Oct. 26, 2007

Former PLNU sprinter Johnny won two gold medals in the 4^th Pan-Armenian Games held in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Deryeghiayan attended PLNU from 2000 to 2004 and got his B.A. in Youth Ministry and Church Music.

 

Point Loma track and field Coach Jerry Arvin vividly remembers Deryeghiayan and still is in email contact with his former athlete. "Johnny was a team leader, he got people involved and was overflowing," Arvin said. "He is a quality-type young person with a strong relationship to the Lord."

"He made a lot of gains during his time at Point Loma. He improved from 11.05 to 10.61 (fourth all-time at PLNU). He made nice adjustments. We were able to maximize his talent."

 

Deryeghiayan was born in La Verne, Calif. into the Armenian Diaspora. Armenia is a mountainous country located at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia and was part of the Soviet Union. Armenia has a large Diaspora with eight million people outnumbering the three million population of Armenia itself. Armenian communities exist across the globe. Cities like Los Angeles, Toronto, Montreal, Beirut, and Paris have the biggest number of people with people from Armenia.

 

In the Pan-Armenian Games, held last June 22nd through the 24th, athletes from the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian Diaspora competed against each other. The idea was to organize sporting events for all Armenians with the motto "Unity through Sport." Today the World Committee of Pan Armenian Games (WCPAG) is a non-governmental, international organization to develop sports in Armenia.

 

The first Pan-Armenian Games took place in 1999 with delegations from 62 cities and 23 countries. This year for the 4^th Pan Armenian Games, athletes from 94 countries traveled to Yerevan to determine Armenia's most successful athletes. One of them is Deryeghiayan. The youth pastor for the Armenian Church of the Nazarene in Pasadena competes for the Homenetmen's Ararat Chapter.

 

In an email he sent to coach Arvin right after his victory in the 100 meters, he described the enthusiasm of the thousands of people during the opening ceremony. He also talked about the day of the race. Due to the bus leaving late and getting gas, he only had a good 40 minutes to warm up for the prelims. Out of 32 sprinters, he tied with the national record holder and qualified for the finals an hour later. "I had lane four ... and I love lane four - even though in the 100 meters, they are all the same," Deryeghiayan said in the email. "Vahag [the national record holder] was in lane five and this other fast guy in three and others surrounded us." After one false start, Deryeghiayan hit a bump on his first step but after that "felt like a rocket. I went through my transitions and when I was approaching the finish line, I did not see anyone with me." With hand-timed 10.3 seconds, Deryeghiayan got Pan-Armenian Games champion in the 100 meter race. He also won the 200 meter race and so made the double.

 

 In his email he wrote the following: "Give God all the glory and thanks for putting me here, having great supporters of my family, friends, my coaches and random people in life who have touched my life."