News: John Champe Names Glen Gragasin as Volleyball Coach and CaSandra Alexander as Cross Country Coach

Aldie (Jan. 11, 2012) - At Tuesday's Loudoun County school board meeting, Glen Gragasin was approved as the first head volleyball coach for John Champe High School which opens in the fall 2012 and CaSandra Alexander as the school's first cross country coach.

Previously Broad Run assistant Jason Dawson had been named football coach and Cynthia Martinez was picked as the school's varsity cheerleading coach. More on each hire:


Volleyball: Glen Gragasin
Gragasin comes to Champe from having coached the past four years at the Junior Olympic/Club level with NVVA (Northern Virginia Volleyball Association) and Loudoun County Volleyball Club where he was the head coach at the 14U, 15U, 16U and 17U age groups. During his tenure as coach his teams experienced a wealth of success including multiple 1st and 2nd place tournament wins and finishing seasons with teams ranked in the top ten of the Chesapeake Volleyball Region Volleyball Association.

Gragasin, an Aldie resident, has dedicated the past six years of his life to the development of volleyball in the Dulles South area. He has shared his experience and knowledge of the game by coaching young women for the club and youth programs to help develop their skills to prepare them for the next level. His passion, dedication and commitment to the game of volleyball and the student athletes as well as the community are second to none.

He is currently a technical consultant for Hewlett-Packard’s Enterprise Services division located in Herndon.

Cross Country: CaSandra Alexander
Alexander comes to Champe from W.T. Woodson where she was the head cross country coach, assistant track & field coach for the past four years as well as the Assistant Director of Student Activities for the past two years.

 Prior to that she was the head cross country coach and assistant track & field coach for one year at McLean High School. During that year Alexander was named the FCPS Women in Sports Coach of the Year for McLean.

 She is a graduate of West Virginia University, and is currently a semester away from earning her Master’s of Arts in Education and Human Development from George Washington University. Alexander a native of Loudoun County is extremely excited to come back and create a solid foundation for the Knights cross country program. She is currently a physical education teacher and department chair at W.T. Woodson High School.

Football: Jason Dawson
Dawson comes to Champe from Broad Run where he was an integral part of two AA State Championships. Moreover, over the past seven years, he has been part of four district championships and two region championships, a time when the varsity football team accumulated an impressive record of 62 wins and only 11 losses.

Dawson, a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College, earned his Master’s in educational leadership from West Virginia University and has doctoral work in the area of curriculum and instruction through WVU.

A dynamic leader, Dawson has been at Broad Run since 2005, and in addition to serving as the defensive coordinator the past two years, he has also worked as the JV football head coach, strength and conditioning coordinator, special teams coach, defensive line and linebacker coach, and the JV wrestling head coach.

A resident of Loudoun, Coach Dawson’s passion, intensity, and vision will establish a solid foundation for the Knights program.  Dawson currently teaches 5th grade at Creighton’s Corner Elementary School.

Cheer: Cynthia Martinez
Martinez comes to Champe after having been the head junior varsity cheer coach for the winter season in 2010 at Freedom High School, and prior to that, she was an assistant varsity coach in Fairfax County. An energetic individual, Martinez has been involved in cheer in different capacities throughout her life.

Her enthusiasm for the sport is not limited to simply building a competitive team; it also extends to her desire to help work with students as civic-minded future leaders. Martinez worked as a linguist for the United States Air Force and is currently completing her bachelor’s degree.