Catalina High School’s cross country captain Emiliano Caldera starts every Tuesday and Thursday with a run just before sunrise.
Unlike most teenagers who cringe at the thought of waking up at 5 a.m., Caldera doesn’t mind because, for him, running is in his blood.
“I started (running) because my uncle was a marathon runner and he always used to tell me to run because I was a soccer player,” he said. “But then it turns out, I quit soccer just to run.”
The 16-year-old began running in middle school while he lived in Nevada. When he and his family moved to Tucson two years ago, he continued his running journey at Catalina High School, where he currently competes in cross country and track and field.
Emiliano Caldera, 16, runs during a track meet. The high school junior has a 3.8 GPA, is president of his school’s FBLA club and treasurer of Catalina’s HOSA club. He hopes to become a physical therapist.
As a freshman, he completed 5ks around the 20-minute mark, but over the last two years, he’s improved his time to 16 minutes. He aims to run sub-16 by the end of the season.
Although it’s early in the season, Caldera is currently ranked sixth in the region and 23rd in the school’s division, Class 3A.
At the Desert Twilight Men’s 5k Championships on Sept. 27 in Mesa, Caldera placed 32nd out of 287. He was the only runner from a Tucson high school to crack the top 35.
Just like running, things can change fast in cross country. Last week, Caldera was ranked fourth in the region and 27th in the school’s division, according to Chelsea Duran, Catalina High School’s cross country and track and field coach.
“Emmy (Emiliano) is kind of a once-in-a-lifetime type of athlete as a coach,” Duran said. “He started as a freshman and it was really like, ‘Hey, I’m getting in shape for soccer.’ He told me he was a sprinter but I saw that talent right away. So, it’s been cool to watch his progression from ‘I think I’m a sprinter’ to being one of the top distance runners in the state. But it’s more than that. It’s the dedication, the discipline. If I tell him, ‘I want you to go run four miles in the morning,’ he will run four miles in the morning no matter what, on top of all the extracurriculars and everything that he does.”
A look at region standings for local teams.
After his regular school days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he spends his nights learning about anatomy and physiology at JTED healthcare classes. The night classes are a stepping stone toward his career goal of becoming a physical therapist.
During the rest of the week, you can find Caldera working hard to maintain his 3.8 GPA, in addition to his extracurricular duties as president of Catalina’s Future Business Leaders of America club and treasurer of the school’s Future Health Professionals club, HOSA.
Although it can be difficult at times to balance cross country, academics and extracurriculars, Caldera says it’s all worth it because it allows him to grow, receive more scholarship opportunities and get his name out there.
Duran describes Caldera as disciplined, motivated, a little goofy and a great leader. She says she’s enjoyed watching his maturity level grow both as an athlete and a young man.
“After his first year, we went through a time of a lot of doubt, (where he was) not thinking he was good enough, things like that, even almost quitting, to a point where he’s all in leading the team. He’s the captain of our team,” she said.
Emiliano Caldera, 16, runs during a track meet. As a freshman, Caldera was finishing cross country 5ks around the 20-minute mark. His time as a junior is now around the 16-minute mark.
Even when Caldera isn’t in school, participating in extracurricular activities or running 5ks, his mind is always on running. During his free time, he enjoys reading running books, including his favorite book, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.
Once he graduates in 2026, he plans to continue his education in northern Arizona and, of course, keep running.
“I’m hoping to go to NAU for cross country and because they also have a really good physical therapy program there,” Caldera said.
Duran, who has coached cross country for several years, says Catalina hasn’t had an NCAA scholarship athlete yet, but she thinks Caldera has a “pretty good shot at that,” since NAU is Division I and has become the most dominant school in the sport the past decade.
“I’m hoping that this year is going to get him some looks and maybe even to the point of getting early signing next September,” she said. “And then, who knows, maybe see if he can get to the point of World Championship trials or Olympic trials, he’s looking at maybe competing for Mexico.
“I’m just excited to see someone like this, from a school like Catalina that’s small and has had maybe not the best reputation over the few last few years, to actually see some of these athletes just step up and change the perspective and show what Catalina is now. We’re rising up. We’re growing.”
Emiliano Caldera, a senior at Catalina High School, took home second place in the 2025 Division III cross country state tournament.
Get to know Emiliano
What’s your favorite running shoe?
HOKA Mach X.
What type of music is on your running playlist?
Afrobeats, Mexican and Dominican music.
If you could run anywhere in the world, where would you like to run?
Buffalo Park in Flagstaff.
What’s your favorite pre-run snack?
Oatmeal or a (brown sugar and) cinnamon Pop-Tart.
What’s your favorite class?
History or English.
