All-District Boys Cross Country: Gregori’s Medina lives up to lofty expectations

As he lined up to run for a Modesto Metro Conference boys cross country title, Gregori High School’s Mario Medina took little comfort in his past success.

Yes, he had won the three regular-season MMC meets. Yes, he had a solid showing at the Roosevelt Roughrider Invitational, a prestigious meet in Fresno where he was awarded “elite” status.

But as he toed the line at Modesto’s Legion Park awaiting the start of his final conference race last October, the senior’s head was spinning.

Had his fellow MMC runners held back during the season, saving their best for last? As the clear pre-race favorite, could he meet the lofty expectations?

“It was nerve-wracking,” he said.

Not for long.

Medina, who generally stays with the lead pack for two miles before making his move, shot out quickly, broke away somewhat from the pack after the first half-mile and sped to a 10-second victory in the rain.

It wasn’t until the final mile that he was offered a view of those trying to chase him down when he realized he would not lose.

His time of 16 minutes, 12.3 seconds was the seventh-fastest in a boys MMC meet at Legion Park since 2005, according to local running blog site Stanislaus County Distance.

“In that last half of the race, it started to rain,” he said. “It was really dramatic. I was able to cruise the last half-mile.”

For his effort, Medina was selected as the Stanislaus District Cross Country Boys Runner of the Year.

“We all knew Mario would do well (his senior season), barring injury,” Gregori coach Matt Soderlund said. “We all expected him to win our league meets.”

He did so in a style Soderlund described as effortless.

“One of the cool things about Mario when he runs is he doesn’t look like he’s tired,” he said. “He looks happy.”

Behind that quiet and easygoing exterior is an intensely hard worker. It’s illustrated in his excellence on the trails and in the classroom, where he carries a 4.2 GPA with hopes of attending one of the six UC schools he applied to in November. He plans to study neuroscience.

Medina didn’t begin running until his sophomore season, two years after his eighth-grade teacher told him he had the body of a runner.

“I wasn’t even close to being good,” he said of his sophomore year.

In the summer before his junior year, he and his friends began hitting the hills hard. Weekday runs were followed by weekend hill runs in Knights Ferry, Livermore and Pleasanton with former assistant coach – and driver – Richard Antal.

Medina blossomed in his junior season, when he was among the top runners in the MMC. Following a successful middle-distance track and field season, he spent last summer putting in 50- to 60-mile weeks – and more hills.

The work paid off. He also turned in a solid performance at the Lowell Invitational in San Francisco and the Roughrider, where his time bettered those of talented Riverbank twins Adan and Emmanuel Chavez.

Ironically, in one of Medina’s best races – the last of his high school cross country career – came a most painful outcome. In the final 400 yards of the Sac-Joaquin Section Meet in Folsom, Medina found himself trailing Jesuit’s Benjamin Holland with a CIF State Meet berth on the line.

With the few coveted spots determined by team and individual results, nobody knew at that moment the season would continue for one and end for the other. Despite a furious rally, Medina came up about two feet short of Holland.

A few minutes later after real-time results came pouring in, Medina was informed he fell one second short of the State Meet.

“That was one of my best races,” Medina said. “I didn’t think I could catch him, but I tried. I wished I had tried a little harder.”

Nobody was faulting Medina for lack of effort, especially his coach.

“Mario worked his tail off and did awesome, but right at the end, the guy got him,” Soderlund said. “From my view, I thought (Medina) got him. We were bummed, but that’s how it goes.”

Medina’s time of 16:34, good for 12th place among 80 Division I runners, would have easily qualified him for Fresno in every other division.

“I really wanted him to go because of the type of character he has,” Soderlund said. “As you know, you don’t always get that with high-caliber athletes. Sometimes, you get arrogance, attitude … but not with Mario. He has such a sweet personality.”

That comes across quickly if you listen to him describe his final season, the training runs with teammates and the victory in the MMC championship race.

Despite the near-miss at the section meet, Medina couldn’t be happier about his final year of cross country. He plans to run track and field in the spring but has no plans to run at the collegiate level, focusing solely on school work.

“The season,” he said, “was better than I could have ever hoped for.”

This story was originally published January 19, 2015 at 11:15 AM with the headline "All-District Boys Cross Country: Gregori’s Medina lives up to lofty expectations."