XC AND TRACK
since 2014
GETTING HOOKED EARLY ON
Gianna first started her running career in 8th grade when she joined the newly created XC team at her middle school. Like many runners, she formerly played soccer and joined XC to build endurance for that. She quickly fell in love with the competitive nature of running and racing, as well as the mental and physical challenges it presented throughout training. By 10th grade, she ended up focusing her efforts solely on running by continuing to run XC and also join Track. At the time her high school did not have a Track team, so she commuted an hour every day after school to attend practice with Pac-5, the team made up of all the students who attended schools that didn’t offer Track on their own. Known as the “misfits'', Pac-5 enabled Gianna to meet athletes from throughout the island. She became part of a team that transcended the school you went to or the neighborhood you lived in. Throughout high school, she ended up setting school records, qualifying and placing in the top 20 at the State Championship meet all four years of high school, and even becoming the League Runner of the Year as a senior. However, she never thought she would take her career to the next level by competing in college.
THE NIKE RUNNING CAMP THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The summer before her senior year, Gianna attended a running camp at USD. She spent a week living in the dorms, meeting student athletes currently on the team, learning about Coach Guarino’s training philosophy, and exploring the best spots around San Diego. This summer camp made her realize not only that USD was where she wanted to spend the following four years of her life, but that she also wanted to try as hard as she could to earn a spot on the Division I team. Despite being one of the slowest athletes on the team, she enjoyed surrounding herself with such talented athletes and tackling all the new challenges that came with joining a new training program and team.
GROWING AS AN ATHLETE AND A LEADER
Gianna went from running 25-30 miles a week in high school, to 50 miles a week in college. For the first time, she was also taking part in structured weight training and a variety of different workouts. With a strong group of upperclassmen leaders to look up to, she eventually became a runner on the top 5 scoring team for USD within her first semester. She shaved minutes off her 5K and 6K times, and exceeded goals she didn’t expect to hit in her entire four years at USD. She also learned sportsmanship and leadership from a group of athletes that represented what Gianna aspired to become one day.
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY FROM COVID - 19
Seeing so much growth within her first semester at USD was very exciting, until COVID-19 put an abrupt halt to team training in the middle of Track season in Spring 2020. Gianna continued training in isolation, even after receiving confirmation that all races and events were canceled indefinitely. On the day that would have normally been a Championship race, she ran an unofficial 5K simulated race with her mom pacing her on a bike. She hit a 45 second PR after a season of training alone, and was motivated to keep working in hopes of running and racing as a team in Fall of 2020 during XC.
These aspirations were shut down once again after USD declared all fall sports to be unable to compete and train as a team throughout the semester. Regardless, she continued to train alone and set goals, even when it seemed like the next opportunity to compete was years away. At the end of what would have been her XC season, she did another 5K at race effort, this time with USD’s Coach Guarino on a bike alongside. To her complete surprise, she hit another personal record, this time by another 45 seconds to hit 17:01 for the 3.1 miles. Fortunately, she earned the chance to race in early 2021 and reflect her year of training in a race setting.
At the West Coast Conference Championships in February 2020, she ended up leading the Toreros to 5th in team standings, the best team finish in almost a decade. She also earned First Team All Conference honors by placing in the top 10. It was this performance that also earned her the opportunity to represent USD at the NCAA National Championship Race as the first Torero to qualify for this event. At the National Championships, she raced alongside Olympic athletes and All-American runners representing the best of the nation, and it was a truly humbling experience.
This eventually transitioned into Track season, as the XC races usually occur in the fall but were moved to the Spring due to COVID. It was her first official track season as a collegiate athlete, and she finally had the opportunity to compete in unfamiliar track events like the 5K and 10K. In the middle of the season, she ended up breaking the school record in the 5K with a time of 16:47, as well as earning a personal best in the 10K with a time of 35:01. In the 10K, she almost qualified for the National Championships, but just missed the cutoff. Nonetheless, she was very proud of her athletic achievements, and is grateful for the opportunity to grow as an athlete and leader through her involvement in sports at the collegiate level
XC 2021 UPDATE
With so much momentum going into summer 2021 training, Gianna was eager for next Fall and to have the possibility of running a more “normal” season. However, prior to coming to USD for pre-season training, Gianna ended up with a stress fracture in her left tibia. This put her out of running for weeks, and was a devastating realization for an athlete who had big goals for the fall. She still attended every team practice, while proceeding to cross train in the pool or on the bike after practice and between classes. She was also balancing daily physical therapy appointments in an attempt to get back to running as soon as possible. After almost 3 months of no running, she was given the green light to slowly build back into it. At first, it was only 2 minutes of running at a time. This was nothing compared to the 8+ miles her teammates were doing at practice every day. However, she slowly built up her mileage to running 5 miles at a time, every other day. She even became healthy enough to race at the West Coast Conference Championships on October 29th, and ran first for the Toreros in team standings. Despite her time being far from a personal best, the opportunity to run and race again without pain was ultimately a success. Moving forward, Gianna is looking forward to the Regional Championship race happening on November 11, 2021, and hopes to be back to running at full volume (65+ miles per week) by next spring for Track season.