Vanguard University

The athlete: Fitsum joins the Lions for his first season…graduated from Don Lugo High School in Chino, California in 2005 where he ran for Head Coach Donald Salyears…was part of the 2003 State Champion team and southern section champs…was the 2004 Individual CIF Southern Section Champ and placed fourth in the All-State 2-mile…League MVP in 2003…has PRs of 9:12 in the 3200m, 14:59 in the 5000m and 24:23 in the 8K…has been running 4-5 years…tremendous addition to the program…has the talent to be one of the best distance runners in school history…will provide significant contributions and help the team in its quest for a national qualification.

The person: Fitsum Tesfa was born on January 25, 1987…mother’s name is Tsegie…has four brothers and four sisters…is a Kinesiology major at Vanguard…loves eating pizza at “Pizza Hut”…likes the color yellow and the number seven…favorite movie is “Training Day” and TV show is “The Simpsons”…sports hero is Kobe Bryant…favorite actor is Denzel Washington…hobbies include playing video games, eating, sleeping and hanging out…most respects his parents because they raised him and taught him everything…running has taught him about discipline and to respect your competition…career goal is to be successful.

His thoughts: I chose Vanguard because of its location and good coach.

Coach Bryan’s comments: Fitsum is blessed with lots of talent.  He is very motivated to compete at a high level.  His work ethic and motivation will help propel him and his teammates to success.