When Cerritos College cross country runner Tyler Villanueva decided to become a runner in the 8th grade, his family wasn’t necessarily thrilled at first.
“My parents didn’t really fully support my idea,” he said.
Villanueva thinks his parents were not on board with him joining the track at that time due to the time and money that goes into youth sports.
However, the summer before his freshman year at Warren High School in Downey, Tyler convinced both of his parents to let him join track. He sat them down and had a heart-to-heart.
“Look, this is what I want to do,” he said, “I really enjoy this. This is something I’ve been good at practically my whole life.”
By his senior year, he was captain of the track team. Now at Cerritos College, Villanueva is a standout cross-country runner.
Villanueva’s best timing as a runner was 25:54 during the 8K competition on Oct. 14 at the Bronco Invitational that took place in Baylands Park in Santa Clara.
He was in shock that he was able to hold that pace and felt very proud of himself.
He also ran a fourth mile where he ran a time of 20:52, which for him has been his most outstanding moment until now.
Off the track, his major is nursing. He enjoys helping other people like both his father and stepmother who work in the medical field., He says his parents inspired him to be a nurse.
Villanueva’s father is a nurse, and his stepmother is a professor of nursing.
Tyler’s favorite part of being a runner is the discipline that you get from running. However, he’d love it if he could translate that into other areas of his life.
Villanueva explains he would love to stop procrastinating.
Tyler feels that when something is easier, he lets it sit until the last minute, but is trying to get better at not procrastinating.
Running along with the team lets him bond and become more diligent in his assignments helping him to stop putting off other tasks
Villanueva’s favorite sports besides track are hockey and volleyball. He loves to watch football and soccer and he enjoys playing the sports but not watching them.
His hobbies include cooking, photography, traveling, hanging out with his friends and going on night drives to clear his head.
Tyler has two half-siblings, a little brother who is 3 years old and a sister who is 8 years old.
Tyler’s best memories throughout his years as a runner were in high school when they traveled to Lake Tahoe for training.
“Overall, I really enjoy it as long as I am with my teammates and everything, I really have a good time like jogging around. Yes, it’s a sport where you’re competitive but then also you have that sense of team bonding when you’re with your team.”
“You’re having fun, it comes with the sport as well. It is not always serious, you can also have fun,” Villanueva said.
