ABOUT
Mountain Top Athletics
TEAM
Mike Carpenter
President
My name is Michael Carpenter and I’m currently employed with the Municipality of Anchorage as a law enforcement officer. I’m currently assigned to the Community Action Policing (CAP) team within the Anchorage Police Department. Sports have always been a big part of my life and I attribute them to the major successes and person I am today. Sports have allowed me to develop a sense of accountability, resilience, respect, and leadership. These qualities have allowed me to accomplish some major successes throughout my life which include becoming a Sergeant and Paratrooper in the United States Army, a collegiate basketball player for California State University, San Bernardino, a Negotiation Team member for the Anchorage Police Department, and earning my master’s degree in Law Enforcement and Public Safety Leadership. Despite these accomplishments, I wasn’t always considered successful which leads me to my peculiar fact and that is I graduated high school with a 1.8 GPA.
I’m excited to the be the President of Mountain Top Athletics (MTA), which is a non-profit all-inclusive sports and recreational organization. My goals and aspirations for MTA are to provide a safe and positive learning environment for all ages and genders regardless of their social economic status while offering superior sports and conditioning training. I envision an a safe yet challenging environment that provides the opportunities for a person to grow not only individually, but as a teammate as well.
Noelle Collier
Vice President
Growing up in Siskiyou County gives Noelle a drive to help youth sports and opportunities for all Siskiyou County kids and programs. Family and community involvement is extremely important to Noelle in her Siskiyou County roots. Youngest of four girls who all were involved and successful in sports leading her philosophy about sports and working with youth. With the desire to help kids in achieving what they want to do, while learning life lessons through sports. Winning, of course, is important, but we require more: competitive sports can act as challenges for honesty responsibility and accountability.
She is a board member of Yreka Ponytail Softball. Her father Richard built the softball complex in Yreka and loves continuing to support the love of softball for girls. She and her husband Sean, sister Brooke and brother in law Jon Cox started Siskiyou Flag Football. Siskiyou Flag Football creates opportunities for kids to learn the game of football at a young age with non-contact approach.
Her mother Georgia was an Elementary School teacher for 35 years and always had a teaching mentality throughout her growing up. Currently, Noelle is going into her 3rd year as the Head Women’s Basketball coach at College of the Siskiyous following her 8 years as the assistant coach to Tom Powers. This will be her 6th year as the Health and Wellness Director at Siskiyou Family YMCA.
Noelle resides in Yreka with her husband Sean, son Cash and daughter Alexes.
Jacob Mekeel
Recreation & Events
Jacob Mekeel is a 2012 Dunsmuir High School Graduate where he participated in football, basketball and baseball at the varsity level for all 4 years. Upon graduation from Dunsmuir High School, he attended Shasta College for 2 years where he played baseball and earned an AA Degree in Social Science. Mekeel received interest from over 10 universities to continue his baseball career on scholarship and ended up choosing NCAA Division II East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma. At East Central University, Mekeel was named first team all-conference as well as being named to the 2017 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. II All-Region Team while winning the batting title in the Great American Conference. Along with his success on the field, Mekeel finished with a 3.7 GPA and a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in recreation.
Mekeel is currently both the social science teacher and athletic director at Dunsmuir High School. He is also the head coach for football, basketball and baseball. In 2022, Mekeel led the Dunsmuir High School football and basketball team to their first winning seasons since 2014. Mekeel will complete his Mater’s Degree in Education with and emphasis in Social and Emotional Learning in 2022.
Mekeel currently resides in Redding, CA where he enjoys to play adult softball and spend time with his family on his free time. Mekeel has 3 brothers, 2 of whom also graduated from Dunsmuir High School and competed in intercollegiate sports.
“I am excited to work with Chris Rivera and Mountain Top Athletics to create a program for the youth of Siskiyou County that will benefit them not only as athletes, but people as well.”
Ron Morris
Chief Financial Officer
Ron Morris has over 20 years’ experience in business, finance, and accounting. He has held many titles ranging from Sr Accountant, Sr Finance Analyst, to CFO. He’s currently employed as a Sr Business Intelligence Analyst at Chico State Enterprises and is the owner/operator of Jack-of-Trades, a home repair and maintenance company that he started in 2011. Ron holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a minor in accounting and is currently pursuing his MBA.
Together with his high school sweetheart of 25 years, they have two beautiful girls ages 11 and 13. He stays active by participating in local recreational league sports such as basketball and softball and enjoys coaching his daughters’ basketball teams.
Ron has a passion for sports and believes that athletics play a major role in child development. He also believes by supplying an established and well guided environment you provide the fundamental building blocks for children to learn and grow.
With his combination of education, work experience, and a passion for youth sports Ron is excited to support the mission of Mountain Top Athletics.
Heather Safken
Advisor/Grant Writer
For over 20 plus years, I have developed a deep passion for working alongside children and adults with all backgrounds, learning styles and personalities. Growing up in a rural area provided me with a built sense of community, safety and naturally the need to collaborate with others out of part of the culture. My passion for working with children and adults became apparent while I was coaching High School Girls Basketball and as the Director for Afterschool and Summer programs nonprofit.
During this time of employment as the Director I found myself cultivating collaborative work, coaching staff building better systems of operation for staff and youth. Also acquired my Masters in Educational Leadership(remotely), Co-lead the establishment of the Surprise Valley Child Development Center (supported working families' need for stable care), coached High School Girls Basketball, and helped start the Surprise Valley Education Foundation. With all of these entities, we had to write many grants for start-up and sustainability. I found this to be inspiring because of the collaboration and coordination that took place to make these new and existing programs more successful.
These experiences built and intensified my passion and desire to ensure children and families are successful in life. My passion and drive took me to San Francisco in 2013 where I began working for the City of San Francisco as a Senior Community Development Specialist; managing grants, planning city-wide for Afterschool and Summer Youth Programs, and facilitating Racial Equity conversations for departmental changes. We were a funder and designed the strategies, grant questions and evaluation criteria, which added to my bank of grant writing skills. These Rural and Urban experiences bring together the possibilities of how Non-profit’s, City Government, K-12 Education, private and public funding sources can systematically work together to provide a positive impact on children and their families. In 2017 I started a nonprofit that supports the economic sustainability of rural communities, moved to Reno, Nevada in 2018 and realized there are many nonprofits and companies in the US that need the support and guidance I love to provide. With a passion for rural communities, sports and grant writing I am excited to support Mountain Top Athletics in their mission!