The Rowan women’s cross country team stayed home this past weekend, hosting their 10th annual Interregional Border Battle at Dream Park in Logan Township, New Jersey. Rowan finished in third place in the team standings, with nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins University and Carnegie Mellon University finishing ahead of the Profs.
Senior Gabriella Pagano continued to pave the way for the rest of the Prof runners, finishing seventh in the race with a time of 21:43. Sophomore Shannon Stakelbeck followed behind with a 40th-place finish with a time of 22:41.
“I definitely think that as a team, we need to work on staying relaxed,” Pagano said. “We definitely felt it when we went out quickly. I went out like fifteen seconds faster than I did at Paul Short (Open), which is a traumatic amount, but definitely focusing on the second half of our race as well.”
Stakelbeck continues to impress with her consistent, high finishes, usually finding herself as the second or third highest finisher for the Profs behind Pagano. Head coach Shedrick Elliott III feels her consistency has played a major part in the team’s success this season.
“Stakelbeck has been super consistent. Very proud of what she’s doing,” Elliott III said. “We wouldn’t be anywhere without her consistency.”
Jezena Aponte and Juliana Sieminski both finished with 83rd and 85th place finishes, and Zoey Doelling rounded out the top performers with a 92nd place finish, her best of the season.
Junior Ally Wernik continues to break through at the right time for the Profs as well. She continued to find a groove after suffering a patellar malalignment back in March, but her second sub-23 of the season, with a 22:45 and 43rd place finish, shows that things are finally coming together.
“I’m really proud of the team,” Wernik said. “Everyone just focused on their training, did what they did. That was my best time of the season besides the first race, so glad to get back into things after being injured. It’s rewarding to be like, ‘Okay, you’re doing this all for a good reason. ’”
That good reason Wernik may be referring to is none other than the upcoming New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championships hosted at Stockton University. Rowan is looking to repeat as NJAC Champions and Metro Regional Champions, and they got another look at some of the potential threats to that goal during their latest race, with NJAC opponents such as Stockton, Ramapo, Salisbury, and Christopher Newport all participating.
Rowan outperformed them all this past weekend; nevertheless, a strong two weeks of practice ahead of the championships will be key to their repeat. Pagano and Elliott III noted some of the keys to success that should be a primary focus of their upcoming practices, with an emphasis on staying relaxed and consistent for when the NJAC arrives.
“It’s still gonna be the little things. Staying consistent in their workouts, they’ll probably go over to Stockton on Friday just to get their second workout at the end of the week,” Elliott III said. “So it’s still staying healthy, and bottling up the enthusiasm and not letting the moment become bigger than it needs to be.”
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