Gabriella Pagano competes in a race. Pagano finished first at the Osprey Open. (Rowan Athletics)
Gabriella Pagano and Rowan women’s cross country continued their strong start with a first-place finish at the Osprey Open at Stockton University. Pagano’s top time of 22:26.04 marked her second first-place finish of the season.
“I don’t think she [Pagano] realizes how good she is,” head coach Shedrick Elliot III said. “She was probably a little conservative respectfully, and towards the end began to pick it up.”
Pagano was challenged a bit more at this race compared to the Salisbury Fall Classic earlier this season. As an unattached runner, Melina Johnston, whom she was familiar with, kept her on her feet throughout the race.
“There was an unattached runner that I used to run against in high school,” Pagano said. “She was running in the race, but she was supposed to be in Virginia, so I thought, ‘What are you doing here?’ So that caught me off guard because she’s very fast.”
Pagano says that she feels she’s progressing quicker than she did last season and finishes ahead of Johnston by over eight seconds.
“I’m further ahead than I was last year,” Pagano said. “Last year, I think I ran this time at Lehigh, so I’m like two weeks ahead of where I was, which is very good.”
Other top performers for the Profs include Juniors Shannon Stakelbeck and Ally Wernikk, who finished neck and neck with sixth and seventh-place finishes, respectively.
Three other Profs helped round out the top twenty-five placers, as Juniors Emily Zanni and Jezena Aponte placed 13th and 20th, respectively. Freshman Juliana Sieminski continued her strong freshman year with a placement of twenty-first.
With some comparison against New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) opponents now out of the way, the team will continue to be challenged with a tougher race coming up in Lehigh, while still understanding what needs to be improved in order to repeat as NJAC champions, including their spread as a team.
“I think we’ve been seeing a lot of progress in the workouts, and I do believe it’s coming together at the meets as well, but there’ve only been two, so I’m confident as we continue to go further into championship season that spread will close,” Elliot III said.
The team will get its first chance at some serious Division III competition when it heads to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, for the Paul Short Run at Lehigh University on Friday, Oct. 3.
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