TeWinkle students going the distance

Chris Yemma

For some people, it’s a lifelong goal to run a marathon. Some make it

happen, others don’t.

But at TeWinkle Middle School, 13- and 14-year-olds are tackling

that lifelong dream at an early age.

Eleven students at the Costa Mesa school have qualified to run in

the Los Angeles Marathon March 6. They will be running within a

larger group that sponsors middle and high school students to run in

the marathon.

Students Run Los Angeles is a nonprofit that funds participating

schools for students to train for and complete the LA Marathon. It is

designed to keep at-risk kids out of deviant behavior and challenge

them with a life-changing experience.

TeWinkle falls in the perfect category.

“Seventy percent of our students here are designated as free or

reduced lunch,” TeWinkle Principal Dan Diehl said. “Meaning, 70% are

at or below the poverty level.”

Under the leadership of Diehl, the seventh- and eighth-graders

have been training since September to compete in the 26.2-mile event.

They recently completed the Glendale half marathon to qualify for the

Los Angeles event.

For the TeWinkle kids, it’s an opportunity that doesn’t come

around very often. And upon completion, it would be an accomplishment

that is achieved by few.

“The year before, I wanted to run a marathon, but I didn’t know

I’d actually be doing it this year, said Chris Latorre, a 14-year-old

eighth-grader.

“It’s a pretty big accomplishment. Not many people can run 26

miles.”

In Diehl’s first year at TeWinkle, he has brought the SRLA program

to the Costa Mesa school after taking it for a run last year at a

middle school in San Juan Capistrano.

This time around, he has a little more experience with the program

and knows the rewards of participating. SRLA studies suggest that

participating students have a higher high school graduation rate.

About 150 other schools -- mostly high schools -- in the Greater

Los Angeles area are participating as well. TeWinkle is one of the

few middle schools.

“We have been training since September and been going to races

since September,” Diehl said. “We started off small, running laps

around the track -- not even half a mile on the first day. And here

we are in February and the kids are running 18 miles.”

The TeWinkle runners include: Xochilt Aragon, Melina Coria, Haifa

Freihat, Elvin Herrera, Jeff Kirchberg, Damian Leon, Yesenia Leon,

Noe Marin, Javier Rivera, Pedro Rivera and Latorre.

The students will try a 20-mile training run today from TeWinkle

to the Huntington Beach Pier and back.

This will be their second 20-mile training run. Latorre said

everyone is just about ready for the real deal.

“[The LA Marathon] will be the farthest we’ve run,” he said.

“We’ve only run 20 miles so far, but I felt like I could do six

more.”