Sophomore Nate Pineda has had a great start to the cross country season, most recently with a 26:52 finish at the Sam Bell Invitational on Oct. 17 that was tops for the men’s team.
Pineda led the’ Cougars’ to a third-place finish at the event despite a mild foot injury.
‘My foot was hurting from the get-go,’ Pineda said. ‘We’re a team ‘hellip; if I drop out of the race, I feel like I let them down.’
Pineda has noticed his improvement from last season, which includes properly pacing his runs.’
‘Last year, I was just trying to push everyday,’ Pineda said. ‘I was killing myself ‘hellip; now I’m more disciplined, and I’ve listened to coach (Ryan Turner) a lot, and I’ve seen a change, a big difference.’
Pineda is a graduate of Oliver Wendell Holmes High School in San Antonio, where he was twice named athlete of the year. Still, when Pineda came to UH, he noticed stark differences in the level of competition.
‘In high school, my longest run was 7 miles,’ Pineda said. ‘Now I pray for a 7-mile run. I now run 16 miles; it’s a big difference.’
At last season’s Conference USA Championships, Pineda finished 31st with a time of 27:00. Pineda hopes to improve on his results this season, especially if he stays relatively’ healthy.’
‘I was expecting to run a lot faster this year, but I had a lot of ‘hellip; injuries,’ Pineda said. ‘I have high expectations, and hopefully I can hit them by the end of this year.’
Pineda chose to attend UH rather than UT-San Antonio, UT-Arlington, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State because of the traditions and history of UH’s track and field program.
He’ espouses a ‘team first, me second’ attitude toward running, which was problematic in high school, where Pineda was one half of a two-person team.
‘Winning meets as a team is a big difference,’ Pineda said.
Pineda and the Cougars will host the 2009 C-USA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships Saturday at Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands, Texas.
