This is John Pelster’s 34th season with the De La Salle cross country program and his 20th season as the cross country head coach.
Coach Pelster (‘87), who is also an assistant track and field coach and an English teacher at De La Salle, has led the Spartans to 16 North Coast Section championships, including 6 as head coach. As head coach, the Spartans won the 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 NCS Division I titles and the 2008 and 2019 Division II championships.
For his great work, he was recognized as the California Coaches Association Northern California Coach of the Year in 2015.
This past season, Pelster coached the Spartans cross country team to a second place finish at the North Coast Section Division II championships and coached Trey Caldwell to his second straight individual NCS championship. Caldwell, who will attend the University of Colorado and was the co-Athlete of the Year at De La Salle, graduates as one of the most decorated runners in school history and was a 3-time Foot Locker All-American.
In addition to Caldwell, the Spartans also graduated first team all-EBAL runner Tadhg Murray but will return first team EBAL competitor Heath Salter and EBAL honorable mention runner Dillon Gaber for their senior seasons.
While his passion for running is obvious, Coach Pelster is also a cycling enthusiast. He competed collegiately and won a national collegiate championship in the team time trial while earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in English at University of California-Santa Barbara.
Pelster, who also has a masters degree in English from Cal-State East Bay, is a perfect example of the effort and courage that is needed to be a student-athlete at De La Salle. In high school, he thought he would be a Spartan basketball player but, after getting cut during his sophomore year, he put his efforts into cross country and the school has benefited ever since.
Coach Pelster has been married to Jill Pelster for 30 years and is a proud father to James (‘15), Emily, and Chloe.
