Puerto Rico needs to take a closer look at Mizael Carrera.

Puerto Rico loves winning medals in sports and then doing big car parades “caravanas” celebrating them, Chicago born and raised runner Mizael Carrera could help them get more.

At 27, the son of a mexican father and puerto rican mother has the pedigree and race times that could win every race on puerto rican soil every weekend, more importantly he wants to represent the country because, in his own words “I would be puerto rican even if I was born in the moon.”

Incredibly so, he has only worn the national jersey once in 2015, for the Cross Country Pan American Championship Cup in Colombia, in which he was 16th in 30:04 (10k), about 1:30 behind the winner.

His resume -and last name, which in spanish means “race”- suggest otherwise, with a a personal best of 14:20 in the 5k, 30:13 in the 10,000 meters, 1:05 for the half marathon and a respectable 2:21:50 debut in the marathon last fall in Rotterdam, Carrera should be seriously consider for the caribbean squad which currently has little to no present in mid distance running internationally.

Data also suggests Carrera could have easily been an option for Puerto Rico in the 42km marathon at the recently completed CAC games in Barranquilla, Colombia. There, Jeisson Suarez from Colombia won the marathon in 2 hours and 29 minutes, a time that seems easily in the ballpark for Carrera.

The same applies for the 10,000 meter event, medals were dominated with 30:07, 30:09, 30:15 respectively, a time range that doesn’t look ridiculous for the Robert Morris University product and two time All American.

After taking a small break in 2017 to focus on his Law School studies, Carrera is back training and in great shape, already posting a smoking fast 45:48 minutes in a 15k race in Scottsdale (30 seconds shy from breaking Carlos Quiñones national record that has stood for 28 years) and also a quick 14:46 5k in a very hot race last week in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Carrera has his sights now on breaking the 5k National Record later this month in San Juan and then focusing on improving his Marathon time in November in New York’s major race, during which he hopes to get the qualifying standard for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and be selected to represent Puerto Rico.

With his most prestigious wins being a 4-time first local athlete at the gold label World Best 10k race in San Juan and, also a win a the National half marathon Championships in Villalba, Mizael even took it a step further last year, raising $10,000 to help the recovery process of the island after the destructive Hurricane Maria and giving those away to children involved in sports clubs.

Carrera seems to be part of the out-of-the -island group of athletes eager to represent, such cases include Kentucky’s Jasmine Camacho Quinn in the sprints, Buffalo’s Devon Patterson in throwing, and Arizona State’s Jarod Arroyo in swimming.

-eMMa.

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