Wingate University Athletics

2016: Scored points for Wingate in his first SAC championship meet, thanks to his 8K time of 28:35.3 (39th place)…Top 8K of his inaugural season was a 27:04.8 8K at the Royals XC Challenge…Started freshman year with 17:02.3 5K posting at the Carolina Challenge, running a 17:02 5K…Competed in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships, running a 33:27.1 10K…
 
Personal
Full name is Rodrigo Silva de la Pena...Born September 22, 1996 in the City of Durango Mx...Son of Irma and Agustin Silva...Majoring in Business Marketing...Favorite class at Wingate: Accounting...Favorite athlete: Mo Farah 2x world champion...Favorite sports team: Real Madrid...Favorite movie: 4-Minute Mile...Rodrigo can’t imagine a week without: Running...Favorite food: Mexican chilaquiles and carne asada...Most memorable sport moment: Last year when I ran at the Regional cross country meet and broke my personal record by 3 minutes...Favorite sport other than cross country: Ping pong and soccer...People Rodrigo most admires: My mom, she’s my biggest inspiration for everything I put in my life...Rodrigo gets ready for a race by: Praying and calling mom and dad before the start...Something people don’t know about me: I completed my first Ironman 70.3 triathlon at the age of 17...Nickname: HotRod or yiyo...Rodrigo thinks the fastest person on the team is Dalton Cox, strongest is Julian Irigoyen, and funniest is Micah Kipchumba...Favorite quote: “A single run can take you many places”.

Why Rodrigo chose Wingate
I chose Wingate for two reasons: One, the academics were very good at the point I realized that would be a great school to excel my abilities in the classroom. And the second one is because of the cross country and track team. When I went for a visit, I got very close with the guys and the coach who inspired me to be part of the team.