Not long ago Darrien Rivera had no idea where he would sleep at night.

Today, he not only has a home with his uncle, he’s got a second one, as a sprinter and discus thrower on AuburnRiverside’s track and field team.

“My mom wanted to move to Las Vegas my sophomore year of high school,” said Rivera, a senior at Auburn Riverside.“When we moved, things didn’t really work out. We were kind of struggling, and eventually – long story short – we ended up homeless.”

Rivera returned to Western Washington, living first with close family friends in Puyallup, and then with his uncle, Rodche Miller, with whom he lives today.

“He was my football coach in seventh grade,” Rivera said of Miller. “I was struggling – I wasn’t too great of a kid. He kind of got me in line.

“I know I can always count on him … Growing up, he’s always been in my life and has helped me and guided me.”

Born in Tacoma, Rivera attended Wilson High School, and on his return from Nevada, Rogers High. He transferred to AuburnRiverside last spring. Rivera speaks to his mother every day. She’s coming up for his graduation in June.

“The whole goal was to come here and excel in sports and off the field,” he said, adding that his uncle got him “going and on the right path.”

“Every time my grades went down, my uncle talked with me, ‘This is the rest of your life.’ I listened and got it done. I’m still making sure it gets done. He’s not letting me slip up.”

And Rivera, who balances academics and athletics with a part-time job at McDonald’s, is making sure it gets done on the field, too.

He has signed to play cornerback at Central Washington University, where he plans to study communications and, possibly,become a sportswriter.

“It’s all about speed,” he said of why he thought sprinting would help him as a cornerback. “I want to get my speed up.”

Auburn Riverside co-coach Marcus Yzaguirre said he considers Rivera a football player who excels at throwing.

“What’s unique about him is he’s smaller than every thrower he goes against,” he said. “But he’s so explosive.”

Yzaguirre knows that firsthand. As the Ravens’ offensive coordinator, he took advantage of Rivera’s explosiveness by designing a lot of jet sweeps for him.

“He wants to be good at his craft,” he said. “He knows most people he goes against will be bigger and stronger.”

Rivera, who also plays basketball for the Ravens, got his start in the discus sort of by accident as a freshman at Wilson.

“I was just throwing the disc around in practice, but it was more of a joke,” he said. “I told my coach that I only had three events, and I wanted to throw in the meet.”

He only threw 80 feet in his debut. But with some help from his coach, he soon eclipsed that distance.

“When I listened, it started going farther and farther,” he said. “I’ve just kept throwing ever since.”

Still, he considers it “weird” that he has been more successful at the discus because “I focus more on sprinting.”

According to athletic.net, Rivera has the top throw – 142 feet – in Auburn Riverside history, breaking Joe Miles’ record of134 feet, 5 inches, set in 2012. He also is the 16th fastest in the 200, at 24.3 seconds.

His top throw this season would have landed him in 10th place at last year’s 3A state meet, and Yzaguirre thinks he could be there this year.

“He’s got a good chance at the discus,” he said. “The only reason he did not make it last year was because his timing was just off. He barely stepped over the mark. He thought he was pressed for time because of the relay. He easily had the best throw of the day.”

Like his races, Rivera’s goal is short and to the point.

“My goal is just to go to state,” he said. “I don’t care in what.”