A King track alum (C/O 2011), Mat Vasel served 8 years as a King assistant coach working in the sprints-in particular the 400- and the relay teams and stepped into the Head Coach position in 2021 upon John Corona’s retirement. He served as Associate Head Coach from 2019 through the 2021 season. As event coach, Mat coached the school record 4 × 400 team and 3 of the top 5 400 marks in school history are held by athletes coached by him.

While at King, Vasel served as a team captain and was co-MVP in 2011. He currently sits 6th on the school’s all-time in the 400. From King, he went to Riverside Community College and competed for Tiger Head Coach Jim McCarron. While at RCC, he was part of two State Championship teams and was Orange Empire Champion in the 400; the 4 × 400 and the 4 x100. As a member of the 4 X 100, he garnered junior college All-American Honors. Upon completing his studies at RCC, he moved on to UC-Riverside, competing in the the sprints and relays for Coach Nate Brown’s Highlanders. At UCR, Vasel made the Dean’s List every quarter he was there and in 2016 was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Vasel earned his teaching credential and his Master’s Degree from Cal-Baptist University in 2019 and teaches in the English Department at King High. He is also been a member of the King Football coaching staff since 2017.

John Byrd joined the King Track staff in 2018 as one of our horizontal jump coaches. Coach Byrd is a 2009 graduate of Arlington High where he lettered in both football and track. While competing for the football Lions, he was an All-League and All CIF defensive back. He also was a 4 Ivy League Track Champion in the Long and Triple Jump. He was a three time team Track MVP at AHS and served as a team captain. Coach Byrd went on to compete on the track team at Riverside Community College and was part of a state championship team while competing for the Tigers in the long and triple jump.

Also, an assistant coach on the Wolves football team, Coach Byrd has six years of track coaching behind him, having worked at Arlington and Tahquitz High School in Hemet. He has worked with youngsters in the horizontal jumps; the throws and sprints. He is currently an elementary school PE teacher in Fontana Unified School District. Married this past summer to his wife Kelsie, he is a 2013 graduate of Cal-State San Bernardino and earned his Graduate Degree from National University.

Jim Griesinger is father to seven children and has been on-board the program since 2001. He has been a steady contributor to all the good that has come to King track and cross country. A runner for most of his adult years, he has taken up marathoning, and has run the San Diego, Las Vegas, Michigan, San Francisco and Boston Marathons. His younger kids have been a part of the program with Steve (02), Diane (03), James (05), and Mary (06) all competing at one time for the King Wolves.

In the Fall, Coach Griesinger is one of the cross country coaches, a tenure he has kept since the school opened in 1999.

Coach Griesinger happily retired from the work force in February of 2009, and enjoys doing local projects for friends and fishing with his grown sons.

With a strong coaching and athletic background in the pole vault, Jeff McKee joins the King Track Coaching staff for the 2019 season. A local businessman, Coach McKee has coaching experience at Brea-Olinda and Santiago High Schools, not just in the pole vault but in the other horizontal and vertical jumps as well.

A 1992 Business graduate of Cal-Poly Pomona and a Bronco track team member, Jeff ended his career as one of the top pole vaulters in school history. As a high school senior at Downey High School, he finished 4th at the California State Championships in 1987 in the vault. Jeff has been married for 17 years to his wife, Jenny and they are the parents of four children.

Coach Edwin Jones has a long history in the Riverside area in track and field. He has been coaching at the high school level for a total of 30 years and has coached the sprinters at King to great heights and accomplishments since 2001. Prior to coming to King, he coached at Ramona High School for 18 years serving as an assistant and as head coach. He was an integral part of the coaching staff that guided the Rams to a CIF runner-up trophy in 1995. Coach Jones was a standout sprinter himself at Ramona High in the early 80’s and was a CIF qualifier. Coach Jones is one of the intramural and /recreation directors at Loma Linda University. He is married to Louise and has two daughters.

Arguably, one of the best athletes to ever come out of the King track program, Tayler Fleming will be taking some time out of her busy final track season at the University of California -Riverside to lend assistance to King athletes in the hurdles and most likely in a number of other events as well.

A graduate of King High in 2013, Tayler has truly made a name for herself at UCR. In 2017, she was a NATIONAL qualifier in the NCAA Division -1 Long Jump and made All-American Honorable Mention. In 2016, she made the NCAA Western Regionals in the Long Jump and the Heptathlon. She has numerous Big West titles and UCR records to her credit. She set the UCR record in the Heptathlon in her very first attempt at the multi-event contest.

While at King, she was a four year letter winner in track and lettered twice in soccer. Tayler was a 3 time track team MVP and owns the school record in the 100 hurdles; the 300 hurdles and the 4 × 400 relay. She was a four-time CIF qualifier and made the state meet twice. In 2013, she finished 6th at the State Meet in the 300 hurdles, the highest ever finish for a female King athlete.

A major in Liberal Studies with a psychology minor, Tayler graduated from UCR in 2019.

Throws coach Eric Sousley is the newest addition to the King Track staff in 2020. Coach Sousley, who joins Coach Cleary in coaching the shot put and discus, has been coaching at Rubidoux High for the past five years. He brings a great amount of knowledge and enthusiasm to the job.

Coach Sousley is a graduate of Corona High School where he competed in football and track. He was a four year letter winner for the Panthers in Track. He is a graduate of Cal-Baptist University with a BS in English and he has his Masters Degree in Education from that institution as well. He has been teaching English in Jurupa Unified School District for five years, the last 3 at Patriot High School.

2012 King graduate Megan Melton returns to her Alma Mater to work with the Wolf pole vaulters. A three year letter winner, Megan sits second all-time on the King all time pole vault list. She was a team captain and was the team’s Most Outstanding Field Event competitor her senior year when she just missed qualifying for the state championships.

Coach Melton went on to Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina where she competed for four years. In 2016, she finished second in the Big South Indoor Championships and finished her career with a PR of 12-7.

Megan began her coaching with the Wolves in 2019 and brings great enthusiasm and knowledge to her job. She is currently working in Val Verde Unified School District as a teacher’s assistant in Special Education and is working on her teaching credential.

Dalton is another track coach who hails from King High; he’s a graduate of the class of 2015. Dalton was a passionate distance runner and team member during his four years of running track and cross country for the Wolves, and started his coaching career with King in the Fall of 2021 with Cross Country and Spring of ‘22 in track and field where he will help oversee the distance events.

He burst on the scene his freshman year of high school. He lettered in cross country, but in track that year he came within seconds of breaking the long-held (it had stood since 2000) freshman 3200 meter school record. He’d go on to notch PR’s under the King singlet of 2:00/4:28, marks that still sit in the top 15 All Time in King’s history. Dalton’s talent and passion for the sport was on display right from the start and fashioned for himself an excellent high school career.

Working full time for Lasertech in Riverside hasn’t kept him from pursuing competitive running since graduating from King. Since his high school days, Dalton has been a member of the highly respected Calcoast Track Club based out of Orange County. Racing both the track and the roads, he’s improved on his quality high school marks by running PR’s of 1:56 800, 4:08 1600, and 26:59 8k.

Married to his high school sweetheart, Brianna Jacklin (also class of ’15), the two welcomed their first child into the world in the Fall of 2021.

Born in 1978, Coach Jason McMains’ Riverside roots run deep. He is a graduate of Rubidoux High School and then Cal Baptist University where he earned his degree in 2000 before going on to earn his Masters and Credential in Special Education from National University.

McMains is the coach responsible for weight training and physical development. He is also the head football coach and teaches Special Education at Martin Luther King High School.

After playing baseball and football (Outside linebacker and Running Back) at Rubidoux and then football-only at Riverside Community College, he would eventually return to his alma-mater to be the head coach of the Falcons. He served in that capacity from 2009-2014, then moved to Riverside Christian for two years and from 2019 to 2021 he led the Citrus Hill Hawks.

At those various places, he has led his teams to 3 league titles and was selected three times as the League Coach of the Year. In 2017 and again in 2020, he was the head coach of a two All Star games.

McMains is married to Claudia who teaches Math in Jurupa Unified School District and is the father to three kids, Aaron, 23, Victoria, 19 and 11 year old Brody Darnell. His hobbies include camping, hiking, kayaking and being a “Softball Dad.”

Coach Machuca resides in Riverside and is a graduate of Long Beach State University (Class of 2021) with a major in psychology and a minor in sociology. A King High graduate, Machuca competed in both cross country and track and field, and was selected as the team captain of the distances during his Senior year.

As a cross country runner, he competed for four years and earned MVP honors for the team as a Senior and competed in the CIF Finals that year. His favorite running event in high school was the 1600 meters, and he graduated with a 4:32 PR for the race.

After taking a break from running during his college years, recently he has returned to the sport and began his coaching career with Coach Ibarra in the cross country season of 2022. His growing passion for helping lead young runners in the right direction is what draws him to the responsibility and opportunity of coaching.

Currently, he is a full time substitute Teacher for RUSD while he works toward earning a teaching credential for full time teaching in the future.

Machuca loves to keep up with the professional sport of running in his free time and is excited to jump back into competing and run longer road races in the future.

Originally from Long Beach Califonia, and currently residing in Perris, CA, Coach Abner joined the track coaching staff in 2023 and works full time as a Campus Supervisor at King High.

Her coaching career spans almost a decade in the sport of basketball. During high school she played both basketball and ran track, competing in the 100, 200, 4×100 relay as well as high and long jump events. Her best event was actually the shot put.

As a coach, Abner desires to put character and commitment above all other things as she leads her athletes. Hard work and dedication pays off and those great lessons are what she wants to instill in the athletes under her watch.

Currently engaged to be married, she is the proud mother of Sage who was born in 2022. She counts playing basketball, learning new skills and helping others as her favorite past times.

Coach Misner joined the coaching staff in 2023 after having being a part of the football coaching staff since the 2021 season. He has also coached youth football since 2020.

A graduate of Canyon Springs High School in Moreno Valley, he was a solid distance runner posting a 10:30 time in the 3200 meters, a 2:02 800 meter time and a 1600 time of 4:47. From that background, he has developed a philosophy of coaching that advocates mental toughness in competition, and not cheating oneself at any time in the athletic process. “That’s how you get results,” he says.

Misner is self-employed in the window covering business and is married Sarah. They are raising two kids, Jordan and Natalie. In his free time he enjoys spending time with family and traveling across the country to visit sport stadiums

Coach Bree – as she is called – joined the staff in 2022 and assists in the sprint events. A graduate of King High (class of 2017) she starred on campus in the classroom, the soccer field and in track.

In track she competed in the 200, 400 and 4×400 and currently has her name on the Record Board in two events. She was a 4-year letter earner in the program.

On the soccer pitch she was equally a standout athlete. Named, a “Player to Watch” in the Big 8 during her senior year, she capped a four year letterearning career in grand fashion.

After high school she went on to New Mexico Highlands University where she competed in soccer and was at the time the lead scorer or her team.

Currently finishing up her teaching credential to teach high school mathmatics, she adds an assistant job in girls soccer to her coaching resume as well.

Alfonso Ibarra was hired as the Cross Country Coach at ML King in May of 2022 and continued on into his first season of leading the distance runners on the oval in 2023. A life-long Riverside resident, Coach Ibarra joined the King staff in 2022 after 16 years at Riverside Poly.

A 1996 Arlington High graduate, Coach Ibarra was a tremendous student-athlete and impactful leader on the AHS campus. A fine all-around athlete, he was a mainstay on the Lion cross country and track teams being named team MVP multiple times. He was a four-time CIF qualifier in track and led the cross-country team to 2 straight trips to CIF Prelims. He proved to be one of the best distance runners the Inland Empire ever produced and still holds the 1600 and 3200 records at Arlington High.

In 2006, he began his teaching and coaching career at Poly. During his stint as the Bears head cross country coach, Ibarra showed a great ability to get the most out of his teams. He took a moribund program and made those Poly teams annually competitive in their league and in CIF. He made similar contributions to the track team serving as their distance coach.

Ibarra is a graduate of Cal-State San Bernardino and has his Master’s Degree from Cal Baptist. He teaches in the King Math Department.