Highland state qualifier readies for college running career at SIUE

Last fall, Dallas Mancinas finished his high school cross-country career at the IHSA Class 2A State Meet in Peoria.

In about six weeks, Mancinas, a 2024 Highland High School graduate, will embark on the next phase of his cross-country career as a freshman walk-on runner at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

“It’s a really good program and I’m really stoked about being there,” Mancinas said.

Completing his senior season with Highland last November, Mancinas took his time in picking the right school. SIUE won out over Greenville University.

Mancinas, who plans to major in computer science, said the SIU-E offered education and financial advantages he could not get at Greenville.

“I wanted to choose my school based on my education more than my running,” Mancinas said. “I looked at SIUE for money (as well) since it was a cheaper option that’s still a very good school.”

The family also helped sway Mancinas in the direction of SIUE.

“My Dad and his buddies went to SIUE as well and my grandma went there and they have a good computer science program, which is a class of engineering. It just seems like a good place to go,” Mancinas said.

Mancinas took a visit to the school in early December and announced his decision in May.

“Once I said that I was going there, I reached out to the coaches and asked about walking on,” he said. “They didn’t reach out about a lot of scholarships because they violated some Title IX rules a few years ago, so they haven’t had as much money to give around. So, I was able to walk on since their roster was almost full.”

SIUE coach Marcus Evans and his staff have Mancinas on a summer workout program designed to get him ready for this fall.

“He has a summer packet they send out and we have a seven-day run schedule with Sundays being long runs and Thursdays being like it’s called a negative split where every mile you want to get faster but a lot of it is distance. There’s not a lot of actual like tempos so there’s a longer distance to adjust because it’s about doubled the distance from high school to college (running),” Mancinas said.

Although he will commute from home for his freshman year, Mancinas is eager to get his time a SIUE started with the Cougars and believes he will be able to blend in and contribute this season.

“I won’t be living with the people that are on the team but I’m very social though, so I think once I’m on the team and going to practices and stuff, I’ll be fine,” Mancinas said. “But really getting early early and showing up on time and making a good impression (is important).

“I hope to be able to compete with the big dogs.”