Stallions sprinter heads to Southern Cal
For The Madera Tribune
Madera South High School graduate Alyssa Renwick stands with CSU Dominguez Hills track coaches Warren Edmonson and Carl Allen. Renwick committed to run track next year at the Carson-area school in the Los Angeles area.
The fastest female runner in Madera South Stallions’ history, Alyssa Renwick, will continue running at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson in Southern California.
“I’m glad that getting an offer happened. Now, I’m about to go to college. It’s really nice,” she said.
Renwick, who set school records in the 100, 200 and 4X100 meter relays, holds the Madera Unified School District record in the 100 meter dash.
“I’ve been trying to beat that record for four years,” she said. “I’ve lowered that record until my last meet. It’s now at 12.15 seconds.”
Renwick’s recruitment kind of came at the last minute and she committed to sign right before she graduated in June.
“They wanted to see me and offered me a full-ride scholarship,” she said. “My coaches have been in contact with them for a long time. He told my coach he wanted to come down and see me. He finally came down a few weeks ago. He met me and my coaches on campus.”
Renwick’s performance during the season caught the eye of a coach, who knew of the CSUDH coach.
“The way he found out about me was one of the coaches at one of my meets told him he would be interested in me and that she was good,” Renwick said.
Renwick was about to go to Fresno State and was just about to start paying for school.
“They (Dominguez Hills) came in and offered me my scholarship,” she said. “I was going to walk-on to Fresno State. Just before I signed up, they (Fresno State) offered me a spot on the team. I would have to pay for everything else for schools.”
Renwick also had an opportunity at CSU East Bay.
“I was talking with the coach for CSU East Bay for a long time to see if I could get in to the school,” she said. “I couldn’t get in, but he was trying to get me in.”
Renwick plans to major in social work to eventually become a Child Protective Services worker.
Renwick said she tried other sports when she was younger, but always came back to track.
“I started in elementary school,” she said.
Rendwick’s family is a little saddened that she will be going out of town for school rather than down the road at Fresno State. But, they also know of the opportunities that Renwick can have in Los Angeles.
“It’s not too bad. It’s just four hours,” she said. “It’s not out of state. I’m still in the same state as my mother.
“It’s good for my family to be in Los Angeles. For my mother, she’s a little sad I’m leaving. The way they see it is I’ll have more opportunities to be noticed. I will be able to get noticed by sponsors.”
Renwick had to shift her focus from going to Fresno State to now going to Dominguez Hills.
“We are still doing the paperwork for the school,” she said. “I haven’t really signed. He came over to my house for a meeting and we made it official. He was going to get the paperwork done to get signed, but it is official for me to go to that school.”
Although Renwick hasn’t officially signed a National Letter of Intent for Dominguez Hills, she is enrolled into the school and will receive scholarship money. She said the school still wants her to sign an NLI. They just don’t have it ready yet.
Renwick is happy the way her season ended, kind of, and set a school record, but her last meet is one she will likely put in the rear-view mirror.
“I placed third in the relay, first in the 100 and first in the 200 meters at the County/Metro Athletic Conference championships. However, I didn’t finish my season well. It wasn’t the worst meet, but I went to Disneyland the day before. I slept the entire day and went to the track meet. I fell on my relay after I gave the baton to my teammate. I was one second slower in my 100 meter.”
With her Madera South career over, Renwick is ready to start her Dominguez Hills career.
“It feels like a dream come true,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to get a scholarship and go to a school in Los Angeles.”
