Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Chris McMillen: Breaking records

Tony Altobelli

After a trying junior season last year, Chris McMillen is looking

to finally catch his full stride at just the right time.

A Sea View League champion in the 1,600 meters a year ago for the

Newport Harbor High track and field squad despite an assortment of

injuries and ailments, McMillen is healthy and ready to show the cross

country world just how fast he can go.

McMillen used the Orange County Championships on Oct. 14 as a

springboard for his campaign. He finished first in the Division I

sweepstakes race with a personal-best time of 15:02, four seconds faster

than the previous meet record set by Ryan Bousquet of Esperanza last year

(15.06).

His time helped lead the Sailors to the team title against some of the

best cross country teams around.

“We’re not talking about breaking some schlep’s meet record here,”

Newport Coach Bim Barry said. “Bousquet is one of the top runners in all

of CIF and Chris beat his time rather handily.”

McMillen is a student at Orange Coast Middle College High School but

is still allowed by the CIF to run for his home school, Newport Harbor.

“You’re allowed to compete for your home school as long as the

alternate school is recognized by your league,” Barry explained. The Sea

View League does recognize that school and he is allowed to compete with

us. It goes on a case-by-case basis and some leagues don’t allow it, but

ours does.”

For McMillen, the extra attention in his schoolwork has made his life

a little easier and along with his teaching mentors, he also has been

getting some tutorial work with running from a pretty reliable source.

Trent Bryson, a CIF Southern Section champ for the Sailors in 1993 and

a standout runner for UC Santa Barbara, has been working out with

McMillen and the hard work appears to be paying off.

“Running with Trent has been great,” the Daily Pilot Athlete of the

Week said. “He helps me to push even harder than I normally would.

Barry agrees. “With Trent, Chris now has someone that can not only

physically push him, but he has someone that can teach him what it takes

to be a champion because he’s been there.”

It was his first taste of victory that hooked McMillen into the

running sports.

“I was into water polo and football growing up, but my sister

convinced me to try running,” McMillen said. “I won the first race I

entered and I thought, ‘Whoa, this is pretty cool.’ ”

From that first race, McMillen has evolved his style into focused, but

not tense.

“I try to stay as relaxed as possible out there,” McMillen said.

“Sometimes, I’m actually too relaxed and I still need to work on pushing

myself when I need that extra push.”

One thing that isn’t relaxed, according to Barry, is his will to win.

“I don’t think he has one real weakness, but I can tell you, his

biggest strength is his guts,” Barry said. “When he runs out there, he

punishes people.”

With the Mt. San Antonio Invitational, CIF and state meets

approaching, what does Barry see in McMillen’s future?

“With Chris, we evaluate his success one week at a time,” he said. “If

he stays healthy, he could be one of the favorites for CIF and even

state, but nobody is going to give those titles to him. He’s going to

have to go out and earn them.”

Wherever he finishes isn’t as important as the team’s success,

according to McMillen.

“I’m in this for my teammates,” he said. “We’re a pretty tight group.

At the beginning of the season, there was some attitude floating around,

but now that we’ve gotten to know each other, we’re working together.

That’s the best part of all of this.”

Besides running, McMillen enjoys surfing as well as indoor rock

climbing.