![\"Jonah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779888553_59_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nAttention screenwriters, producers and agents: The Jonah Jeovany Vasquez story continues this weekend in Clovis, and it\u2019s giving off Disney-like vibes.<\/p>\n
The senior at Cathedral High is running in the 1,600 at the CIF state track and field championships on Friday at Buchanan High. He had never stepped on a \u201csquishy\u201d surface, otherwise known as a track, before this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never even knew what a track felt like,\u201d he said. \u201dEverything was new to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For three years, he attended Alliance Leichtman-Levine, a small Los Angeles charter school near his home in South Los Angeles. He ran cross country on his own with little coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey would hire a random coach off the street and we\u2019d play flag football,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
His training was jogging on a treadmill for two miles and maybe getting eight to 10 miles a week.<\/p>\n
He finished third at the 2024 City Section Division V finals in 16:48 as the only representative from his school. In the state final, he finished 76th in Division V with a time of 16:58.60. That experience gave Vasquez motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing so many people pass me bothered me,\u201d he said. \u201cI promised myself I was going to train hard so it wouldn\u2019t happen again. I wanted to prove to myself I could run with the top guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jonah Jeovany Vasquez of Cathedral is on the podium after finishing second in the Division 3 1,600 at Moorpark.<\/p>\n
(Cathedral)<\/p>\n
He transferred to Cathedral last May, and coach Martin Farfan aggressively trained him to make up for lost time. Vasquez ran 15:35 on the state championship course in Fresno. But two weeks before the state championships, he was struck by an E-bike during a 10-mile workout running along the L.A. River. He went flying and had a gash on his knee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was traumatic. I was at the peak of my power. I was super fit and faster than I had ever been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He iced the knee and stopped training. He still ran in the CIF prelims. \u201cI had no fitness,\u201d he said. \u201cI was like a deer in the headlights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Farfan started calling coaches telling them he had a talented runner but the recruiters were unimpressed. They took to the internet and couldn\u2019t find a single track time for Vasquez. Farfan had a ringer about to try track for the first time.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago at the Southern Section divisional championships, he finished second in the Division 3 final in a personal-best 4:08.44.<\/p>\n
Vasquez is healthy and eager to be the one passing runners with his late kick on Friday and Saturday night. He also has a scholarship waiting for him at Long Beach State.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always had natural endurance,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been active since I was little. I honestly believe when I\u2019m in college, I\u2019m going to do some great things. I have that spark in me not every athlete has. I have the drive to be the best I can possibly be. Maybe not by my freshman year, but I will develop. I will not stop until reaching my goal. It\u2019s all I want. When I sleep or do activities with my family, all I think about is running.\u201d<\/p>\n
His father immigrated from Nicaragua. His mother has family in Guatemala. They\u2019ve supported Vasquez as running became his passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly believe I have a 4:04 or 4:05 in me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Never doubt what can happen when a teenager finds something they love and devotes time and energy to achieving their dreams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attention screenwriters, producers and agents: The Jonah Jeovany Vasquez story continues this weekend in Clovis, and it\u2019s giving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":334391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26571,138303,1431,138302,2424,138301,48,52,51,47,50,49,63,2663,138304,138300,138305,315,1102,138299,430],"class_list":["post-334390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-cathedral","tag-disney-like-ending","tag-family","tag-farfan","tag-friday","tag-jonah-jeovany-vasquez","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mile","tag-random-coach","tag-state-track-championship","tag-talented-runner","tag-time","tag-training","tag-vasquez-motivation","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}