Chris Starke has been promoted as Briar Woods High School’s head varsity softball coach after spending the last six seasons as the Falcons’ top assistant softball coach.

Starke takes the reins from former coach Jennifer Traina, who is now an assistant principal at first-year John Champe High School.

-Here is the full release from Briar Woods:

Briar Woods has named Chris Starke as its head varsity softball coach. Starke has served as the varsity program’s top assistant the last six seasons and has helped the Falcons to a 106-35 overall record and the 2011 Virginia High School League Group AA State Championship in that span.

“I would like to thank to our athletic director, Jerry Carter, and our principal, Ed Starzenski, for allowing me the privilege to serve as the next head coach of the Falcon softball program,” Starke said. “It has been extremely rewarding to see our program develop from a winless first season seven years ago to state champions two years ago. We have great support from our administration, our student-athletes’ families and the community. I am looking forward to the challenge of maintaining our high standards both on and off the field.”

Jerry Carter, A.D. at Briar Woods adds, “We are excited to have Coach Starke come on board as our head coach for softball. As an assistant coach he has been an integral part of our success. Coach Starke brings a tremendous amount of experience at several different levels of softball. He is a great fit to take over as head of the softball program.”

Starke takes over the Falcon softball program from former head coach Jennifer Traina, who resigned at the end of last season to become an assistant principal at John Champe High School in Aldie. In the last six years, Briar Woods has captured three Dulles District tournament championships and two Dulles District regular-season titles, has finished as Region II runners-up each of the last three seasons and has advanced to the last three VHSL Group AA state tournaments.

Starke owns over a decade of softball coaching experience at the high school, college, travel and little league levels. He began his coaching career as the assistant at NCAA Division II Shepherd (W.Va.) University for the 1999 and 2000 seasons, and later served as the head coach at NCAA Division III Frostburg State (Md.) University for the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

In his first year at Frostburg, Starke was named the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Coach of the Year after leading a squad that included seven freshmen and three sophomores to a 13-12 mark and a fourth-place finish in the AMCC.

In his second season, he was voted the AMCC Co-Coach of the Year after guiding the Bobcats to a school-record 26-14 finish, the AMCC regular-season title and a second-place showing at the AMCC Tournament. The squad set 28 school records and advanced to the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament, the first post-season bid in the program’s history.

Starke has also served as an assistant coach with several travel and youth league programs in the region. Additionally, he has conducted clinics for players and coaches in the Ashburn Girls Softball League and has been an instructor at Diamond Sports Training.

Starke earned his bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics from Shepherd in 1996 and currently teaches in the math department at Briar Woods. Prior to entering the teaching profession, Starke spent a combined 10 years in athletic media relations at Shepherd, the University of Pennsylvania, Frostburg State University and Hood College.