jlarios@montreat.edu
828-669-8011 x 3425
 
Larios begins his second year as Head Coach of Cross Country and Track and Field at Montreat.  Larios comes to Montreat College after six years as the Director of Track & Field Operations at Warner Southern College.  Larios also served as the Head Cross Country Coach, along with Assistant Director of the Academic Skills Center and assistant college instructor.

A native of Frostproof, Florida, Larios excelled in a variety of sports.  It was distance running however that led Larios to Warner Southern College as a cross country runner.  From 1993 to 1997, Larios was instrumental in WSC's two consecutive Florida Sun Conference titles and back-to-back NAIA National Cross Country Championship appearances.  Upon earning his bachelors in English and Secondary Education, he began his coaching passion as an assistant coach with Lake Wales High School's cross country and track programs, ultimately being named Head Coach of the Highlanders in 1998.  From '98 to '00 Coach Larios led the Highlanders of Lake Wales to county, district, and regional championships.

In 2000, Larios began his coaching assignment at Warner Southern College and immediately led the Runnin' Royals to a worst-to-first Florida Sun Conference Cross Country Championship, the first of four consecutive conference and NAIA Region XIV Championships.  The Lady Royals also earned three consecutive cross country titles of their own.  Larios' teams also garnered five track & field conference/regional titles.  Within a short six year period, the Royals hit the national scene; Coach Larios' teams produced two NAIA National Outdoor individual titles in Anabell Montes (400m Hurdles) and two national runner-ups, Terrance Johnson (200m) and Fackson Nkandu (Marathon).  All in all, Larios' teams earned 23 All-American accolades, 92 All-Conference and All-Region awards, and earned a final 13th place NAIA National Ranking at the 2003 cross country finals.

Voted NAIA Region Coach of the Year nine different times, Larios also earned one of the NAIA's National MONDO Southeast Region Coach of the Year honors in 2003.

Jose Larios and his wife Heather currently reside in Black Mountain, North Carolina with their three children, Hannah (6), Emma (4), and Sara (2).