Francois Wolman :: Yannick Allain :: Cheik Touré :: Armando Gonzales
Entering his tenth year at Valley College, Coach Wolman looks forward to leading the “Mighty Monarchs” to a new era of track and field accomplishments on their new state of the art track. Coach Wolman’s emphasis is on the student-athlete where academic achievement is of the utmost importance. Coach Wolman’s goal is to not only coach the athletes in running but to also coach them with their educational future.
Coach Wolman led the Monarchs' men’s cross country team to a fifth place statewide finish in 2002 and was voted Coach of the Year in 2001 by the Western State Conference.
Running Experience
After winning two Los Angeles city championships in the 800 meter event and posting a 2nd place at the national level at Fairfax High School, Wolman received a track scholarship to the University of Oregon. Running for the Ducks, Wolman established personal records for the 800 meters with a 1:51.6, the 1500 meters 3:51.8, the mile 4:09.8, and the 10,000 meters 31:07. Coach Wolman also had the honor and privilege to run with the legendary Steve Prefontaine. Wolman also was a member of the Santa Monica Track Club – coached by Joe Douglas from 1981 to 1986, and completed seven marathons.
Coaching Experience
Coach Wolman came to Valley College in 1999 after spending four years at Santa Monica College assisting Head Coach Tommie Smith, where the Corsairs went on to compete at the state level three out of four years.
Coach Wolman also spent 20 years in coaching high school at Mark Keppel High School (Alhambra, CA), Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, CA), Beverly Hills High School, and Canyon High School (Canyon Country, CA). During those years Coach Wolman has produced a great deal of middle distance runners that received track scholarships to Division I and Division II Universities throughout the country.
Academics
Wolman has a degree in French language from Cal State Northridge, a California Teaching Credential from UCLA, and a Masters in Psychology from Pepperdine University.
Coach Wolman is a full-time high school teacher in French and psychology as well as working as a full-time coach.
He consults for the College Board, teaching teachers Advanced Placement French and grading the Advanced Placement French Exam.
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Yannick Allain
Coach Allain is returning for his 3rd season as the women's cross-country/track & field head coach. Coach Allain is in his 7th coaching season at Valley College. In that time he has overseen the development and training of two state championship finalists, six Southern California championship finalists, and over ten Western State Conference champions.
Coach Allain began his coaching career nine years ago as an assistant coach at Santa Monica College under the tutelage of legendary coach Tommie Smith. While at SMC, Coach Allain was responsible for training sprinters in their specific disciplines. Once arriving at Valley College as an assistant, Coach Allain continued his focus on the sprint events until assuming his present position as head coach of the women's program. Coach Allain graduated from Cal State Northridge with a B.S. degree in Kinesiology and is presently working towards his Masters degree in the same field. Along with his B.S. degree, Coach Allain is a certified strength and conditioning specialist and is a certified Level II USA track & field jump coach.
To contact Coach Allain:
Office: (818) 947-2891 Mobile:( 310) 493-1648 E-mail: Allainy@lavc.edu
Coach Touré is in 2nd season as the Valley College jumps coach. In his first season, he helped all of Valley's jumpers reach the WSC championships; two of them continued on to the Southern California Championships with personal bests.
Coach Touré comes to Valley with an impressive amount of professional and personal experience in track & field. Coach Touré is a Senegalese-born French athlete who competed internationally for France and Senegal for over ten years. During that time, Coach Touré competed in two Olympic games (Atlanta, 1996 and Sydney, 2000). His personal best in the long jump of 8.46 Meters (27' 7") still ranks as the top 15th all-time best performance in the event.
As an internationally recognized athlete, Coach Touré spent time mentoring at-risk youths of the Parisian suburbs as a youth counselor and was an IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) ambassador. Since retiring from competition, Cheik Touré has begun the next stage of his career in the development of LAVC's future athletes.
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Armando Gonzales
Coach "Gonzo" began coaching football at Hoover High School in 1988 as a defensive coordinator before leaving to coach at St. Francis High School for ten years as track & field assistant coach
After St. Francis, Coach Gonzo become the defensive coordinator at Harvard Westlake High school for two years, while also coaching track and field focusing on field events. He then moved on to Verdugo Hills High School as field events coach. During that time he coached the team to two league championships.
Coach Gonzo has been coaching since 1988. Today, he enjoys coaching the linebackers and special teams for the Monarchs Football team and working alongside a great coaching staff. Coach Gonzo played football at John Marshall High School , playing next to Andy Reid, head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Coach Gonzo has also competed in the USA Track & Field Masters meet in the decathlon. Armando Gonzalez is currently residing in Eagle Rock and has two sons, Armando, Jr. and Bryan.