Richard Holmes is one of the top private coaches for hurdlers in the area. He has a resume to prove it, having coached nine CIF state champions.

Holmes was at last year’s CIF-SS Masters Meet watching the girls 300 hurdles final when he noticed Mayfield’s Monika Vargas.

Vargas, a junior at the time, had won the CIF-SS Division 4 title in the 300 meters in 44.70 seconds a week earlier. She finished fourth at Masters that day in 45.70.

“I had some kids in the race and was watching and remember asking myself, who is that girl in lane two?” Holmes said, referring to Vargas. “I turned to my girlfriend and said that girl in lane two doesn’t even know how good she can be. I saw a lot of potential, her technique was not that great. I just thought, if I could work with her, I could help her a lot.

“And it was so bizarre. A few weeks after the meet, she reached out to see if we could work together.”

Vargas had worked with South Pasadena’s Mia Holden, who is now at UCLA. Holden won the CIF-SS Division 3 100- and 300-meter hurdles last season. At the state finals, Holden finished second in the 100 hurdles.

Vargas had asked Holden if she had a private trainer, and that led her to Holmes.

For the past six months, Holmes has been training with Vargas, and he feels she’s just scratching the surface of her abilities.

This track and field season, Vargas has been the San Gabriel Valley’s top 100 and 300 hurdler, and she has the marks to prove it.

At the Nike Redondo Festival on March 3, Vargas ran a personal-best of 14.06 in the 100 hurdles to finish third in a talented field. It is the fourth-best mark in the state this season.

Last year, Vargas finished third in the CIF-SS Division 4 finals in the 100 hurdles in 14.48. So, she’s already shown dramatic improvement in what has become her best event.

“My early projections with Monika is that she could run around 14 flat,” Holmes said. “But we’ve adjusted those numbers. We’re now projecting she can get to 13.5 or 13.6. She needs to be in more hot races. The Nike race in Redondo was her only hot race. As the season goes and the big races come, she’s going to get better against good fields and we’ll see how close our projections are.”

Vargas has surpassed her winning mark from last year’s 300 hurdles final in Division 4. She ran a personal-best of 44.42 in The Qualifier meet at Covina District Field on March 15.

Vargas, a Cornell commit, is preparing for the prestigious Arcadia Invitational on April 11-12. She figures to be in the 100 hurdles invitational. She will likely be the favorite to win CIF-SS Division 4 titles in the 100 and 300 hurdles, and beyond that, anything seems possible.

Mayfield coach Harji Singh loves what he is seeing.

“She works so hard, she’s so determined and focused,” Singh said. “Coach (Holmes) has done a great job with her. I’m here to guide her, find the right races and be as supportive as I can. But it’s exciting, this can be a big season for her.”

When Vargas is not working out at Mayfield, she makes the drive from Pasadena to Claremont for workouts with Holmes.

“She’s super determined, with me three days a week,” Holmes said. “It’s always a pleasure to have some dedicated and hyper-focused like she is, you don’t get that all the time. And the more we work on her technique and get things down, she will see the results.”