Reflections Magazine Issue #83 - Fall 2015 | Page 10

Feature Article
By Jeff Meade—Monroe News

On the Right Path
Proving Her High School Coach Wrong Motivates Lucia Alfaro
All the Way to SHU
Editor’s Note: The following story appeared in the Sept. 1, 2015, edition of the Monroe News. This edited version was used with permission.

Lucia Alfaro ’17 (above middle)
wasn’t exactly encouraged on
her first day of cross country
practice as a Milan freshman.

10 | Reflections Fall ’15

“She couldn’t even run a half mile,”
recalls Big Reds coach Steve Porter. “I told
her this is a running sport and she might
want to go out for volleyball.”
Alfaro got mad and was determined
to prove her coach wrong. Back then she
ran the 3.1-mile cross country distance in
28 or 29 minutes and was Milan’s slowest
runner as a freshman. Three years later,

she was the Big Reds fastest runner and
a state qualifier.
Today she captains the Siena Heights
University cross country team and also
captains the Saints’ indoor and outdoor
track and field squads. She qualified
for NAIA nationals last year and ran
a marathon—26.2 miles—in Alabama.