Calysta Martino-Lopez, women’s cross country co-captain at San Diego City College is on track to becoming an athletic trainer.

Lopez had no idea she would be leading her team to the state championships when she began her freshman year at City College in fall 2018.

“After high school, I had my mind set on going to City College just to get my education going,” said Lopez, 21. “Then I met Coach Marco. He encouraged me to join the women’s cross country team. I already ran freely for fun, so I gave it a shot and really enjoyed it.”

Lopez started training with the team in fall 2018 and was named co-captain in fall 2019. For her, the experience was life changing. “Running is my therapy. Running helped me discover who I am,” said Lopez. She applied to City College as a psychology major and later switched to kinesiology as she discovered her desire to learn more about human performance and biomechanics.

Fall 2019 marked a record-breaking season for the City College Knights. The women's cross country team completed their most successful season in over 30 years. The last time a women’s cross country team from City College qualified for the state championship meet was in 1989, where the team took second.

“As a team captain it felt like a dream. I cannot believe it actually happened,” said Lopez. “Our goal was always to get to the state championships even when we added new runners to our team. They all were so enthusiastic about our vision.”

“Cali has played a critical leadership role for our team over the past three years, two as our co-captain. She readily embraced what it meant to be a collegiate runner and absorbed everything she could about the sport,” said Marco Anzures, Women’s Cross Country Head Coach. “A lot of our success throughout the pandemic can be attributed to her ability to communicate with her teammates and co-captain, Yesenia Huerta. I could not have asked for a better leader for our team at this time in the program’s history. I know she will continue to make us proud at Cal Poly Humboldt.”

Lopez will complete an Associate in Arts in Kinesiology for Transfer Degree this May. With goals of becoming an athletic trainer, she will continue her kinesiology studies at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in the fall. The college is the third and newest polytechnic school in the state as it joins Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona.

“I have been in Southern California for so long, I love having the opportunity to transfer and explore the world,” said Lopez. She hopes to run for Cal Poly Humboldt’s women's cross-country team. “I would like to run at the university level. I already reached out to the coach at Humboldt.”