Picture by Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal: Dan Chinchilla, front, competes in the Hudson County Cross Championship at Stephen R. Gregg Park in Bayonne on Friday, Oct. 26, 2018.
Daniel Chinchilla’s introduction to cross country came when he was sitting in his 10th grade Spanish class at Hoboken Charter School and the movie “McFarland, USA” was played.
“At first, I didn’t know what cross country was,” said Chinchilla, now a senior at Secaucus High School. “I liked running, but my school didn’t have cross country or track.”
At the time, Chinchilla was unaware that high school cross country in New Jersey bore little resemblance to the running through deserts and dirt hills of California as portrayed in the Kevin Costner movie. However, his rise to prominence within Hudson County running circles in many ways reads like a potential movie script of its own.
Despite transferring to Secaucus High School without the benefit of any off-season training program or knowledge of the sport less than a year ago, Chinchilla is now on track to become the latest — and most unlikely — college runner in the program’s 40-plus year history.
Chinchilla, who joined the team after the start of the 2018 cross country season and arrived at his first practice wearing basketball shoes, went on to earn First Team, All-NJIC Liberty Division and Third Team, All-Hudson County honors. The highlight of his season came when he took home third place at the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2, Group 1 championships.
“He hasn’t scratched the surface (of what he’s capable of). He’s chewing up workouts now in the summer time that he did not do last year,” Secaucus coach Stan Fryczynski said. “He had no structure, no organized template of workouts. This year, he’s following my varsity (summer) workout program and he’s doing well. I’m excited to see what he can do now with an entire summer under his belt.”
Fryczynski normally doesn’t take runners who haven’t completed the summer program, but will make an exception for students who are either freshmen or who had just transferred into the school like Chinchilla had.
Hoboken Charter did not have a cross country or track team. The only sport the school offered was basketball, which Chinchilla played. His only experience with running was from doing a handful of 5k runs with his step-mom Christine.
The idea of Chinchilla joining the team was first brought up to Daniel in gym class, then after that, a member of the team brought him to meet Fryczynski.
“My gym teacher (David Segro) was like ‘you like running, you’re fast and you’ve got stamina, why don’t you try cross country?’” said Chinchilla. “I came into practice and I wasn’t prepared. I had basketball sneakers on. I just fell in love with cross country and the culture of running.”
“He wasn’t ready to run (initially), but when you start looking at the NJIC Championship and on from late October and he started being a factor,” Fryczynski said. “He was our number one or two man from that point forward. That was just amazing to be perfectly honest. He was very centered, very focused and competitive.”
During the winter, the 5-foot-11 Chinchilla was a key reserve on the Patriots’ basketball team, which enjoyed its best season in years, going 19-7.
Then, in the spring, Chinchilla competed in both the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. He went on to medal in both events at the NJSIAA North 2, Group 1 sectional championships, taking third place in the 1,600 and fifth in the 3,200.
After seeing Chinchilla make such dramatic improvements over the course of his junior season, Fryczynski can’t help but be excited to see what this season has to offer.
“(Daniel) spent this past year learning. There’s a lot you can expect from him this year because he’s taken in so much,” Fryczynski said. “He’s adapted really well and he’s very, very competitive in a way that draws people to him. “I’m excited to see what he can do now with an entire summer under his belt.”
