This is John Pelster’s 35th season with the De La Salle cross country program and his 21st 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.
The team has qualified for the state championship in cross country 32 times. 11 Spartan runners have combined for 16 individual NCS cross country titles (including the course record on the original Hayward HS course). In addition, he has coached four athletes to the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championship.
For his great work, he was recognized as the California Coaches Association Northern California Coach of the Year in 2015.
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.
