Hazen alumni sibling duo teams up at Seattle U

The Seattle University track and field team will have an additional Rosario this upcoming season.

Joining her brother Miguel Rosario, Mikaela Rosario has signed to Redhawks Track and Field as a graduate transfer.

“It’s really special. We started running track together… It’s really nice to be able to run again with him,” Mikaela said.

Mikaela is just a year older than her brother, who finished his freshman year this past season. But with the help of being in the Running Start program for her final two years at Hazen High School, Mikaela was able to graduate with an economics degree at the University of California at Irvine.

“Their program seemed like a good fit at the time for me … I thought that was my best decision. I went over there and it was a really good experience,” Mikaela said.

One of her favorite parts about being in Southern California was just that — being on her own.

“My favorite part was the independence I got to learn. In high school you live with your parents, but being out of state, I didn’t know anyone in California,” she said.

“I had to make all new friends. It taught me a lot of like independence and doing things on my own … It was also nice being in a whole new area. SoCal is so pretty,” Mikaela said.

Miguel is riding the high of a fantastic freshman year — one of the better Seattle U track and field career starts in school history. He broke the school record in the 60M and 200M, and was a part of the 4X100 relay.

“There wasn’t too much pressure on me being my first year, but I had high expectations for myself. Our first track meet was at UW and I broke a school record, so I think that gave me a lot of confidence,” Miguel said.

Miguel just got back from the USATF U20 Track and Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon. At the championships, Miguel placed ninth in the 100, but that gave him a mark nationally to know where he stands with the best.

“It was pretty surreal. All the pros were competing down there. Seeing people who compete on TV was pretty crazy. I was grateful for the opportunity and tried to capitalize on that opportunity that I got on that type of stage,” he said.

He finished ninth overall in his one race, which was not the result he wanted, but certainly a statement, being as he was the final qualifier.

“I didn’t perform to what I wanted to. But top 10 in the country is pretty good,” Miguel said.

His sister also went down to Oregon, and she was so happy to see him on the big stage.

“It’s possibly the highest competition you could get in the world … Seeing him do that, he works really really hard. It’s nice to see his hard work pay off,” Mikaela said.

The two ran together all throughout their careers at Hazen. But when the time for college came, Miguel wanted to stay close to home, and Mikaela wanted the opposite.

Reuniting was something they both thought of doing. But when Mikaela wanted to transfer, only one school made sense.

“It’s definitely going to be cool. We’ve been competing all our lives together. Coming back at the Division 1 college level will be dope,” Miguel said.

The sibling-duo work out at Hazen High School together over the summer and will have many workouts together at Seattle U. For many, spending that much time around one another might drive them insane. Not for the Rosarios.

“We used to fight more when we were little. But now we have similar goals, so we kind of push each other to do our best,” Mikaela said.

“We push each other because we know we both want to achieve greatness,” said Mikaela.

For now, the two have each other to train against until the season starts. The Seattle University track and field schedule has yet to be announced for 2024, but the Rosario siblings will be ready once it begins.