Eli Mankoff '24 Recruiting Profile

I am the Captain of both the Cross Country and Track & Field teams at my high school. When I was honored with this title for the Cross Country team, I didn’t take it as an accomplishment, but rather as an opportunity to make my team more competitive. The Milken Cross Country team hadn’t been number one in our league since 2002. I made it my goal to put Milken back on top and I challenged my team to adopt this goal as well. Through ambition, lots of hard work, and a culture of discipline, we secured the number one spot in our league for the first time in twenty years. Along with many of my own personal accomplishments, this will always remain one of my proudest.

Because of Covid and studying abroad, my junior year was the first year I was able to run track. During the season, I broke the school record for the 3200, but the event that excites me the most is the 1600. I only had 3 meets during the season but dropped over 10 seconds each race. This shows me that I am still far from reaching my full potential. While I respect and admire my coaches, I recognize that they aren’t full-time coaches. I’ve come this far primarily through my desire and hunger and yet I still want more. I want to further push my physical and mental “limits” and I know that I could do so with high-level coaching and vigorous competition. 

In the classroom, I have kept the same mentality as when I’m on the Track. I set a goal at the beginning of my junior year to be a straight-A student and now that I've accomplished that goal, I'm going into my senior year with even greater academic goals taking more advanced courses. In terms of extracurricular, I’m a co-leader of a club with the purpose of strengthening the bond between students and the elderly. I've also worked a part-time job outside of school. I’m looking forward to college and all of the mental and physical growth that will come with it.