MOBILE, Alabama – McGill-Toolen track and cross country coach Drew Bentley had the tough task of summarizing the career of Carmen Carlos at the team's recent end-of-the-year banquet.
“I just thanked her for her time at McGill and for showing me and our team what is possible,” Bentley said. “To tell somebody what Carmen accomplished … it sounds impossible.
“I’d think that decades down the road we will still be saying, ‘You know, Carmen Carlos, back in the day did this or did that.’ She is the benchmark now for any good distance runner who comes down the pipe throughout this state, throughout any classification. A lot of coaches will look at a good runner and think to themselves, ‘Could this be the next Carmen Carlos?’”
The answer to that question is probably ‘no.’
The standard Carlos set during her impressive Yellow Jacket career will be hard to surpass. The Vanderbilt signee won 22 individual championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track and field.
She capped her career with three state titles at this year’s AHSAA Class 6A meet in Gulf Shores in the 800-, 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
She holds seven AHSAA state records, is a four-time Gatorade Cross Country Runner of the Year and this past season was named the Gatorade Alabama Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year.
She also is the first repeat winner of the Press-Register Female High School Athlete of the Year. St. Paul’s Tre Williams was named the Male Athlete of the Year earlier this week. The awards cap the Press-Register’s All-Region honors for the 2012-2013 calendar year.
“All the attention has been flattering,” said Carlos, who also won one of the state’s highest Scholar-Athlete awards from the Bryant-Jordan Scholarship program and was her the 2013 salutatorian at McGill-Toolen. “It makes me proud when young runners come up to me and ask me for advice. I’m always glad to help. I hope they improve and keep working. Nothing is impossible.”
Carlos dominated virtually every race she competed in this season. In fact, in the last four years, she hasn’t lost a cross country race, a 1,600-meter race or a 3,200-meter race to another Alabama runner. In the state track meet in Gulf Shores, she set new records of 4:48.23 in the 1,600 and 10:32.02 in the 3,200.
“Carmen has been something to appreciate,” Bentley said. “People knew when she was at an event, it would be something special. We will miss that.”
Bentley noted that Carlos didn’t run track until she was in the eighth grade. Before that, she only ran cross country. When she hit the track, though, her career took off.
“We knew immediately she had a lot of untapped potential still in the tank,” Bentley said. “Carmen’s character is just amazing. When she does anything, she gives it 100 percent. She is not just a runner. She is very well rounded and her parents have done a great job of making sure she doesn’t burn out. I think her best running is ahead of her.”
Carmen’s mother, Cecilia Carlos, said the family made every effort to make sure her daughter was well rounded.
“Carmen had a lot of other things going on besides just running,” Cecilia said. “We didn’t train as hard as I knew others were or as hard as she could. We tried to focus on other things and stay even keeled. We did kind of hold back in her training to an extent. I’m not sure how else to put it. Carmen is so easy going and never got too intense. I think that kept her excited about the sport.”
Now Carmen seems even more determined as she prepares to compete on a new level -- against the best runners in the Southeastern Conference and the nation.
“It’s going to be a good thing,” she said. “I can’t wait to get to Vanderbilt and start the next phase of my life. I know those girls are going to teach me to race better. I’m really not used to running in a big pack of girls. That will be an adjustment. It’s an exciting time. There are new challenges ahead.”
Carlos also has become accustomed to training – and racing -- by herself. She expects that to change when she gets to Nashville.
“I know I will be running with girls who are faster, better than me when I get there,” she said. “I think we will push each other. That competitiveness and the ability to run with a group of girls can only help me.”
Carlos is planning to study pre-medicine at Vanderbilt. She reports Aug. 11.
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