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Rosendin named SJS Model Coach
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Sierra cross country coach Mike Rosendin has been named one of the Sac-Joaquin Section’s six Model Coaches of the Year.

Rosendin is the fourth head coach from Sierra to be honored with the award, which has recognized 86 coaches from 57 different schools since its inception in 2001.

He will be joined by Terri Hammarstrom of Franklin (Stockton), Cordova’s Eric McCahon, Lodi’s Tara Staal, Bella Vista’s Christie Wheeler and Linden’s Mike Zaklan at an awards banquet on April 21 in Lodi. Each of the six model coaches will receive a plaque and lifetime section pass.

Rosendin and the others were chosen for the award because they “are positive role models within our schools and the community at-large,” according to a Sac-Joaquin Section press release on Thursday.

The process of choosing model coaches began at the league level in the fall. Each school was asked to nominate one male and one female coach for a league award, and the leagues then selected one male and female candidate to be considered for the section’s award.

Wheeler and Zaklan will represent the section at the state level.

Rosendin has been a fixture in the athletic community at Sierra since the school opened in 1994. He has coached the cross country team for 16 years and assisted with the track and field program for 17 more.

His cross country and track teams have won 10 Valley Oak League championships apiece – apiece! – and between the two sports, Rosendin has helped raise 10 Sac-Joaquin Section banners at the youngest school in the City of Manteca.

Seven of those section titles belong to the track program, while three have been collected by his cross country teams.

The 1995 boys cross country team was the first team in school history to win Valley Oak League, sub-section and section championships.  That team finished 10th at the CIF State Meet, despite competing with one junior, and four underclassmen, and was inducted into the Sierra High School Hall of Fame last year.

Along with his involvement in sports, Rosendin also represents the San Joaquin County Office of Education’s Community School Program, served as the Insight Program Coordinator, coached youth soccer in Ripon and volunteers regularly at Manteca Unified youth track meets.

“Coach Rosendin is the epitome of selflessness,” Sierra athletic director Anthony Chapman said in the section’s press release. “He always sets the needs of his athletes above his own.”