Meet the Coaches

Head Coach Vidal Arista

Coach Vidal Arista is the head coach for both boys and girls cross country.  He has been training and racing for more than 30 years in running, triathlons and cycling. Coach Arista has a passion for running and helping others reach their full potential. He enjoys sharing his life experiences from training and racing and the balance between training hard and training smart. Training with focus, energy and self-belief is his motto. He wants to create a foundation for good sportsmanship, discipline and a desire to become your best.

He is a southern California native living in North Orange County since 1989. Vidal earned his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Cal Poly Pomona and his MBA from Chapman University.

Coach Mirza Gallardo

Coach Mirza is known by all as an incredible underwater basket weaver and running coach. She has competed in many underwater basket weaving competitions, and holds 13 gold medals in the sport.

When she is not coaching cross country or competing in basket weaving, Coach Mirza enjoys karaoke and tap dancing.

Coach Don Campbell is in his first year coaching cross country. He has been running for nearly 40 years and has run over a hundred 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon races (and never once reached the podium). Don has a passion for running and believes the qualities of dedication, perseverance, and long-term thinking that make someone a better runner will also make them a better person. He hopes to instill in our runners a healthy, lifetime affinity for running where everyone has success. He has had the opportunity to share the joy of running with his wife and three daughters and is eager to bring that joy to the YLHS runners.

He is originally from the midwest but has made Yorba Linda his home since 2015. Don earned his Bachelor’s of Science from the US Air Force Academy, Master’s of Aeronautics from Embry Riddle University and MBA from Colorado State University.

Coach Sydney Rome

Sydney previously ran for YLHS during all four years of high school and continued to run in college for Cal State Fullerton during her freshman year. As of now, Sydney is a junior in college and is focused on running marathons and hopefully competing in triathlons!

Sydney loves every aspect of running and hopes to share this love with every athlete in the program. As a coach, Sydney plans to help the team reach their goals by pushing each athlete to their fullest potential and instilling good habits into their lives, which they can use now and later in life. 

Sydney is super excited to be a coach this year and hopes to inspire others to reach for their goals and to continue running into their later years of life whether it is competitively or just for fun!