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SCOTTISH AMERICAN ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
Sean Smith
President
2024 SAAA Board of Directors
Jarvina Routt
Vice President
Jon O'Neil
Treasurer
Amelia Ferroni
Secretary
Sean joined the SAAA board in 2019. Originally a board member at large, he was elected as Vice President in 2020 and President in 2024.
A lifetime Southern California native, Sean graduated from the University of La Verne with his BS and MBA, while also being a 6 time all conference member of their track and field team. A Master's and A class competitor, Sean finished top 3 at the Master's World Championships on 4 of his seven trips to the annual event.
In his spare time, while not obsessing about throwing, Sean owns a consulting firm and has spent 15 years as an Associate Business instructor at Mira Costa College in San Diego, CA.
Jarvina is new to the board for 2024. Entering her 9th season, Jarvina is a Pro woman's athlete and former lightweight national champion. She has even competed in Scotland!
A Southern California native and avid Angels fan, Jarvina lives with her husband and son in Orange County.
Jon started competing in the Highland games in 2008 after an illustrious college track and field career, earning Division 1 All-American honors and competing at many NCAA and National Championships as well as at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Trials. As a Highland games competitor he quickly moved up the ranks of the “A” class and won the Amateur Championships at Pleasanton before moving up to the professional class where he competed from 2012 to 2019 and won the IHGF World Team Championship with teammate Dan McKim in 2012 and finished 7th at the IHGF World Championships in 2013. In 2019 he moved to the Masters class and finished 2nd at the Masters World Championships in 2019 and 3rd in 2021. Jon lives in Foothill Ranch, CA with his wife, Katie, his son, Bradley (8) and his daughter, Kiley (6). They have 2 cats and a pet fish. Jon has worked in the legal field for over 20 years.
Amelia has been attending Highland Games since she was a child, and has travelled to Ohio, California, and Scotland, with the intent of observing tradition and passion for the competition. Growing up, her family would throw ‘Harvest’ parties at their homestead which would see crowds of up to 300 people attend, and Amelia has taken her experience with this coordination to throw home Highland games three years in a row during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amelia is a Script Supervisor in the film industry in Los Angeles, CA. She and her husband, Sal (an award winning bagpiper) used their passion for filmmaking to shoot and edit documentaries for their home Highland games. She has competed in the Women's Lightweight Class at Costa Mesa, Monterey, and the Seaside Games.
Ben Meeker
Member at Large
Seat 1
Matthew Perlowski Member at Large
Seat 2
Francis Cullen Member at Large
Seat 3
Eddie Brown
Member at Large
Seat 4
Carrie Johnson
Member at Large
Seat 5
Ben joined the board in 2024. An athlete in the highland games since 2016, Ben has competed at Pleasanton several times as well as the Masters World Championships.
Ben has practiced law for over 20 years and is a graduate of Creighton University.
Ben lives in San Marcos with his wife, children, 6 alpacas, a dozen horses and a Scottish Cow.
After being a patron of the games for decades, he was persuaded to become an athlete in 2016. Since then, he has achieved #1 rank in Class C for California in 2019. Recently promoted to Class B, he looks forward to competing in various games across the state. By weekday, he is a Senior Silicone Research Chemist for NuSil Technology LLC in Carpinteria. By weekend, he heads The Seaside Highland Throwers (a Highland Games practice group) based out of Ventura County. When Matthew is not competing on the field, you can still find him at the games as a certified SAAA judge and promoter of the Highland Games.
Francis joined the board in 2024. An A class highland games competitor for the past 2 seasons, Francis brings a wealth of IT and programming knowledge to the board.
Originally from the East Coast, Francis lives in Escondido with his wife and son.
Eddie has been involved in highland games for over a decade. Always a favorite of the crowd, Eddie is an excellent caber tosser and has been a pro level athlete for the past 4 seasons.
Eddie is the Athletic Director of the Phoenix highland games, and lives with his wife and daughter in Phoenix, AZ.
Carrie enters her 3rd year on the SAAA board in 2024. Entering her 6th season in the games, Carrie has competed twice in the women's world championship.
Prior to highland games, Carrie competed in track and field and was a stellar performer for Fallbrook Union High School, and later, the Cal Bears Track team throwing the wire hammer with a career best of over 208 feet!
Born in Oceanside, CA, Carrie resides in San Francisco.
Message from the President
As an athlete who has attended SAAA competitions since 2012, I have never been more optimistic about the future of our organization and board as I am today. Our community has been able to overcome Covid and returned in record breaking numbers over the 2022 and 2023 seasons. I'm so happy to see so many familiar faces, but even happier to see so many NEW faces on our fields of competition. The future of SAAA Scottish Heavy Athletics is very bright.
We look forward to bringing our athletes competitions in Costa Mesa, San Diego, Ventura and our all Women's Games Valkyrie in Vista California in 2024. We have a young energetic board that is full of ideas to improve our events and organization as well.
Not only has the SAAA been able to bring top tier events to our athletes, but we have also been able to provide a lot of very useful information to our athletes and those interested in becoming a future athlete through our social media pages on instagram and facebook. "Tip Tuesday's" have been a huge success and providing everyone access to the best throwers in the game is something we are very proud of and look forward to expanding this year.
We were also very proud to not only add female pro athletes to Costa Mesa in 2022, but in 2023 we had the first SAAA competition ever where pro prize money was equal for both men and women pros. We are committed to expanding our sport, creating opportunities for female athletes and providing education and news to all. None of this is possible without our board members, and amazing SAAA members and athletes. We thank you all for the support and love. We will do our best to take it up a notch in 2024 and break more records, provide the best games and give back in every way possible.
Have a great season everyone!!!
Sean
01/15/2024
OUR MISSION
The Scottish American Athletic Association is a professional sanctioning body that provides rules, regulations, standards, and implements for hosting both men’s and women’s Amateur and Professional Scottish Highland Games athletic competitions. The SAAA is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization that works with local and national festivals to help promote and standardize the athletic aspect of Scottish culture, and celebrate its rich tradition.