Masciarelli May Be Quiet, But Her Running Is Making Noise

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Growing up, Sydney Masciarelli’s twin brother Salvatore did all the talking for her. That's the way she preferred it.

“She's very, very, shy,” Loanny Masciarelli, her mother, said. “You won’t get a lot out of her. She’s not a girl of many words.”

Sports, however, have always served as a place where Sydney could express herself and let her personality shine.  A sophomore at Marianapolis Prep, located in Thompson, Ct., this fall Sydney has quietly put together one of the most impressive seasons in the country by a high schooler. Undefeated in the prep school races this season, she's coming off a fifth-place finish at the USATF New England Cross Country Championships, where she put down a 20-minute, 38-second 6,000-meter time in a field of elite runners at Boston's Franklin Park.

“She actually loves it (running). Whether she has a good race or a bad race, she's happy,” Loanny Masciarelli said.

She heads into Saturday’s New England Preparatory School Athletic Council Class IV Championship with a chance to add to her already impressive resume. And Sydney, ranked 17th nationaly by DyeStat, has emerged as darkhorse to win the Foot Locker Northeast Regional title later this month at Van Cortlandt Park in New York.

“She's very serious, she's very quiet, she never complains about anything, just gets her work done,” Marianapolis Prep coach Emily Gaudet said. “She's the kind of athlete that at the end of a track workout if I tell the rest of the team to do a 15-minute cooldown, she’ll ask if she can go for a 20-minute or 25-minute cooldown if she feels like she hasn’t met her mileage quota for the day. So she is very self-motivated in that way, which I think is very unusual for a high school athlete.”

Sports have always been way of life in the Masciarelli household. Her dad, Stephen, played football at American International College in Springfield, Mass. Her older siblings both play collegiate sports -- Sophia runs for Hofstra, while Stefan plays basketball at Assumption. Sydney started running in the third grade, tagging along with Sophia. She also played soccer until this fall. Her mother is a second cousin of Brazilian soccer legend Pele.

“I'm a really competitive person and I always want to beat my twin brother and my sister,” she said. “Just competing with them pushed me to be better.”

In the winter, Sydney, who is 5 feet 10, trades her spikes for sneakers as she’s a guard on the basketball team. In the spring, she runs track. Last spring she clocked the No. 1 freshman time for the full 2 miles (10:49.15) and finished 12th overall at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor. She also clocked a 4:58 mile and 2:13.94 in the 800 meters. 

“She's genetically gifted, and in addition to being just extremely focused with her training; the two of those together are just an incredible force,” Gaudet said. “And I think it's perfect combination of circumstances.”

Sports have been also a source of camaraderie for Sydney and her siblings. Over the summer, Sydney, Salvatore and Sophia collectively made a plan to get better through running and a strict diet. 

“They started to eliminate sugar from their diet and they took that on,” Loanny Masciarelli said. “They started and all through August they went at it. I don’t think I’ve never seen the three of them work so hard.”

The bond between Sydney and Salvatore has proved to be a special connection. The pair train together at Marianapolis, and push one another in whatever activity they are doing. Loanny explained it wasn’t until last year when Salvatore became faster than Sydney. 

“He ended up being a little faster than her in track and that bothered her,” Loanny said. “She could not wrap her mind around the fact that he was faster. (But) they do everything together, it’s always been the same. They are very, very close. He’s very outgoing, very talkative, and she just follows.”

On the trails this fall, in her first high school cross country season, Sydney has blazed her own path. In September, she ran 17:04 at the Canterbury (CT) Invitational to break the course record by 51 seconds. 

“I’ve never seen a girl run that fast in high school, even the college level,” Gaudet said. “It was really awesome,” 

To challenge Sydney outside of the New England prep schedule and set her up for a successful postseason, Gaudet formulated a training plan to make sure she got experience in higher level races. In October, Sydney competed in the Mayor’s Cup in Boston at Franklin Park, where she finished fourth amongst an elite field. Her time of 17:04 broke a U18 meet record that was previously held by Shalane Flanagan since 1999 (17:08).

Sydney said she enjoys the dedication that goes into pushing her limits.

“I enjoy getting over that (mental aspect) and accomplishing goals, and how every course is different, and you have to strategically make plans on how you’re going to run each course,” she said.

While Sydney isn’t one for the spotlight, she’s let her times and performances do the talking for her. 

“Given how competitive she is, she really rises to the occasion in every race that she runs,” Gaudet said. “And every race that she's run, she's just blown me away. And I don’t expect anything different at (Foot Locker) regionals.”