Mifflin-Juniata YMCA.

While studying in the Applied Human Services major at Penn College, Coach Geckle's dream of playing college volleyball came true. And, she helped lead the team to playoffs starting in her freshman year in 2002 through her senior year in 2005. During her four years, she was a major contributor to a team that escalated to the point of winning the championship. Coach Geckle wasn't just the co-captain and co-setter of the Penn College Women's Volleyball Team for four years, she was a consistent award winner with All-Conference, MVP, Most Dedicated, and Most Inspirational among her credits.

In 2006, Coach Geckle continued her involvement in the sport she loves by becoming the Assistant Coach for the Women's Volleyball Team where they placed 2nd in the PSU-AC. She also has helped coach the Men's Volleyball Team at Penn College since 2003 watching them win the EPCC Championship for three years, and placing second in the MACC in 2006. She is excited to see what the future years hold for her as she continues coaching volleyball for Penn College.

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