The sun shines bright on the start line as the slight breeze of wind cuts across Traylor Stadium in Rosenberg, Texas. The audience was on pins and needles until the poof of the gun erupted into the crowd.
In his mind, only the beat of his breath illuminates his thoughts as each step is controlled, deliberate and rehearsed to make it past the finish line faster, focused, confidently, resiliently, tenaciously and most important of all with strength. This was the experience for CVHS track athlete, Cesar Huerta, as he advanced to a districtwide meet at the close of the season.
When he’s not running laps to hone his skills, Huerta enjoys creative writing and drawing in his free time. He has been competing in track since seventh grade when he came to the conclusion he spent his spare time wasting on sleeping in. He found that it would be more beneficial for him to use that wasted energy towards something that could “not only contribute towards [his] health but also [his] mentality.”
He was further motivated by his mom, as he stated she is “always there to support not only [him] but also [his] siblings.” For him, track has been found to be a way to structure his tasks in an organized way through his extensive use of pacing while running.
“I’ve learned management,” he says. “I realized I’m able to use that within my daily life, just doing assignments slowly, handling them one at a time and taking whatever I can handle.”
Though Huerta enjoys the heat of competitions, it’s the camaraderie that also influences his perspective. Huerta describes teammates underclassmen Malachi Moody as “the younger one that’s kind of looking towards me and I’m the younger one looking towards Honor [Eduok] being a junior.” His teammates often motivate him to strive for his goals harder, especially on his journey to districts.
Track often takes up a large amount of his time each day which has effects on his academics.
“I won’t lie, it does take a couple of hours a week,” Huerta said. “If you’re striving to be a straight A student [and using up your time pursuing that], then I wouldn’t recommend it.”
However, he also elaborated that if people have some flexibility in their schedule that could potentially allow them to handle the extra burden, then go for it. He also highlighted some of the changes in his schedule he has made due to track.
“I’ve kind of sacrificed a bit of my afternoons as [track practice] takes away two hours at most per day, Monday through Thursday, when I could be working on assignments.”
Despite placing second, just a step under his goal of first, he hasn’t dwelled on it. And what’s next? Huerta says he will move to regionals and then maybe state. If not, cross country is his option as well.
“I’m still training. I’m still running. It just keeps going.” he said.
