Lauren Collins ‘10 had several tough decisions to make throughout her athletic career, but she walked away from each of them with no regrets.
From the time she was five years old, Collins wanted to be a gymnast. She dedicated her time outside of school to the sport, practicing five hours a night, five days a week with competitions on the weekends. It was a grueling schedule, but it was her passion all the way up until high school.
Coming from a public middle school, Collins didn’t know anyone heading into her freshman year at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, so she decided to attend a track & field summer camp just to see if she could meet a few people. She did well and had a good time, but that’s all it was for her - a fun, social event.
Collins still intended to pursue gymnastics with the goal of receiving a college scholarship, but early in her high school career, she started to reach a burn out point.
“I had practice after school and wouldn’t get home until 9 p.m., then had to shower, eat dinner and start my homework,” Collins recalled. “I was at a high school that was academically challenging, so I was feeling a little overwhelmed by that and I realized I was never going to be able to go to a football game or have a social life at all.”
As she was reaching a crossroads with gymnastics, Collins’ Spanish teacher, who was also the track coach and had run the summer camp, invited her out for fall training. She gave it a shot and at just 14 years old made the big decision to give up everything she had worked so hard for, trading in her leotard for track spikes.
“It was probably the biggest identity change for me, having done gymnastics my whole life and starting a new sport from fresh, but I’m very glad I did,” Collins said. “I ended up growing six inches the next year and am now 5’11 so I don’t think gymnastics was the best sport for me, but it was awesome because it built that foundation of body awareness, coordination and strength that translated really well to track & field.”
Entering her first year of track & field, Collins started with the high jump and 100m hurdles. She progressed quickly in those events, making the varsity team as a freshman. She rose to the top in Southern California, winning CIF titles and qualifying for the state meet, which drew the attention of college coaches across the country.
Wanting to stay in Southern California, Collins had her sights set on attending and competing in track & field at UCLA. With a lot of her family being UCLA fans and her aunt having played basketball there, she was sure she would end up in Westwood. But when she went on her recruiting trip, something just didn’t feel right. She visited a couple more schools with her last one being UC Irvine.
Collins wasn’t initially interested in UCI because being from Lake Forest, she felt it was a little too close to home. Her brother was attending UC Irvine at the time and had been commuting which wasn’t the college experience she wanted to have. So, when associate head coach Ben Cesar called to invite her to campus, she was hesitant but agreed to see what the Anteaters had to offer. She ended up staying a couple of nights on a visit that quickly changed her perception about staying in Orange County.
“I was able to get the feel for staying in the dorms as well as how close we were to Newport Beach,” Collins said. “I also loved the fact that it was a UC since academics have always been important to me. Then, I fell in love with the team and the coaches. I remember Ben saying during that recruiting trip that he could see me qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Trials. I just sat there stunned. It definitely wasn’t something that was on my radar but for a coach to even plant that seed and have that belief in me was the coolest thing. I committed that next morning when my parents came to pick me up.”
