For the first time since 2012, Rowan women’s cross country took first in the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championships.
The season of vigorous training and preparation paid off for the young Profs squad who won their 6th NJAC Championship.
Head coach Ringo Adamson, as he always does, had a perfect analogy to describe his championship winning team.
“The wolf … he sits from days, weeks, years figuring out when he’s going to have lamb chops on his plate … just like our girls preparing for years and years and here it is … I think this Saturday we got lamb chops,” he said.
Junior Dianne Ferraro took the individual championship, finishing with a time of 22:31.4.
Ferraro humbly reflected on the teams glory.
“Our team performed really well, we worked together the best we could and really trusted our training,” Ferraro said.
Her teammate Alyssa Sanders finished 2nd with a time of 22:40.9.
Ferraro was very adamant in how her teammates helped push her to perform her best.
“We train together everyday so in races we work together as much as we can,” Ferraro said.
This NJAC Championship is not just possible because of those two players. It was a collective team effort to win.
As Adamson always says, “That’s the beauty of this sport.”
The team isn’t just carried by one or two individuals. Everyone on the roster has to pull their weight, and that they did on Saturday. There were key performances by Sha’Lynn Clarke (6th), Lyndsay Boyd (16th), Madison Edwards (17th), and Carley Tool (22nd).
All of these performances that would otherwise go under the radar were extremely vital to Rowan’s championship success.
“It was so awesome,” Adamson said. “The next day I had no use for myself. I really think emotional fatigue is more tiring than physical fatigue because I was done for.”
The Profs are ranked 10th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Atlantic Region Rankings. They will be at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Atlantic Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 16 at noon in Canton, New York.
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