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DATE: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
BYLINE: Rich Rupprecht
COLUMN: ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
FAST RUNNER ALSO QUICK LEARNER
For someone who has run competitively for only two years, Piner senior Dawit Tesfasilassie shows an
abundance of potential.
Tesfasilassie won Friday's North Bay League cross country championships at Spring Lake in 15:31 (the
sixth-fastest time for a boy) and has a tough NCS Div.III race ahead.
Tesfasilassie favored soccer over running until his sophomore year and still prefers track --
specifically the mile and two-mile -- to cross country.
``I'm looking foward to next week,'' Tesfasilassie said of the NCS meet. If he qualifies in the top five
(excluding top team finishers) of his division, he'll advance to the following week's state meet at Fresno.
Tesfasilassie was born in Eritrea and came to the United States with his family when he was in the sixth
grade. He credits second-language classes for helping him learn English, which he now speaks fluently. His
most recent GPA was 3.53 and he hopes to gain a college running scholarship. UC Davis has shown interest.
``I like math,'' Tesfasilassie said. ``I was thinking of going into sports medicine. I like American
football and basketball.''
One Web site devoted to running ranks Tesfassilassie 39th in the state among cross country runners.
``I've seen a lot of maturity and a more seasoned runner,'' Piner running coach Mark Mantoani said of
Dawit this year. ``He's gotten stronger and he's training better. There is some big-time potential that's
untapped.''
Another top runner from the East Bay, Yosef Ghebray, who has committed to Cal, is from Eritrea, and has
become friends with Dawit. They meet and talk before races. Another top area runner, Jake Schmitt of
Redwood, also going to Cal, is in Dawit's Div.III race at NCS next weekend.
``I'll just try and stay with him,'' Dawit said.
Dawit's parents watched him run on Friday after he told them it would be his last competitive race at
Spring Lake.
``They were pretty happy,'' Dawit said.
INFOBOX:
DAWIT TESFASILASSIE
School: Piner
Year: Senior
Sport: Cross country