Head Boys Coach
All Sprints/Relays/Hurdles
J.T. Ayers
Coach JT Ayers is a 3 time Orange County Track Coach of the Year (2013, 2016, 2020) and is entering his 18th year of coaching Track and Field. In 2014 he began coaching at his Alma Mater, Trabuco Hills High School, as the Boys Head Coach. Since then, his athletes have broken 38 grade level and 13 school records, 3 All-Time Orange County Records, and the team has been ranked #1 in Orange County 7 different years (2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024). In 2021 he began working with the girls sprinters and hurdlers and since then they have broken 7 school records and were state finalists in the 4x100. The Girls Team have won back to back South Coast League Titles.
Coach Ayers received his B.A. in History from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and his Teaching Credential and Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University, Irvine. He is currently running a speed developed business Coach Ayers Performance LLC, has published work in SimpliFaster.com and Coachtube, and hosts the Podcast OnTrackandField.
He teaches History full time at Trabuco Hills High School. He has been married to his best friend, Jessica, for 20 years and has 4 very active children.
You can follow him and the team on Twitter @CoachJTAyers
Head Girls Coach
Girl’s Distance
Dennis Kelly
Coach Kelly begins his tenth year as head girls' track and field coach, and will be in charge of girls' sprints and relays. Coach Kelly is also a sophomore English teacher at THHS, teaching both College Prep and Workshop classes, and this past cross country season he coached both girls and boys' freshmen cross country teams.
Coach Kelly attended St. Maria Goretti Grammar School in Long Beach, St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, and earned degrees and a teaching credential at CSU Dominguez Hills.
Head Boys Distance
Liam Clemons
Coach Clemons enters his 20th year as the boys Head Distance Coach for Track & Field. He is also the Head Coach for boys Cross Country. Coach Clemons has been named the Orange County Coach of the Year twice (2006 and 2011) and the California Coach of the year (2011). His Cross Country teams have won 7 league titles, four Orange County titles, and two State titles. He has coached multiple CIFSS and State finalist in Track & Field, including the 2010 1600m State Champion, Jantzen Oshier.
Coach Clemons is a full-time member of the Trabuco Hills teaching staff in the Science department. He currently teaches AP Environmental Science and Honors Biology. He attended Humboldt State University, where he earned a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2001. He then earned his teaching credential in Biological Sciences from CSU Fullerton in 2006 and a MA in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University in 2012. Coach Clemons' competitive running experience ranges from 800m to the Marathon.
His most notable achievements are qualifying for, and finishing, the Boston Marathon in 2016 and 2017. In 1995, he captained his high school Cross Country team to a Div. 1 State Championship. In college, he was the NorCal Champion in the 3000m Steeplechase and finished 5th at the State Championships while attending American River College. Coach Clemons and his wife, Melissa, have been married for 20 years and have two sons, Micah and Lucan
Assistant Head Coach Boys
Rick “Poppa” Ayers
Coach Poppa Ayers returns to coaching to help his son JT with Boys Sprints and Hurdles this year. A strong leader in the business world and an active member of the Trabuco Hills Track and Field Community since 1998. “Poppa Ayers” also helped and assisted the Team at Orange Lutheran in 2013 for the Division 3 CIF Title. This is his 3rd year at Trabuco.
Shot/Disc
Taylor Schad
Taylor is entering his second year as THHS Throws coach. He is a graduate of Cascade High School (Oregon) where he competed in each throwing discipline. Taylor attended Pacific University (Oregon) where he played football and majored in Physics/Environmental Science. After graduating, Taylor received his Masters in Teaching from UCI and has since been hired by Trabuco Hills to teach physics, coach football, and coach boys throws.
Taylor is extremely excited to have this incredible opportunity to help students and athletes alike in their pursuit of becoming superior versions of themselves by developing a growth mindset that motivates not only the individual but inspires those around them.
Boy’s Distance Assistant
Darrell Cross
Darrell has been coaching at Trabuco Hills High School since 2014. He has enjoyed his time coaching for both the boys and girls’ cross country teams. He is currently the Head Boys Freshman Cross Country Coach and the Assistant Girls Track Distance Coach. Darrell is an avid runner who has qualified and raced the Boston Marathon multiple times. One of his favorite marathons is the Long Beach Marathon which he has run 11 years in a row.
Darrell has 2 daughters that both ran cross county and track at Trabuco Hills High School. Emily, class of 2016 continued to run at San Francisco State University. Michelle, class of 2018 currently attends San Diego State University and runs for the school’s Adaptive Athletics Program and has run in U.S. Paralympic events. Darrell has been married to Melanie for 27 years and they like to spend their time at the beach in San Clemente. The Cross family runs the 10k Dana Point Turkey trot annually.
In addition to high school coaching, Darrell and two other coaches founded Colts Running Club in 2017. Colts Running Club is a youth program that meets three times a week to instill a passion for running in young kid’s lives.
Shot/Disc
Michael Talafus
Coach Talafus is entering his second year as Trabuco’s Girls Throw Coach. A 2012 alumni, he competed in shot put and discus for the Mustangs. Coach Talafus attended San Jose State University where he majored in Justice Studies and obtained a Masters in Sports Management. He is consistently seen on campus as he also coaches Varsity Football.
Assistant Sprints
Derick Milgrim
Coach Milgrim is currently in the midst of his 25th year coaching high school athletics. This is his 2nd year with the Track and Field Team. He has been part of the Football Coaching Staff since 2019. Prior to arriving at THHS, he coached at Claremont High School, Don Lugo High School, Laguna Creek High School and Cosumnes Oaks High School. Over the years Coach Milgrim has spent time as a Head Coach and Assistant Coach working with Football, Golf, and Track and Field Teams.
Coach Milgrim graduated from Claremont High School before attending the University of Kansas and then transferring to and graduating from Claremont McKenna College. He later received his Teaching Credential and Master’s in Education from the University of La Verne. He currently teaches English and AVID at Trabuco Hills.
Long Jump/Triple Jump
Reggie Pamintuan
Coach Reggie has been coaching track and field since 2016, starting at his alma mater where he helped lead the team to their first league championship title in school history. Reggie has been coaching at Trabuco since 2021. He started his coaching career with the jumps naturally because he was mainly a jumper when he was in high school. Coach Reggie is a believer in putting in the effort to learn the craft and never stops learning on how to be a better coach. He knows what it takes to compete and what it takes to become a champion.
Outside of track, He is a husband (soon-to-be dad!), physical therapist, pickleball enthusiast, and a Chargers football fanatic.
Pole Vault
Tyler Bendis
Bio coming soon
Pole Vault
Mark Vinci
Bio coming soon
Strength and Conditioning
Mark Nolan
Bio coming soon
High Jump
Ron Lee
Bio coming soon
Assistant Girls Distance
Jessica “JGar” Garcia
Coach JGar enters her first season as assistant coach for the girl’s distance track and field program. She started her high school coaching career with girl’s cross country, where the team finished 4th place overall in the state and 3rd place in division 1. Before high school coaching, she coached with the Colts running club for youth runners.
Coach JGar attended California State University, Chico and obtained her bachelor’s in science degree in cellular and molecular biology. She works full time as a state licensed laboratory scientist, focusing on genetic cancer testing.
Coach JGar is an alumni of Trabuco Hills high school where she ran cross country and track for both Coach Kelly and Coach Clemons from 2004-2008. She has now transitioned into racing marathons competitively, under the guidance from her high school coach and still current boys distance coach, Coach Clemons. She has qualified for and completed the Boston Marathon 6 times and during this track season will be training alongside the girls team to complete her 7th Boston Marathon. She is excited to help this team to continue to fall in love with running and is looking forward to racing some marathons with them in the future.
Director of Operations
Jessica Ayers
Bio coming soon
Assistant Girls Distance
Caitlin Johnson
Bio coming soon