Figuring out what sport you want to play, or if you even want to play a sport is a hard decision for most people growing up. However, in the case of Emily Zanni, she knew she wanted to run cross country in the second grade.

Zanni fell in love with the sport for two reasons. She was good at it, and it was a way for her and her mother to bond. In the second grade, Zanni and her mother ran in a 5k. She recalls this event as the reason she fell in love with the sport.

“In the second grade my mom signed me up for my first 5k,” Zanni said. “We trained for it together and I ended up liking it because she is also a runner. I did Girls on the Run next and transitioned to cross country after.”

In high school, Zanni trained with girls that were older than her. During her sophomore year, she had a friend who was going through the process of choosing which college she wanted to run cross country at. It was at this time that Zanni realized she was good enough to run collegiately.

“My sophomore year, I had a friend who was two years older than me that I was training with a lot,” Zanni said. “When she started talking about her college search that was when I realized running in college could be an option for me too. We were already at similar running levels so I thought I could do it too.”

After non-stop training and many meets, it was time for Zanni to choose which college she would commit to. Although there were plenty of options, she ended up choosing Rowan University.

“I really loved the team when I visited,” Zanni said. “Academics was important as well. Rowan has a really good engineering program so it was kind of the perfect match of those two factors for me.”

When Zanni started running for Rowan University, she hoped it would be a smooth transition, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. She suffered an injury during her freshman year which caused her to miss half her season. She had to deal with a walking boot for a while and then had to do cross-training. She said it was one of the most difficult things she has dealt with as a runner.

“Last year I was injured for the first half of the season and today actually make it one year since I’ve been back,” Zanni said. “I was in a boot for the first couple weeks of cross-training which was hard but I continued with the training and I have been healthy ever since. I think it kind of gave me an appreciation for being able to race.”

Getting hurt and having to sit and learn from her peers helped Zanni realize that there were things she had to improve on if she wanted to succeed. 

“I realized I had to improve my times and my racing strategies,” Zanni said. “Working on finishing races stronger was something I noticed as well.”

These improvements to her game helped set new personal goals for Zanni. 

“A personal goal I have is breaking 24 [min] in the 6k,” Zanni said. “I hope I can break that this weekend at Lehigh and also place well in conference and regionals.”

These goals Zanni set for herself are possible because of her natural talent and her work ethic, which is something that her head coach Shedrick Elliott III has taken note of.

“She has an inner fire that drives her,” Elliott said. “She’s passionate and is willing to do anything to get better and I believe she will get better.”

Rowan’s next meet is on Oct. 5, at Lehigh University. In this meet, Zanni has a good chance of beating her record in the 6k and could potentially help bring home the win for Rowan.

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