Signing day is a memorable day for all athletes who decide to go on from high school and compete at the collegiate level. One of the big signings yesterday morning was three time cross country state champion, two time 3200m and 1600m state champion, NXN/Foot Locker finalist; Carter Blunt. Blunt signed yesterday to UCLA with his other top choices being Oregon, Arkansas, and Syracuse. I interviewed Blunt to hear why he chose UCLA.
He wanted to sign early so he raced a couple times and took the rest of the season off, doing official visits. He visited a new school every weekend all up until cross country championship season.
Being one of the best runners in the nation, you probably will get a lot of letters, emails and phone calls from programs giving you all they got. So why UCLA? "UCLA is one of the top schools both running wise and academically, being one of the top public schools in California." Blunt said when talking about UCLA. He added "UCLA is sort of like the UT of California..."
Growing up in California, Carter knew he wanted to go to school in California. UCLA was kind of a dream school to him. He wanted a college that will get him a credible degree as well as have a good program for running and a good team. "As a college athlete, you spend 90% of the time with your team... I felt like I could see myself going there and spending the next four years there."
Carter announced his signing in a unique way...pie throwing. The original victim was supposed to be the principal of the school. When he found out people from the district were coming he had to switch to his coach. The idea originally came from his coach, and why the principle of the school... " I don't know, I just wanted to throw a pie in our principals face."
With Syracuse, Oregon, Arkansas and Texas Tech being his top choices, Carter wanted somewhere that his degree will be credible, and UCLA is one of the top schools in California. He wanted a good team environment and after going to the camp and taking official visits, he could see himself there and spending the next 4 years there. With him knowing he won't be running forever he wanted a good degree to be a backup.
I wish him the best of luck running the next four years in Southern California.
View Tweet of pie throwing here!
