This is NCAA qualifier Gianna Sbarbaro

Sophomore from Hawai’i becomes first cross country athlete to qualify for NCAA Championship race

Kat Pereira / Contributor / The USD Vista

Sophomore Gianna Sbarbaro has proven herself to be an inspirational runner with strong dedication that led her to becoming the first Torero among both men and women to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country Championship. However, there is much more to her story.

Starting her sports career as a soccer player, Sbarbaro first saw her passion for running emerge in sixth grade while running on the off-road dirt trails of O’ahu, Hawai’i and having a parent bike beside her during runs around the neighborhood. At first, running was just a part of training to make herself a faster player out on the soccer field. However, Sbarbaro’s dedication to improving as a runner led her to join a local run club, where she would participate in 5k runs with other club members.

By eighth grade, Sbarbaro found herself immersed in the team mentality and thoroughly enjoyed those 5k runs. This newfound passion for running steered her to join the school cross country team. Cross country was an outlet for Sbarbaro’s competitive side as she ran races, partook in friendly competition with teammates, and got to play a sport that had both a group and an individual element to it. By her sophomore year, she had completely switched from playing soccer, where injuries were more likely to occur, to running cross country and track and field. Without an official cross country team at her high school, Sbarbaro joined “Pac-5,” a running team comprised of students from various high schools on the island who all shared the same goal — to compete despite not having a team at each of their respective schools. 

It was through running for Pac-5 that Sbarbaro began to see growth and personal development unfold for her, notably after first meeting one of her teammates, Jordan Jones. Being a year older, Jones was known for winning every single race she ran, doing so with poise and integrity. Jones showed kindness to everyone regardless of how her races went and demonstrated ideals of great sportsmanship. Sbarbaro remembered Jones’ motivational leadership during a tough practice in high school. Pac-5 met at the bottom of Montserrat Street, a hill with almost a quarter mile of vertical climbing. Sbarbaro described the terrain as “so steep it is exhausting to just walk up.” That day the team had to complete 20 minutes of hill repeats, continuously running up and down the hill. 

Sbarbaro initially thought her coach was joking, and then became disheartened when she realized he wasn’t. She explained how the team relied on Jones to lift them up and carry them through the workout. 

“I wanted to give up before the run even started, but Jordan somehow inspired our entire team to have grit and perseverance,” Sbarbaro said. “Jones remained composed and didn’t let anyone fall into the dangerous negative mindset that can be so easily tempting at times.” Sbarbaro aims to embody the supportive, team-oriented disposition that Jones represented on her high school team. 

Having an inspirational leader and figure in Sbarbaro’s life didn’t stop in O’ahu, as USD cross country coach Will Guarino pushed Sbarbaro to continue to improve in college. Guarino first met Sbarbaro her junior year of high school at a running camp where he saw her strong work ethic and learned about her aspirations as a runner. “All Sbarbaro needed was a group to believe in her and a good training program,” Guarino said.

As Sbarbaro’s goal of running at USD became a reality in Spring of 2019, her dedication to the cross country team was impeccable as she popped in and out of her pre-orientation trip to avoid missing practice. At USD, running cross country at a Division I level is a major commitment. It entails full-time training year round as cross country runners in the fall also run track in the Spring. Sbarbaro explained that runners must also follow summer running and weightlifting regiments. 

This, however, was just the tip of the iceberg, as being a part of the uplifting team dynamic at USD was soon cut short by an unprecedented new challenge — COVID-19. With no way to gather together, limited training capacity, and a nationwide shutdown underway, Sbarbaro had to find a way to adapt. It was during this time that she saw how important the cross country team support system was for her. During the pandemic, it fell on the players to motivate themselves to train hard individually. Thankfully, Guarino provided his athletes with a training program along with an attempt to maintain some sense of community on the team despite not being physically together.

Guarino thinks highly of Sbarbaro both as an athlete and a scholar. “Academically, Sbarbaro is very dedicated. She’s more than a runner, she’s an athlete. She never cuts corners, and engages in flexibility and pre-warm up drills, all while maintaining a nutritious, plant-based diet,” Guarino said. 

At the heart of fostering a strong team dynamic as a coach is a focus on the character of individual athletes as their positive outlook affects the entire team. This could be seen during the NCAA Championship, as Sbarbaro found support across the board when the men’s running team sent her off with a visor and a card. This gesture speaks to the cross country team dynamic that Sbarbaro speaks highly of. “Knowing I had a great support system and so many people rooting for me meant a lot,” Sbarbaro said.

Another motivator for Sbarbaro, especially before limited-capacity training began, were her roommates: Grace Beal, Sofia Green, and Meghan Rotter, who are also on the cross country team. Sbarbaro’s roommates admire how dedicated Sbarbaro is with training. “Gianna does yoga and core everyday, making sure to always keep her water bottle nearby to stay hydrated,” Rotter said.  Fortunately, once training did begin at limited capacity, Sbarbaro could also rely on her team captains and upperclassmen to better herself by learning from inspiring leaders. 

Senior Hannah Rasmussen in particular has influenced Sbarbaro’s journey since they first met on a recruiting trip during Sbarbaro’s senior year of high school. Rasmussen remembers the great first impression she had of Sbarbaro. “I could tell from the jump that she’s super motivated, and was one of the people that wanted to be there,” Rasmussen said. Sbarbaro has thoroughly enjoyed training with Rasmussen and the other team captains and seniors who set great examples for underclassmen. 

There are some strong leadership qualities Rasmussen sees in Sbarbaro. “(She) inspires everyone else to show what hard work can do,” Rasmussen said. She remembers how everyone did a time trial for practice. “Sbarbaro raced fearlessly, she just goes after it and is ready,” Rasmussen said. “Sbarbaro was able to trust in her training and during that time trial was nine seconds away from the school record for a 5k time trial.”

If COVID-19 wasn’t enough of a challenge for Sbarbaro, she pulled a muscle two weeks before her first race in over a year. Instead of accepting her fate of not being able to race, Sbarbaro went to the athletic department everyday and swam laps in the pool until the pain was manageable. This hard work and determination got her to the point where she could still race in the West Coast Conference Championships. 

Despite having just recovered from her injury, Sbarbaro ran one of the best races in her career where she finished 10th with a time of 20:43 and averaging a 5:31-mile pace. This race qualified Sbarbaro for the NCAA Cross Country Championship. 

Going into nationals, Sbarbaro knew that the race would be unlike the WCC. “The race featured the most elite college runners from all over the nation,” Sbarbaro said. “Many of these athletes intended on continuing their athletic careers at the professional level, and as a result, the competition field was a bit intimidating.” 

In addition to facing fierce competitors, Guarino remembers the strenuous course that awaited Sbarbaro at Oklahoma State University. “It was extremely windy, and had grass, but a major freeze led to it being brown and slippery, and had major hills,” Guarino said. Given the difficulty of the race, Sbarbaro put her best foot forward and took nationals as an important learning experience as well as an opportunity to compete with other talented athletes. 

Sbarbaro placed 186th at the NCAA Championships running six kilometers with a time of 22:15. A key takeaway from the NCAA Championships that Guarino wanted Sbarbaro to see was that she belonged at nationals and that by pushing past boundaries, she opened the door for many other runners.

In the end it was her dedication, community, and initiative to push past the roadblocks over these past months that led Sbarbaro to where she is today.