Alanis to seek berth on William and Mary running teams

William and Mary College head cross country coach Forest Braden told Austin Alanis that the 2020 Bonsall High School graduate isn't guaranteed a berth on the William and Mary cross country team, but Braden also told Alanis what he needs to achieve for a berth on the Tribe's squad.

"It's in my hands for training and getting to that level," Alanis said.

"The coach and I have communicated about training and what it will take to get on the team," Alanis said. "He knows my interests and he's very open-minded about it."

Braden is also the Tribe's head distance coach during the track and field season. "I will also try to compete in track and field," Alanis said.

"I don't have a lot of years in the sport, not as many as other people on the team do, but he seems willing to entertain my experience," Alanis said. "I'm going to train to make the team as a walk-on, but I'm not in a position right now where I have a spot waiting."

Alanis is a military dependent and the family was in Stuttgart, Germany, when Alanis was in fourth grade at the Patch Barracks school. He was in a running club as a fourth grader.

"Freshman year in high school is when I first ran track," Alanis said.

Alanis' father was transferred to Camp Pendleton in 2017. Alanis attended Lejeune High School in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as a freshman. "When I was a freshman in high school, I had no interest in doing any sports, but quite a few of my friends did cross country," Alanis said.

His decision not to run cross country in ninth grade was due to prioritizing academics rather than an aversion to participating in the Devil Pups' athletic programs. "I didn't want to jeopardize my grades," Alanis said.

That would turn out not to be a problem. Alanis graduated from Bonsall High School as the school's salutatorian and compiled a grade-point average of 4.5577. He received an "A" grade in every high school class he took, including advanced classes and Palomar College courses for which students receive both high school and community college credit. Students in the advanced classes and Palomar College classes receive an extra point for their grade-point average.

"Overall, Austin is a leader. He is very determined and dedicated to his academics and athletics. He sets specific admirable goals and always finds a way to achieve them," said current Bonsall cross country coach Tamara Miller, who coached Alanis during the 2019 season.

Alanis tried track and field in spring 2017. The Lejeune High School coach had team members write down their goals. Alanis, who had no experience, set a goal of running the mile (the 1,600-meter race is sometimes referred to as the metric mile) in under six minutes. He had a time of 5:41.4 in his first meet to finish sixth in that race, immediately behind Lejeune teammate and 2020 Fallbrook High School graduate John Regan.

"I was really interested in running, trying to get my time better," Alanis said. "I've just gotten more interested in it and more involved with the sport."

The Frontier Conference combines all leagues into the conference championship meet. In November 2017, Alanis finished 22nd among all boys at the cross country conference meet and fourth among sophomores. Three of the 21 faster times were posted by Bonsall High School teammates.

The top three Division V boys teams at the CIF San Diego Section meet qualified for the state meet as did the top five individuals not affiliated with a qualifying team. In 2017 Bonsall placed third among the Division V schools at the section meet to qualify as a team while Alanis was 43rd among the Division V boys. He finished his sophomore cross country season at the state meet, posting a time of 19:20.9 on the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) course at Woodward Park in Fresno and finishing 175th among the 207 Division V boys.

The top 10 finishers at the Frontier Conference meet receive all-league honors, and Alanis did that as a junior with a fifth-place finish in the 2018 meet. He placed 28th in that year's Division V section race.

"He's such a self-driven young man that there's no doubt in my mind he'll do well," said Al Greene, who was Bonsall's cross country and track and field head coach during Alanis' sophomore and junior years.

Alanis' final high school league cross country race in 2019 ended with a third-place finish, giving him all-league recognition for the second year in a row. In the 2019 section meet he was seventh among all Division V boys, which placed him on the all-CIF team, and third among runners whose school did not qualify as a team. Alanis closed out his high school cross country career with a time of 16:59.6 on the Woodward Park course, which placed 54th among the 203 Division V runners.

"He has got great speed and endurance," Miller said.

The 2018 Frontier Conference track and field league meet included a seventh-place finish by Alanis in the 3,200-meter race and an 11th-place time of 5:14.94 in the 1,600-meter event.

Alanis' final track and field competition was at the 2019 CIF San Diego Section preliminaries, where he was part of Bonsall's 4x400 relay team which took 21st place among the 22 Division II teams. Bonsall's 4x400 team qualified for the CIF meet by placing second at the Frontier Conference meet. In addition to the 4x400 Alanis ran the 800-meter and 1600-meter events at the 2019 league meet and took seventh place in both. His metric mile time was 4:53.93.

"He did most of the work on his own. He worked hard," Greene said.

Alanis was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. His father, Oscar Alanis Jr., played high school football in Central California. Austin Alanis is the oldest of three siblings. His 14-year-old brother, Andrew, completed his freshman year at Bonsall High School this spring but did not play any sports for the Legionnaires. His 7-year-old sister, Angelina, completed first grade at Bonsall West Elementary School this spring.

Hampstead, North Carolina, is about 30 miles from Camp Lejeune, and Alanis attended kindergarten and first grade in Hampstead before spending second through fourth grades in Stuttgart. The family lived in Stafford, Virginia, about 14 miles from Quantico, when Alanis was in fifth and sixth grade.

The rest of the Alanis family will also be in Virginia this fall, as Lt. Colonel Oscar Alanis has been transferred back to Virginia. Austin Alanis was also considering the University of California, San Diego and the University of California, Irvine before choosing William and Mary.

"It's been a while since I've lived on the East Coast and I wanted to have another adventure," Alanis said.

Alanis took his campus visit to William and Mary during summer 2019. "I felt really at home there and I felt I belonged there," he said.

He will be a kinesiology major at William and Mary, and Alanis plans to minor or even double-major in economics. "I definitely want to do something with economics," he said.

That could include teaching economics or other social science classes. "I'm thinking of becoming a teacher and a running coach at a high school. I'd like to return to North County," Alanis said.

If a Bonsall High School position is open Alanis would like to be part of the Bonsall faculty and the Legionnaires' athletic program.

"I know that there are going to be other interests that pop up in college," Alanis said. "I'm just keeping my mind open to those as well."

Alanis' favorite Bonsall High School sports memory was qualifying for the cross country state meet as a team when he was a sophomore. His music interests account for his favorite school memory. "It was probably performing Any Way You Want It last year at the talent show. I love performing," he said.

He was also pleased with the smiles the audience had after his performance. "That was something that made me happy. And I got a prom date out of it so that worked out, too," Alanis said.

Bonsall High School had a guitar ensemble during Alanis' sophomore and junior years. In 2019 the teacher transferred to the Vista Unified School District, so Bonsall didn't have a guitar ensemble for the 2019-20 school year.

In addition to his sports and music activities Alanis was in the National History Day Club, Mock Trial, and the Bonsall Buddies program which creates bonds between seniors and freshmen.

Alanis was also in Boy Scouts and became an Eagle Scout in April. His Eagle Scout project was building a trophy case for Bonsall High School.

"I hope to continue hearing about great things that Bonsall High School graduates and students do," Alanis said.

Miller graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1993 and then ran cross country and track for the University of California, Riverside. "As an experienced runner myself I know that running at the collegiate level provides a structured developed college experience. This is very fitting for Austin. I know that he will continue to push his limits with his running, and I am excited to follow his college running career," she said.

Alanis knows what he must do to be able to run in college, but even if he is unable to make the team, he will still be a William and Mary student. "Just going to the college itself is enough of an honor," he said.