Career
He Minneapolis, Minnesota, his hometown is Santa Cruz, California. Plata competed at the second Olympic triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He placed twenty-seventh with a total time of 1:57:09.09.
Plata was the alternate for the United States. Olympic Team in 2000.
In 2005 Plata was ranked as high as 4th in the International Telecommunication Union World Rankings for triathlon. In 1997 Plata graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with a degree in social sciences.
In 2013 Plata began teaching at Palma High School in Salinas, California.