Sprinter Escobar ready to rocket
North Canyon runner aspires to be astronaut
For as long as she can remember, Ella Escobar would go outside with her dad at night and look at the stars.
Her dreams took flight, herself in space some day.
“I have always been fascinated by the sky and space in general,” she said. “My dad and I would go outside and look for stars and the constellations, which we still do. So that was kind of where I started in terms of figuring out what I wanted to do.”
The Phoenix North Canyon wants to be an astronaut.
First, she would like to keep improving on the track and see where that takes her. She recently just popped the state’s fastest high school time for a female this track and field season in the 100 meters, running it in 12-seconds flat at the Brophy Prep AMDG meet.
She also has the state’s fastest 400 time at 56.3, also run at Brophy.
Escobar will be running in both events Friday during the 81st Chandler Rotary Invitational track and field meet at Chandler High School’s Austin Field.
“I do want to break 56 and 12 this week,” she said. “I think it’s possible.”
The biggest high school track and field meet for top Arizona athletes runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Friday. Nearly 60 Arizona schools will be participating.
Escobar has had a lot of ground to make up since losing her junior track season last year when COVID-19 shut down spring sports. She had transferred in from Peoria Liberty and was ready to help North Canyon set relay records with the state’s top two sprinters Jadyn Mays and Dominique Mustin, the state’s last two Gatorade Track and Field Female Athletes of the Year, who are now in college.
She did find benefits in her workouts with Mays and Mustin last year.
“They just taught me how to push myself, even if it hurts,” Escobar said.
North Canyon track coach Airabin Justin is convinced last year’s team would have been the best he’s had during a dynasty run. His last three girls
imagining
senior
track teams that competed at state won championships (2017-19). Last year, times would have been off the rails, Justin believes, with not only Mustin and Mays in their final seasons but with the addition of Escobar.
Escobar, 5-foot-2, 117 pounds, has no regrets, only a burning desire to run fast.
She only looks forward. It’s been that way her whole life as she competed in swimming and cross country. No limits. In her first two years at Liberty, she swam in the fall and ran in the spring.
When she was in the fifth grade, she wanted to be a pilot. After recently committing to Vanderbilt over Notre Dame, which made a big run at her, she will major in mechanical engineering, the first step toward her goal of being in space.
“When she graduates, she’ll be looking at the astronaut program,” Al Escobar, Ella’s dad, said. “No fear. That’s how we raised our kids. They’re not going to listen to what other people do and what you can and can’t do. It’s about, ‘What do you want to do?’ “
Al’s son, Atilano, was a nationally ranked wrestler at Liberty and now wrestles at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he is majoring in graphic design with an emphasis on digital media.
Like her brother, Ella got into combat
sports, when she was younger, trying jiu jitsu. She’s strong. At 117 pounds, she can dead-lift 265 pounds for two reps.
“Here’s the big thing, in my house, the way we raised Ella and Trey (Atilano), we always talked about what they’re capable of is one thing, but what you actually do is what counts.”
In the classroom, Ella’s only non-A came in an Advanced Honors calculus course, getting an 89 on a test.
Ella believes anything is possible, on the track, and in the sky, in her life.
“My parents were very encouraging for whatever I wanted to do with my life, so reaching the goals that seem impossible to some, is just something that I would have to work hard for,” she said.
“Now that I am committed to Vanderbilt, I will be pursuing a mechanical engineering major, and hopefully get involved with their rocket team. Being an astronaut, of course, is the main goal, but being involved in NASA or a company like SpaceX in anyway, like being an engineer would be amazing,” she added.
“I’ve always wanted to be in and explore space, whether that is Mars, the moon, or the International Space Station. So yeah that’s kind of how I progressed to wanting to be an astronaut and I feel that I am taking all the right steps, based on my research, to do so.”