Jaguar Athletics

Falls Church High School

Girls Indoor Track


Coaches

Matthew Smith.


Head Indoor Track and Field Coach

Biography:

Coach Smith has been coaching XC/track and field around the world for the last 20 years mostly in Europe. He is a former Division I Cross Country All-American (1992-10th place) from the University of Michigan. He was also 4-time All-Big Ten and Captain of the track and cross country teams. He has a Masters and Bachelors in Education from the University of Michigan and a Leadership Endorsement from the University of Virginia. His two daughters who are both accomplished runners. 

Coach Smith’s main motivation for coaching is to help student-athletes achieve their goals by working hard, showing outstanding sportsmanship, and being a good teammate. He has also had some success along the way at the U-18 level while coaching internationally. His teams have won a combined total of 29 European Championships in the ISST, DODDS, and CEESA leagues which includes junior girls and boys and senior girls and boys, teams. His athletes have broken 121 school records, 6 conference records, and 105 athletes have been individual league champions. He has also been blessed to coach three individual National Champions in Belgium-1500m, 3000m, Netherlands-Indoor 1500m, and USA U-20 Discus. In 2021 Coach Smith's first year at Falls Church we had 2 athletes make All State for Indoor Track, 5 athletes make All State for Outdoor Track,  and two school records broken.

Ken Atkinson.


Sprint Coach

Biography:

Coach Atkinson makes the move to Falls Church from the Potomac School, where he served as the sprint coach of the track & field program for the past five years. Atkinson led the Panthers to a historic 2019 season finishing the campaign, with three relay teams qualifying for the prestigious New Balance National Championship division and another athlete placing fourth in the Girls 400m dash. Coach Atkinson is also a member of the Marymount University coaching staff.

Under his coaching guidance, the Potomac Sprinters won two MAC/ISL Team Championships. Atkinson has helped secure competitive Division I placements, including the Ivy League and Duke University, for athletes over the last 5 years.

During the 2019 summer, Atkinson was selected to attend the Emerging Elite coaching camp held at the US Olympic training center in California.

Atkinson graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. A student-athlete, he competed for the Cougars in the sprints and the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay. He was the captain of the men’s track team his senior year.

In addition, Atkinson has a master’s degree from Boston University in Management Information Systems.

Atkinson has worked in the Federal Government space for over 30 years.

Atkinson and his wife, Bridget, have two children. Their daughter Breanna was a high school volleyball standout and first-team All-American at the Madeira School, also playing on the United States Youth National team.  Breanna played as a 4-year athlete at Duke University and was a member of the U.S. Collegiate national team.  She currently plays on the Jamaica National Volleyball team. 

Their son Connor was a member of the Potomac School Track team and a State Champion in the 400m hurdles. Connor competed for the College of William and Mary track & field team with an all-conference award as a 400-meter hurdler and third place at the IC4A track and field championships. Connor graduated in 2019 and now continues his master’s degree at the Duke Fuqua Graduate School of Business, also competing for Duke on the men’s track & field team.

Craig Day.


Throws Coach

Biography:

Coach Day rejoined the Jaguar Coaching Staff in Spring 2015 as our Shot Put and Discus coach.  He is a proud FCHS Alumnus from the Class of 1977.  He still holds the Shot Put School Record of 53’ 11”. The then Head Coach Major Wells, along with Coaches’ Morris and Ake, were his coaches back then… Coach Day graduated from VA Tech (‘81) with a B.A. in Geography which he would use for 31 years at the Defense Intelligence Agency where he retired from in Jan 2015.  Interestingly, Coach Day actually taught at FCHS right out of Tech, first year as a substitute teacher and then the following year as a Biology Teacher! At the end of the second year he accepted his "career" job at DIA. While teaching here he began his coaching experience with the track team.  Once the Defense Department hired him (June 1983) he would periodically come back, when requested, to offer pointers to the students.  Coach Day is quite pleased at this unique opportunity to return, yet again, to his beloved high school and its awesome student athletes!  “Practice, practice, practice” is his philosophy re success with shot and discus along with being a student of the physics of the sport.

Jared Gillis.


Pole Vault/ HJ Coach

Biography:

Coach Gillis is originally from Northeast Pennsylvania. After high school, he went on to make a brief stop at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, where he majored in Computer Science, before moving on to graduate from Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA with a double major in Physics & Mathematics and a minor in Astronomy in May of 2007. He then moved to Northern Virginia to pursue a career in education and in May of 2016 completed a Master's in Physics Education through the University of Virginia.

Coach Gillis joined the faculty of Falls Church High School as a physics teacher. He resides in Falls Church with his marathon-running wife, Dawn, their little linebacker, Myles, and dog, Carlton.

Christopher Lolagne.


Jumps/Sprint Coach

Biography:

Former Mount Vernon High School Varsity Track and Field (Head Coach)-3 National District Championship Runner-Up Teams, 7 Individual Northern Region Triple A Titles, 2 All-State Athletes, 1 State Runner-Up

Former Oscar F. Smith High School Varsity Boys Track and Field (Head Coach)- 4 Individual Virginia Triple A State Titles 5 All-State Athletes

Former Penn State University Varsity Men’s Track and Field Athlete- 8 Time Letter Winner, Athletic Scholarship Recipient,  Academic All - BigTen, Second Team All - BigTen.


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