By Rebecca Black
Sport: Cross Country
Year: Junior
From: Schaghticoke, N.Y.
The Scoop: Emma D’Ambro has led the ‘Phins this past fall, consistently placing the highest for the women’s team at their invitational’s this past fall. Recently, D’Ambro placed 13th at the Northeast-10 Championships to lead the women’s team to a sixth place finish.
How’d you get started in running?: Emma began running in 7th grade and fell in love with the sport immediately.
“I love everything about cross country,” Emma said. “It’s such a unique sport and you can succeed in so many different ways.”
On the past fall season: The team held many great successes this fall, finishing strongly as a team in the middle of all the schools.
“This has been the best season since I’ve been at Le Moyne. We have a new coach who has brought a new philosophy to our program,” Emma said. “Also, more than half of our team is freshman so the program has been completely remade. Everyone has had individual success.”
Most Memorable Moment: The NE-10 championships this fall, where everyone worked together.
“Our hard work paid off and we showed that we could be contenders. Everyone ran their PRs to contribute to the team success.”
Pre-Meet Rituals: To have a successful race, Emma usually follows the same warm-up formula before every meet.
“Every meet we arrive two hours early to walk the course and warm up. Once we get to the line we do some drills to loosen up and then get in a huddle for a pep talk and our team chant.”
Future Plans: Emma is a chemistry major with minors in math and physics. She hopes to go to graduate school and become a coach someday.
