Alfonso Ibarra was hired as the Cross Country Coach at ML King in May of 2022. A life-long Riverside resident, Coach Ibarra joins the King staff 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 will be teaching in the King Math Department.

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. When Dalton is not running, he enjoys spending his time either camping or at the lake with his friends and family. He is very enthusiastic and loves the sport of running. Still competes at local 5ks and 10ks and races when he cans! He is also a Dodgers and LA Chargers Fan!

Coach Jim Griesinger is father to seven children and was the first on-board to help start the program in 1999. He has been a steady contributor to all the good that has come to King cross country since the program’s inception. He was a runner for most of his adult years, and during the first decade of the 21st century, he competed in several marathons, running the San Diego, Las Vegas, Michigan, San Francisco and Boston Marathons during a span of less than 10 years.

His younger kids were part of the program with Steve (‘02), Diane (’03), James (‘05), and Mary (’06) all competing at one time for the King Wolves. He is now retired and enjoys doing construction work for clients and fishing the local lakes in his spare time. He’s also a huge Angels fans and enjoys season tickets to watch the Halos!

Coach Machuca joined the staff in 2022. While prepping at King, his career was marked by steady improvement to the point of earning the 2016 team MVP. Machuca’s fondest memory of his time in the King uniform came at the Woodbridge Invitational where he led the team in pack running and they came out with a race win and a handful of PR’s.

He’d record PR’s of 15:32 over 3 miles and while running track, a 4:32 1600 meter best. He was always the consummate teammate and was counted on to be a leader during his upper-classmen years. During his senior year of track, he was selected as a team captain.

After graduating in 2017 he went on to Cal State Long Beach where he majored in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. He graduated in 2021 and is currently substitute teaching in Riverside with a plan to return to grad school next school year to pursue a program with the goal of working in education.

In his down time, Machuca enjoys working out at the gym or hanging out with friends on the weekends.