Olivia Pisacano had a very ambitious college schedule.
Almost as ambitious as her high school one.
During her high school days, Pisacano had as ambitious a schedule an athlete can have.
When she was at Little Flower, on top of being one of the top students in her class, she played sports. A lot of them.
She left the school with 22 varsity letters – she ran cross country, indoor track, outdoor track, and she also competed in field hockey and swam for the Sentinels. She also played lacrosse.
Think she took it easy once she got to college?
Not even close.
She continued her running career and became one of the top in the country while at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York as a member of the cross country team. She also ran indoor and outdoor track.
It’s a very individual sport, but that’s not at all how Pisacano sees it. She sees it as a complete and total team effort. And she made sure to have all her ducks in a row this season.
“I think what made this year so fun was my teammates,” Pisacano said. “We’ve been growing since COVID trying to get back. What allowed us to do well was the team family that we built. As a captain, my goal was to get everyone really excited to run and to have everyone excited to run for each other and be there together.
“One of the things that brought us together, we channeled the Mighty Ducks and the Duck. Last year we watched it for fun. We thought wouldn’t it be so fun to Quack on the line. We’re really nervous, but we did it once last year and everyone was like, ‘Wow, that was so much fun.’ It was the least nervous I ever was on the starting line and I’m waiting for the gun to go off. It really helped us have fun.
“Everyone started getting random duck attire. We adopted the duck as our mascot and it brought the goofy side out of all of us. The ducks fly in a V and there’s a leader in the front and the squad behind you. That’s how I envisioned our team. It was everyone. You can’t have the flying V without everyone doing their thing.”
Pisacano certainly did her part.
She earned NCAA Cross Country All-American honors at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. Her achievement and honors were earned with her team and teammates after her third straight appearance at the Cross Country National Championships.
Like everything else, she was happy about the accomplishment, but shined light on others.
“I think it was a lot of focusing my time and reminding myself what I wanted to do and be committed to,” she said. “My coach and my teammates throughout were helpful. We relied on each other for advice, how to stay on top of everything. We did work together. My coach is great at giving pointers on how to stay on top of your school work.”
She had a lot of work to stay on top of.
If you think Pisacano filled out her roster with easy classes so she could focus on running, you don’t know her. She had a dual major, earning degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Design Innovation and Society.
She’s now in the process of securing a job after graduating in December. But for the first time in her life, she’s taking a little break.
Not completely. She still runs on the side and is staying in shape. She is also running with friends and looking into signing up for a race.
Just as she did in college and high school, she will give it her all. In fact, she developed a saying this year that helped keep her focused on the hard work.
“I had written, ‘Hello pain,’ on my ankle to help me achieve my goals,” she said. “I worked on the mental aspect of racing and making sure I’m doing it for fun and trusting my instincts as a veteran runner. One of the things I told myself was that the pain is supposed to be there. The running is pushing yourself to the limit and deal with in pain. I’d say, ‘Hello pain,’ because if it wasn’t hurting, I wasn’t running hard enough. That pushed me through the final couple meets. The quacks, the smile on the team and learning it’s OK to be in pain.”
While the running was a pain, she knew exactly where to turn to when she needed some comfort.
“I wouldn’t have done this without my family, my siblings and my parents,” she said. “I had some fun last summer when I lived with my brother (in San Diego) and worked at a candy store. We are very close, so it was a great summer. I loved working at the store and being there with my brother.
“I have the best family. I don’t think my parents missed a race, even when we were running in deep upstate New York. They were there all the time for me. They definitely made it easier and always made me feel better. My entire family did this with me.”
She leaves college with plenty of records and great memories. And more than anything, she leaves proud of her team at RPI.
“I did very well, I was very happy with the season,” she said. “The goals were to make it to nationals as a team and individually and earn All-American, which I was able to do. My main focus was graduating and earning All-American and being there with my teammates. That makes it really special. It meant so much and makes running so much easier. Before the race, cross country scores, every person counts for the team score. We have done the best this year since I was on the team. I’m so proud of everyone.”
