As Manny Flores was finishing the first-ever Elks Rodeo P.L.A.Y. 1-mile stampede, he thought to himself that he should start pursuing running more for a sport.
Flores, who just wrapped up his freshman year at Pioneer Valley High School, quickly established himself as a great athlete. He’s already earned a letter for being on the varsity wrestling team, and he played football on the frosh team.
After surviving the stampede with a time of 5:21, he’s proved he didn’t win the race just because he was wearing the lucky number 7.
“I didn’t expect to win because I wasn’t in the best shape,” he admitted. “I saw an older person from Oxnard, and I thought that he was going to win.”
It was a close win, too. Flores came in five seconds ahead of the man from Oxnard.
The stampede wasn’t the first event to end in Flores’ favor. For three years in a row, he’s won the Bull Canyon Run for his age division.
Flores also ran for Pioneer during his freshman year, when he ran the 800-meter and the 1600-meter, but he was benched during the season.
And though his idea to focus more on running may be recent, he does already have some related aspirations: “I would like to continue running and get sponsors, so I could wear their gear and run more.”
This article appears in Jun 17-24, 2010.