Sophomore Gracie Gioiosa placed first in the age group one through 19  at Sweat for Vets on Sunday, Nov. 6. Sweat for Vets is an annual trail race at Brush Mountain that raises profit for local veterans. The course has steep inclines for the first two miles. The last mile of the course is flat ground. 

Gioiosa has done the race annually since she was in sixth grade. 

“I didn’t run my seventh through ninth grade year then ran it again this year,” Gioiosa said.

Coach Tabitha Quinn says that running in the off season is encouraged to help propel runners to the next level. 

“Although we do need two or three times a week [to practice], sometimes that extra edge of being around runners makes you feel a little bit more into the sport,” Quinn said. 

Gioiosa manages being a student athlete by setting herself timers to help her manage her time.  According to Gioisa, keeping up with her schoolwork helped her become the athlete she is. 

“I try to compartmentalize, so whenever I’m practicing for running, I try to focus on that and whenever I get home and it’s time to do my schoolwork, I try to only focus on that. By setting timers, I’ll do 20 minutes of schoolwork, 20 minutes of something that I want to do and then flip-flop it. That really helps,” Gioiosa said.

Gioiosa was recently honored with the cross country’s team’s “Most Promising” award. 

“She has an amazing work ethic. She understands that running isn’t always easy and having overcome some adversity, the past year and a half she has been able to work through a little bit more pain and understand her limits more than other athletes,” Quinn said. 

Senior Reese Wilber believes Gioiosa is a great teammate. 

“It’s great having somebody push me a lot, and she’s always very positive and a great person and very supportive,” Wilber said. 

According to Quinn, it’s noticeable that Gioiosa has a true love for running and doesn’t just run to keep herself in shape. 

“She just tells people how she loves running and much like we say what you do is contagious,” Quinn said. 

During the off-season, Gioiosa attempts to keep up with the sport by running and doing workouts.

“I try to run during the off-season, maybe three times a week. I definitely do it less than whenever we’re in season, but the days that I don’t run I’ll do an arm workout or a peloton or something. I just like trying to keep up with it,” Gioiosa said.

Wilber has seen improvement in Gioiosa in many ways throughout the season.

“I think that she has improved a lot. She is one of the hardest workers on the team this year. You can really tell she really loves running and she has definitely gotten way better and she is a really hard worker,” Wilber said.

Gioiosa has goals for herself for breaking her personal record from this year for next year. 

“I was able to break 21 one time this season, and next season, I want to be breaking 21 consistently. Then also I want to get good at track because I haven’t done that in a while,” Gioiosa said.