Clayton Mendez Tells All Of His Emotional Running Journey


His legacy as a Chicago Public League runner is still being written because he is only a junior at Whitney Young High School. Clayton Mendez has been on a mountain high in 2017 since running a US #2 9:01.89 at the Proviso West Indoor Invitational. Saturday evening at the Distance Night In Palatine Mendez became the first Illinois runner to break 9:00 this season outdoors. He did so the hard way by running solo over the second half of the race. On the other side of the ledger, Mendez has had his share of demise like a 3rd place finish in the CPS cross country title race and a draining 79th finish to end a disappointing harrier season. However, it is this emotional interview that Mendez really lets out the facts of what was ticking in his head over the past school year.

Watch Clayton's race


Event 4 Boys 3200 Meter Run Elite

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 Meet Record: M 8:59.46  4/22/2017   Clayton Mendez, Whitney Young 
    Name                    Year School                  Finals  H#
===================================================================
Finals                                                             
  1       Mendez, Clayton        Whitney Young          8:59.46M  2
  2       Hall, Logan            Arthur-Lovington       9:11.06   2
  3       McIntyre, Wyatt        Athens                 9:11.32   2
  4       Pereira, Matt          Lake Zurich            9:11.79   2
  5       Mitchell, Evan         Lincoln-Way West       9:13.27   2
  6       Makrounis, Alex        Hoffman Estates        9:15.94   2
  7       Worman, Jack           Hoffman Estates        9:15.99   2
  8       Chada, Tanner          Hinckley-B-R           9:16.69   2
  9       Hurgoi, Anthony        Dundee-Crown           9:21.59   1
 10       Hamblen, Brayden       Rock Falls             9:22.31   2
 11       Brady, Tommy           Maine South            9:22.76   2
 12       Butcher, Brian         Mahomet-Seymour        9:22.94   1
 13       Ohm, Austin            Illiana Christia       9:26.90   1
 14       Adams, Jeremy          Chicago (Jones)        9:27.63   2
 15       Leonard, Brian         Palatine               9:28.97   2
 16       Burns, Pat             Lake Zurich            9:29.19   1
 17       Friedler, Kyle         Chicago (Northside)    9:30.06   2
 18       Obroin, Michael        St. Ignatius           9:33.09   1
 19       Aho, Matthew           Grayslake (Central)    9:34.14   2
 20       Maison, Scott          WW South               9:34.73   2
 21       St. Clair, Robert      Mundelein              9:36.35   1
 22       Parrish, Charlie       Freeburg               9:37.00   1
 23       Blanco, Matthew        Oswego (East)          9:37.86   1
 24       Adesso, Cole           St. Charles (East)     9:38.02   1
 25       Carillo, Dario         Mundelein              9:38.86   1
 26       Jacobo, Richie         Palatine               9:38.90   1
 27       Haffner, Brett         Hinsdale South         9:43.32   1
 28       Amoruso, Joe           St. Ignatius           9:47.73   1
 29       Keys, John             WW South               9:50.92   2
 30       Walls, John            St. Ignatius           9:55.16   1
 31       Wong, Eric             Chicago (Jones)       10:03.37   1
 32       Prior, Gavin           Mattoon               10:09.66   1