Inexperience and youth are among the common factors as to why rookies in sports fail or hit “the rookie wall.” But for cross country runner Naomi Altamirano, those two factors will not stop her from finishing at the top.
Being the team’s No. 2 runner, Altamirano is a freshman at the young age of 17. She graduated from Downey High School where she was the most valuable player of the cross country team in all four years she competed. She was also awarded scholar athlete for track three times.
Altamirano enjoys the sport of cross country because in middle school, she first ran for the track team and said that it made cross country an easy transition for her.
“I liked cross country coming into high school because I developed quickly,” Altamirano said. “I became stronger as I trained and the quality of the races I competed in were pretty good.”
Altamirano competed in multiple sports such as basketball, soccer, swimming and gymnastics. Not being the tallest or biggest girl on the block spoiled Altamirano’s chance of being a great basketball player, so she focused her attention on gymnastics and swimming.
“I wasn’t the tallest, or the biggest girl so I didn’t really focus in basketball as much,” Altamirano said. “Being small helped me out in gymnastics and in swimming.”
She soon figured out that size really didn’t matter as she excelled in cross country and track. Although Altamirano has asthma, she has not let it stop her from running and competing. She said it is tough sometimes because of her asthma, but she doesn’t use that as an excuse whenever she doesn’t put out her best performance.
“Even though I have asthma, I never make that an excuse,” Altamirano said.
“All I can think about is that I can do better later on and I will just try harder to win,” Altamirano said.
The women have been put in a situation that coach Dean Lofgren has never been in during his 21-year tenure; only Altamirano and sophomore Courtney Stephens have competed this season. Instead of competing as a team, which the team has always done, they have competed as individuals. But that has not bothered Altamirano and has made her work even harder.
“Since it has only been me and (Stephens), it has made me work a lot harder than before,” Altamirano said. “Especially since I am the freshman. I want to do well.”
Although Altamirano trains hard to be the best she can be, Lofgren said she has a weird habit of finishing and doing better in her races than her training actually shows. It’s not that she doesn’t try her best or she slacks off, it is just that she lets the adrenaline flow because the races are a whole different level than the practices.
“It’s not that I am lazy or I don’t try hard,” Altamirano said. “The races are a whole different level. My adrenaline gets pumped and I just let it carry me throughout the race.”
Lofgren can’t quite find the reason why Altamirano is better during the races than in practice.
“Obviously, I am not going to complain because I love the way she races and her effort,” Lofgren said. “But I still can’t figure out why her training doesn’t represent the way she races because she is one heck of a competitor.”
Her hard training and unmatched work ethic can be attributed as the reasons why she races so well. During the summer, Altamirano ran six times a week for an hour a day with her old high school teammates. Since she only has a driver’s permit, she could not drive to the practices, so Lofgren told her to train in any way that she could.
“(Lofgren) told me to just train as best as I could,” Altamirano said. “I’m only seventeen and I still only have a permit so I did the best I could during the summer, but it helped me out a lot.”
As a young freshman, Altamirano surpassed all the challenges in front of her as she qualified for the California Community College championship Nov. 22 in Fresno. Assistant coach Sean Sheil has credited Altamirano’s hard work as the main reason why she has qualified all the way to the state championship.
“She is amazing,” Sheil said. “Just to see where she was at the beginning of the year and where she came from, she has come a long way. We’re very proud of her.”
Aside from being a cross country stand out, Altamirano is a full-time student with 15 units majoring in media arts and a minor in business. She plans to transfer to UCLA for her bachelor’s degree and NYU for her master’s degree. She wants to have a career as a creative manager for a magazine.
“I have always been into taking pictures and photography, it is definitely something I will be doing in the future,” Altamirano said. “Hopefully, I could work for a magazine company and take pictures.”
Since she has such a busy schedule with school and cross country, she seldom has time to watch TV or go out with her friends. But when she does, she makes sure that she gets to see her favorite shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Frontline” and other documentary shows. But her favorite of all are comedy movies. Altamirano said that comedy shows and movies are ways for her to relax from what is going on in the world.
“I think laughter, art and music are much needed in life,” Altamirano said. “I get so busy and it gets hectic so it is a way for me to unwind and just have a good laugh.”
Her favorite sports to watch are basketball, baseball, swimming and European soccer. She thinks that soccer players from Europe are very talented and she names eight-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps as her favorite athlete.
“(Phelps) is amazing,” Altamirano said. “To achieve all of those medals, and for him to push himself that far just to get what he wants is what I admire most about him.”
With her busy lifestyle, her friends are very understanding when she can’t go out, which is something she appreciates about them. Altamirano said she is a very focused individual who knows exactly what she wants out of life and she produces a high quality of work in everything that she does.
“I try my best in everything that I do,” Altamirano said. “In high school, I won awards from the press association, yearbook, track and cross country because I want to be the best and I always make sure to go all out in everything that I do.”
Another thing that can describe Altamirano is that she is very optimistic in life and she also loves to help out other people.
“Since she is the only freshman running this year, she has been very helpful to the other freshmen on the team,” Sheil said. “She’s very encouraging and always pushes not only herself, but her teammates to do their very best.”
Altamirano knows what she wants in life even at a young age. She said the sky is the limit for her and the only one stopping her is herself.
Altamirano plans to return next semester, but is undecided if she will be a member of the track team in the spring.
“I know I’m young and have a long way to go, but I know what I want in life,” Altamirano said. “I want to be the best I could be, whether it be with cross country, school or my future, I want to make sure that I succeed.”
