Chris Monaco has been one of the cross country and indoor track and field coaches at Madison high school for the past 8 years. Monaco’s running journey started when he was only 12 years old and he joined the running teams at his middle school. For the next 7 years he ran cross country, indoor track, and spring track. Later he went on to run track in college at Montclair State.
Monaco started at the high school in 2017 where he started his coaching career. In the fall he is the cross country coach and in the winter he coaches indoor track. Monaco loves how he gets to connect with athletes that do the most to achieve their potential. Since track is an individual sport, he says “your biggest competitor is yourself. You have to strive to get better for yourself, not for others”.
At meets, Monaco eagerly watches the two-mile race as he is the long distance coach. He says the two mile race is his favorite because to run it, it takes a lot of hard work, pain and compassion. While the two-mile race is the longest, Monaco would say the 600 is the toughest race to compete in.
Last year Monaco led one of his athletes, Maya Van Horn, to beat the school record for the two mile at the Group 2 State Championship. Then, she went on to the meet of champions. It is no surprise the distance runners at Madison are so talented with a coach like Monaco.
All of Monaco’s athletes have nothing but positive words to share about him. It is obvious he cares about his runners and wants them to succeed as much as they can. The running teams at Madison are very grateful to have him as a coach and mentor. This indoor track season is looking promising for the Dodgers and Monaco as two promising freshmen are coming into the distance group.