Ka’Deem Wynn | Sports Journalist

Pembroke Pines Charter senior Tomas Gimenez-Beron began his running career when he was 11 years old. “My mom would sign me up in the weekend 5Ks,” Tomas recalls. “I would go out there and just have fun catching people in the final sprint.” His mother would sign up the whole family for weekend runs for fun and also as a way to stay in shape. After doing these mandatory runs, it became a hobby for Tomas.

Hobby To Sport

Hobby or not, running weekly 5Ks proved helpful down the road. It was no surprise that Tomas was ready to go once he reached high school. As a freshman at Nova High School back in 2011. Tomas ran a season-best time of 17:23.02 in the 5000 meters at the region meet, placing 25th. In the spring of 2012, with the exception of an early season 800 meter, he ran only the 1600 meters. Tomas ran a season-best time of 4:45.98. He ran that at the region meet, placing ninth.

Now armed with experience at the high school level, Tomas surged forward quite literally.

As a sophomore, he ran his season-best time 16:48.93 at the region meet, placing 21st. With a successful first half of sophomore year, Tomas decided that he was going to keep it that way. Instead of running only the 1600 meters, he also ran the 3200. After running the 1600 meters consistently around 4:45 in most of the season, he improved on his time from freshman year by about six seconds. At the Dade Christian Last Chance Invitational, Tomas ran a then PR of 4:39.20, placing first. At the same meet, Tomas ran the 3200 meters with a  PR time of 10:15.30. He won the race, and broke the school’s 3200 meter record.

Junior year was a rough patch in Tomas’ career. Early in the season at the BCAA County Championships, he ran 16:49.94, placing 4th. The following week, he won the district race, but only in 17:04.22. It’s unclear what happened the week of regionals ━ according to official meet records, he didn’t run. Tomas was the only one from Nova to run at the FHSAA Cross Country State Finals, placing 160th with a 18:16.44.

In the spring Tomas continued to run the 1600 and 3200 meter races. This year however, he had more success in the 1600 meter run. At the BCAA Championships, he ran a PR of 4:36.84, placing 10th. His time earned him the school record. His success however, was short-lived. Over the next few weeks, Tomas ran 4:40.00, and then 5:03.69 at the district meet. His 3200 meter performance wasn’t any better. Much like his sophomore year performance in the 1600 meters, Tomas hovered around the same times every race, around 10:20. He only made it to the BCAA Championships, where he ran 11:04.92 placing 13th.

With a difficult year finally done, Tomas felt the need to make changes.

Changes

Many athletes transfer schools, during, or at the end of the school year, or during. Athletes have reasons why, good or bad.

“I had been trying to get into Pines Charter since I was in 8th grade and I was on a very lengthy waiting list,” said Tomas. “Around May of 2014, they called me asking if I wanted to attend Pines Charter.” Tomas immediately accepted.

With a new school, a new team, and a new start, Tomas was ready to work even harder. His coach, Joe Hazera instantly noticed. “Our athletes train in groups based on ability,” explains Hazera. “Within the first week of practice, Tomas made it clear that he could run with the ‘A’ group.” The “A” group being referred to Pembroke Pines’ 12th place state team last year, which is returning six of the runners, all whom are seniors this year. “The ‘veterans’ quickly embraced Tomas. He is now part of the family and is primarily concerned with the success of the team.”

Inspired by Pembroke Pines’ star runner last year, Andrew Iglesias, Tomas wanted to make a statement, and show that he truly deserved to be on the team. “This, I believe, helped me push myself further and gain a strong bond with my team.”

Tomas was serious about pushing himself He has been training harder than ever and it shows. At the UF Mtn. Dew Invitational, he ran a then PR of 16:01.02 in the 5000 meters, placing ninth. Just seven days later, he shattered that time, running a new PR of 15:52.26, after going toe-to-toe with Florida’s top runner, Nick Diaz of Miami Sunset, who won with a time of 15:51.84. In regards to his experience of running with the best Tomas said

“At the 32nd annual Spanish River Invitational, and with about 400 meters left to go, I saw Nick Diaz about 5 steps ahead of me. I remember hearing my coach in my head say to ‘fight the pain, because your opponent is probably hurting just as much; pain is only temporary, glory lasts forever.’ So I went and I kicked twice in order to be right next to him, but he kept pulling away. With 50 meters to go, I threw in my final kick and was able to be neck-and-neck, but he ended up beating me in the last step. Regardless, it was the most memorable 

race I ever ran, as I also PR'd alongside the number one runner in the state. When he shook my hand after the race I could not shake the smile off my face, it was a great moment.”

Coach Hazera had a few things to say about Tomas’ performance.

“Tomas has that rare combination of endurance, positive attitude, a tremendous will and leg speed of which I have not seen from any athlete that I have worked with.  Almost before I can set the next goal for him he has already exceeded it. I have spent the last three days readjusting my thoughts as to what he is capable of.”

Yesterday, Tomas ran 16:08.08 at the FSU Pre-State Invitational, finishing 36th.

Tomas The Human

Senior year is the last time for everything. Tomas is looking to be one of the top in the state, and run down anyone who is ahead of him. He is also hoping that the times he’s going to run will get him noticed by college scouts. “I can't wait to experience the intense college training as well as all the competition in college,” he said. “That will keep pushing me to work harder. I also can’t wait to travel all across the nation to different cities and the different sceneries that you run through." As all athletes and coaches know, when it comes to college sports, grades come first. His weighted GPA is a 4.4 and his unweighted is a 3.3. “Running can only take you so far, but intellect can give you a whole new world of opportunity.”

Tomas’ usual day consists of waking up early to do homework, and then going to school. After school and practice, Tomas and his tight-knit group of teammates go out to eat and hang out like regular teenagers. Tomas says that they get down to business when it’s time to run, but outside of that they always mess around with each other and have a good time. Tomas works at McDonalds, which isn’t the ideal place for a runner. But he says that money is money, and working at a place like that obviously hasn’t affected his running.

Being one of the top in the state, running is more to Tomas than just running. He loves the racing aspect of it, as well as the potential to win a race or to run a PR. He believes that all the hard work he puts in will pay off in each and every race.

“Work as hard as you can in practice; what you do in practice translates to the race. Also, to be patient with the results, your goals will come with time if you just work hard and stay focused. I had to wait 4 years of high school to finally reach 15s, so the patience worked out.”