Junior Juan Buenrostro running during a meet. Photo by Toby Pitan.
Junior Juan Buenrostro has “a talent that no one had known about,” even to himself.
He is currently the top runner for the Malden High School cross country team. In a recent meet against Somerville, Buenrostro placed first for Malden in all three of MHS dual meets and first overall in two events in the same meet.
Despite his success, Buenrostro did have a few initial fears in joining the team. He was certain that reaching his potential would be a long-winded endeavor. Despite the proven difficulty of long-distance running, he says that he “ended up doing better than [he] expected”.
Cross country has had a significant impact on Buenrostro’s life. He elaborates on how the sport has made him more accountable as a student and as an athlete. He voices that he “has to act like a runner everywhere, not just at practice”. He has changed his lifestyle drastically, including omitting soda from his diet, going to sleep earlier, and eating more after practice in order to improve his performance on the team. Buenrostro has become more meticulous more with his schedule, careful as to not rack up potential tardies that would be detrimental to his athletic career.
With Buenrostro’s immense amount success, he has become a paradigm student athlete. He is held to a high standard and is venerated by many novice team members such as the freshmen.
Buenrostro divulges that cross country is a physically taxing sport. Despite this he still views the camaraderie amongst him and his colleagues as invaluable. His team members provide him with a great amount of support and the charged atmosphere of competitiveness on the team only poses as a catalyst for more efficient performance. As Buenrostro says, “it drives them to want to be better.”
Buenrostro credits his and his team’s success to the cross country coach, MHS English teacher David Londino, saying that Londino “knows how to make [them] better runners.” The same disciplined being instilled to them during their practices translates to their meets. Conversely, Londino acknowledges the integrity of his runners and appreciates their labor.
When asked if he planned on extending his cross country career beyond high school, he says that he intends to pursue long-distance running professionally.
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