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Highland gets another Leake
Highland athletic director Gary Leake has given a whole new meaning to the phrase “in-house candidate.”Leake announced Monday that Highland's softball coaching job — recently vacated by Donald O'Meara — would be filled by Leake's wife, Renee, the former head softball coach at Osbourn High.
“Renee joining our coaching staff is great for me in, obviously, several ways,” Gary Leake said. “I knew that if there was ever an opening here, she would be someone that we would bring in because of her coaching style.”
Highland also hired Brian Burke as head coach of its baseball team, which will return to action for the first time since 1998, when Gary Leake coached the last team fielded by the school. Also, Gary Hicklin also was announced as the new junior varsity volleyball coach.
Leake was hands on with those hires but, truth be told, he removed himself from the final decision in the search for a softball coach to avoid a conflict of interest.
But Renee Leake proved Highland's choice, nonetheless. Her credentials speak for themselves: Osbourn won four Cedar Run District titles, four Northwest Region titles and advanced to the Group AAA state tournament five times under Leake's watch.
She inherits a Highland program coming off back-to-back Virginia Independent Schools state championships.
“Is there pressure? Absolutely,” Renee Leake said. “Being involved with a successful program, the target's on your back.
“The pressure is going to be on, but to me, I like that challenge.”
The transition will be eased by Highland's talented returning roster. Soon-to-be-seniors Maire Shaughnessy, Ella Miller and Morgan Stephens pace what promises to be another strong Hawks squad.
“I've had the opportunity to see a couple of the girls play,” Leake said. “I'm excited about working with them.”
Meanwhile, Burke takes over as Highland's new baseball coach after last coaching a high school baseball team, Sherando, in 2005. He is currently the Director of Baseball Operations for the Winchester Royals of the Valley Baseball League and also has coaching experience at Shenandoah University, Clarke County High and with the Front Royal Cardinals.
"Brian's a person we're incredibly lucky to get, considering his baseball background," Gary Leake said. "He's the perfect person to get our program back on the map. He's fostered a lot of college athletes and seen them transition from college to professional baseball."
Burke will have to start Highland's baseball program from scratch, though.
“As a coach, getting the chance to start a program, to build it from scratch, was a great opportunity for me,” Burke said.
The Hawks will likely be young and inexperienced in their first season, so even though the softball team has advanced to three state title games in its three-year existence, Burke hopes to temper any matching expectations.
“I hope people are fair,” he said. “It will take some time.”
Hicklin is also expected to become a head coach at Highland in the near future. He'll lead the Hawks' JV volleyball team this season and then take over the varsity squad in 2009, when current coach Ken Huntsman is expected to retire.
“Gary Hicklin is one of the top summer volleyball coaches in the area and he is a very well-respected coach,” Leake said.
A former Fauquier High JV and Warrenton Middle School volleyball coach, Hicklin was unavailable for comment. He is currently biking from Warrenton, Ore., to Warrenton, Va., and is scheduled to arrive at Highland on Aug. 9.
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