Fayetteille, Ark. - Central Alum Eric Casarez ('18) led the Aggie track & field team with dominate performances on both Saturday and Sunday, culminating in Casarez registering a 7:57.00 in the 3000m, the second fastest performance in Texas A&M history, and a personal best by over nine seconds. Casarez also ran a Sub-4 Minute mile (3:59.08) in his leg of the school record breaking distance medley relay on Saturday. Casarez graduated from Central in 2018, and as a senior placed fourth in th 1600M and fifth in the 3200M at the State 6A Meet. His 4:14.17 1600M and 9:09.47 3200M still stand as school records at CHS.

While many may think Casarez saw himself destine for running greatness at a young age, Casarez wasn't immediately drawn to cross country coming through the Charger feeder pattern. "Back in middle school, I was too short to play basketball and didn't want to sit around and do nothing," Casarez said. "I tried out for the cross country team without knowing what it was. I just thought they ran around the block a couple times and call it a day. I didn't really know what I was doing." 

Nonetheless, Casarez found success immediately as a freshman, finishing as the top freshman finisher in eight of his nine races and missing the state meet by just three places. Casarez went on to have arguably the best career of any distance runner in Central history.

Charger distance runners have been making big waves over the last twelve months as Victor Neiva ('19) set the school record at North Texas this past season in the 10,000 meters with a time of 29:19.34 and qualified for his first NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship.

Neiva, who has always taken great pride in his Brazilian heritage, has taken to the tradition of wearing a Brazilian flage after the majority of his UNT meets. "I take a lot of pride in being Brazilian," Neiva said. "Both of my parents are immigrants. You hear those stories about people coming to America with luggage in each hand and a baby in their arms. That was my family. I learned from them how to work hard. The opportunities in this country are amazing. You just have to take advantage of them."
 

Head Cross Country / Track Coach Emily Russell reflected on Eric and Victor's time in the program and post-CHS success this week:
 
"As a coach I'm thrilled when my athletes can continue competing at the collegiate level, and even more so when they continue to develop and succeed. Eric and Victor have taken different routes to becoming a top runner for their teams.  Eric has been working for this since he was in middle school, and my favorite memory of him was coming back from injuries during his senior XC season to being a regional champion and state qualifier in track. Victor didn't start running until his junior year, and his sheer competitiveness and natural ability earned him a top-10 spot at the XC state championships."

"I consider myself very fortunate to have known and worked with these guys when they were in high school, and continue to be one of their biggest fans today."


 

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Keller ISD Athletics offers sports programs that help develop the whole student through athletics. KISD athletics programs will provide student-athletes opportunities to experience competition, leadership roles, self-improvement, goal setting, discipline, coachability, learning from setbacks, accountability, enhance academics, developing positive character traits, and being part of a team. In partnership with families and community, the mission of Central High School is to inspire in all students the desire to learn, the courage to lead, the value of proven character, and the commitment to serve. More information about Central and its coaches, student-athletes and teams is available at Centralchargerathletics.com