Varsity Coaches

Head Varsity Basketball Coach Jim Comarata has over 20 years of basketball coaching and training experience with area grade schools including St. James, St. Ignatius, St. Jude, Queen of Peace, St. Margaret of York, and Sacred Heart. He has also coached several grade school and high school level AAU teams. He will begin his first season coaching the Mercy McAuley Wolves in 2022-23!

Contact Info
jcomarata56@gmail.com
(513) 602-8053

Contact Info
amfeie@gmail.com
(513) 348-4033

Coach Tim Bley has 12 years of experience coaching high school cross country and distance track and field, as well as high school classroom experience. In addition to over 38 years as an avid runner, Coach Bley is a certified personal trainer who has helped train athletes to run distance road races, and he has personally competed in 13 marathons.

Coach Bley is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics and a Master of Arts in Education from the College of Mount Saint Joseph. He is also a Cincinnati Police officer who has had leadership roles in fitness training for the Police Academy and the Cincinnati Police department. Coach Bley and his family are active members of St. Jude parish, and his family has a strong commitment to Mercy education and the Mercy McAuley community.

Contact Info
mercymcauleycc@gmail.com
(513)  608-4060

Coach Kelly Bayalan is a Lead Dance Instructor at Emerge Dance Academy, where she enjoys teaching all ages. She designs outreach programs through Emerge and has been working as a lead instructor at Emerge for the past six years, with a total of about 14 years experience teaching dance. She has a significant amount of experience in dance competition, both as an instructor and participant. She was a member of the dance team in high school and as a student at Mount Saint Joseph. Coach Fay is excited to build and begin a dance program at Mercy McAuley High School. She is a graduate of Mount Saint Joseph University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.

Contact Info
faykay27@gmail.com
(513) 382-7995
 

During Mercy McAuley's inaugural season, Coach Ernie Petrie led the team in qualifying for Districts, and he was also named GGCL Coach of the Year. Prior to joining the coaching staff at Mercy McAuley, Coach Petrie served as McAuley’s varsity head coach for 21 years and as the JV coach for 20 years. Under his leadership, McAuley’s golf team had 19 winning seasons and ranked in the Top 10 of the coaches poll for 19 of 21 years. Coach Petrie's team earned GGCL Co-Champ and Coach of the Year titles in 2007. In 2015, one of his players qualified as an individual at the state competition, and the team qualified for the state tournament in 2016. His teams have qualified for the GGCL District tournament for 11 years, and four players qualified as individuals in other years. Several of his players have been named to the GGCL All-Star team each year.

Contact Info
petri.1@fuse.net
(513) 478-6691

Contact Info
calderkaitlyn@gmail.com
(513) 800-3103

Contact Info
jess.stegman@gmail.com
(513) 827-7704

The 2023 spring season is Donny Amrein’s first season as the head softball coach at Mercy McAuley High School. Coach Amrein comes to us having spent 12 years teaching at the Red’s Youth Academy, four years as head Coach at Saint Ursula Academy, and five years as Assistant Coach at Western Hills High School. He has been a clinician at numerous National Softball camps in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. In between umpiring fastpitch National Championships, he has coached high level travel softball for many years. He has taught pitching lessons for many years and has two national Championships.

Donny had a career as supervisor at Hamilton County Juvenile Court and another career in drug testing for the NFL and NCAA. He is an Army veteran and has two adult children, both of whom played Division II softball.

Contact Info
jonathanwohlfrom@gmail.com
(513) 646-4944

Contact Info
josielink4@gmail.com
(513) 403-9045

Coach Benning's teams have experienced tremendous success during the short history of the program. The inaugural team in 2019 was the team runner-up at the GGCL meet. Several Wolves have won individual and relay GGCL championships, and a Wolf has been voted as the league Runner of the Year twice (2021, 2022).  The Wolves have also accomplished success on the state level, highlighted by a 3rd place State finish in 2022 (shot put), a State Runner-up finish in 2021 (4x400 relay), and a top-10 team finish at the '21 State Championships.

Before becoming the head coach at Mercy McAuley, Coach Benning helped build the track & field programs at other local schools. He coached at the Ohio State Championships in 2008, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

Coach Benning is a graduate of Miami University, where he was a 2-sport athlete. He was a 4-year football letter winner, and a member of the 1993 Mid-American Conference Track & Field championship team and winning 4x400 relay squad.

Coaching Experience
Mercy McAuley High School
2019 - Present: Head Coach

McAuley High School
2018: Head Coach
2016-17: Assistant Coach/Sprints

St. Xavier High School
2012-15: Assistant Coach/Sprints

Summit Country Day High School
2007-10: Head Coach

Coach Benning can be reached at mercymcauleytf@gmail.com.

Sam Gagnon will begin her role as the head varsity volleyball coach in the 2022-23 season. She has served as the Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach at Mercy McAuley since the school opened in 2018. Prior to that, she coached various levels at Mother of Mercy High School for six years. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, where she played volleyball. Sam is a 2007 alumna of Mother of Mercy High School, where she was a 4-year varsity volleyball starter and holds the school record for most career assists.

Contact Info
samantha.gagnon04@gmail.com