When Miguel Rebollo was a freshman at Madera South, he saw five of his cross country and track teammates sign National Letters of Intent to run in college, and he wanted that for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I was going to be a college athlete from the beginning of high school,\u201d he said. \u201cI was around those guys my freshman year. When I saw those guys commit, I knew I could go to college to run. It was a matter of how good of a college I could go to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebollo officially committed to run cross country and track at UC Merced earlier this year, and is happy to see his athletic career extended and keep the legacy of sending cross country runners to college continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI felt like I need to go to a four-year to continue the legacy,\u201d he said. \u201cThose senior guys talked me through the process and gave me advice. They told me how to do it, as well as the college recruitments. When they told me as a freshman, I wanted to do this for them. I wanted to show them their little freshman can also go to college. It feels great. Every year, we send someone to college. Being able to be the guy that gets the baton to pass it forward is great. I know next year, they will have a couple of kids go to college. It feels good to keep the chain going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rebollo graduated with a 4.3 grade point average, even with self-proclaimed senioritis at the end. He plans to major in biology, and get a masters in physical therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was talking the Long Beach State and Fullerton, but Seattle University was the one in contact the longest. He was contemplating going to Seattle until UC Merced came in at the last minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a hair away from committing to Seattle,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would have been a little too expensive. I had some scholarships, and it was feasible to go to Seattle. At the end, I didn\u2019t want to put that financial stress on me and my parents. Seattle was going to be really expensive. UC Merced was the best opportunity for me. I\u2019m happy with the decision. I think I\u2019m going to be taken care of. If I stay close, I\u2019ll have people that know me and will take care of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also chose UC Merced because of the potential of the team, and the school. UC Merced just gained entry into the NCAA Division II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was a lot better in track. But, after this year, I had a really good cross country season, and I grew to love it,\u201d Rebollo said. \u201cI\u2019m more excited in cross country. It think I can do more. I\u2019m going to see what the coach thinks I\u2019m going to be good it. It might be the 1,500. It depends on if I want to go higher with the 5K or 10K or drop down to the 800 or 1,500. Steeplechase might be my event. I can jump.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With his great grade point average, Rebollo was accepted to every college he applied to. Getting into college wasn\u2019t the worry for him, it was where was going to be the right fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe scholarship I got from UC Merced is given to the cream of the crop,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a guaranteed full-ride. They pander to those scholarship recipients. If I didn\u2019t have my GPA, I wouldn\u2019t have gotten that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, after an exciting freshman year running with all of the seniors that went on to college, Rebollo feels he didn\u2019t live up to his goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think my career was a little lackluster,\u201d he said. \u201cMy goals were set pretty huge. My track season was pretty bad to how I wanted. There were issues with injuries and other things that derailed my season. Overall, I think I set a standard. It was some rebuild years for Madera South the past four years. Next year, they have a good chance at winning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, when Rebollo committed to UC Merced, he felt a huge weight lifted off his shoulders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to know where I\u2019m going. I felt the stress to figure out where I was going. Everything washed away after I committed. I could enjoy the last days as a senior,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even through the recruiting process, Rebollo had, at the back of his mind, a thought about going to college just to go to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had so many bad races. I though why was I running if I had these time. I was putting in all these hours to run sub-par times, for me. I had that conversation with myself of was it worth it? I stuck with it. It was just a fluke. I know what I could do and am capable of. I bet on myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, he\u2019s signed to UC Merced, a school that his parents can come visit or watch his races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy parents think it\u2019s amazing. They liked that it was close to home,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I went to Seattle, they wouldn\u2019t be able to visit me. They were ecstatic about UC Merced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Rebollo is following the summer training plans, but also has plans to relax a little and have some summer fun with friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to fly by,\u201d he said. \u201cI have some friends going to UC Merced. We are arranging things. We\u2019re getting exciting to experience some college.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Miguel Rebollo was a freshman at Madera South, he saw five of his cross country and track teammates sign National Letters of Intent to run in college, and he wanted that for himself. \u201cI think I was going to be a college athlete from the beginning of high school,\u201d he said. \u201cI was around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":48675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,23],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-48692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above-the-fold","category-sports","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48693,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48692\/revisions\/48693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}