Central Catholic’s very own Nathaniel Zapata has a lot to live up to. “He is by far the most talented young man I have ever coached. He will do better things than any student athlete who has come through Central, “ says Coach Brimmer a man who has coached in many cross country district meets, championships, and has coached many college athletes. These are some high expectations for a sophomore. Nathaniel has accepted this responsibility and has taken a leadership role on the Cross Country team. The team hopes to go far this year and Coach Brimmer, the team, and our school have faith that Nathaniel will do an excellent job.
Of course talent like this does not happen overnight. He is following the steps of great athletes that learned and developed their skills at a young age. “I started off playing a lot of other sports, but my family is a huge running family and my mom did a lot of running in high school so whenever she got back to running later in the year, I started running with her. 8th grade year is when I started to become more competitive in races.” As he entered high school, Nathaniel was motivated to step up his game, “Coming into Freshman year, I met coach Gary Brimmer who is an amazing coach and he started seeing what kind of potential I had, and he helped me become the runner I am today.” Nathaniel’s Cross Country career has only progressed since then. This year, his fastest time for a 5k race (3.1 miles) is 16 minutes and 44 seconds, and he has placed in the top 10 at four races out of the five meets the team has attended.
Cross Country requires a great deal of time and effort. A major problem many runners have is “hitting the wall” which is another way of saying they run out of energy before the race is over. While most runners will quit in this situation, Nathaniel sees this as an opportunity to push himself. “Towards the end of the race I just have to make sure I go as fast as I can and I have to make sure no one passes me at the end. I really don’t think about it too much, I just let my body do the work.” Obviously, Nathaniel is not going to let any “wall” stop him from finishing.
Although Cross Country is seen by some as an individual sport, Nathaniel would argue otherwise. “In my eyes Cross Country is a team sport, and I believe that we work together as a team. When we run together, we improve our skills of running in and out of the race. I might not be evenly matched every single race but the times matter, the placement matters and that is how we plan on placing this year at state.” The cross country team is a great example of what Brotherhood is made of and what our school can accomplish when we all work together.
The team itself has many goals but Nathaniel still keeps a few personal goals he wishes to accomplish. “This year I plan on winning state. I plan on getting Central Catholic to the state championship this year and I hope that the team places at state too. My long term goal is that I keep on going hard in every race I do and keep improving every race. Maybe I can get scholarships, so I can keep running in college.”
Nathaniel truly believes that every practice matters and every teammate matters to leave a legacy at Central. In order to succeed one must be willing to work. “ My experience in Cross Country has taught me about hard work. A lot of guys came back this year and we got a lot of new people and I believe we are putting everything into this season. I’m proud of this team and I believe that we will do great things this year before we head out to state.”
The team has a long way to go but Nathaniel looks forward to the challenge. It isn’t everyday that you see a young man like Nathaniel taking so much responsibility and inspiring others to do the same. As he and the team prepare for the State meet, Nathaniel will continue to keep a steady pace and enjoy himself.