Gabriella Glander '21 Recruiting Profile

I love running.  I am coachable.  I am good about setting goals and creating a path to get me there.  I am focused and determined to do what it takes to stay on that path.  I fully intend to run competitively in college and get great grades while doing so.

I feel fortunate that I have found my passion in running.  Before I started running, I had good grades but not great grades.  Once I fell in love with running and decided to run in college, I realized that having great grades was an important step in that direction, so I put in the time and effort to make it happen.

Putting in all the necessary time for schoolwork, in addition to all the training activities, keeps me very busy.  My busyness has helped me develop my organizational and time-management skills, and I have learned that, while running longer distances, I can use the time to work on my form while talking to God.  This time allows me to take advantage of the clarity I get to prioritize the things that need to get done and even work through some ideas for advancing specific projects. 

To help bridge the time between cross-country and track seasons during my freshman year (and on the advice of my coach), I joined my school’s swim team with hopes for gaining endurance and strength to help my running.  It was hard work, but it provided positive results, as I enjoyed some success in the pool and advanced to State.  But more importantly, I saw real benefits as I got into the track season. 

Few things in life equate to the feeling of excitement I get when I line up on that cross-country starting line with a couple hundred competitors and get ready to find my spots and pick off the fast starters one by one while using mud and other obstacles to my advantage.  My happiest day each week is my “long run” day, which is the day the coaches let me run the longest distance they are letting me run that week.  I can hardly wait until I am allowed to start running marathons.