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Former Adams State track star makes the cover of Running Times
A smiling young woman fairly flies across the sands of the Great Sand Dunes
National Park in the cover photo of Running Times’ latest issue. That woman is
Adams State College 2004 graduate, Zoila Gomez, winner of six national titles
and the 2004 Collegiate Women Sports Awards NCAA Division II Athlete of the
Year. As fast as Gomez is, the magazine is moving even faster – copies are
difficult to come by in her hometown of Alamosa, Colo.
Running Times is one of the nation’s top publications devoted to distance
running. The July/August cover story focuses on Gomez’s pursuit of the American
Dream – and how her success in running has exceeded her wildest dreams. Author
Chris Lear describes Gomez as the epitome of "what is good about the sport."
The first in her family of 16 children to graduate from college, Gomez came to
the U.S. from the small mining town of Charcas, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in
1996. She ran – and won -- her first 10K at age 17, as a high school student in
Costa Mesa, California.
Having completed an incredible collegiate career as a member of Adams State’s
national champion cross country and track and field teams, Gomez is running
professionally with her sites set on the Olympic Marathon. She’s still training
with her Adams State coach, Damon Martin, recipient of 18 NCAA Div. II Coach of
the Year awards.
Gomez teaches basic English to adults through the San Luis Valley Immigrant
Resource Center, and plans to enroll in Adams State’s Master’s in Counseling
program next fall.
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