About Our Club 

Coach Spencer Elliott

Coach Elliott began his track and field career at Saint Francis High School in Mountainview, Calfornia and then went on to compete at the NCAA level at U.C. Davis, specializing in the 400m and 200m sprints. Since 2004, he has served as head boys and girls track and field coach at Davis Senior High School , where he also teaches English. In 2007 he was named All-Metro "Coach of the Year" by the Sacramento Bee. In 2008 he was named "Girls Coach of the Year" for the state of California by the California Coaches Association. In 2019 he was named “Boys Coach of the Year” for California by the California Coaches Association. Coach Elliott believes that in the sport of track and field there is an event for everybody, and he takes pride in his ability to help young athletes discover their abilities.

Coach Rick Harper

Coach Harper has over 15 years of experience coaching a variety of youth sports. As a previous vaulter, he is eager to share his technical knowledge of the sport with the Davis Community Track & Field Club athletes. He is the current Davis Senior High School vault coach, and looks forward to building a strong vaulting program in the Davis community.

Coach Jonathan Defty

Coach Defty grew up in Healdsburg, California. He graduated from Healdsburg High in 1979 after running 4 years of track, setting school records in 440 yd dash and 330 yd low hurdles, winning league in both and sections in 330 lh. He attended UCD, ran track for 4 years competing primarily in 400 IM and mile relay. After finishing at UCD, he attended USMC Officer Candidate School and served three years as an active duty Marine Officer. During his service with HQBN 1ST MARDIV, he competed for, and was officer-in-charge of the battalion track team.

After leaving the service Coach Defty earned his teaching credential and has been teaching for the past 16 years. Most of that time he has been coaching track, the first three years as track coach for a junior high school where he taught and for the past 9 years at Davis High School, primarily coaching hurdles. He also organized and supervised an after school running club at Marguerite Montgomery Elementary and Fairfield Elementary.

Coach Bill Gregg

Coach Gregg has been the Cross Country and Distance Track Coach at Davis High School since 1997. Honored as "Coach of the Year" by the Sacramento Running Association for the 2014 Cross Country season, Bill has led teams and individual runners to great success, including 20 Sac Joaquin Section Cross Country titles, multiple top finishes at California state championships, and national meets. Coach Gregg also has two children (Brendan and Kaitlin) who are pursuing post-collegiate running careers.

Coach Tim Groth

Coach Tim is a 2004 graduate of Davis High School, and currently works as Team Lead of the Campus Supervisors at the school. He has worked on the coaching staff of the high school for 6 years, and with DCTFC for 5. His specialty is coaching distance runners and leads most evening club workouts throughout the summer program.

Coach Derek Nelson

Derek is a 2010 graduate of Davis High School. He holds school records in the 4x100 relay, 300 hurdles, 400 hurdles, and 4x400 relay. He placed 12th in the California State Meet in the 300 hurdles his senior year.

Derek attended Ripon College in Wisconsin his freshman and sophomore year, where he lettered in football, and track and field. Following his sophomore year, he transferred to North Central College in Illinois to focus on track and field. He is a five-time NCAA championship qualifier, once in the 400 hurdles and four times in the 4x400 relay. He was an indoor and outdoor All-American in 2014. He now is Assistant Coach of sprints and hurdles at North Central College. Derek has coached sprints and hurdles with DCTFC for 3 years.