Coaching Staff

Elizondo previously served as head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach at UC Davis from 2014-2017. In his first cross country season at the helm, he led the Aggie women to their first Big West Conference title since 2011 and was named the conference Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year. In 2015, Elizondo guided both the men’s and women’s teams to third-place finishes at the Big West Championships, the highest finish for the men since 2013 and the fifth consecutive top-three finish on the women’s side. During his tenure at Davis, Elizondo helped coach 20 All-Big West runners (six men, 14 women) and six all-region honorees in cross country.

His coaching career began at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles. There, he served as the head track and field coach and assistant cross country coach for both boys and girls. With Elizondo on the coaching staff, the boys’ cross country team qualified for six state championship meets and achieved five top-five finishes. The girls’ program also enjoyed success, as the girls advanced to two state meets and sent an individual runner on two other occasions during Elizondo’s time at Brentwood.

Elizondo graduated from UCLA in 1998 with a degree in history and enjoyed great success as a distance runner for the Bruins. He was a member of three Pac-10 track and field championship teams and also helped lead the cross country team to a pair of third-place conference finishes. Elizondo was the UCLA cross country team’s Most Outstanding Freshman in 1994 and was selected to the All-District IX First Team in 1995.

Elizondo has also had an extensive history of youth outreach in Southern California involving athletics. He joined the LA84 foundation in 2007 and worked to organize cross country and track and field clinics at over 1,600 high schools in the Southern California Area. He has also been heavily involved in Runner’s Workshop since 1994, a summer cross country camp at which Elizondo regularly creates lecture series and workouts for campers.