''Three's company'' set to win third PAC championship

by Chris Vesci staff writer

Two years ago, both of Cabrini's cross country teams won the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference title. Last year, they repeated this feat. Jason Bull, Ricky Romyn and Celena Blasucci are three runners who have experienced these triumphs and continue to look forward to improvement.

"It was a pretty big thing freshman year," Bull, a junior, said of winning the PAC his first season at Cabrini. He adds that it was primarily a freshmen team, and they truly did not know what to expect. Bull weathered the transfer from high school to college sports just fine, noting that he found college cross country to be more self driven.

When Bull's sophomore year rolled around, much of the team had changed and only Romyn, Ryan Jones and he had returned. New additions to the team were Dominick Staino, Mike Repice and Jeff Fullem.

In terms of improvement over these seasons, Bull says that the team's times are faster this year than they were last year. A new challenge this season is rising above the loss of teammate Ryan Jones, who transferred. Bull said he was "a strong number five runner." Bull would like to see the team gain more recruits and have a stronger showing at regionals, which take place after the PAC championship. What if Cabrini doesn't capture the PAC title this year or Bull's senior year? Bull responded, ''I'd feel like we hadn't improved if we didn't win the PAC. Fourpeat, it's a dynasty." He would like to see the team remain strong after his departure from Cabrini.

Romyn, also a junior and long standing member of the men's team, reports that during his freshmen year there were several seniors on the team who provided motivation and made it clear that being champions was both important and attainable. Romyn also says that he would like to see the team perform better at regionals and believes it would be "disappointing" not to win the PAC his last two years at Cabrini. He wants to "go out without loss."

Romyn also stresses the importance of recruiting, saying that there must be change in the recruiting process or else the team will be in trouble.

On a personal scale, Romyn has seen much improvement in the past few years. He says he started out as just an average runner, but he has gotten a Jot better by putting much time into the sport. He identifies Bull as being a long term leader on the team. "He makes people work hard."

Celena Blasucci, a junior on the girl's cross country team, has similar goals and memories. Dilling her first year at Cabrini, she found the cross country team to be much larger than it is now. Though she ran in high school, she says that Cabrini head coach Tom O'Hora "made it more enjoyable." Blasucci was quite pleased to win the PAC her freshman year because her high school team "never won anything that big."

Over the years she has enjoyed watching her teammates improve, especially Romyn. In terms of goals Blasucci wants to see her team win the PAC again but said, "We have to work harder. Our team is very small." She feels that she will be leaving the women's team in good hands when she graduates, citing strong freshmen runners such as Jen Przasnyski and sophomore Kristin Zielinski as futille leaders.

Personally, Blasucci feels she has gained much from the sport, especially a broader knowledge of running, weight lifting and nutrition. Her times have also improved since her freshmen year.