Tony Soto

Related Bios
Tony Soto
Tony Soto
Bio
Tony takes charge of Colts Cross Country already holding a special place in De Queen Cross Country history.
 
 
Soto holds the fourth-best 5K time for state meets in Leopards history, at a time of 16:59.00, and was named All-State in 1999. Soto placed third at the 1999 Arkansas Indoor HS Championships in the 1,600m (4:48.71) and 3,200m with a time of 10:47.38.
 
Soto joined the National Guard in 2000, being deployed to Iraq in 2004-2005 & again in 2008 and was deployed to Africa in 2017. In total Soto completed 20 years of active duty and retired from the guard on July 31, 2024.
 
UA Cossatot Chancellor Steve Cole expressed excitement for the hire, saying “Tony Soto is the right person to lead our new program and we are excited to see what we can accomplish under his leadership.”
 
Athletic Director Stan Asumnu added: "We are thrilled to welcome Head Coach Tony Soto to our UA Cossatot athletics family. His passion for the sport, dedication to academic and athletic excellence, and ability to build a strong team culture make him the ideal leader for our cross-country program."
 
Soto, who expressed gratitude for his time running for De Queen Cross Country, said he is excited to start the program at UA Cossatot.
 
"When Coach Don Higgins first started the program at De Queen High School, I believe I ran for him the second year. Coach Higgins introduced me to cross country and I basically learned everything about the sport from him"
 
"I’m HONORED and EXCITED to start this journey on building the XC program in my hometown! We, the RUNNERS and I, get to be the first to build the foundation of something special here! We will TRAIN HARD but we will have FUN doing it!"