Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos Narrows Down College Choices


We caught up with Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos from Cathedral Catholic after his win (14:48.00) on Friday in the D3 Boys Sweepstakes race at Mt. SAC. We talked to him about his college decision. He's narrowed down his choices to three schools: Villanova, Wake Forest, and Stanford.

De Pinillos, whose 8th grade class had just 30 kids, says he's looking for a school where he won't be a small fish in a big pond. 

PLACEATHLETETEAMRESULTPOINTS
1Joaquin Martinez De Pinillos12Cathedral Catholic (SD)14:48.001
2Moises Medrano12Highland High Bakersfield (CS)14:55.002
3Anthony Benitez12Serra High School (SD)15:04.003

"I like how when you graduate at a small school you really get to see everyone and by that point, you know everyone really well," De Pinillos said. "That sense of being able to talk to everyone every day. There's going to be less of a chance of a situation where last day of the senior year I'm walking around graduation and I'm going to see someone I've never seen in my entire life."

De Pinillos is also looking for a school where he could see himself if running didn't work out.

"One thing that I always have in mind when I'm going into a visit is if there wasn't running would I want to be at this school," he said. "If I get injured or if something happens and I can't run anymore, basically would I still enjoy being there? With a lot of schools I'm talking to, that's definitely the case."

Keep your eyes on MileSplit as he says he's hoping to make his choice very soon. 

"I'm hoping that I commit really soon because I really want to have that feeling that I'm going to be able to go to college . . . so things are looking well."

Check out more on recruiting and the Mt. SAC Cross-country Invitational below. 

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