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Celebrating Colorado's college-bound track and cross country athletes:</h3>
Marcelo Laguera inks with CSU-Pueblo as the Thunderwolves work on building an RMAC-competitive men's distance program. Photo by Alan Versaw.
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1600 meters - 4:24.40
3200 meters - 9:28.69
5K cross country - 15:09.0
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Some could view it as taking a chance, signing with a brand-new program like the men's program at CSU-Pueblo. What convinced you it was the right choice to make?
There were a couple of factors. When I first heard about CSU-P, I was not really convinced of the idea, the fact that it is a brand new program and a D2 school did not sound like what I was looking for. After my visit though, I knew that that was the place for me, because I saw the team had such good chemistry and it felt like a family, it felt like my high school team, which is exactly what I was looking for. I truly believe in Coach Morris's running philosophy, and I know he is gonna make me a really successful runner. I know for a fact that we will win a national championship in the future.
Morris really cares about his athletes on and off the track, he wants us to be successful students and human beings as well. I know I am in good hands, that is why I choose CSU-P.
What will you be studying at CSU-Pueblo?
I'm not sure what I will study, but I'm starting to think about some kind of engineering.
Do you have any indication yet what event or events you will be specializing in in track at CSU-Pueblo?
As the years progress I've learned that I am stronger as the distance increases. On that note, I want to be a 5,000 and 10,000 meter runner. But I also enjoy the short events so I'm hoping I can be a good miler as well. I don't know what coach Morris has in mind for me, but as long as I stay away from the steeplechase I'll be happy.
Probably more than anyone else in the state, you had a great deal of success on the Norris Penrose-Bear Creek Park course. Was there anything special about how you approached racing on that course?
The reason why I became so successful on that course is because I ran it many times and now I know it like the palm of my hand. I think the only thing that made my approach to it special was that I wanted to win no matter what, and that mentality helped ignore the brutalness of the course itself.
This may be a related question--or may not be. If I ask you to pick a favorite moment from your high school career, what would it be?
This is probably the hardest question you can ask me. I have so many good memories that will last a lifetime! But if I had to pick one specific moment I guess it would have to be right after I won the state championship, I went up to the stands, hugged my mother and told her "God pays off the effort and the sacrifice" right after that we both started crying out of joy. That feeling of accomplishing my goal and everything I had to do to and sacrifice to get there was the best feeling in the world. It makes me really emotional just thinking about it.
A lot of folks will be paying close attention to how your 3200 goes at state this spring. Do you have a time in mind you'd like to reach or is it all about doing whatever you can to finish in first?
The goal is always to win. At state the time does not matter, at the end of the day what matters is who takes the title home. I love running fast, but I like winning a little bit more.
