Head Coach Hector Ortiz began coaching at Trinity Valley in 1986 in both Cross Country and Track and Field. Coach Ortiz holds a full time position as the director of the Fitness Center at the Alcon Laboratories, yet he always manages to give significant time in instruction and assistance to Trinity Valley athletes. Without holding a full time faculty position, Coach Ortiz has become a one-man institution and a traditional fixture in the Trinity Valley community, remembered with fondness by many years' alumni, and a familiar athletic authority to many in the current student body.
Hector Ortiz began his running career in eighth grade after being cut from his middle school baseball team. He found he had an intensive drive for distance running, breaking the five minute mile while still in middle school. He ran track during all four years at New York's Brentwood High School, eventually setting a New York Section Meet State Record.
His personal bests in high school were:
880-Yard Run (Half Mile) 1:56 (800m equivalent 1:55)
Mile Run of 4:10.3 (1600m equivalent 4:08.7)
Two-Mile Run of 9:16 (3200m equivalent 9:13)
Hector Ortiz attended Western Kentucky University where he became an NCAA All-American in both Cross Country and Track and Field. He was part of the world-class WKU distance squad that included Nick Rose.
His personal bests in college and thereafter were:
Mile Run of 4:00.3 (1600m equivalent of 3:58.7)
Two-Mile Run (Indoor) of 8:55.3 (3200m equivalent of 8:52)
Three-Mile Run of 13:43.7
5000m (5k) of 14:05
8000m (8k-Road) of 24:07
10,000m (10k-Road) of 29:43 on several occasions.
15,000m (15k-Road) of 46:18
Half-Marathon of 1:07:46
Marathon of 2:21:34
His running experiences during and since college include:
Winning the 1981 Cowtown Marathon...winning the 1980 Amarillo Marathon...the 1980 Olympic Trials in the marathon...the gold medal in the 5000m and the bronze in the 10,000m at the 1971 Carribean Games in Jamaica...5th place in the 1973 New York Marathon...8th place in the 5000m at the 1971 Pan American Games, (Steve Prefontaine was 1st)... and 16th out of 25,500 at the 1980 Atlanta Peachtree 10,000m.
Volunteer Assistant Coach James Scott began coaching Trinity Valley Track and Field in the Spring of 1990, and assisting in Cross Country that Fall. He was head coach of Track and Field for several years, and head of Cross Country for one.
James Scott began his running career in eleventh grade after being cut from his high school baseball team. He joined the Richardson Lake Highlands High School Cross Country team in August 1975, and they won the (now 5A) UIL state championship of Texas in December at the Town Lake course in Austin. He ran track for his last two years of high school, including a leg of the Lake Highlands Two-Mile Relay, whose time of 7:50.6 (3200m Relay equivalent of 7:47) at the Texas Relays was second fastest in the nation among high schools.
His personal bests in high school were as follows:
880-Yard Run (Half Mile) 1:56 (800m equivalent 1:55)
Mile Run of 4:23.8 (1600m equivalent of 4:22.2)-Ricky Cox was 4:23.7 in the same Clark Field race.
Two-Mile Run of 9:36 (3200m equivalent of 9:33)
James Scott ran for Baylor University, where he was All-Southwest Conference in Cross Country and Track. He spent five years (including one red-shirt) under the coaching of Clyde Hart, was teamates with world class runners Todd Harbour and Mark Collins, (but was in Baylor graduate school by the time Michael Johnson was a freshman).
His personal bests in college and thereafter were:
1000-yard Run (Indoor) of 2:15.2 at SWC Indoor Championships, Tarrant County Convention Center, February 1980.
1500m Run of 3:52.3 at UT Quad Meet, Memorial (now Darrell Royal) Stadium track, March 1980.
Mile Run of 4:09.9 on several occasions from 1980-82.
3000m Steeplechase of 9:01.0 at Southwest Conference Championships, Baylor Track Stadium, Waco, May 1980.
Two-Mile Run (Indoor) of 9:01.1 at Oklahoma Track Classic, Myriad Arena, Oklahoma City, January 1980.
Three-Mile Run of 14:12 at Baylor Collegiate Meet ("Snake Relays"), March 1979.
5000m Run of 14:40 on several occasions from 1979-82.
10,000m Run of 31:01 at NCAA Region VI Meet, Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas, November 1979.
Eight-Mile Run of 40:11 at Dallas Turkey Trot, November 1979.
His running experiences during and since college include:
Winning the Dallas Run for the Arts in May 1979... winning the Diet Pepsi 10k Series championship of the southwestern U.S. in May 1979...winning the Marine Corps-sponsored half-marathon of Mombasa, Kenya, August 1983...winning the Austin Quarter-Marathon in April 1979... winning the Vanderbilt University 3000m in March 1986... winning the Red Oak Run in September 1979... and 3rd place out of 1,200 at the 1979 Dallas Turkey Trot.