Chris Torres
Name: Thomas Phommalinh
High School: New Britain
Sprinter
Major: Business Management
C.T.: How did your love for track start?
T.P.: It started my sophomore year of high school. I played football since I was 10 until my senior year. During my sophomore year, I stopped growing. I figured, I couldn’t do too much with football at the collegiate level, unless I tried to play Division-III. So I thought, maybe I should switch over to track. I had been running track since the seventh grade and I just did it for football to stay in shape during the off-season and basically I was getting better in track. I still played football, but I had to focus on the future. Sophomore year is when I transitioned my love for football to track.
C.T.: So football was your first love as far as sports goes?
T.P.: Yeah. I’ve been playing it since I was a kid, ever since I could run. I hopped on a Pop Warner team in sixth grade and played throughout high school.
C.T.: Most memorable moment in track?
T.P.: It would have to be my senior year of high school at New Englands when my 4×100 team won the race. We qualified for nationals.
C.T.: Why did you choose Southern?
T.P.: My junior year of high school, when I started thinking about college and where I wanted to go, I said to myself, I want to stay in Connecticut no matter what. I wanted to be away from home, but I didn’t want to be too far away from home. I also looked at schools and their track teams like UConn and Central and Southern. I didn’t want to go to Central because if I went there I probably would have commuted because it’s in my hometown and I felt like UConn was too big for me. I knew that Southern always had a great track team and it’s 45 minutes away from home. I felt like Southern was the perfect spot for me.
C.T.: What do you see yourself doing after college?
T.P.: Working and saving up. I want to start a small business. This is something I’ve recently thought about. Maybe down the road like 10 or 15 years from now.
C.T.: Who is the person that influences you the most?
T.P.: My parents. They always push me to be the best that I can be at life and school.
