Diego Flaquer enters his third year in 2013 as an assistant coach for the Auburn track and field program.
Flaquer works with Auburn[apos]s horizontal jumpers and assists head coach Ralph Spry with the men[apos]s sprints program. He also assists with recruiting and is responsible for administrative duties including travel coordination, ordering and distributing equipment and coordinating summer track and field camps. He was an assistant coach at Samford during the 2009-10 school year after previously serving as a graduate assistant coach at Auburn in 2008-09.
Through his responsibilities with the men's sprinters, Flaquer assisted with the training of Auburn's nationally recognized sprint group. During 2011, Auburn men's sprinter Harry Adams posted the top wind-legal marks in both the 100 and 200 meters, including a school-record run of 9.96 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Additionally, Auburn's 4x100-meter relay team broke a 35-year-old school record with a mark of 38.30 seconds at the 2012 Texas Relays. The mark was the fastest by a collegiate team in 2012 and the fourth-fastest by Americans overall. Flaquer also coached women's long jumper V'alonee Robinson to a new personal best mark of 20-feet, 5.25 inches and a seventh-place finish at the 2012 SEC Outdoor Championships.
In 2011, he served as an assistant coach with the Columbian national during the Junior Pan-American Games in Miramar, Florida. Flaquer worked specifically with the sprinters and jumpers. Under his tutelage, the Columbian team brought home three gold medals and one silver.
Specifically, Giselly Landazury became the first Columbian to win the triple jump title.
In his first stint at Auburn, Flaquer assisted in the development of Michael DeHaven into an Indoor All-American in the 200 meters, as well as the 4x100-meter relay team that finished seventh with All-American honors in the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
During his one season at Samford, Flaquer coached the sprinters and hurdlers and assisted with the multi-event athletes. He coached Morgan Tyler to the SoCon indoor title in the 60-meter hurdles and helped the Bulldog men finish third at both the indoor and outdoor conference championships.
Flaquer coached at Troy University in 2008, where he helped his team finish third at the Sunbelt Conference Championships. He coached Desmond Brown, who broke a 20-year-old school record in the 400-meter hurdles and qualified for the Mideast Regional Championships, as well as Leander McKenzie, who broke the school record in the 110-meter hurdles. Flaquer also assisted in the development of Tawanna Meadows, who qualified for the NCAA championships and the Olympic trials in the 100 meters.
Additionally, Flaquer had the privilege of assisting in the development of Sun Belt Conference long jump champion O[apos]Darien Bassett. Bassett went on to win the Mideast Region with a school-record jump of 7.94m and he would go on to place 10th at the 2008 USA Olympic Trials with his jump of 7.89m.
Also at Troy, Flaquer coached triple-jumper Agata Cichoszewska to a school record 12.69m jump and second place finish at the Sun Belt Championship.
Prior to his stint at Troy, Flaquer served as the head sprints and jump coach at Virginia Intermont College for the 2006 and 2007 seasons. In 2006 he was selected as the NAIA National Assistant Coach of the Year for the sprints area in the indoor season after helping the Cobras to a runner-up finish at the 2006 NAIA Championships.
In 2007, he served as the interim head coach and helped several athletes to All-American honors. He also assisted in three consecutive NAIA Cross Country National titles, and served as the interim head coach at the 2007 NAIA Outdoor Championships where the team finished sixth.
A USATF Level I certified coach, Flaquer is the son of Pedro Grajales, a two-time Olympian in the 400 meters and a previous coach for the Colombian national team. The national stadium in his hometown of Cali is named in his honor.Flaquer, a native of Samson, Ala., graduated from Virginia Intermont in 2007 with a degree in health and physical education.