Qianrui (Brian) Li '21 Recruiting Profile

Coming from a different cultural background where doing a sport is not encouraged to the students, I faced a lot of challenges from my parents as I hesitated between doing what I truly love and doing what I am told to do. I am not an avid runner until my first-year host father said to me, “Brian, life is not a boring equation where you put one thing to get another thing; rather, it should be a powerful expression through your passion: what interests you the most; how do you pursue it till the end of your life.” Taking his advice, I found that I am into running. While I am overwhelmed by piles and piles of biology textbooks and hours and hours of SAT prep, all of the stress will be washed away with my sweat on a run. Sticking to the 6:00am rigorous extra workout everyday, biting my teeth to finish a 5k race when I have already given my all, getting back up after each fall and failure, I learned that in order to reach my goal, I have to sacrifice my effort, my time, my sweat. I learn that dreams don’t come without a price.

Running, however, isn’t just about reaching my goal. What I enjoy the most throughout my running career isn’t the moment when I received my first All-State Runner medal, nor when I held my Conference medals for many times in front of hundreds of audience, nor when I walked up to the podium confidently to get my MVP award in front of my teammates. Rather, what I love the most is the journey, the ride itself—the early morning jog before sunrise everyday, coach Larson’s “Brian, I believe in you” before races, the encouragement between me and my teammates during practice, the responsibility and leadership I have that led my team to earn the 2019 Conference Champion banner, and each fall and failure I suffered that fueled me to get better. 

I am looking for a college that fits me academically and athletically. I believe that I not only have the talents to compete for college teams but also the leadership, character, work-ethic that will make impacts to your program.