TEMECULA- It has certainly been a busy end to the school year for Chaparral athletic director Tim Lucore who found himself with five vacancies to fill this offseason.
Longtime girls volleyball coach Gale Johnson announced her resignation a week ago in a social media post after four seasons. During her tenure with the program, Chaparral won nine tournament titles including the highly regarded Queens Court end of summer tournament hosted by Foothill High School (2019) and the Dave Mohs championship last year in the midst of the Fairview Fire.
Johnson finishes with an overall mark of 75-38 (a .664 winning percentage) and 18-22 in Southwestern League play. Chaparral reached three CIF-SS playoffs with a postseason record of 2-3. Gretchen Johnson was named the program’s interim head coach for 2023-2024 according to an Instagram post.
Jerry Blanco also stepped down as the girls basketball coach after guiding Chaparral to a 2021 CIF-SS semifinal appearance before falling to Ontario Christian. The Pumas were 14-5 overall and 7-3 that year coming off of a pair of 17-win campaigns in which they lost in opening round play.
Harmony Pyper will take over the program, coming over from Linfield Christian after a four-year stint in which the Lions went 44-44 overall with a 19-31 mark in Ambassador League play. She was an assistant on Linfield Christian’s CIF-SS championship team in 2018-2019 to Derrick O’Neil before taking over the program herself a season later. Pyper took Linfield Christian to a CIF-SS 5AA quarterfinal in the spring 2021 season before falling to Avalon (Catalina Island).
“I’m excited for the opportunity to take over at Chaparral,” Pyper said via text message. “There’s a good, young core of talent here and it’s going to be fun to watch them develop over the next few years.”
In addition, Chaparral announced Jordan Searby as the new boys basketball coach, Ryan Garcia as their new track and field coach and Collin Foss as their new boys soccer coach. For more information on Chaparral athletics, visit the school district website at www.tvusd.k12.ca.us/CHS.
Derryl Trujillo can be reached via email at socaltrekkie@gmail.com.
