Rowan women’s cross country has been on a roll this season, and after a strong performance at the NJAC championships, three of Rowan’s runners made it to the All-Conference teams.
Making the first team (finishing top seven at Saturday’s NJAC Championships) is senior Mia Guerra, who placed fourth overall, and junior Anna Sasse, who placed sixth overall. For Sasse, this is her second year in a row making the All-Conference team and Guerra’s first time.
Even with her back-to-back selections on the All-Conference First Team, Sasse feels like she could’ve done better, and is hungry to put out a strong performance during the NCAA Division III Metro Regional to accomplish her main goal, which is to make nationals.
“It definitely feels good, but I didn’t achieve what I wanted to at NJACs, as I wanted top three. It was a hard course and I fought as hard as I could. I still feel proud to make it, and I am ready to achieve my goal at regionals,” Sasse said. “My main goal with all the training is to make it to nationals. NJACs wasn’t the best example of me as a runner and I feel like I have a lot more in me. I am willing to go all in at regionals.”
Guerra is very happy to make the first team, but she wasn’t surprised due to her performance throughout the season and the work she has put in.
“I was going into it thinking I should be up there,” Guerra said. “That confidence pushed me more to stay in that front pack. I really wanted it. I know where I am fitness-wise and how my training has been so I knew I should be up there.”
Now with regionals coming up, Guerra is hungry for a team win.
“All of us are really motivated,” Guerra said. “We have home-field advantage at regionals, so we are going to use that to our advantage. I have high expectations for myself and the team and I am going to give it my all. I want to cross that finish line knowing I gave everything I possibly could.”
Cammy Wright, one of the two team captains, also made an appearance on the All-Conference Second Team. She was especially ecstatic about this, as she felt like she accomplished one of her main goals.
“I am super happy to make the second team as it is the first time I have made it to the All-Conference teams in my cross-country career,” Wright said. “It was definitely a goal of mine. I haven’t done super hot at NJACs in the past so I was really satisfied with my performance.”
Wright is using this as a realization of how good she actually is, and is motivated to keep up the momentum after her strong performance.
“It was nice to see where I stand in the competition,” Wright said. “I need to use this to push myself forward and it was a huge realization that I can do it and compete with anyone.”
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