However, the harnesses weren’t for dogs; they were for a far different purpose. Garcia Gamez was looking for something to rein in his emus, part of a collection of 100 different birds he raises on his family’s property in Vail. In a pinch on a Friday night, Garcia Gamez couldn’t exactly find emu collars at Walmart, so he had to make do with the closest alternative.

It’s a fitting snapshot of Garcia Gamez, one of Arizona’s top high school distance runners whose life off the course is just as distinctive as his performances and prowess on it. In six meets in 2026, Garcia Gamez has won four. His personal-best time of 15:30 is the No. 7 overall time in Arizona in the 5,000 meters.

When he isn’t winning races for the Thunderbolts, Garcia Gamez spends time caring for his chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, and emus, selling eggs and learning avian taxidermy from a local mentor.

“John is unique. He’s his own person, genuine, one of a kind,” Farr said of his runner. “He has some real genuine interests and stuff in life that are different than the average student.”

For Garcia Gamez, those interests began long before he became one of the state's fastest runners. He received his first chickens for his fifth birthday, and what started with five birds in the backyard eventually grew into a flock of more than 100. Along the way, he developed an interest in 4-H, poultry exhibitions and taxidermy, building a life around his fascination with birds.

On the other hand, running competitively came about almost by accident.

“I started out as a soccer kid,” Garcia Gamez said. “I did it for like six years, and then said, ‘Hey, I run a lot. And I'm not good with the ball part. Let's just take out the ball.’”

He joined a running club in fifth grade while living in Jacksonville, Florida, before discovering how competitive the sport could be when he joined his middle school's team the following year. As a sixth grader, he was already among the top seven runners on a team that included seventh and eighth graders.

That early success helped him realize running was something he wanted to pursue. After moving to Arizona four years ago, he continued to develop, steadily lowering his times as he progressed through high school.

Over the years, Garcia Gamez’s times began to drop. As a freshman, his top time in the 5K was 16:59.1 at Desert Twilight in Phoenix. In his sophomore season, he dropped his season-best over a minute to 15.49.4, also achieving his first of three victories that season. He took fourth in the Division II State Championship race, a 22-place improvement over his 26th-place finish as a freshman.

The improvements have come through years of training and a willingness to embrace the demanding work required of a distance runner. This past summer, Garcia Gamez built his mileage to about 70 miles per week, incorporating workouts and early-morning runs that often began around 6 a.m.

On Sept. 4, Garcia Gamez took first at the Western Equinox XC Invite in Mesa, recording a 15:30.1, his current personal best time to date. The Thunderbolts junior worked his way through the field for the victory, a result which meant so much more than just standing atop the podium with a new time to beat. It was proof that all the work he had put in over the off-season training had truly made a difference.

“Working from behind like that just shows that everything over the summer wasn’t for nothing,” Garcia Gamez recalled. “All that work did pay off.”

Farr has seen many exhibitions of Garcia Gamez’s ability firsthand, particularly in his ability to recover between difficult repetitions in workouts. Whether the team is running 1,000-meter or 800-meter repeats, the junior regains his composure and prepares for the next attempt faster than most athletes Farr has ever worked with.

“He’s talented due to his training and diligence,” Farr said. “He enjoys the hard work. He doesn't really shy away from it. And I have a fair amount of students or athletes that are that way, but he does it with a fair amount of grit and a fair amount of ability that not everybody else has.”

Garcia Gamez's competitive nature is evident in the way he approaches races. He follows rankings, monitors his mileage and workouts and keeps tabs on the runners he competes against on a regular basis. Instead of chasing times, he prefers to chase positions and opponents.

“I'm a really competitive person,” Garcia Gamez said. “I like to pay attention because I know all the guys around me. Especially once you get in the faster (races), where there's like up to 10 guys ahead of you, I like to pay attention to them and just try and get as close to winning as possible.”

“It’s not so much about times, but more about placing. I try and pick off my opponents one by one because we know each other and that’s fun.”

Born to fly

Enjoying the sport is another important part of Garcia Gamez’s life. Cross country teams spend a lot of time together, something Mica Mountain has a leg up in this year by returning the same varsity roster for two consecutive seasons, giving the runners time to mesh through the repetition that defines their sport.

“Our boys team, it's really special because not a lot of people get to do this,” Garcia Gamez said. “We've had the same exact varsity two years in a row.”

He said the continuity has helped the group grow closer, both through competition and the time spent together away from meets. One of his favorite memories came after last year's Woodbridge Cross Country Classic in California, when the team rode the bus late at night, listened to its coach's playlist and made a stop at Raising Cane's.

On another occasion, Garcia Gamez arrived early for a dual meet when he wasn't scheduled to race. He brought a fishing pole, and several teammates joined him with fishing equipment and hot dogs. Together, they taught some of the younger runners how to cast, and a couple of them caught fish before the meet.

The moments reflect the kind of team culture Garcia Gamez values. He doesn't necessarily see himself as the person who needs to direct everyone else, but he tries to offer younger teammates the guidance he would have wanted when he was in their position.

“I just be myself,” Garcia Gamez said. “If they have questions, lead like, be the person that I would have wanted when I was a freshman or younger.”

Undeniably himself, Garcia Gamez pours his off-course attention into his winged hobby. With his ever-expanding flock, he now participates in exhibiting poultry at the Pima County Fair. He also sells eggs online, but his interest has spread wings and flown off far beyond that.

Garcia Gamez became interested in avian taxidermy after purchasing eggs from Scott Lengel, a Pennsylvania bird breeder who helped him navigate the challenges of hatching them. When Garcia Gamez traveled to Pennsylvania for a national competition, Lengel showed him his bird farm and introduced him to the work of a retired taxidermist.

When Garcia Gamez returned to Arizona and began looking for work, he discovered that Danny Crain, a taxidermist specializing in birds, lived less than two minutes from his home. Crain had been a site resident at Garcia Gamez's middle school, meaning the runner had passed his future mentor's house hundreds of times without knowing their paths would eventually cross.

Crain was willing to teach him, and Garcia Gamez has spent more than a year learning the craft and helping with his work.

For Garcia Gamez, taxidermy offers a way to work with birds while developing a specialized skill. It also demands the patience to learn from mistakes, something that translates naturally to distance running.

The junior’s schedule is made more manageable by homeschooling, which allows for a flexible timetable to complete his schoolwork while also balancing his training, competitions and care for his animals. He maintains a 4.0 GPA, just one piece that’s representative of Mica Mountain Cross Country’s team GPA, one of the highest at the school.

At a school where football often commands the spotlight, Garcia Gamez wants the cross country program’s accomplishments to receive greater recognition. As a key piece of its success, he believed distance runners deserve the same appreciation for their athletic ability, even if the races don’t draw the same crowds Friday nights do for the back-to-back 4A State Champions.

“I know the sports are different, but man, I’m pretty sure I am just as good as an athlete as they are,” Garcia Gamez said. “People don’t pay attention to cross country like they do football and I understand that, but anytime I can get myself in with the football announcements, it’s nice.”

Garcia Gamez has also taken on a different role for the team this season with his younger sister, Sea. Just a freshman, the younger Garcia Gamez has been taking some tutelage from her older brother as they’ve seen their roles shift from siblings to teammates.

“He’s a great brother to her,” Farr said. “She’s a very gifted athlete and has immediately come into the program and is very much a developing varsity athlete. With him, she’s had a really great season so far… she comes from good stock, so that helps.”

With the remainder of his junior season and his entire senior season, Garcia Gamez hopes to continue to climb the ladder in Arizona cross country. The blueprint he’s chasing is the top runner in the state, Flagstaff senior Yohannes van Meerten, whose season-best mark is 14.40.2, a Top 40 result in the country.

“I’d really like to get second in state behind Yohannes, because he’s just a beast,” Garcia Gamez said. “I want to win sectionals and then see what happens next year, too.”

Running is just one part of what drives him. Whether he is training before sunrise, hawking down opposing schools’ runners, helping a teammate learn to fish, tending to his emus or working on a bird with his mentor, Garcia Gamez approaches each pursuit with the same willingness to learn and put in the time.

“I just try to be myself,” Garcia Gamez reflected. “When I think about the pressure that comes with races, I just try to remember that I want this. This is exactly how it’s supposed to be.”

Fast Five with John

Do you have any pre-race superstitions?

When I'm on the line, I like to slap my back five times like a swimmer. I used to swim, so that's where I think I got it from.

What's a song you have to listen to before a race?

Any song by Eminem. I only listen to him on race day.

What's your favorite bird?

Probably my emus.

If you could be sponsored by any athletic or running brand, which would you pick?

Nike.

Do you have a favorite subject or class in school?

Definitely Math.