Reisz Brillante '23 Recruiting Profile

My name is Reisz Elijah Brillante and I first started my sports career as a freshman with my first exposure being cross country which naturally led to track. Coming from a family who knew little about sports and never enrolled me into any sports growing up, I came into the sport of running with no idea of what to expect. The only thing I knew was how to work hard, coming from an single immigrant mother who had to leave everything behind to give her son a future, she taught me perseverance, discipline and to strive not for not just completion but excellence. I used these principles into my academics, garnering me a current weighted GPA of 4.65 and the principal’s honor roll every single year of high school. These principles carried over into sports where I came being the worst runner to the team captain of the cross country where I displayed not just athletic prowess but leadership and the ability to lead by example. Despite my hard work, things didn’t go as planned, I was injured leaving me from training for weeks to months at a time, because of quarantine I missed freshman season of track and because of covid during the summer of my incoming junior year, all the progress I made over the years vanished. Despite the frustration, despite all reasons to give up, I pushed forward coming back stronger and more knowledgeable about training and the sport of running, improving my time of 2:11 to 2:06 in the 800 in one year despite the shortcomings and even tried a new sport my junior year being long jump . All of this pushed me to become the athlete I am, and even more so the athlete I will be. 

My goal is to be recruited into a college  where I can pursue my goals not just as an athlete but as a student who plans to be in the medical field. I don’t plan to stay at my current level as an athlete and I’m excited to run in a more competitive environment where my growth will be nurtured in terms of physical abilities as well as my mental ones. Thank you for reading this statement.