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Amazing kids come to Aptos

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Amazing kids come to Aptos

from The Santa Cruz REGISTER-PAJARONIAN:
Aug 24 2003

( By ERIC ANDERSON )

Gaylia Osterlund and Mike Bennett each saw NBC’s coverage of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in 2001, and both took particular notice of a feature on a group called the Cypress Kids.

They watched with great interest as the young triathlon competitors from low-income families in an area near San Bernardino were profiled. Neither had seen anything like the group of 8-15 year olds, started in December of 2000 by Cherie Gruenfeld, one of the top age-group triathletes in the world.

“I thought, ‘What a great lady. What a wonderful program,'” Bennett said.

“For a year and a half I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Osterlund, a Santa Cruz Triathlon Association board member, said.

Bennett, co-owner of By the Beach Productions, a Santa Cruz company that runs triathlons, quickly invited Gruenfeld and the Cypress Kids to compete in the SuperKid Triathlon, which his company runs. But the logistics and scheduling didn’t work, so the event took place without them.

But Sunday, at the invitation of Osterlund and the SCTA and with all expenses paid, three Cypress Kids will be among those competing in the By the Beach Duathlon in Aptos.

“My hat’s off to the Santa Cruz Triathlon Association for doing this,” Bennett said. “I think it’s awesome.”

“It is really fantastic what they are doing,” Gruenfeld, 59, a multiple winner at the Ironman World Championships, said earlier this week. “What they are doing is above and beyond what you would expect any club to do.”

Many others will also help out. By the Beach Productions is waiving its entry fees and people are writing checks for up to $1,000 or volunteering their time at the race. Coach Ian Moll agreed to give a free swim clinic to the boys, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk gave free all-day passes, the Seascape Sports Club offered unlimited use of its facilities. Wetsuit maker Orca donated wetsuits, while others donated shoes, goggles, bikes and more for the kids to use. Another man rented out his house with all the proceeds going to the Cypress Kids.

“The list just goes on and on and on,” Osterlund said of the many people coming together to volunteer their time. “It’s just been really, really special to watch.”

So what’s so special about the Cypress Kids? For one, few would expect these ethnically diverse kids from poor areas to show such a commitment. Many would expect them to quit in the face of hard work, but that doesn’t happen, Gruenfeld said.

“Every day (for them) is just a challenge to survive the day in the areas where they live. These are very tough kids,” she said. “I realized that with kids like this, because they are used to challenges, I could say run a mile or run three miles and they would do it.”

The challenge that does get in the way of their triathlon training comes more from their surroundings. Family members can suddenly take them away, which causes the Cypress Kids’ numbers to fluctuate. The program, which started shortly after Gruenfeld gave a speech in a program called “Exceeding Expectations” at Cypress Elementary School in Highland, began with about 15 kids and now ranges between 40 and 45.

Since then the program has grown steadily. It has received accolades from all around and has been the subject of print articles and television segments.

But this weekend’s all-expenses-paid trip to Aptos is a first. All three 13-year-old boys competing Sunday, who were chosen for their maturity, flew on an airplane for the first time Friday and are staying away from home and relatives for the first time in their lives.

“It will be wonderful to see these kids have this type of experience,” Gruenfeld said. “I think it will benefit them for the rest of their lives.”

Perhaps the only thing that’s been a disappointment for most involved is that Sunday’s race had to be changed from a triathlon to a duathlon due to concerns over poor water quality. Bennett had expected 300 for the triathlon, while only 120 had signed up for the duathlon as of Tuesday. Gruenfeld had hoped the kids would have a chance to swim because they are preparing for a race later this year that has a half-mile swim.

Still, they will have plenty to tackle. Along with race favorites such as Mike Erbe, the Cypress Kids will take off from Valencia School and Aptos and run 2.5 miles, then bike 18 miles, then run another 2.5 miles before they finish the sprint course. Others who choose to take on a less taxing challenge will compete in the short course, in which the distances are halved.

Bennett hopes that the Cypress Kids will have effects on Santa Cruz County that will last long after the last of them crosses the finish line Sunday.

“My hope is some folks in this community will say, ‘Wow, what a great program. Maybe there’s a way we can do this in Santa Cruz,'” he said.

Registration for the By the Beach Duathlon is available on race day. Registration and check-in begins at 6:30 a.m. Racers in the sprint course will start at 8:30 a.m., while those in the short course will begin at approximately 8:50 a.m.

Training Develops a Winning Attitude

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Training Develops a Winning Attitude

A triathlete’s work with San Bernardino youths gives them athletic — and academic — motivation ( 01/21/2002 )

( By MARK MUCKENFUSS
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE )

Emilio Holguin wants to be an ironman.

Mark Zaleski/The Press-Enterprise
Ironman competitor Cherie Grunfeld, on her bicycle, and her group of young athletes make their way around East Valley High School in Redlands. She has been helping them reach their goals in swimming, running and bicycling.

The 12-year-old Serrano Middle School student has given himself six years to get ready. At 18, he plans to be swimming, cycling and running in Kona, Hawaii, in what many consider to be the world’s toughest triathlon.

It might be easy to dismiss Emilio’s goal as a fantastic adolescent’s dream. After all, he lives in a blighted area of San Bernardino where many kids can’t even afford a pair of running shoes, let alone a racing bike.

But Emilio is training under the eye of Cherie Gruenfeld, a Lake Arrowhead woman and veteran of 10 Hawaiian Ironman races, where she has won her age group division five times.

Evolution of a team

Gruenfeld is the coach of Cypress Exceeding Expectations. The team, which began with 12 eager athletes a little more than a year ago, has doubled in size. Volunteers run the program largely with donated equipment. They transport the kids from their homes to practices and events such as the YMCA Highland Run, which was held Sunday in Highland.

The team was featured during a brief profile of Gruenfeld that was part of NBC’s coverage of the Hawaiian Ironman competition in November. The program also is highlighted on the back of the latest Wheaties cereal box.

The team evolved out of one of those be-careful-what-you-wish-for situations. Greunfeld came to Cypress Elementary in December 2000 at the request of friend Jacque Irons, who teaches second grade. Irons wanted the children to hear about goal-setting and commitment and to see where those things might take them. Gruenfeld thought she was giving an hour or two of her time in hopes of inspiring a few kids.

An athlete’s offer

She found herself impressed with the response.

“The kids were so excited and asked such good questions,” Gruenfeld said. “There was this little triathlon coming up and I said I would help any of them that wanted to do this.”

She expected three or four kids might be interested. Instead, 200 hands went up.

The school held tryouts and 12 students were chosen to be on the team. None of them knew how to swim and only a couple of them had bicycles, none of which were racing bikes.

Besides being surprised by the interest of the students, Gruenfeld soon began to realize that the commitment that lay ahead of her was more than she anticipated.

“I had no clue that these kids were so on their own,” she said. “I envisioned the parents bringing them somewhere to train on the weekends.”

She found out that if the kids were going to get anywhere, most were going to have to be picked up and dropped off at their doorsteps. On a recent Saturday morning it took an hour just to shuttle the kids and their bikes to Redlands East Valley High School for a training session. At morning events, Gruenfeld and other volunteers bring food so the young athletes get breakfast before they set out.

Donations and volunteers

Finding money for event entry fees and transportation costs also presented a challenge. But bikes were donated by the Redlands Bike Club, Inland Inferno Triathlon Club and individuals. Some race organizers have waived registration fees for the team. And donations have come in, including recent grants of $1,000 from TRW and $2,500 from General Mills. Bags of donated athletic clothes regularly show up at the school.

Gruenfeld has a core of four volunteers and calls in others when she can.

“There’s no way I could do this without these (volunteers), and I beg my triathlete friends to help me out with this.”

On a recent day, four additional volunteers showed up. The team was taking a practice run at a course it will compete on in a few weeks. With the team gathered before her, Gruenfeld explained the day’s training. A two-mile run, followed by a 10-mile bike ride. Finally, they’ll jump in the pool and do some swimming.

“After the run, the first thing you do, before you even touch your bike, is what?” she asks.

“Get your helmet on,” the kids chorus.

“You absolutely must stop at every corner,” she tells them. “If there’s a car there and it does the wrong thing, even if you’re right, who’s going to win? The car, right?”

Mark Zaleski/The Press-Enterprise
Cherie Grunfeld encourages Steven Martinez, 12, of San Bernardino before their three-mile run in preparation for an upcoming triathlon competition in Redlands.

‘More motivated’

Ralph Holguin, Emilio’s father, was elected team mechanic early on and says he’s happy to help out as much as he can. Very few parents attend the practices or the races, but Ralph and his wife Jeanetta Bolton are almost always on hand.

“It’s a fun thing for us to do,” Holguin said. “And I’m real proud of him.”

Their son’s success has rubbed off. Ralph Jr., 16, now is training and competing in the weekend events. He also is helping to train first-, second- and third-grade students at Cypress who want one day to be team members. And his cousin, who lives with the family, also has begun competing.

Bolton says she credits Emilio’s involvement with the team for much of his scholastic improvement in the past year. While he used to get C’s and D’s in class, Bolton says Emilio now comes home with A’s and B’s.

“He’s more motivated,” she said. “He’s into school more and his concentration is better.

“He wants to be like Cherie and do that Ironman,” she said. “I said I was going to stay behind him 100 percent.”

Cindy Haigler, a tutor at Cypress, said Emilio is not the only one whose success on the triathlon course has lapped over into his academic performance. She pointed out three other boys who have benefited.

“Their self-esteem is so high,” she said. Where before they were average students, now “they’re leaders in their classrooms. They think they’re little rock stars. It’s fun.”

Haigler is happy to see the students caught up in something she sees as significant.

“It gives them a lot of incentive and something to work toward,” she said. “I think it means a lot for their future. The ones that take advantage of that, it can change their lives.”

‘It’s been a miracle’

Irons said that when she invited Gruenfeld to speak at the school, that very hope was at the back of her mind.

“I’ve always wanted to find something to change this community,” she said, adding that she has tried other things in the past. “But this is it. It’s been a miracle to watch it take off like it has. I thought we’d have four or five kids, but it’s been incredible.”

She pointed to Emilio’s family as an ideal.

“That’s what the whole story’s about,” she said. “Now the family is connecting with their kids. Everybody’s thinking in another direction.”

Steven Martinez, 12, said he had never even heard of the Ironman race before he heard Gruenfeld speak.

“I thought that it was cool doing all those things,” he said. And he thought he could do them, too.

He recently had one of his best performances in Hemet’s Tinsel Triathlon.

“I got second place,” he said.

“First in your age group,” Gruenfeld reminded him.

“Yeah,” Steven said, trying to suppress a smile.

That feeling of pride, Gruenfeld said, is what she hopes to give her athletes.

“These kids need an opportunity,” she said. “They wouldn’t have this without somebody, not necessarily me, but somebody helping them.”

Her goal is “to give as many kids as we can manage the opportunity to race,” she said. “Every time they go to a race, they see a world they didn’t know existed. When they get to the finish line, they’ve accomplished something. Every time they get that, I think they get the idea there’s more in life that they can do than they realized.”

Kids triathlon program expands

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Kids triathlon program expands

Woman uses triathlons to keep kids on track

Top U.S. age-grouper Cherie Gruenfeld is sharing her passion for triathlon by helping train a group of low-income children.

It all started when Gruenfeld, who has won her age group multiple times at Ironman Hawaii and also holds age-group titles at Ironman USA and Roth, spoke at a program called Exceeding Expectations at Cypress Elementary School in Highland, Calif.

She used her Ironman experience to help illustrate her points about working to achieve goals. At the school, she spoke with some of the teachers about the possibility of some of the students doing a triathlon in a nearby town. Nearly 200 students showed up for tryouts, and twelve 11- and 12-year-olds were chosen to be trained.

Now, the program she began last year has expanded, and we asked her for an update. In her own words:

“Thanks to two corporate grants and many, many generous donations from ‘Friends of Cypress,’ we have been able to grow the team and now have 30 kids racing triathlons. When we go to running races, we’re taking around 40 kids.

“[Over the weekend] the team did the Redlands Tri. The race director is a real fan and supporter of the team and would happily have ‘comped’ them all into the race, but we felt that there was a better way, a way that would benefit everyone. We solicited ‘sponsors’ for the kids. The responsibility of a sponsor was to pay the entry fee for that athlete. People were wonderful and we quickly had sponsors for each of the kids and many of the sponsors were able to get more personally involved. One sponsor raced with her athlete. Several others bought equipment for their kids and/or bonded over the months before the race.

“Nearly half of the group was doing a triathlon for the first time, but they were helped along in their pre-race activities by those old veterans, and everyone made it to the start line in plenty of time.

“One difference in this race from earlier races is that we had eight families there watching their kids and two fathers acting as mechanics, getting all the bikes in working order. A year ago we had absolutely no parental involvement. In several cases the parents don’t speak English, but they understood the loud cheering from the crowd as being for their child.

“We also had three Cypress teachers, along with the two that run the program with me, there to support their students and each of the three made a point of telling me about individual kids and how their grades and behavior had changed since joining the team. It doesn’t get any better than this.

“They race in bright blue team shirts which make them easily identifiable as Cypress Kids. Having raced as a team for a year and with some very nice press they’ve received, they’ve become local celebrities of sorts. So we’ve been working on social skills that go along with that, such as writing thank-you letters, shaking hands, looking folks in the eye and introducing themselves.

“Some went home with medals for placing but all went home with a finisher’s medal and a huge sense on accomplishment. The big question being asked at the end of the day was, ‘When is the next race?'”

“If you’re interested in helping Gruenfeld and the Cypress Kids, you can contact EE.”

Age-groupers battle in Kona: a look at the results

The Omaha, Neb. resident went on to finish second in her age group behind perennial champion Cherie Gruenfeld of California. And this is what Phipps has to say of Gruenfeld: “She’s not only my chief rival, but she’s also one of my idols.”

As for Gruenfeld, she notched another win as well—her third in a row and fifth in Kona—in 12:46:29.

“The conditions were, as we all know, quite tough,” she said. “Although my bike was very long, I felt that I rode strong the entire time. I am very fortunate in that I have the desert nearby where I can train in heavy winds. When I train in the desert, I tell myself, ‘I’m preparing for Kona,’ and when I race in Kona, I tell myself, ‘I’ve done this in the desert.’”

Women 55-59 Defending champion Cherie Gruenfeld of the U.S. is back to defend her title for the third time. She owns the course record for this age-group, 11:58, which she set in 1999. She was also the first woman over 50 to go under 12 hours when she set that record. And she’s not done setting records-she set a course record at Ironman Lake Placid for her age group this year.

Wildflower

Past champion Cherie Gruenfeld captured the women’s 55-59 in 5:56, punctuating the victory with a 1:56 half-marathon. And her time would have made her the winner in the women’s 50-54 age group, too. Harriet Anderson, in the women’s 65-69, took victory with a 7:53. Both are regular age-group winners at the Hawaii Ironman.

Gruenfeld exceeds expectations

April 30, 2001, Highland, California (www.triathlonlive.com):

Top age-grouper Cherie Gruenfeld has found a new way to share her passion for triathlon—by helping train a group of low-income children for their first race.

Gruenfeld, who has won her age group multiple times at Ironman Hawaii and also holds age-group titles at Ironman USA and Roth, spoke in December at a program called Exceeding Expectations at Cypress Elementary School in Highland, Calif.

“The general theme of my talk to the kids was about setting goals and working to achieve these goals,” Gruenfeld said. “Of course, I used my Ironman experience as the background for doing this. To conclude the talk I showed them a short video of me doing Kona.”

Gruenfeld said when she went to the school to speak, she met with the teachers to talk about the possibility of some of the kids doing a little triathlon in a nearby town. The teachers liked the idea and arranged tryouts for the next week. Nearly 200 kids showed up, with twelve 11- and 12-year-olds chosen to be trained.

“Every Saturday the teachers and one fantastic teacher’s aide got in a van and drove around gathering the kids up,” Gruenfeld said. “Those that lived nearby just showed up at the appointed time. We started weekly bike and run training with them and entered them in a local 5K for a training run.”

Gruenfeld said she realized quickly that they needed money to get the program going and to keep it afloat, and the fundraising began. “The kids didn’t have running shoes, biking equipment and certainly no means of paying entry fees,” she said. “I wrote a letter and sent it out or handed it out to whomever I could find. People were wonderful and responded with cash. Race directors were happy to comp the kids into their races. We have now gone through three rounds of funding, and it will be an ongoing process.”

The children were a big hit with the crowd at their first 5K, Gruenfeld said, and “they all ran a tough course beautifully.” They even had enough energy to run with Gruenfeld as she wrapped up the last quarter-mile of a half-marathon she was running at the same race.

They completed their first triathlon in February as members of relay teams using swimmers Gruenfeld helped recruit—among them publisher and triathlon legend Bob Babbitt. “None of these kids have spent any time in a pool and several, although living an hour from the ocean, have never seen the ocean,” she said.

Their next adventure came at the Desert Tri, where race director Greg Klein offered to comp five teams into the race. This meant an overnight stay for the kids and some more hunting for swimmers who could do the open-water swim.

“One of the teachers has a son who is on a high school swim team,” Gruenfeld said. “He got four of his swim-mates to join him and the five of them joined the teams. Three of our kids did both the bike and the run. It was a real adventure and the kids did fantastic, again thrilling the crowd with their grit and determination.”

Now the children are enrolled in a local YMCA for swimming lessons and plan on doing a short race with a pool swim in June—and they’ll do the entire race solo. “One little guy has proclaimed that he intends to do an Ironman when he’s 18, and he will,” Gruenfeld said.

Gruenfeld said that while she provides the motivation and inspiration, “the real force that makes this all possible is the teachers. These folks will do anything for these kids.” Gruenfeld plans the training, works with the kids on the weekends, organizes the fundraising and communicates with race directors. “But without the teachers what I do would go nowhere,” she said.

Earlier this month she had to tell the kids that start of her competitive season was coming and that she wouldn’t be able to spend as much time training them for a while. But a young man Gruenfeld has been helping prepare for Wildflower has joined her in training the kids, and he’s planning to assume more of the training duties from May to October.

“I’m nuts about these kids,” Gruenfeld said. “I love seeing their eyes light up when they accomplish a goal.” She admits she’s also shameless in asking for money for the cause. If you’re interested in helping, you can mail a check to: Cypress Elementary School, c/o Ms. Jacque Irons, 26825 Cypress Street, Highland, CA 92346.

Roeckert, Gruenfeld, take top IM age-group honors in La Jolla

February 14, 2001, La Jolla, California (www.triathlonlive.com):

Kai-Michael Roeckert was honored this past weekend at the Competitor Sports Awards as the Ironman Age-group Competitor of the year. The Tubingen-based teacher crossed the line in Kona in 9:01, first place in the 30-34 age group, ahead of countryman Alexander Lang. Roeckert was the 25-29 category winner last year in Kona.

He and his wife are expecting a child, and he therefore has an opportunity to take as much as two years off from his teaching job––but without pay. That allows him the time to train as a pro––should he decide to go in that direction––but not the finances. He’d have to secure sponsors first.

After spending a week in San Diego prior to the awards ceremony, Roeckert says he now understands why German stars like Jurgen Zack and Normann Stadler like to train here.

Cherie Gruenfeld rules the lava fields like few others (Missy LeStrange, in the audience to watch Gruenfeld win her honor, is one of the few who have a more impressive Kona record). Gruenfeld has won her age-group in Kona four times in the past six years. Pretty good, considering she only started triathlons in 1991.

Gruenfeld gave perhaps the most eloquent speech on a night replete with endurance stars like Khalid Kannouchi, Pablo Morales, and Scott Tinley. She won the Ironman Competitor Award for women.

Running for Their Lives

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Running for Their Lives

Woman uses triathlons to keep kids on track ( 10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, May 14, 2006 )

( By MARK MUCKENFUSS
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE )

Cherie Gruenfeld has been racing against the clock for many of her 61 years.

In the water, on a bike, on the pavement, Gruenfeld — a six-time winner of the Ironman World Championships in her age group – is used to snatching away seconds as she chases her dreams.

Mark Muckenfuss / The Press-Enterprise
Cherie Gruenfeld, left, pins a contestant number on Exceeding Expectations team member Isi Ibarra.

Six years ago, she started battling a different kind of clock, the one that ticks off the quarters and semesters that lead to high school graduation.

Gruenfeld, of Palm Desert, inserted herself into the lives of some fifth- and sixth-graders at San Bernardino’s Cypress Elementary School, offering them the chance to train and compete in age-group triathlons. She founded a program called Exceeding Expectations, providing equipment, training and even transportation for the students. Starting with 12 children, Gruenfeld now has a team of 30.

But it’s not quite what she envisioned.

She quickly found the needs of the mostly at-risk kids who joined the small team went far beyond a new pair of running shoes and a ridable bike. Many of them can barely swim and struggle through that leg of the race. They struggle even more, she says, in their day-to-day lives.

Many students came from families who did not place a high priority on education, Gruenfeld says, and they lived in an economically depressed area of east San Bernardino, in neighborhoods where it was often unsafe to be out on the streets.

“I’m not comfortable with them out running or biking on their own,” she says.

Instead of trying to turn them into super athletes, such as herself, she decided she could use sport to spur success in the classroom and other areas of their lives. As she did, her focus began to shift. The kids she had taken on as a side project wiggled their way into her life and became like a family to her.

It used to be that she fit the Exceeding Expectations program around her personal training schedule. Now, she says, it’s the other way around.

Though she has no kids of her own, Gruenfeld says if she did, “I doubt I could love my own kids much more than I love these kids. They are the top priority now. This is my passion.”

The program got started almost on a dare. Gruenfeld had been invited to speak at Cypress by teacher Jacque Irons, who now is a program volunteer. After lecturing to the students about goal-setting, Gruenfeld offered to help prepare those that wanted to participate for an upcoming triathlon. She was shocked when 200 hands went up. Through tryouts, 12 students were picked.

Three of those kids are still on the team. Gruenfeld estimates that 60-65 youngsters have been involved in the program.

On a recent race morning, the alarm at Gruenfeld’s Palm Desert home went off at 3:45. She and her husband, Lee, along with a handful of parents and volunteers, arrived in Loma Linda at 6 a.m. with an equipment trailer and a group of sleepy kids ranging in age from 10 to 18. Most of the kids had to be picked up at their homes.

Bike tires were filled with air, helmets fitted and jersey numbers pinned on as the youngsters stretched and readied for the 5k run, 9-mile bike ride and 150-yard swim that made up the PossAbilities Triathlon. The Loma Linda University sponsored event is designed for disabled and able-bodied athletes.

This is just one of many triathlons of varying lengths that Gruenfeld’s crew will compete in during the year. The high point, she says, is the upcoming Tin Man Triathlon in San Bernardino on June 25.

Amy Kowalski, 32, of Yucaipa, teaches school in Colton and volunteers for Gruenfeld’s program. She calls Gruenfeld an inspiration and doesn’t mind falling out of bed pre-dawn on a Saturday in order to get kids to the starting line.

On this morning, she had picked up a kid who had never run more than a few hundred yards at a time before joining the team. Starting with 5K races, he worked his way up and recently completed a half marathon. He was wondering, she says, how far he could go.

“He was like, ‘Do you think I can do a marathon?’ ” Kowalski says. “And I’m like, ‘Of course you can.’ ”

The sense of success the team members get from pushing themselves to new levels, she says, is critical in their lives.

“Once you’ve felt that,” she says, “you can accomplish anything.”

Team member Nick Keller, 15, recently moved from Highland to Moreno Valley, but has stayed with the program he credits with his success in school.

“I lived a troubled childhood in a bad area,” Keller said. Being in Exceeding Expectations “showed me there are nice people out in the world. I met a lot of nice people that gave me many opportunities.”

Particularly in education.

As a sixth-grader, Nick says, “I never did my work. I was a back talker. I was suspended multiple times for yelling at the teacher and ditching school. When I got on the team, I don’t remember why, but I started doing my work and started improving.”

Ending his sophomore year, Keller says he is getting straight A’s in school. Gruenfeld, he says, checks on his progress every month.

“Cherie makes sure we have good grades,” says Mike Arbor, 16, of Highland. “If not, she works with us.”

Sometimes she gets through to the kids. Sometimes not. For every team member that makes it to a race, there are others who have fallen out of the program.

“I now understand that working with these kinds of kids, there’s going to be lots of disappointments,” she says.

Heartbreaking News

She was heartbroken last summer when one of her girls, age 15, told her she was pregnant. Not long after, a boy on the team told her his girlfriend was going to have a baby.

“But they’re both here today,” she said, watching kids come in at the end of the bike leg of the race, “and they’re both in school. So I call those successes.”

In fact, she points to the boy in question, Jose Orozco, as one of the stars of the program. Three years ago, on the way to a race, the boy stunned her, she says, by questioning the value of a high school diploma.

“He said, ‘Why would I graduate from high school?’ Nobody in his world did that,” Gruenfeld says. She helped convince him to stay in school.

“When, two years later, he graduated, it was a pretty exciting moment for all of us,” she said.

Fighting off the fatigue of being up much of the night with his five-week-old daughter, Orozco, 18, says being on the triathlon team has made the difference for him.

“Once I started this, it was easier with her,” he said. “She was always on my back about, ‘Do this. It’s good for you, for your life.’ ”

When Orozco graduated last year, Gruenfeld wasn’t done with him.

“She told me to go to college,” he says. “She told me she would help me at school and pay for my books.”

He’s now studying to become a medical assistant at San Bernardino’s Concord College.

The money for such assistance comes from corporate and private donors and Gruenfeld herself. Exceeding Expectations has an annual budget of about $25,000, Gruenfeld said.

“If I had more funds, it would translate to more time,” she said. “I could pay for some training. I feel bad about the situations I put them into with as little training as we do. Right now, they are racing and that’s it.”

But it’s the kids like Orozco that keep her committed.

“What keeps me enthused about it is any little thing the kids do,” Gruenfeld said. “A kid will call me and ask for help or I hear good news about some kid. It’s tiny little things.”

There also are big reasons that keep her going.

“It’s knowing that if somebody does not intervene in their lives, these kids simply don’t have a chance,” she said. Many of them, she adds, will never reach their goals, even with the help of the program.

“I believe my presence gives them some kind of a chance.”

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