Greetings!

We are proud to announce that, after years of training, Servite High School’s very own Coach Avery De La Cruz was recently accepted into the 2026 Boston Marathon! The purpose of this GoFundMe is to help alleviate some of the financial stress that this trip will impose on Coach De La Cruz.

For those who are not familiar, Coach De La Cruz began teaching Algebra and Geometry at Servite High School in the fall of 2021 after graduating from college. He began working as an assistant cross-country and distance track coach the following year. During his last four years at Servite, Coach De La Cruz has been relentless in his pursuit to support the young men of Servite in all areas of life. On top of teaching and coaching, he has spent four years as the Academic Decathlon moderator, has served as an adult leader for the KAIROS 80 and KAIROS 84 retreats, has taught remediation classes over the summer, and has traveled with the boys across the world to serve as a chaperone on Servite’s 2024 Europe Trip. He shows up early every day before school to open his door for math tutoring, and he leaves late every day to help guide Servite’s award-winning distance program.

Speaking of distance, the Boston Marathon needs little explanation. It is the oldest annual marathon in the world and is one of the most competitive and prestigious events in all of amateur athletics. Admission and completion of this race is nothing short of an accomplishment of a lifetime. For the 2026 edition of the Boston Marathon, runners in Coach De La Cruz’s age group had to run in a separate, certified course with a finishing time faster than 2 hours 50 minutes and 26 seconds. That’s a pace of under 6 minutes and 30 seconds per mile for the whole 26.2-mile-long race! Coach De La Cruz was skilled and fortunate enough to meet this standard at the 2024 Long Beach Marathon, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 48 minutes, and 56 seconds (an average pace of 6 minutes and 26 seconds per mile).

Here are three reasons that Servite community members, runners, and other sympathetic readers should consider donating to this page:

Coach De La Cruz has several ties to the Servite community and selflessly serves it nearly every time he is presented with the opportunity to do so.

It is difficult to make a trip like this on a new teacher’s salary. Registration, airfare, and hotel expenses add up quickly!

Coach De La Cruz had to navigate a long, arduous journey to get to this point. From being the slowest runner in his 6th-grade PE class with a mile time of 13 minutes and 10 seconds to being one of the fastest marathon runners in the country, it took a lot of discipline, focus, and prayer for Coach De La Cruz to become the runner he is today.

In conclusion, please consider donating $26.20 (or more!) to his fund to help send Coach De La Cruz to the 2026 Boston Marathon. He has done so much for his students, his athletes, and the Servite community at large. His hard work and commitment to service are an inspiration to so many.

Any dollar amount raised beyond the expenses for this trip will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.