Coaches

Coach Marlene Wilcox joins us for her 6th year at Thousand Oaks. Marlene is a TOHS alumni and brings a lifelong history of track and field. While at Thousand Oaks she has led the Lancers boys to an undefeated Marmonte League Championships record and to their first CIF SS Div.2 title in over 30 years and second in the school’s history. During her time at Thousand Oaks, she has also coached multiple CIF and Marmonte League Champions in both the girls’ and boys’ divisions. Under her helm, 5 long standing school records have fallen in the boys 100m, 110m hurdles, 300m hurdles , 1699m and the 4x100m relay. As a former Lancer, she won a CIF State Title as well as multiple CIF SS and Marmonte individual Championships, and she still holds the National Pentathlon high school record. She earned a spot on the 1980 Olympic team at the age of 17 as a multi eventer along with the 1983 World Championship Team, Pan American Team, and a multitude of other national teams. She holds 5 NCAA National titles and was inducted into the CSLA Athletic Hall of Fame and Ventura County Sports Hall of Fame. You can still find her name on the Thousand Oaks and CSUN records board. In recent years, Coach Marlene has been honored to be a part of the USATF and USOPC National coaching staff serving on the 2022 NACAC, 2023 Pan American, and the 2024 Thorpe Cup Teams. Marlene holds a BS Degree from Colorado State University in Organizational Leadership and a level 2 USATF coaching certification. She currently serves on the USATF Alumni and USATF Coaches Advisory Boards and is an active participant in the USATF Hershey’s Run, Jump, and Throw Program. Marlene has recently joined forces with “Ready Set Gold” focusing on equal access for every student to the resources supporting physical health and academic achievement. Marlene has coached at the youth, high school, and professional levels for the past 20 years and has helped produce 27 individual CIF Champions, 3 City Champions and a defending state champion along with many other podium worthy performances. She has helped facilitate performances on and off the field ensuring the student/athletes with multiple college scholarship opportunities. Coach Marlene humbly prides herself as a lifelong student of the sport and is always searching for new approaches to take her passion to the next level. She is a firm believer that success, humility, giving back and leadership should be achieved and pursued from the inside out. Marlene believes that sports on all levels teach invaluable life lessons by giving tools of critical thinking, learning to use failure as a catalyst for success, the value of hard work and dedication, vulnerability, teamwork, trust, integrity, and self-belief.

Coach Jill Savage joins us for her 3rd season at Thousand Oaks. She is a lifelong athlete whose elite athletic career culminated with her representation of Canada in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in the sport of triathlon. Coach Savage is a world class Triathlete representing Canada as a National Champion, in the Olympics, World Championships and Pan-American games. She is a 3-x World Cup winner and 5 x Ironman Triathlon finisher. Jill is originally from Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario. During her youth she was an all-around athlete who played soccer, was a nationally ranked swimmer, and competed in track & field and cross-country. She was a dual-sport athlete in college competing in swimming and track & field / cross-country at the University of South Carolina before transferring to Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where she competed in track & field and cross-country. Jill holds a Level 1 USATF Coaching Certification and has coached youth swimming, triathlon and track & field for over 20 years. She is a mother of four and enjoys sharing her passion, knowledge, and rich experience with athletes. She specializes in focusing on the process, goal setting, and the mental and physical aspects of competing.

Coach Kevin Burnett is in his 15th season as the girls and boys pole vault coach at Thousand Oaks. Originally from Ohio and a pole vaulter in high school and college, Coach Burnett feels very fortunate to continue his boundless passion for the sport by instilling in his student-athletes the same dedication and energy for a sport which is fun, rewarding and exhilarating. While training his athletes for success in pole vault, Coach Burnett believes he can also be influential in transferring athletic skills to non-sport life skills in preparation for leading a gratifying and successful life. Coach Burnett is a former high school and college instructor with a master’s degree in Allied Health Science and Physical Education and has a level 1 USATF coaching certification. He has coached all levels in pole vault and has discovered the importance of introducing the sport at the youth level to develop and prepare young student-athletes for their high school years. In addition, Coach Burnett stays current in the sport by competing at the USATF Masters level and was just recently awarded the silver medal at the 2023 USATF Masters National Championships at the University of North Carolina. Coach Burnett is also internationally ranked 6th in the world in his age group. During his tenure at TOHS, Coach Burnett has coached and advanced many Lancer pole vaulters every year into post season competition including League, CIF and State finals. As girl’s pole vault has evolved and become increasingly popular, Coach Burnett has had three girls advance to state competition, and one boy make it to the top of the podium as California state champion.

Andy Thompson has been coaching cross country and track at TOHS since 2007. His loyalty to TOHS runs deep, not only as a coach for the past 17 years, but also as a former student athlete graduating in 2001. After his career as a Lancer, he went on to compete at the NCAA Division 1 level for Loyola Marymount University. Since joining the TOHS coaching staff, he has coached teams and individuals to CIF Prelims, Finals and State meet appearances. Andy’s focus is developing athletes of strong character, commitment towards the process of training, all of which leading towards the principal of competing to win. Andy is excited to take TOHS Track and Cross Country to the next level.

Sarah Fitzgerald joined the TOHS coaching staff as an assistant to TOXC head coach Andy Thompson in the summer of 2021. In 2023, she became the Head Girls’ Coach under Coach Thompson for both XC and distance track and field. Sarah is a 500-hour RYT certified yoga teacher and has taught yoga in the community for eight years. She models and nurtures whole body wellness and encourages building habits that lead to lifelong attention to a healthy lifestyle. Her three children went through TO Flyers youth track which led to her assisting the distance runners with strength training and developing flexibility through yoga. She has also been a substitute teacher in the community for over a decade and is passionate about working with youth. Sarah has two children in college, one running D2 XC and track at Cal Poly Humboldt and one who ran for 2 years at the D1 level at Boise State, and one child still at home and running for TOHS.

Harold Suggs is entering his 5th season at Thousand Oaks High school. He specializes in horizontal jumps, sprints, and relays. He holds a USATF Level 1 coaching credential and has over 22 years coaching experience. Coach Suggs has coached in the Lancaster/Palmdale area, Bakersfield and South Los Angles. He has coached countless CIF, and State level athletes. He prides his program on dedication, hard work, and courage to lay it on the line.

Coach Dan Is entering his 3rd year as the high jump coach at Thousand Oaks. Coach Dan facilitated a Marmonte league champion, a CIF SS Div II runner up and a CIF State appearance in his first year. He brings over 26 years of coaching experience in both the high jump and throws. He holds a level 2 USATF Certification, serves as a USATF Official and is a certified sports nutritionist. Coach Dan’s philosophy is that training the individual rather than the event is the most effective approach and that the mental aspect of competing is just as important as the physical one.

This is Coach Flores’ 2nd year coaching with TOHS Track & Field. Anthony has previous experience as a throws coach for the Westlake High School track and field team and as a volunteer throws coach at the collegiate level for California Lutheran University and Ventura College. Anthony was also a member of the CLU and Ventura College track and field teams. Anthony has a Master’s in Kinesiology, Applied Sports Medicine, and is certified by the International Sports Science Association as a Personal Trainer, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Fitness Coach.

Todd Bersley has been an assistant coach for Thousand Oaks High School Cross Country and Distance Track since 2021. His previous coaching experience includes youth track and field for Thousand Oaks Flyers from 2008 to 2015 and basketball teams in CYBA from 2010 to 2014. He has been an avid supporter of the “trust the process” coaching philosophy that not only promotes personal growth through hard work and skill development, but also fosters a supportive team culture that helps all athletes work together to build the confidence they need to compete at their peak performance. In his other life, Todd works as a technical writer at Teradyne in Agoura Hills, and lives in Thousand Oaks with his wife Cindy. 

Coach Steve Blagden has an extensive background as both athlete and coach. Coach Blagden is a British-born decathlete, who was nationally ranked at the collegiate level and holds the decathlon record at Cal State East Bay. He competed for six years in the decathlon at the national and international levels. Coach Blagden earned a BA degree from Saint Mary’s College and had a thirty-year career as a fire officer with the Fremont Fire Service, during which time he coached multiple events at local high schools. Coach Blagden also spent time working in the private sector, providing national safety program consulting, development, implement and instruction. Upon recently moving to Thousand Oaks, Coach Blagden was eager to return to coaching, and he feels he’s found the perfect program here at TOHS. His athletic philosophy is to coach the individual, student, athlete, while his personal philosophy is to listen and learn! Athletics and life go hand in hand. His goals as a coach are to understand the needs and goals of the student athlete and to bring as much personal experience and understanding of his ten events to the program.