Coach Emma DeLira serves as the full-time Associate Head Coach for both the Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track & Field programs, and played a prominent role in overseeing the Men's Cross Country team's 2023 national title. In 2024, DeLira was named USTFCCCA Men's West Region Indoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year and Men's West Region Outdoor Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year. In the fall of 2025, DeLira was named USTFCCCA West Region Men's Cross Country Coach of the Year. In 2025, DeLira was again named USTFCCCA’s Men’s West Region Track & Field Assistant Coach of the Year for both Indoors and Outdoors.
A certified USTFCCCA Endurance Event Specialist, DeLira started at Pomona-Pitzer in 2012 as an assistant coach with the Pomona-Pitzer Women's Cross Country and Track and Field programs after a standout collegiate career at Azusa Pacific University.
In 2010, DeLira helped Azusa Pacific win an NAIA national championship in track and field while running the Marathon, finishing with a time of 3:28:02. She also finished in the top 50 nationally in the NAIA Cross Country national championships in 2009, helping APU rank No. 4 in the country.
Prior to competing for Azusa Pacific, DeLira ran for two years at Mount San Antonio College, where she served as a team captain. She placed in the top five in both the 5k and the 10k at the California State Championships.
DeLira's running experience has extended outside of college as well, as she ran the Los Angeles Marathon in 3:26:40 in 2008 to qualify for the Boston Marathon, where she ran a 3:28:45 in April of 2009. She also finished third among women at the Pasadena Half Marathon in 2010, finishing in 1:28:07.
Her running career now continues off the roads and on the trails instead. Trail running is how she chooses to express her competitive spirit, and it has paid off with victories in races like the Leona Divide 50k and the Ray Miller 50k, among others. She hopes to build on those victories and continue racing on the trails and eventually complete a 100-mile ultra race.
A double major in history and English, DeLira graduated from Azusa Pacific in 2012. A USATF-certified coach, she has also coached high school cross country/track at Diamond Ranch and at The Webb Schools in Claremont in 2013.
