Santa Barbara High’s Tanner Munizich
Santa Barbara High’s Tanner Munizich is the Santa Barbara Running Male High School Runner of the Month.
Munizich will be taking on a captain’s role this fall for the Dons’ cross country team and is busy training for the fast-approaching season. Munizich says he’s running 60-70 miles a week to prepare and is looking forward to filling a leadership role.
“You gotta make sure everyone’s on task but not be overly imposing about it,” Munizich says about being a team captain.
While most of the miles are knocked out during team training sessions, Munizich has participated at Nite Moves this summer and will be handling the running leg for a relay team at this month’s Santa Barbara Triathlon. He also spent a week of vacation in Lake Tahoe and liked the experience of high-altitude training.
“That really helped a lot,” Munizich said.
The commitment has been noticed by Dons head coach Olivia Perdices.
“He’s just really focused on training and racing. He knows exactly where he’s supposed to be and what he’s supposed to be doing, and he’s thinking it through every second,” explained Perdices. “And he passes that on to the younger guys. It’s hard to find a kid who can express that stuff to other kids.”
The 17-year-old is strongly considering several colleges in the Boston area and hopes to run the Boston Marathon one day.
After all, Munizich says he likes longer distances and gets stronger as a 3-mile cross country race progresses. His goal for this season is to get his 3-mile time in the 15:30s.?Munizich credits mentors like Coach Perdices and Nash Jimenez for helping him get there.
The High School Runner of the Month award recognizes local prep runners that exemplify the term ?Student-Athlete? by demonstrating leadership and excellence in high school athletics. ?Thanks to?Santa Barbara Running Company??for making this award possible and for supporting local athletes.
Find other Runners of the Month?HERE
