Tony Ciarelli, a longtime and highly decorated throws coach in track and field, was enshrined in the CIF-Southern Section Hall of Fame on Oct. 18, along with his brother, Rocky, who was honored posthumously following a distinguished career as a volleyball coach.
“I am very proud to be inducted into the CIF Hall of Fame,” Tony Ciarelli said. “To take it to another level, my late brother Rocky was also inducted for his great accomplishments in his volleyball coaching career. Not sure how many brothers have inducted together. CIF started in 1913 and has a great history of coaches throughout its history. There are over 600 high schools in the Southern Section alone. It is a great honor to receive this award.”
Ciarelli, in his fourth year as a volunteer assistant throws coach with the UC Irvine track and field program, is also a member of the Mt. San Antonio College Relays Hall of Fame and Arcadia Invitational Track and Field Hall of Fame. Ciarelli coaches at UCI with his daughter, Katelyn, the Anteaters’ associate head coach of track and field.
At the high school level, mostly at Newport Harbor High, Ciarelli helped his athletes win a combined 32 Southern Section divisional and Masters Meet titles, as well as coaching 52 state qualifiers in the shot put and discus throw, taking home 33 state medals.
“Nothing like this is done alone,” Ciarelli said. “I would like to thank all of the athletes and coaches that helped me reach these great milestones.”
Ciarelli coached at Newport Harbor from 1990 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2020. He started his coaching career at Honolulu (Hawaii) Damien from 1979 to 1981, Edison from 1982 to 1989 and Huntington Beach from 1997 to 2004.
Ciarelli has mentored six state champions, four in the discus and two in the shot put.
Two of Ciarelli’s students, Huntington Beach’s Scott Moser and Newport Harbor’s Bo Taylor, rank second and third on the state’s all-time list in the discus throw, with Moser reaching 213…
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