Double The Speed

The Leon twins run towards a college future

Amber Toliver
Esteban and Jesus leading the pack at the Pacific View League Meet 2 in Camarillo, CA.

Seniors Esteban and Jesus Leon both run Track and Cross Country at Oxnard High School. “[The coach] was able to grab my attention easily and offered me [and my brother] scholarship money to run there,” said Esteban, now, they will continue these sports at California State University East Bay.

“I contacted the school and other schools to show that I’m interested in running and attending their colleges,” said Jesus. Esteban is considering majoring in Psychology but is still unsure of pursuing a career in that field. Jesus wants to major in Kinesiology because he wants to have a profession in the health field.

Their grandmother passed away last June, “as we continue to work hard we will never forget how much she meant to us,” said Jesus.

“I believe she is going to help us along the way as she watches over us,” said Esteban. “I’ll always remember her getting up from sitting on the couch and saw her face light up in joy whenever I came home with a medal,” said Esteban. Both said that their grandmother was their motivation and their greatest supporter.

“It’s all the hard work you put into the sport, things happen, you’re not always going to like the training, but pushing through it will definitely benefit you,” said Jesus.

“I was [the] 3200 meter champion and 1st place automatically gets to go [to CIF],” said Jesus.

“I came in second for our Pacific View League Finals in the 3200 meter race, two seconds behind my twin,” said Esteban. Like always, they constantly compete against each other. Before they competed in CIF for Track, they had previously competed in CIF for Cross Country.

“The advice I want to give other athletes is that there are opportunities. You can get to pursue your dreams. It’s never easy, as long as you work hard anything is possible,” said Esteban. Various schools saw their potential, but they chose to continue their running career and education at CSU East Bay.