IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine Athletics department is proud to announce the hiring of David Pleitez as the school's new cross country head coach.

A former Concordia distance runner and graduate assistant coach, this is a homecoming for Pleitez who now will lead the men's and women's distance runners. He served the past two seasons as the head cross country coach at Cal State San Marcos.

"It is an exciting time for our cross country program as we welcome home Coach David Pleitez," said CUI Vice President of Athletics Crystal Rosenthal. "Watching David as a young coach during his time as a graduate assistant, it was evident he was an upcoming star in the sport.  So now to get the chance to have him take over as our head cross country coach makes the future ever so bright.  While his coaching experience speaks for itself, what I am most excited about is to get to watch his ability to connect with our student-athletes and help them grow and develop at the highest level."

"My time at Concordia prepared me well for this opportunity because I've seen the program from both an athlete and a coach's perspective," said Pleitez. "As a student-athlete, I learned the value of discipline, accountability, and competing for something bigger than yourself. As a graduate assistant, I developed as a coach by working with athletes every day, helping with training, recruiting, and most importantly building relationships and learning how to blend that into the coach I wanted to be. Those experiences gave me the confidence and foundation to step into a larger coaching role after and now getting to come back more well-rounded and as a more developed coach excites me."

During his time as a graduate assistant coach at Concordia, he worked with the team's distance teams under former head coach Keegan Bloomfield. He served as the recruiting coordinator for both the men's and women's programs as well as the director of operations. During that time, he helped the women's cross-country team earn its first national ranking at No. 19 and coached CUI's first-ever NCAA qualifier in the 800-meter run. Academically, the men's and women's teams combined for eight USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.

Bloomfield had served as head coach for both the CUI women and men's programs since 2018 and officially stepped down on Wednesday. Bloomfield and his family are moving back to Nebraska and will serve at their alma mater, Concordia University Nebraska.

"I've been fortunate to learn from a lot of great coaches at both Concordia, Cal State San Marcos and throughout my running career," said Pleitez. "At Concordia, Coach Bloomfield poured into me and gave me the foundation I needed to succeed at the NCAA level. He taught me what it takes to build a strong culture and develop relationships with athletes and also the administrative side of the coaching world that I would need to succeed."

"At CSUSM, I continued to grow by working with Coach Torrey Olson learning new training ideas to develop athletes, seeing him develop national caliber middle distance runners into great cross country runners, and taking on more responsibility which eventually led to me taking over the distance program. Lastly Coach Ozan and Coach Jabaz at Mt. Sac and CSUF both were my college coaches who instilled in me a passion for running and poured into me and have been mentors to me each step of the way of my coaching career.  Each of those mentors has challenged me, supported me, and helped me become a better coach."
 
Now he gets a chance to support a new group of runners and be a mentor at his alma mater – which includes a few familiar faces. He will get a chance to reunite with John Brunk, who was promoted to head track and field coach this week and throwers coach Matthew-Jonathan Seawright, who was promoted to lead assistant coach. 

VIDEO - CLICK HERE for FULL PRESS CONFERENCE with Coach Pleitez & Coach Brunk

"I'm really excited about the group we have returning," said Pleitez. "We have a lot of new freshman and top tier transfers coming in. Our returning athletes bring experience and leadership, two things that give you a great advantage when trying to get to a conference championship. They've done a great job setting the standard for the program and never selling themselves short on their goals and what they would like to accomplish. It's a full circle moment with some athletes being people I recruited before I left and now I get to come back for their senior year. The incoming class adds a lot of talent and depth, but more importantly, they're the right kind of people who fit our culture and want to add on to what has already been built here at CUI."

Prior to CUI, Pleitez coached at Paramount High School from 2014 to 2016. During his tenure, he helped coach the 4x1600 team to a school record and also helped develop 800-meter runners Daniel Mata and Zarin Redfud into college athletes. His team also became league champions in 2015. 

Pleitez earned his undergraduate degree in Business Management from CUI in 2017 where he competed for the cross country and track teams. He went on to earn his graduate degree in Coaching and Athletic Administration at CUI (MCAA program) in 2024. He also attended Cerritos College and graduated from Lakewood High School in his home town.

"I think CUI is in a great position to keep building on what's already been established. The program has a strong culture, great leadership, and athletes who are committed to competing at a high level and most importantly want to put in the time to get better. If we stay committed to recruiting the right people, developing our athletes, and maintaining our culture, I think the program's best years are coming and that conference championship is right around the corner."