Tess Whittet
Staff Writer
Senior track and field athlete Caleb Llorin crossed the finish line with the fastest mile time in the history of Mira Costa High School.
Llorin broke Mira Costa’s mile record with a time of 4:12.35 on March 25 at the Distance Meet of Champions at Azusa Pacific University.
“I was really excited when I found out I had broken the record and, of course, extremely happy,” Llorin said. “It was nice to see how my training paid off and how much faster I had gotten.”
Llorin barely was able to break the previous mile record set in 1969, which stood at 4:13, edging it out by 0.75 milliseconds.
“In every single race, he is always learning and improving on either his mechanics or his game race strategies,” Costa track coach Robert Calderon said. “He is always evolving, and I think that is his ability to evolve and never stay stagnated.”
Llorin runs about 60 miles a week with other students on Costa’s track team. Members also have workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, including different interval workouts and long runs that stimulate muscle memory, Calderon said.
“Our coach has been working with us on how to run more relaxed in races and run smarter races,” Llorin said. “The milage and working out also helps me with getting the times that I need.”
This year, Llorin has run the 800 and the mile. In the 800, Llorin scored a new personal record. In the mile, he broke the school record. With help from Llorin, the track team continues to have a successful season and break records along the way.
“Pretty much everyone has benefitted and gotten better because they see him race and see how smart of a runner he is and how patient he is,” Calderon said. “Sometimes it’s not about being the most aggressive but being the smartest and most patient in the race and knowing when to position yourself, and he has mastered it.”
Llorin started running in sixth grade at Manhattan Beach Middle School and has run competitively since. Llorin jumpstarted his running career when he began running with his dad as he trained for a triathalon.
“It made our close relationship even stronger with all the time spent running together, and we bonded from all the struggles and accomplishments shared in running,” Llorin’s father, Dylan Llorin, said.
Llorin will be running track and cross country next year in college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He verbally committed in February 2016, and Llorin said he really enjoys the environment at Cal Poly.
“I chose Cal Poly because I really liked their team aspect and environment,” Llorin said. “I also enjoyed the campus as well as the surrounding running trails and community.”
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