Daily Pilot High School Athlete of the Week: Costa Mesa’s Hachac rises to top

It’s interesting to note how life gives us crossroads.

As the younger brother, Costa Mesa High’s Elliot Hachac had a choice to make. He could be a follower or be different.

When he entered high school, Hachac was a follower. His older brother, Kevin, had played two years of water polo, and his parents called on him to do the same.

He joined the Mustangs’ water polo program as a freshman, but something about it wasn’t clicking.

Hachac was taking a step in self-discovery, an all-too-often overlooked aspect of the high school experience. He changed course to cross-country his sophomore year, making the evolution from follower to trailblazer.

“It keeps you busy, being in a sport, but I guess I just wasn’t in the right one,” Hachac said of starting in water polo. “I was probably the worst player on the team. I never had those dreams of being on varsity until I came to running.”

Everything started to change after that. Hachac had found something that he was passionate about. He set goals, and those quickly translated into success.

In his sophomore year, Hachac began the year as the team’s seventh runner. By the end of the season, he was slotted in as the Mustangs’ No. 3 runner.

That year, Hachac witnessed Anuare Magana go to work. The then senior ace of the Mustangs advanced to the state championship meet as an individual, fueling the fire for a first-time runner who wasn’t going to settle for anything other than his best.

“This whole running thing has taught me that, like my coach says, ‘The more you put in, the more you get out of it,’” Hachac said. “I knew that if I put all of that work in, there was going to be a reward at the end.”

Indeed, there would be, but it didn’t come right away. Hachac had to suffer through several near misses, finishing as the runner-up in the Orange Coast League Finals and missing a state-meet berth by one spot as a junior.

“There were times when I felt like giving up,” Hachac said. “There were times when I hit a practice and I’d be like, ‘Why am I even doing this?’”

“I knew that if I stuck with it, it would be worth it in the end. You have to go through those patches to get the glory.”

Past performance is the best predictor of future success, and despite his frustrations, Hachac only continued to climb the ladder.

His dedication and commitment to the sport culminated in a gem of a senior year.

This season, Hachac has placed in the top five of every race he has run. He has pulled off victories at the Laguna Hills Invitational, the Woodbridge Invitational, and the Orange Coast League Finals.

The newly crowned league champion’s results are stunning when this fact is taken into consideration. Most runners ease themselves into a season, but Hachac has gone full-throttle from the start and has yet to hit the wall.

“I like to give it 100% in every race I do,” Hachac said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an invitational, a dual meet, I just always go out there and try to give my 100%.”

His most recent accomplishment was a fifth-place showing in the CIF Southern Section Finals to advance to the state meet for the first time in his career.

“He ran a very intelligent race last Saturday,” Mustangs Coach Steve Moreno said. “They went out very fast, but he was smart enough to stay back a little.”

“We have a saying. ‘It’s not how fast you can run, it’s how long can you run fast.’ He does a great job of that.”

Moreno has great admiration for his soft-spoken No. 1 runner, who has put in 55-60 miles a week for training this year. The Mustangs’ seventh-year coach is a firm believer in the notion that actions speak louder than words.

“I always believe that there is potential in any environment,” Moreno beamed. “Elliot is a great example of that.”

“The potential does exist here locally. You put in the hard work, commit yourself, and dedicate yourself, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Elliot Hachac

Born: June 16, 1999

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Height: 5-foot-5

Weight: 120 pounds

Sport: Cross Country

Year: Senior

Coach: Steve Moreno

Favorite food: Pop-Tarts

Favorite movie: “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Favorite athletic moment: Competing in the CIF Southern Section Preliminaries as a sophomore because he didn’t know what he was up against, and it provided motivation for future races.

Week in review: Hachac placed fifth with a time of 15:23 in the CIF-SS Finals at the Riverside City Cross Country Course on Saturday. The result earned the Mustangs senior a state-meet bid as an individual.