By Porshe Miller |Sports|
The typical freshman starts out on the JV team and as time goes on and the athlete improves, they can move up to higher teams. Not for Ian Becerra-Scott. He started his high school cross country career as a varsity runner. During his time trials to determine what team he would be placed o
n, Becerra-Scott had a time of 20:04 of running 3.1 miles, which overall placed him straight into varsity.
Becerra-Scott has been to all the Varsity meets that have been accessible to the team. His average time is 18:01 for 3.1 miles in Kearney which is where a meet this year was held. He placed 9th overall in the meet in Kearney, out of all the varsity runners. Becerra-Scott is climbing up the ranks and running straight to qualifying for state.
Becerra-Scott has been running as long as he can remember. He specifically remembers when he began to think about running cross-country which was in fifth grade. In fifth grade he had started to become interested, and he said that he was running because he participated in soccer. His goals for this year currently is to run under 17:30 in a 5K(3.1 miles). This is a great goal as Ian is already running at 18 minutes and with the determination he possesses he is well on his way to make it to that time and beyond. He stated that “A big part of running those times included the fact that I had Peter Cuddy, a positive influence to help keep me going.” Peter Cuddy a junior drove Becerra-Scott to come to practice and participate to improve himself.
Not only is Cuddy a role model for Becerra-Scott but so is Mo Farah who is a long distance/marathon runner who has won two gold medals. Becerra-Scott said that “He is such a good role model because he came from nothing and look where he is now.” Becerra-Scott is just starting his high school cross country career and already has a lot of support behind him including sophomores Rukhshona Islamova and Maicee Ingwerson.
Becerra-Scott is full of time and dedication to the varsity team, and is always giving it his all. His times are gradually getting better and he is becoming a role model to those on the team that need some inspiration.
Becerra-Scott may look up to Mo Farah as his role model for running, but for other students Ian Becerra-Scott is their role model. As time goes on, Becerra-Scott will be not only an inspiration to kids at Lincoln High but kids at every high school.
