Rowan women’s cross country performed about as good as one can expect them to in the opening meet of the season. On Friday, Aug. 30, the team went on the road to the Stockton Invitational to compete against Stockton and Montclair State University. Heading into this meet, Rowan was ranked No. 4 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) right behind Stockton, but that won’t stay the same for long. 

The team did excellent as a whole, but the individual MVPs were Gabriella Pagano and Ally Wernik. Pagano clocked in at 22:59.3, earning her the top spot in the race. Her time was so impressive that she received NJAC Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week honors.

“I felt very happy because I worked very hard this summer,” Pagano said. “This is like the first summer I really buckled down and was consistent with my summer training. Coming off of last spring, I had pretty high confidence, so going into this meet I knew that I was going to do pretty well.”

Wernik finished right behind Pagano in second with a time of 22:59.31.

“Working together as a team has really helped us a lot,” Wernik said. “Especially in that race, we worked as a team. If we continue to do that I think everyone will move up, not just me.” 

Finishing first as a team was huge for the program and new head coach Shedrick Elliott because it set the tone and expectations for the rest of the season.

“We had a strategy to pack run that race,” Pagano said. “The top five for the women scoring, we ran together, we packed up until the last mile, and in the last mile you ran on your own.”

Pagano also made it a point to speak about the success of her teammates, as they all found success when pack running, which is running with your teammates for as long as possible to bunch the team’s scorers together.

“Six out of the top 10 women in that race were from Rowan and that was really awesome,” Pagano said. “It was probably the most success we have had at this meet since I have been here.”

Having trust in yourself as an athlete and a teammate is important when it comes to overall team success.

“I think that we learned to just trust ourselves more. We were definitely a little nervous heading into it but once we were racing we all leaned on each other and worked together.”

The team’s early success leads us all to the same question. What are the expectations for the rest of the season?

“For the team, you know the season is pretty long so I’m hoping that we can keep this consistency up for the rest of the season,” Pagano said. “One of our goals is to succeed in the NJAC. We want to do really well in regionals and border battles. As a team, we have a lot of goals and I believe we have the team to achieve them.”

“I expect us to push each other,” Wernik said. “We all know each other’s limits so if we all work together and push each other we are good.”

Rowan’s next meet will be held on Friday, Sept. 20 at the Herb Lorenz Invitational in Ewing, New Jersey.

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