SMC TRACK — For the last six years, Esther Guillen has been running. Whether it was track, cross country, or up and down the soccer field, the Santa Monica College sophomore has steadily pushed ahead despite the odds and injuries.
She is the quintessential athlete: devoted to training, dedicated to winning and always willing to go the extra mile to help her team. Her heart is something to be admired, according to her coach at SMC, and her always-pleasant demeanor is an asset for any team.
But deep down, Guillen for years felt there was something missing — that her accolades on the track were insignificant compared to what she could be doing in the classroom.
“I did horrible in high school,” said 19-year-old Guillen recently before warming up for a track meet at SMC. “I had, like, a 2.5 GPA. I didn’t care much about school. I was the typical athlete, doing just enough to stay on the team. How embarrassing. The team was all I cared about.”
High school graduation came, as did the summer when soon-to-be college freshmen buy bed sheets, toaster ovens and new computers for their dorm rooms. Guillen didn’t have a dorm room to decorate. While her sisters had gone to Harvard, Yale, Stanford and UCLA, Guillen wasn’t sure where she was going to end up. SMC seemed to be her best option.
“It was that summer that I met with the (SMC track team) and I realized that I was in college, that it was time for me to step it up,” she said. “I felt like I had failed my parents in high school because I wasn’t doing as well as I could. There was a lot of expectations for me, and I guess I didn’t know how to handle that before. But once I came here, I realized that my parents had sacrificed so much when they came here from Mexico, all so I could have opportunities that they never did. Now my parents were paying for me to go to school, so there was no way that I was going to let them down. I felt this was the time to make up for all the time I didn’t care.”
Her hard work, both on the track and in the classroom, have paid off. Guillen was recently named to the 2005 Pepsi Scholar Athlete Honor Roll. She is one of 20 to receive such an honor out of approximately 25,000 community college student athletes statewide.
To receive the award, candidates must have a minimum grade point average of 3.5 (out of 4.0) and must show outstanding leadership as an athlete, student or in other activities, and have participated in two seasons of sports at a California community college.
Guillen has maintained a 3.89 grade point average, and at the same time has competed at a high level on the track, having been named SMC Women’s Cross- County Most Valuable Athlete for 2005 as well as one of two of the team’s most inspirational athletes the same year.
“Esther is a talented and committed athlete who willingly and consistently accepts the demands of competitive running,” said her coach, Eric Barron. “Esther learned to run outside of her comfort zone, challenging herself to deal with pain while concentrating on performance.”
While the award is “nice,” Guillen said she takes more pleasure in knowing that she is no longer running from her responsibilities, but is tackling them head-on in hopes of one day graduating from a university and making her parents proud.
The Daily Press had a chance to chat with Guillen before a track meet about her thoughts on the Pepsi honor, running and her favorite spots to jog in Santa Monica.
First things first, which do you like better, Pepsi or Coke?
“Oh, I love Pepsi! I didn’t even think of that. How funny. Pepsi is by far my favorite drink. If you would have asked me that before the award, I would have said Pepsi. Hey, I should make them our sponsor, do a few commercials.”
What was your reaction to winning the student-athlete of the year honor?
“Coach had asked me to give him recommendation letters from teachers and community service records, which I had from working at the Pico Youth and Family Center. So I kind of gave them to him, and I was like, ‘What’s this about?’And he told me it was for this Pepsi scholars thing. I don’t know, he was like, ‘I’m going to nominate you for it.’ So I gave him the papers, and I kind of forgot about it. Then I got the letter that I won, I was like, ‘Wait a minute.’ I didn’t know whether or not to get excited about it because I really didn’t know what it was. I was very surprised. I went online to see exactly what it was, and then I was like, ‘Oh wow. Very cool.’ My sister and I got excited, so we looked to see how many other times someone from Santa Monica had gotten it. I guess the last time someone got it was in ’87 … a long time ago. Coach was excited, so that made me go, ‘I guess it’s something I should get excited about.’ Coach kind of confirmed that for me.”
What is it about long-distance running that attracts you?
“I don’t know. I love running, being out in the open air, seeing all the different people, animals, things that just pass by. I’ve been running since my freshman year of high school, so I really, really like it. I didn’t think I would keep running once I got to college because I didn’t think I was all that good. But I came here and I was our second (best) runner so I was like, ‘I’m O.K. I’m not as bad as I thought I was.’ So I stuck with it, had fun. I really like everyone on the team. We do a lot of trail runs, which are so much fun. I just love being out in the mountains. It’s so pretty. It really motivated me to train more. It made me that much better … I did track last semester and cross-country recently. I’m back on track now.”
What do you think about when you’re running?
“It’s really important to have a strong mentality when you run because if you can’t get yourself mentally involved and focused, you’ll break down. I don’t know, I think of random things. It always changes. Usually it’s that I want a better time, a better performance and that drives me. Mainly I just think about pushing myself. I remember when I was in high school I would finish races and say to myself, ‘I could have done better. I should have done better.’ Now, I don’t want to have those thoughts at the end of a race. I don’t want to disappoint my coach or my team or anyone so, no, I have to run hard.”
What about the “zone?” Don’t you get into the zone?
“A couple of times. It’s hard for me to get there. Only on the trail runs. That’s when I can focus. Running on the track is so hard because there are all these people around you — so many distractions. You can hear someone getting close to you and whatever you were thinking is gone now because you’re like, ‘Oh crap. I can’t let this person by me. If she does, that will be one less point that we’ll have and our team will be that much slower. I can’t do that to them. I can’t let this person pass me.’”
So you’re a big team player, all 5 foot 4 inches of you?
“Yeah (laughing), I’m all about the team thing. I can never let the team down. I’m not about myself or what I can do on my own. A lot of people see track as an individual sport, but it really is a team sport. The top five girls who finish count as points and then there are those who, if they pass someone, can help get extra points too. You can move on individually in the sport, but I’m much more about the team winning. It’s so much more fun. At the end of the cross country season, only three of us made it through competition, and while there were still some girls there, it wasn’t as fun without all of us together out there pushing hard. I would love for the whole team to qualify and carry on.”
Speaking of distraction on the track, what about off the track? How do you stay focused on school work?
“I have very few friends and the few that I have I rarely get a chance to see. I feel like I don’t have a social life at all. My friends are pretty much the team. That’s all I really need. We have that bond, always together and at practice. Like that night we stayed overnight in a hotel. That was so much fun. The drives to the races. That’s what makes it fun.”
So do you do anything outside of school work and running? Hobbies maybe?
“No. I don’t think I do anything else for fun. All my life consists of practicing, going to races and doing homework.”
What are you studying right now? “I’m taking classes for my sociology major. I really want to major in sociology or criminology. UC Irvine offers it, so if they take me I’ll probably go there and major in criminology. I’m starting to think I kind of want to go to Berkeley and major in sociology, so I don’t know. I’m just kind of waiting to see who accepts me and then figure it out. I’ve applied to pretty much all the UCs. I’m kind of nervous, but I try not to think about it much. Whatever happens, happens.”
Why criminology? “I don’t know. I’m into the whole crime solving thing. I’m a big fan of SCI. I definitely have to make time for my SCI. Sociology is interesting to me right now. I’m just interested in how we have built barriers in our own lives by race, age, sex. Just how society is constructed, and I look back on my own childhood and how I was bussed to school. Why did I have to go to a certain place to get a better education? Why isn’t the quality of education the same everywhere? That really interested me, and I want to get involved. It really gets me frustrated.”
You live with your sister and her husband on Ocean Park Boulevard. How’s that going?
“I’m really happy. I love my sister. They take care of me. I’m so grateful to have them because if they didn’t let me live there, I would not be going to Santa Monica. I don’t drive so if I wasn’t living here I would be going God knows where in the valley.”
This means you’re away from home and your parents. How’s that been, the whole transition of being at home to now sort of being on your own?
“It’s hard. I miss my parents so much. It’s almost like I’m a nerd about it. Everyone on the team knows that I’m like, ‘I need to go home. I haven’t gone home in two weeks,’ And they’re like ‘O.K. Esther, calm down.’ Since I don’t drive it’s really hard for me to get there, so I have to convince them to take me. I miss them so much.”
What do your parents do? Still working?
“Well, they worked at a factory for quite a long time, but it was closed down and shipped to Mexico ironically. So my dad is a musician now and he plays guitar, sings, plays violin. He’s teaching me the violin, so I’m getting all excited. I can’t read music at all, so he plays and I just try to follow along. He plays in a Mariachi group and on the weekends he and my brother go to restaurants and play.
Where are the best places to run in Santa Monica?
“I run over at the golf course and down to the beach. That’s my favorite.”
Will you continue to run when you transfer from SMC?
“I don’t think so. The runners on that level are just too good. When I came to SMC, I told myself that I wasn’t going to work and put 100 percent of my effort into school and track. I think when I transfer, I’ll most likely have to work, so I will give 100 percent to school and working. I think I’ll try to put my energy into that and run when I can.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 20, 2006. Read the original PDF.