Casey Quntio runs during the Elizabethtown College Blue Jay Alumni Challenge meet Sept. 12. (Photo courtesy of Elizabethtown College.)
By Jashvina Shah
Casey Quinto was a solid cross country runner as a freshman at Hopewell Valley Central High School. She found early success with the Bulldogs, posting some personal best times, but she soon started to grapple with injury problems.
“Sophomore, junior and senior year of high school I struggled with injuries,” Quinto said. “I just didn’t really cope that well in high school. I ran but I was never as competitive as I had been, and I was upset a lot of the time about how I was so much slower.”
Now a senior at Elizabethtown College, Quinto has stepped up to become one of the leaders for the Blue Jays. In Elizabethtown’s meet on Sept. 4 at Shippensburg University, Quinto finished just seconds behind Brenna McNamee, the team’s top finisher. Quinto was the team’s third best runner with a time of 15:17.
“Her ability to now train consistently has helped her the most,” Elizabethtown head coach Brian Falk said. “The race that she ran in Shippensburg was one of the best things she’s ever done since she’s been here. It was an early-season meet, [but] it was by far the best result she’s had and it’s right up there with some of her best races that came later in the season last year when we were in better shape.”
Quinto has been one of several runners who have stepped up to replace last year’s top scorers in Ameila Tearnan, Megan Tursi and Amanda Kerno. McNamee, who earned the Landmark Conference Women’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week last week for her finish at Shippensburg University, is another runner who’s stepped up.
“I think a lot of people thought we were going to have a rough time of it but based on the results from the first meet, I think we’re going to be okay,” Falk said. “We’ve had a lot of people fill in that were basically JVs last year that ran terrific for us in the first week.”
Falk attributes Quinto’s success to her ability to stay healthy due through strengthening to prevent injuries, something that hampered her high school career.
“There were parts of her that weren’t as strong as they needed to be, and the consequence was she was getting tendonitis in her knees and she was just subject to a lot of nagging aches and pains which wouldn’t go away on her own,” Falk said. “But when she got stronger, the connective tissue was able to handle the abuse all of a sudden. She was able to train according to her ability and she’s been running really well ever since. She’s just been on a steady upward trajectory since she got here.”
Controlling injuries helped Quinto earn a spot in the regional championship meet last season, what Falk calls Quinto’s biggest accomplishment. Elizabethtown also won the team conference championship her freshman and sophomore season.
As a freshman, Quinto ran in six meets and finished 32nd in the Middle Atlantic Conference championship meet.
As a sophomore, Quinto ran in seven meets. She set a personal record at the Dickinson Shore Course Invitational and was seventh at the Landmark Conference Championship. She recorded a time of 23:25.0 in the Division III Midwest Regional.
“Making the regional championship last year was her biggest accomplishment. She actually injured herself during the race,” Falk said. “She’d pulled a hamstring during the race and was not able to compete at the national meet, which was really heartbreaking for her.”
This year, Quinto was named a team captain, and will also captain in track and field.
“She’s been going about all her responsibilities in a way that has her respect of her peers,” Falk said. “And I think that that’s you talk about her strong qualities, that’s probably the strongest one. She does everything she does as an athlete in a way that inspires [her] teammates. That’s really important to us.”
As a captain, Quinto hopes to motivate her teammates to overcome the losses of their top scorers.
“I hope just to help motivate everyone and remind them even though we lost a lot of scorers, we can become those new scorers and step up together if we’re positive and if we just have fun with it,” Quinto said.
Quinto’s love for the sport started with recreational runs with her dad, and she began competitive meets in third grade. Quinto, who lived in Wisconsin at the time, remembers running a 400-meter race as one of her first competitive experiences.
“I remember absolutely loving it,” Quinto said. “I was really tired and it felt awful but I knew it was something that I wanted to continue doing.”
After graduating from Hopewell Valley, Quinto chose Elizabethtown due to the school’s education program and the team’s atmosphere.
“I came on an overnight visit and stayed with girls on the team,” Quinto said. “I just got a very family-oriented sense and vibe from the girls on the team and from our coach here.”
While Quinto adapted to consistent training and strengthening, time management as well as self-confidence were her toughest challenges when it came to college-level running.
“It’s easy to get tired and slack off in certain aspects, but just maintaining a positive attitude I think is a challenge for everyone,” Quinto said.
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