Fog draped heavy over the Cabrillo High School athletic field recently as senior Terrence Robbins finished a 70-minute run, beating his cross-country teammates by nearly a full lap.
Running as a sport didn’t occur to him until junior high school, when his current coach, then-P.E. teacher Peter Anderson, suggested he consider it.
“Truthfully, I had no clue. I’d never heard of the sport until the eighth grade when he had us in P.E. and we’d run the mile. He [Anderson] said that I already was pretty fast and it might be something to look into,” Terrence said.
That year Terrence went out for youth track, liked it, then pursued cross-country.
His speed comes as no surprise to his coach. Anderson is a P.E. teacher at Vandenberg Middle School, and cross-country head coach and assistant track coach for distance at Cabrillo. With a team made up of runners of varying skill levels, Anderson emphasizes the years of training needed to become a competitive athlete.
“Even though they’re good athletes, they’re not going to beat someone who’s been training for a few years,” Anderson said.
Terrence, he said, is getting to that point. “He’s been putting it out there for a few years. He’s my only senior and it shows.”
Terrence has gone to CIF for the half mile in his sophomore and junior years. He boasts a 1:59 half mile and he said his best event was running a 4:37 mile. Recently he hit a personal record at Clovis Invitational Cross Country Meet in Fresno with a 16:15.
Anderson said Terrence shines on a flat and fast course. “He loves flat courses because he’s a track runner. He loves the half mile in track so if we get something like that in cross-country where it’s flat and fast, he loves it,” Anderson said.
Though Terrence had some natural talent, he admitted he has to put in many miles of practice. He logs about 50 miles a week. It’s a lot tougher on his mind than his body, however.
“Usually on track workouts, after one lap I’ll be like, ‘I’ll just try to run these next two laps really strong,’ and then when it comes to that last lap you always have something left to give,” he said.
Right now, he’s giving running his all; between practice, school, and the occasional movie with his cross-country teammates there isn’t much time left for anything else. Still, he hopes to continue running after high school.
“I’m looking to go to a four-year college, maybe with running involved. And if I can’t do that, maybe go to an aviation college to become a pilot,” he said.
This article appears in Oct 22-29, 2015.
