This past weekend the Rowan women’s cross country team ran in the Herb Lorenz Invitational. They finished second out of eight teams and are starting the season off strong with consecutive top-two finishes.

One of the standout runners from this meet was senior Anna Sasse. She finished first in the 5k, clocking in with a time of 18:48.6. Despite running for years, Friday was a milestone day for Sasse.

“In my eight years of cross country I have never won until this past weekend,” Sasse said. “As I was chasing the go-kart I was thinking to myself your gonna win your first cross country [event], let’s do this.”

Head coach Shedrick Elliott III also spoke on Sasse’s performance. 

“We have to highlight Anna,” Elliott said. “I believe it was the first cross-country win of her career and we are all extremely proud of her.”

One of the other standout performances came from fifth-year senior Mia Guerra. Guerra finished third with a time of 19:11.0. Elliott was a fan of her entire performance, but one aspect of the run really caught his eye.

“I felt like the way she was closing particularly over that final mile was really good to see,” Elliott said.

Having multiple runners finish with impressive times will only help grow the confidence surrounding the team moving forward. Not only was their second-place finish impressive because of the times, but it was also impressive because they did it without one of their top runners.

“We were missing one of our top runners at the TCNJ meet,” Sasse said. “If Ellie had been there we would have won the meet.”

The good start to the season has the team feeling good, and the vibes have never been higher.

“We have super high expectations for our team this year. It’s cool to be in a position where winning the meet is a legitimate goal and not a pipe dream,” Sasse said. “We will keep trying our best and the vibes are great. We believe in ourselves and will carry this feeling out for the rest of the season.” 

Building on your success is a phrase the cross-country team stands by. Now after the first-place finish, Sasse, along with the rest of the team, have loftier expectations.

“Going into the next few meets that will have more schools and runners I plan on staying in the top pact,” Sasse said. “That is the goal now for not just me but a lot of the girls.”

Despite the early season accomplishments, Elliott has been impressed with a certain aspect of the team.

“The consistency at practice has been impressive. The team has been following the plans Coach Erick and I have put in place for them,” Elliott said. “They show up every day and keep a positive attitude which will continue to help us in the future.”

Rowan’s next meet will be on Saturday, Oct.5 at the Paul Short Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

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