The Panel

Question and answer panelists Sandy Blumenthal, Sheri Ross, Stan Thomas and Mark Trakh have more than 85 years of combined experience in education, administration and coaching.

A closer look at the panel members:

Sandy Blumenthal, La Habra High girls’ volleyball and badminton coach--Blumenthal has coached La Habra’s volleyball team to three consecutive State Division II and Southern Section 3-A championships. She has taught physical education for 22 years at La Habra and coached a variety of sports. Blumenthal graduated from Western High in 1964. She attended Fullerton College and graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 1969 with a physical education degree.

Sheri Ross, El Toro High girls’ athletic director, girls’ swimming coach--Ross has been an athletic director at El Toro since 1975 and the swimming coach since 1978. Her teams have won six league titles and twice been runner-up at the Southern Section championships. Ross graduated from Westchester High in 1967. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and biology from Cal State Long Beach in 1971. She received a master’s degree in administration from University of the Pacific in 1979. She teaches physical education at El Toro.

Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner of athletics--Thomas is in his sixth year as commissioner of the Southern Section. He has served as an administrator with the Tustin Unified School District, and was principal at Foothill High from 1980 to 1984. He has been an assistant principal at Norwalk Excelsior (1978-80) and La Mirada Neff (1975-78). Thomas also taught and coached football at Neff, where his teams won nine league championships, and Southern Section titles in 1966 and 1974. Thomas earned a bachelor of arts degree from Whittier College in 1957, and received a masters of education degree from Whittier in 1964.

Mark Trakh, Brea-Olinda High girls’ basketball coach--Trakh has turned Brea’s basketball program into one of the nation’s best. The Ladycats have reached the State finals four consecutive years, winning championships three times. They have won five Southern Section titles and have made eight championship-game appearances. Trakh’s team currently has a 52-game Orange League winning streak, and had a 55-game overall winning streak broken in the 1990 State finals with a loss to Auburn Placer. Ten of his former players have earned Division I college scholarships. Trakh graduated from Lakeland High in Wanaque, N.J., in 1973 and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Cal State Long Beach in 1980. He started as an assistant varsity boys’ basketball coach at Western High in 1977 and took over the Brea girls’ program in 1980. He joined the Brea staff as an English teacher in 1982.