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 David Christensen and Ty
Coach David grew up playing golf, soccer, and baseball. His main focus was baseball which he played year-round as a youth. A highlight of his baseball career was travelling to Cooperstown, NY to play in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational with the Placentia Mustangs Travel Ball Team. In high school, he picked up the sport of water polo and made the varsity team his sophomore and junior year. He was privileged to join the El Dorado Water Polo Team in competing in the 2012 Pan Pacific International Tournament in New Zealand. In his senior year at El Dorado, Coach David shook it up again and decided to run track and field. He won League in 2 events, attended the CIF-SS Finals in the 400 m, and broke two school records in the 400 m and 4 x 100 m relay. Coach David continued to run track in college and earned many championship titles and top finishes. He competed in DII Athletics in 2020 at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in the 400 m, 4000 m Distance Medley, and 4 x 400 m.
He began his first year as an assistant coach in track and cross country in 2022. His goal in coaching is to use his prior experiences in his athletic endeavors to help youth runners see that the human body is a powerful, adaptable unit and has an endless need to keep striving to overcome challenges.
Coach Casey Monozslay
Coach Casey grew up in Chino Hills and started running her freshman year of high school, as well as playing soccer for school and a club team. Her first race as a freshman was a great success. She made varsity that year and earned the MVP award all four years of high school. After high school, she continued to run at Cal Poly Pomona doing both track and cross country. Her favorite events were the 800m, 1500m and the 5000m. She was awarded a scholarship her junior year, MVP her senior year, and was a 2-time conference champion in the 1500m and 5000m. Her favorite moment while running was winning the 1500m at conference championships, and racing the 5000m an hour later and winning that as well.
A recent graduate from Cal Poly, Coach Casey has aspirations for her future including cancer research, working in the field of health and nutrition or running as a professional. She most enjoys the competition of running, improving her best times and the feeling you gave your all during a race.
When asked about her coaching philosophy, she stated that she “likes talking to the kids on an individual level to get to know them and their running style…everyone is different and has different motivations for running, so it is important for them to individualize workouts.” She believes “every runner has the potential to be great”. She also believes “running is a social sport and there should be a balance between having fun and working hard”.