Over 24 years, Coach Rod Wortley has seen many of his athletes not only improve, but excel beyond what they ever imagined. Meet Julia Contrereas.

"Being coached by Rod Wortley brings to mind one thing," says Julia Contreras, "it was never about the running." 

That's a telling statement from an eight-time national qualifier, three-time All-American and five-time conference champion.

Coach Wortley has an equally interesting perspective, "Coaching Julia was always about leadership development."

Coming from small-town Fowler high school, Contreras competed in multiple State Championship meets, but college presented a larger stage and higher expectations. "From the beginning, Julia embraced our team culture of big goals and exceptional care," says Wortley, "The program was doing well, but we needed some key servant leaders to get us to where we were capable of, both in competition and as a family, instead of just a team."

Her junior season of indoor track & field, the team had a good shot at earning All-America honors in the distance medley relay, but they lacked a strong miler to anchor the event. Before the season, Wortley approached several athletes he believed could do the job. Only Contreras agreed, not because she was confident in her skill as a miler, but because the team needed her. 

"With 'it was never about the running' at the core of his program, you work hard and train to be the best athlete you can be, but you also gain truth and wisdom for life that will outlast anything learned from stepping onto a track," Contreras explains. "A lot of who I am today and how I handle life is because of what I learned and experienced from being coached by Rod -  how to be a parent and spouse, how to face trials and tribulation and seek Christ in the midst of it all, how to remain confident that God is who He says He is... more life lessons than I can list in a simple paragraph."

Julia's example of selfless, servant leadership carried her cross country team to their first conference championship and nationals appearance her senior year. "Going into the season, I told her that we needed more than incremental improvement - she would need to bring together our 3-5 group under 19 minutes," Wortley remembers. "Julia was more of a middle distance specialist, so that was a big ask." 

In the two most important meets of the season, Contreras delivered the team's 3, 4 and 5 runners to the finish under 19 minutes and within 2 seconds of one another.

And that distance medley relay? Her junior and senior seasons, Julia anchored the squad to All-American finishes. Along the way she posted personal bests of 2:18 for 800m, 4:42 for 1500m, 10:32 for 3,000m and a 5,000m PR of 18:24.

In what should have been her final collegiate event, Julia anchored the 4 x 800 meter relay to All-America honors. Less than twelve hours later, she was at the starting line to run the marathon, helping to pace three teammates. "Julia didn't have any reason to run the marathon," Wortley says, "other than to be there for those three other women. It was a fitting final act of servant leadership." 

Incidentally, Contraras completed the 26.2 mile race, finishing ahead of her teammates.

"Don't get me wrong, I became a great runner because of Rod and his coaching wisdom," Julia says, "but I also became a better person more equipped to face life and whatever it may bring, and that is worth more to me than any medal or accolade.