Alfonso Cisneros' story reads like a Hollywood script. But his is a true story.
 
Growing up in the small Central Valley farming community of McFarland, he dreamed of being the first from his family to attend college. He dreamed of running for a prestigious collegiate distance program.
 
But all too often dreams like his don't come true for kids in small Central Valley farm towns.
 
Cisneros was no ordinary kid. And McFarland is no ordinary town. Jim White – no ordinary coach – is one of the reasons why.
 
McFarland recently garnered national attention with the release of the Walt Disney movie, McFarland USA. The film depicts the story of White and his efforts to inspire a group of boys through the sport of cross country.
 
They needed the inspiration.
 
Often in McFarland, children work side-by-side with the parents in the fields, enduring blazing heat for far too long, day after day, for wages far too small.
 
Despite the adversity, White started a dynasty.
 
He took over the program in 1980 and led the team to nine state titles, 15 section championships and 22 league titles before retiring.
 
But Cisneros is the star of this story.
 
Despite his success on the cross country and track teams at McFarland, he had few collegiate options. With time running out for him to make a decision, he set his sites on making the roster at Chico State.
 
A former Chico State runner who worked at McFarland recommended Cisneros to Head Coach Gary Towne. Although Towne told him his times were simply not fast enough, Cisneros did not waiver.
 
He decided to attend Chico State whether he made the team or not. When visiting the campus for the first time through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Cisneros stopped by Towne's office to talk about his chances of being a part the team.
 "One random day in summer I get a knock on the door and he wins me over," Towne said. "All he wanted was the opportunity and to have the chance to make our team, so I created a spot for him."
 
Cisneros took his opportunity and ran with it. He not only made the team, but played an integral role in the Wildcats' distance running domination over the last four years.
 
He was a member of four straight California Collegiate Athletic Association championship teams on the track and the cross-country trails.
 

He placed 15^th at the CCAA Championships as a freshman, eighth as a sophomore and second as a junior and senior, earning All-Conference four times. He also finished second at the West Regional Championships as a junior and sixth as a senior.
 
With Towne's demanding training schedule, it isn't a stretch to guess that Cisneros has put in 10,000 miles.
 
But Cisneros says that was the easy part.
 
"Probably the most difficult part of my journey was getting here," Cisneros said.
 
Cisneros and his family migrated from Mexico to Long Beach when he was 11 years old. They moved in pursuit of better education, work and the "American Dream."
 
"My parents grew up in a poor family in Mexico," Cisneros said.  "So we basically started from scratch."
 
Cisneros did not speak English when he began school in the United States. Because of this, they pulled him from class daily to work with a private tutor. This left him feeling alienated.
 
Before he settled into his new life, his family packed up and moved again, this time to McFarland.
 
"Everyone spoke Spanish in McFarland, so that didn't allow my English and communication to develop," Cisneros said. "I was always talking in Spanish to my friends, and the only time I used English was in the classroom."
 
Through all the culture shock, moving and struggles, Cisneros found solace in one thing – running.
 
His started running in physical education class, where his teacher complimented him on his quick mile times. Then, a biology teacher encouraged him to try out for the cross country and track team.
 
Cisneros knew he was not trying out for just any running program.
 
"It's all over the high school, and they have the state titles posted everywhere," Cisneros said. "Everybody knows."
 
Though White was no longer coaching the team, he was a constant supporter during Cisneros' time there.
 
"He always went to the meets and supported the program," Cisneros said. "He brought cakes and everything. He's just such character. It makes sense why the movie revolves around him, because he did, in a way, start everything."
 
Cisneros' McFarland experience was the start of a journey.
 
"Freshmen year, I was one of the fastest freshmen in California, that was a big year for me," Cisneros said.  "That's when I started getting a lot of letters from coaches. That's actually what inspired me to get out of English

Language Development (ELD) classes and try harder in my other classes."
 
ELD classes are for students who are not proficient enough for mainstream classes without additional language support. Even when he experienced injuries during his senior year of high school, his hunger to get out of ELD classes prevented him from slowing down.
 
"The running part wasn't clicking so that was frustrating," Cisneros said. "But my academics were really good. Instead of getting the senioritis, I was really improving my grades."
 
With his academics excelling, Cisneros was driven to go to college not only for himself, but for his two younger brothers, Alberto and Diego.
 
"They were one of the reasons I also had that determination," he said.  "Because back in seventh grade I was starting to do bad things, but then I was just like 'If I follow this path my brothers are going to be exposed to it,' and they need a figure in their life and that's what I try to model for them."
 
Ironically, his academic improvement is what eventually landed him an opportunity at Chico State. And once Towne opened the door, Cisneros sprinted through it and never looked back.
 
"Just him giving me that opportunity, I knew I was going to make the most out of it," Cisneros said. "The reason I run is to see my full potential in that sport, and just getting to run for this program that is nationally ranked was a great opportunity."
 
Cisneros experienced another culture shock when he arrived in Chico.
 
"When I got here my English was pretty bad. I just had to keep transitioning and improving, and at first that's why I was shy, because my accent was really bad," Cisneros said. "It was the social part, catching up to the inside jokes and conversations. Each year has been a learning process, and that's why each year I have been able to be more of myself because I have been more comfortable."
           

Although acclimating to a new city and culture took time, Cisneros is happy with his choice.
 
"Chico itself, the town, is just beautiful, " Cisneros said. "At first, I didn't have any connections with Coach Towne or the other runners because I was basically one of the first McFalrand runners and students to go to Chico State. So when I got here, I got lost on my runs. I was just running through the city. I didn't even know about Bidwell Park."
 
While his transition to the social and academic segments of life in Chico took time, Cisneros immediately felt comfortable on the track. He ran as an unattached redshirt freshman in a few races and Towne immediately recognized his progression.
 
Cisneros was not only improving his times, but beating runners who had much better marks than him in high school.
 
"I told him if you keep doing what you're doing, when we get you in uniform, you're going to have some success," Towne said. "He kinda kept his nose to the grindstone and worked hard, and eventually evolved socially to where he wasn't nearly as introverted and became a really solid piece of the puzzle to our team."
 
Cisneros eventually prospered in cross-country and in the classroom, graduating in May of 2014 with a degree in History.
 
He is currently in the Single-Subject Bilingual Credential Program for History and English Language Development. Although nothing is definite, he is considering getting another certification in either Spanish or physical education.
 
Cisneros hopes to become a middle school or high school teacher, one day get his masters degree, and eventually coach at the collegiate level.
 
Seeing Cisneros' evolution firsthand has been rewarding, Towne said.
 
He even had the opportunity to share Cisneros' story with coach Jim White himself. While at a retirement party in Tahoe, Towne recognized White, and introduced himself.
 

"He was very aware of Alfonso and his being up here," Towne said. "Being able to catch up, and letting him know the impact he had on those kids was special. When you have kids like that fighting pretty tough odds, to succeed and see them have success like they did is pretty cool. Alfonso came out of that program and really exceeded all expectations."
 
While Cisneros' journey was not the easiest, he is grateful for the opportunities and support he was given, that not everyone is lucky enough to receive, he said.
 
"All I needed was a chance and some support," Cisneros said. "And I got it."