Gerardo Najera attended DC West High School for his Senior year and graduated in 2015. During his time at DC West, he ran on the cross country and track teams. In cross country, he medaled at the State competition and was selected for All-State in Class C.
After graduation, Gerardo attended Iowa Western followed by Bellevue University to continue his education and running career. At Bellevue University, he set the school record at the time for the 5K and 10K races.
Currently, Gerardo lives in California with his wife, Hana, and two children, Yusuke and Himawari. Following inspiration from Coach Hall at DC West, Gerardo works as a high school cross country coach. He said he “loves being a coach and to be able to share and teach the sport I love, and to pass all the knowledge on I know about the sport. I hope to continue to coach for as long as I can to help motivate and impact the students’ lives in the best way that I can.”
Gerardo said he loved his experience at DC West and wished he could have spent more time being involved during his time here. Though, cross country and Coach Hall left a great impact on his life and led him to want to be a coach. He says that even though he moved out of Nebraska, he keeps up with DC West on social media. “Go Falcons!”
Thank you for sharing Gerardo! It’s great to hear what an impact DC West made!
We’d love to hear and share what you have been up to since graduation! Please visit our Alumni Spotlight Submission page and fill out the form, you could be spotlighted next! If you are up to sharing some photos, please email those to dcwestschoolsfoundation@gmail.com.