The Trojans’ captain finished 10th in the Tucson City Cross Country Championship the day prior, crossing the line for his third-best time of the year, a 17:51.9. Much like his bike ride, his journey through life has seen Abdallah cover a lot of ground, both physically and personally, across his distance-running career and beyond.

Abdallah was born in Sudan and moved to Ghana when civil conflict forced his family to flee the country. Around eighth grade, Abdallah’s family immigrated to the United States, and he landed at Catalina High School as a freshman.

Inspired by the 2019 movie “Overcomer,” which features a story about a high school basketball coach taking over a troubled cross-country team and turning it into a success, Abdallah approached Trojan’s head coach, Chelsea Duran, with full confidence that he’d be a great fit for the team and that the sport would be easy.

Abdallah still had to learn how to run, figure out what he wanted from the sport, and needed to discover how far his legs and his ambition could carry him.

Across two cross-country seasons, he’s learned much about all three aspects of his sport and his life as a budding student in the classroom and athlete on the course and track, attacking all aspects of his life with a non-negotiable commitment to excelling and improving at all he does.

Duran still clearly remembers the day Abdallah made his confident request to join the cross-country team. Normally accustomed to having to seek out runners and convince them to join the team, it was a welcome change. Abdallah certainly didn’t need to be recruited; he had fully made up his mind.

“He came right up to me and said, ‘I want to run cross country,’ ” Duran recalled. “That’s fairly rare to happen … I was surprised that a freshman had sought me out, but we welcomed him.”

Growing up playing soccer in Ghana, Abdallah was no stranger to running, but organized distance running did provide a significant challenge.

“Personally, I played soccer all my life. When I saw this movie, I thought cross country would be easy,” Abdallah said. “When I joined, I realized it was not easy. Over time, I came to practice and learned to come every single day, never skip. That’s when I really started to drop times.”

In his first-ever race, the Ojo Rojo Invitational on Sept. 12, 2025, Abdallah finished 273rd out of 314 participants in the varsity race with a time of 21:41.6. In his next meet, the John Gleeson Lancer Invitational, he finished 117th out of 198 participants with a far better time of 19:28.3.

The great breakthrough came soon after. Catalina’s star runner, 2025 graduate Emiliano Caldera, one of Arizona’s elite distance runners, challenged Abdallah in a team workout to keep up with him during a 400-meter run. The freshman kept up with the experienced Caldera, opening the eyes of the star pupil and the coach.

“Both me and Emi figured out that day that Muzamil was a 400/800-meter runner,” Duran said. “There was just something I saw. It's this indefinable quality. It's the same thing I had seen with Emi when he started as a freshman, where something clicks, and they just have this need to be better, to want to improve.”

After improving to the sub-20 range as a freshman, Abdallah made waves in his first season of track and field. He competed in the 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 meters and long jump. At the state divisional meet, he placed ninth in the 400 and 16th in the 800. He also competed at the USA Track & Field Arizona Junior Olympic Championships, recording third-place finishes in both events. He also broke Catalina freshman records in both events.

Abdallah found motivation from Caldera, who convinced him to dive headfirst into running and take his two sports more seriously. He followed up with consistent attendance at practice and a non-negotiable commitment to attacking workouts and finding new ways to improve. Sometimes that meant showing up to practice while fasting for Ramadan.

According to Duran, Abdallah’s determination has become one of his defining characteristics. During the summer, when athletes are expected to complete their workouts independently, it’s never a matter of whether Abdallah pays his dues; it’s a matter of when the Strava notification hits Duran’s phone, showing he’s done.

“It's very, like, non-negotiable, almost unemotional sometimes,” Duran said. “It's just, this is what I have to do, and so I'm going to do it.”

His discipline extends beyond the course and into the classroom. Abdallah maintains a 4.0 GPA while taking Advanced Placement and dual credit courses and balancing cross-country and track. He uses his time during the school day to complete assignments and stay ahead, understanding that his academic responsibilities are just as important as his athletic ones. He has a lofty goal of achieving a 4.5 GPA by the time he graduates.

“My parents never went to school,” Abdallah said. “I know the value of education, and that’s why I do cross country and track, so I can go to a good school and get a scholarship.”

The opportunity to pursue those goals is something Abdallah doesn’t take for granted. He was 5 years old when his family fled Sudan amid civil conflict. While he doesn’t remember much about Sudan, he does know that experiences in Ghana have left him with a clear understanding of how different opportunities can be.

Abdallah played soccer growing up, but organized athletics looked considerably different from what he found in Arizona.

At his school in Ghana, Abdallah recalled having just one or two soccer balls for the whole school and a field with no grass for play and practice. Getting to school itself required walking, and even basic needs such as food or transportation were sometimes a concern.

To Abdallah, even Catalina, Tucson Unified School District’s second school, which opened 71 years ago in September 1955 and was recently considered for closure due to waning attendance, looked like a palace compared to his school’s facilities in Ghana.

“We have great facilities compared to there,” Abdallah said. “It feels like we have a lot of opportunities here.”

He also found a welcoming environment at Catalina, where he was surprised by how friendly people were after expecting American high school to resemble the bullying he had seen in movies. That sense of belonging has become an important part of his experience.

Abdallah credits Duran with helping make his transition easier, particularly through the support she's shown him outside of competition. Duran checks on him when he misses practice, both for his well-being and accountability to improve.

That support became especially meaningful as his family has navigated difficult circumstances. His father, Mohammed, died approximately five months after the family arrived in the United States. Since then, his older brother, Mustafa, has taken on much of the responsibility of supporting the family. Abdallah's mother, Aisha, has also faced serious health challenges.

Abdallah said he wants to eventually help ease that responsibility for his brother and give him an opportunity to rest.

“I want to work, too, and give him the chance to relax, too,” Abdallah said. “I want to help.”

However, both Duran and Abdallah’s older brother see the potential in Muzamil’s running career, as they continue to support his mission to run towards his future, rather than taking away valuable time working a basic job to contribute to the family’s financial picture that can be spent on furthering his athletic career.

Duran remembers Mustafa from his own time at Catalina, where he played soccer. When she encouraged him to consider running track, Mustafa explained that he needed to work to help support his family following their father's death.

Now, Duran has learned just how much Mustafa believes in his younger brother. After graduating, Mustafa reportedly told people to watch out for Abdallah when he arrived at Catalina.

“He's going to be the next athlete,” Mustafa said of his younger brother, according to Duran.

That support has helped Abdallah remain focused on his long-term goals rather than getting caught up in the immediate challenges facing his family. She sees his commitment as something that separates him from many athletes his age.

“He's made up his mind that he wants to be great, and it's non-negotiable to do whatever it takes to get there,” Duran said. “I'm just incredibly impressed with his mental discipline.”

Abdallah has already qualified for state in the coming weeks, something Duran wants her pupil to enjoy before turning their attention to bigger goals in both cross country and track and field.

However, no matter the numbers and records he accumulates, the statistics will only tell part of Abdallah’s story at Catalina. The other parts center around the community and home he’s found at the school, a place where he can belong with an incredible support system.

He describes the cross-country and track athletes as the school's “weirdos,” a group that has found its own identity through shared experiences, different cultures and plenty of time together. The team includes students with backgrounds from Sudan, Ghana, Jamaica, Eritrea, Mexico and Iran, among others.

“It's just always fascinating to see how they all get along with different cultures, different religions, different beliefs, and somehow it works,” Duran said.

Some of Abdallah's favorite memories don't come from competition at all. After particularly exciting meets or long runs, the team makes a stop for slushies, almost always at QuikTrip.

His preferred order? Never just one flavor. Abdallah mixes them all.

He's also become one of the athletes that Duran, also the school's athletic director, can count on to help set up and take down equipment for other sports, usually earning a soda from the concession stand as a thank-you.

Abdallah always picks Sprite.

Those smaller moments have helped make Catalina feel like home. When his mother became ill, Abdallah said people throughout the school community, including his coach, student services staff and the principal, checked in on him.

“Catalina is a great school,” he said. “We got a lot of diversity, people from everywhere, a lot of supportive people. ... Every time I wear the uniform, I feel proud of that.”

Duran named Abdallah team captain this season thanks to his unwavering commitment, the aspect his coach can’t seem to gush about enough. She sees an athlete with great physical ability, but also a willingness to put in the work, even when nobody is watching, which impresses her the most.

On Saturday mornings, when athletes struggle to get out of bed for another run and might negotiate with their coach for a later start, Abdallah is ready to go. Always.

“If I say we’re running on Saturday morning, he asks what time,” Duran said, describing Abdallah’s approach. “There’s no question or negotiation about doing it.. I think that just describes who he is in so many areas of his life. Just someone who gets things done.”

For Abdallah, the lessons he's learned through running extend well beyond the finish line. He's developed an incredible amount of discipline, found a community that supports him and discovered an opportunity to build the future he wants for himself and his family.

“You have to try,” Abdallah said. “If you know what you want, you have to try. Then the improvement is just a byproduct of you trying. You also have to know what you want and walk towards it. No procrastination.”

Abdallah isn’t just walking to his future. He’s running to it: 400, 800 and 5,000 meters at a time through effort, commitment and the ambitions of an athlete who thought he could recreate what he saw in a movie, before falling in love with a sport in which he originally bit off more than he could chew.

Fast Five with Muzamil

If you could add any professional runner to the Catalina cross country or track teams, who would you pick?

Yomif Keljecha; he has the second-fastest marathon time and is the record-holder for the half marathon.

Do you listen to music or have a pre-race routine?

I don’t listen to music pre-race; I find it kind of disruptive, actually. I would just say using the bathroom is part of my routine.

What sport would you try outside of cross country and track?

Probably football. I am scared of a concussion, but I think it would be worth it.

What’s something people at Catalina would be surprised to learn about you?

I speak multiple languages. I speak Fur, a local language back in Sudan; Masalit, my tribal language; English and Arabic.

What’s your favorite class and why?

AP Psychology. We learn about the importance of sleep and all of that, which translates to being an athlete.