Mica Rivera: an all-time best USU runner

At the Stanford Invitational this season, Mica Rivera made history. The graduate student broke the Utah State record for the women’s outdoor 10,000–meter with a time of 32:57.50, just under 33 minutes, to place 17th in the event. That performance ranks third in the Mountain West this season and 17th nationally. Rivera broke the previous Aggie record by more than 50 seconds. But it wasn’t the first time she’s made her mark at USU.

Rivera has been competing for Utah State Track and Field in both indoor and outdoor events as a distance runner while simultaneously running with the USU Cross Country team.

She has been a standout athlete for both teams, winning various awards over the years. For cross–country, she was named All–Region in 2022, Second–Team All–Mountain West in 2021, a Mountain West Scholar–Athlete in 2020 and a Mountain West Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week in October 2019. She has also won Academic All–Mountain West four times for both cross–country and track. In 2019, she was recognized with the Bill E. Robins Award for Female Athlete of the Year, an award given to USU students to recognize their hard work and dedication to their goals.

During her time on the track team, she wrote her name in the Aggie history books seven times, including her program–best 10,000–meter time. Rivera ranks second all–time in the indoor women’s 3,000–meter and the 5,000. For the indoor mile, she set the fifth-best time in USU history in 2023. In the outdoor 3,000 and 3,000–meter steeplechase, she placed eighth best for the all–time records. Rivera broke the outdoor 5,000 school record at  the Payton Jordan Invitational this season.

During Rivera’s time on the track team, she has had a positive influence on her teammates around her. Her determination and dedication to continuous improvement led her to be voted track team captain for the last two years.

“I’ve always looked up to the seniors when I was a freshman, and they taught me everything I know, so I just try to pay that forward,” Rivera said. “I try to be that example and leader as best as I can be. I think it’s a lot about being there for your teammates, bringing some positive energy to practice every day and just always celebrating other people’s success.”

Head cross–country and distance coach Artie Gulden said Rivera is a great leader and friend to everyone on the team.

“She’s soft–spoken, but she leads by example,” said coach Gulden. “She’s really determined and willing to put in the work. With her, at times it’s more about having to rein her in because sometimes she wants to work too hard.”

Abby Jensen, a senior distance runner on the track team, has looked up to Rivera since she arrived on campus. She’s been teammates with Rivera on both the track and cross–country team. She said Rivera is diligent about doing the little things right and is one of the most hard–working and positive leaders she’s ever been around.

“I can’t remember one time that she wasn’t celebrating her teammates’ success,” Jensen said. “Regardless of how she does, she’s always happy for other people. She just loves running and loves the girls, and you can tell.”

Rivera’s continuous improvement is evident across all of her events. Her 2019 indoor 3,000 time was 10:19.94; in 2023, her time improved to 9:30.84. In the outdoor 10,000, where Rivera holds the all–time record, she saw huge improvement. In 2021, her time was 35:26.04; in 2023, her time was 32:57.50, which broke the school record.

“Everyone was so happy and pumped for her,” Jensen said, “And after the race it was just like nothing had happened. She was just so happy and said that it felt so good.”

The 10,000–meter record Rivera broke is something she has been working toward all season. During the 2023 indoor season, she competed in a 5,000 meters race at altitude. Running at altitude was not something she was used to, but she was still able to run two seconds off her sea–level personal record, which set the tone for her upcoming outdoor season.

“It gave me a lot of confidence for my next races,” Rivera said. “The weekend confirmed that I had a lot more to give to this team, and the goal was to break the record.”

Gulden said Rivera’s improvement over the years could be credited to the 70 miles she runs weekly, which is the highest on the team. Rivera believes the miles decently help her be successful, but also having faith in what she is doing led her to her end goals.

“I think coming in as a freshman, I have just bought into the program that we have here,” Rivera said. “Most of the success I’ve had is just trusting the program and being patient enough to see it through, stay committed, and just have confidence that I would see my times improve.”

As a cross–country runner, Rivera has been consistently successful. She has competed in five different NCAA Mountain Region Championships and contributed points to the team when USU clenched 28th place as a team in the NCAA Championships.

In her 2023 campaign, she was one of two individuals to represent USU at the NCAA Championship, where she placed 201st with a 6K time of 21:21.4. She also became the fourth Aggie to compete in the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational, earning 158th place in the 6K with a time of 21:17.2.

Rivera said she loves that she competed in two different sports, and she learned how to manage her body and mind in order to be successful in both.

As Rivera is at the tail end of her last season as an Aggie, she hopes to finish strong and continue the success she’s had so far this year, but mostly she wants to close out the year with good memories.

“I’ve learned to enjoy the journey more,” Rivera said. “I do have a lot of goals and a lot of things I want to accomplish these last three months, but most of it is I want to have fun and look back on it and know that I gave it my best and had a good time doing it.”