7th Year as Assistant Cross Country and Track Coach
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
College: Dodge City Community College & Georgia Southern University
Bianca Richards enters her seventh year as an assistant for the cross country and track and field programs at Dodge City.
During her tenure at Dodge City she has helped the Conquistadors find success including helping led the women's cross country team to four-straight Top 10 National finishes in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, while finishing in the Top 12 for five straight years from 2020-2024. In 2020 the Conquistador women's cross country placed fifth at NJCAA Division I Cross Country National Championships, while finishing eighth in 2023 and 2024, along with ninth in 2021. Men's cross country posted their best finish at nationals in 2022 during her tenure on the coaching staff finishing 17th place. The 2021 season also saw the Conquistador men's cross country place 21st at Nationals as both teams finish second for women (best since 2014) and seventh for men at Region VI Championships. She helped coach an All-American cross country runner in Edith Valdez in 2021 as she finished 13th to be the first All-American cross country runner for the Conquistadors since 2001.
Richards has also coached several national qualifiers in track and field including in 2021 helping the men's 4x800 meter relay team earn at spot at both the indoor and outdoor NJCAA National Championships. During the indoor competition the quartet earned a spot on the podium placing eighth and broke the school record. In 2023 she coached Denise Dominguez to a seventh place finish in the 10,000 meter run at the NJCAA DI Outdoor track and field National Championships and a school record in the event earlier in the season. She has coached several athletes to nationals during the indoor and outdoor seasons during her tenure at Dodge City, while also coaching several school record performances.
She came to Dodge City from Grand Island, Nebraska where she was a teacher at Grand Island high school, teaching Psychology and Spanish level I, while also assisting with the cross country team.
During the 2018-2019 academic school year Richards spent a year teaching at McLain High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She taught Spanish Levels I, II, and III earning the Golden Apple Award shortly after beginning her Education Career and later being a nominee for Teacher of the Year. While at McLain she was the Head Women’s Cross Country Coach, Assistant Men’s Cross Country Coach, and Assistant Track Coach. She earned overall JV Girls Team Championship and overall Girls Team Runner up at the Tulsa Significant 7 in 2018 with young ladies who prior to this season had never competed in the sport; she had several record breaking performances from the group.
Richards (formerly Loza) attended Dodge City where she received her Associate of Arts degree and was also a member of the cross country and track teams. She was part of a second place NJCAA Region VI Championships cross country team in 2013, and part of Conquistador cross country teams that qualified for nationals in 2013 and 2014. As a freshman she led the team at Nationals in 2013 finishing 95th, while her sophomore year saw her finish 71st at nationals as the team placed 12th in 2014. She was first team All-Region in 2014 and earned KJCCC All-Academic honors in 2014 and 2015. Richards also qualified for Nationals in the 3000 and 5000 meter runs in track and field. She still currently holds the indoor track and field school record at Dodge City for the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:45.87 set in 2015.
Upon Graduating from Dodge City, Loza continued her academic and athletic career as a member of the cross country and track team at Georgia Southern University, where she earned my Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She was part of the Georgia Southern cross country team earning who earned the first invite to the NCAA Regional Championships (2015), while she was also named to the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner's List for maintaining a GPA of 3.50 or above (2015-16), and earned Georgia Southern University Athletics Eagle Honor Roll (2016), along with Scholar Athlete of the Year Nominee (2017). She ranks sixth currently in school history at Georgia Southern in the 5000 meter run in outdoor competition.
Bianca is married to Lucas Richards and they have a son, LJ. During her free time she enjoys working with young athletes, running multiple miles at a time, cooking and baking, going to the beach, spending time with family, and playing fetch with her Maltese dog named Bear.
