LI's Carlos Santos Jr. running down a dream

This is all Carlos Santos Jr. has ever wanted.

Santos, a former state champion and All-American on Patchogue-Medford’s track team in 2018, is proud of his roots.

As a member of the El Salvador national track team, he wears that pride across his uniform's blue and white chest. He wears it around his neck, too.

Santos finished third and won a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Central American and Caribbean Games last month in San Salvador, El Salvador. Santos said he’s training for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris next.

“My childhood dream was always to bring joy to El Salvador,” Santos said. “I didn’t want to let them down. My biggest fear down there was failing. But the motivating factors were that I owed it to an entire nation and I was going to do whatever it took to bring that joy.”

Santos, who was born in Patchogue and holds dual citizenship between the United States and El Salvador, knew he wanted to represent his parents’ home country on an international stage.

He always thought he’d play soccer, the sport in which his dad scaled semi-professional levels before his parents moved from Joroco, El Salvador, to the United States in the late 1990s.

Santos played soccer for Patchogue-Medford High School in the fall and ran track in the spring before cross country and track and field coach Steve Cole recruited him to run year-round.

“He had a lot of early success with the steeplechase and stayed with it,” Cole said. “The steeple takes a higher level of coordination, and there are a handful of good distance kids who just won’t touch it because of that.

“It was very apparent that he could handle it, and then he just worked on it and worked on it. And that’s what it takes.”

Santos won a county championship in the 3,000-meter steeplechase his senior year at Patchogue-Medford, placed second in the state in the event and earned All-American status.

He joined Stony Brook’s cross country and track and field teams the following fall. He set the El Salvador 3,000-meter steeplechase record in 2021 — although his time was recorded at the America East Championships, it counted as an El Salvador record — and set a Stony Brook record in the event in 2022.

Santos redshirted his freshman cross country and indoor track seasons because of a stress reaction in his tibia. He redshirted last spring’s outdoor track season to prepare for the Central American and Caribbean Games.

He’ll return to Stony Brook this fall with a final year of eligibility in all three seasons.

“One of the things we recognized very early was that he was a hard worker,” Stony Brook coach Andy Ronan said. “He came in fresh, eager. You couldn’t tell how far he was going to go, but you could tell that this kid was going to get the most out of his career in college.”

Santos became the first male athlete from El Salvador to reach the podium at the Central American and Caribbean Games in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. He met and accepted an award from the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.

Santos ran the event in 8:51.92 — about 8:35 after converting for elevation and humidity — and said he's not afraid to compete against the top athletes in the world.

"Even though I may not physically be in the country, I know that outside I’m making a difference by showing kids who are here, who don’t have that same opportunity to represent their country, that they can make a difference," Santos said.

It’s one of the many driving forces behind a running career that has hurdled barriers, on Long Island and in Central America.

Santos sports a tattoo of the Central American and Caribbean Games logo below his right elbow, honoring his achievement in his family’s home country. It's a reminder of what he’s accomplished and perhaps what’s to come.

“I had struggles along the way, but I stayed true to my values, I stayed true to who I am and what I want to achieve as an athlete. This is the greatest reward,” Santos said. “I brought a whole joy to a whole country. That’s all I ever wanted.”