Sophia Rodriguez

Mercer Island HS, Mercer Island, WA, c/o 2027
AthleticNET Bio
*Moved after start of program, was originally going to Dallastown Area Sr HS, Seven Valleys, PA

Up until seventh grade, Sophia Rodriguez’s goal was to play soccer in the NCAA. She aspired to play for North Carolina or some other big time college program. Running was in her genes and always part of family life. Her father, Gabriel or “Gaby” as he was known growing up, was a runner at Columbus High School in Miami, then went on the Florida International University[he still holds school records in the 8k cross country (24:38), 3k indoors( 8:26.56), 5k indoor (14:28.27)], coached at the University of Texas-Pan American and then competed for Team USA three times in the mountain, trail and ultra running (2011-13) competitions. Her mother, Perla (nee Rios)  was  a letter winner at the University of Texas Pan American and still is on the school record books for  the steeplechase(5th with an 11:07.46), two mile cross country(2nd with a 11:21.0), three mile cross country(2nd with a 17:30.0) and the 5k(10th in 17:58.3)and ran a 2:53 marathon at age 40.  Sophia would run the Turkey Trot and some local races and did some track, but didn’t have any remarkable times, 2:39.84 for the 800m, and 5:13.24 for the 1500m, and 11:15.91 for the 3,000m as a sixth grader.   

Sophia began running with her father more last year as a seventh grader  and low and behold she began to put running ahead of soccer practice. “That’s when I really fell in love with it,” she says.

And she improved exponentially from then on. Her father attributes her success to something that is overlooked in this day of super shoes and different and more intense styles of training.

“Kids of married people who were runners are a big part of the success we see. It’s genetic for sure,” he says.

Now hooked on training and getting faster, Sophia focused her attention on the New Balance Outdoor Nationals 5k at the end of her seventh grade track season.  She had to run a qualifying time in a 5k before entering, but once she qualified she was happy with how her final second 5k on the track went.

“We had to qualify before so I had to run a time,” she recalls of her New Balance Outdoors Nationals 5k. “And that was when I really fell in love with the 5k, but also just running in general. It's so cliche to say that you can put in the hard work and then get the results, but for me to PR from 17:43.53[John Hay Pennsylvania Distance Festival] to 17:32. It was like my last race too and  my family was there, so it was pretty incredible.”

Rodriguez’s training schedule hasn’t been otherworldly. She says she doesn’t do anything “crazy,” and her mileage is in the 30-40 miles per week range which includes some walking heading into this year’s high school cross country season.

“You see all these great kids and they post their workouts on Strava. The best of the best are only running 50 to 60 miles a week,” says Rodriguez who speaks well beyond her 14 years of age. Her mom refers to her youngest daughter as an ‘Old Soul.’ “If you can do less and still get the same amount of work and everything you gain as if you were doing more than why would you do more? Right now I’m sitting at a good mileage and we don't do anything too crazy.”

Her times kept improving her eighth grade cross country season. However, a rule prohibiting Pennsylvania eighth graders from advancing to NXN from their NXR NE Regional, placed her in the “open” division which she won in 18:40.9. That time would have placed her second in the championship race which was won by Jolena Quarzo in 18:30.7. Months later she is still a bit miffed at not being able to advance.

“I ran on hate that race,” she says laughing. Rodriguez is a big fan of Rage Against the Machine and her favorite hype song is ‘Wake Up’ which gives you a sense of the passion she runs with.

The following week she finished seventh at the Running Lane Championships in 17:55.7 and then in January finished 17th at the USATF U20 Cross Country Championships in 21:42. Solid performances which laid the ground for even better performances in the indoor and outdoor season.

Rodriguez gets training pointers from her dad who still runs and is a training partner. They live near Amish country and there are a lot of trails that the family likes to run. She rattles off names of mountain trail runners like Zach Miller and travels to courses around her area that he has mapped out. Some have 25% grades which Rodriguez relishes.

“On Saturdays during cross country season, we run a lot more together,” she says of her and her dad. “ We’ll do trail runs together or adventure days. I just feel it’s home. My legs are still sore from the last one we did. We are definitely really lucky to live near these little pockets of really cool trails and stuff. Pennsylvania is really hilly so you are either going uphill or downhill.I think trail running really helps me in cross country because it’s so demanding.”

Rodriguez’s exploits have not gone unnoticed on social media and in the annals of track and field. Her running a sub 5 minute mile garnered over a million views. At Nike Indoor Nationals, she shattered the age 14 world record in 2 mile indoor with a 10:20.68. In track she ran an age 14 world record of 16:22.30 for 5k at the John Hay Pennsylvania Distance Carnival on June 2, a day after she had run the Hoka Festival of Miles in 4:50.20- a trip that required her to fly back from St. Louis, MO some 865 miles away. She followed that with an age 14 outdoor 2 mile record of 10:12.33 at the Nike Outdoor Nationals.

However, Rodriguez is relatively unaware of the attention she gets. She wasn’t allowed to have a cell phone until she was 14 and today does not use her cell phone much as she enjoys being in nature and reading. Also, she is not allowed to have social media on her phone and the bits and pieces of information she gets are from friends. Most friends don’t bring it up since Rodriguez doesn’t really have an interest in it.

Rodriguez has a good support system and loves the process of training and racing. She trusts her dad and his training advice. Sometimes her family has to calm her down as she does like to train. She was excited that she got to do her first two a day this summer- 25 minutes in the morning and 25 minutes in the afternoon. Tapering is something she is hesitant to do, but her family helps her with that.

“Sometimes I get frustrated[about the taper] and if I do speak out on it, my dad will walk me through and be like, ‘listen this is what it does and  you'll feel it like this. Trust me on this.’  So I just trust that it is going to work out. He and my family are big reminders. They always remind me to just chill, calm down. You can take these two days really easy, and just everything will be fine. Like the world won’t end.”

Heading into her freshman year, she is looking forward to competing with her sister, Victoria, who will be a junior who personal bests of 5:03.44 for mile, 10:51.78 for 3,200m and  who finished fourth at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in the 2k steeplechase with a 6:52.76.

The landscape will be different this year. She just learned this past week that her family is moving to Seattle, WA and she and her sister will attend Mercer Island HS. Her father was recently named VP at Brooks and the family wants to begin the school year in their new environment. 

“We are moving to Seattle!,” she said via email this past week. “We took a visit to a bunch of different areas and are going to attend Mercer Island High School. It’s such a beautiful place, the coach[Susan Empey] has made a couple Olympic Marathon Trials in the Marathon, and Owen Powell (my Nike teammate) goes there too.”