Masciarelli Aiming To See What 'All-Out' Nets At Foot Locker 

By Mary Albl for DyeStat 

This weekend’s trip to San Diego will provide a long-awaited opportunity for Sydney Masciarelli.

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The sophomore from Northbridge, Mass. is nearing the end of her first high school cross country season, but she has long shed the tag of novice.  

This fall, on the way to the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships, Masciarelli breezed through an undefeated season for New England Prep School for Marianapolis Prep (Thompson, CT) and then won the Foot Locker Northeast Regional crown, producing the fastest time (17:12.6) in 34 years at Van Cortlandt Park (Bronx, NY).

She heads into nationals a first-timer, but also a threat to win it all.

“Sydney is pretty calm in general. It takes a lot to excite her,” coach Emily Gaudet said. “She’s been pretty level-headed about the whole thing, so I wouldn’t say there’s been any extreme emotion on any level, but I think deep down she expected, whether she knew it or not, to end up going to nationals.” 

Coming into the season, the 5-foot-10 Masciarelli has a bit of national success and experience. She finished 12th at New Balance Outdoor Nationals on June 16, running 10:49.15 in the 2-mile. Foot Locker will be a whole new experience for both Masciarelli and Gaudet. 

“I think since nationals is just an unknown for both of us, we don’t really have expectations,” Gaudet said. “Goals are the same goals going into regionals; I want her to come out of the race and feel like she couldn’t have done better.”

Masciarelli, who plays basketball in the winter, put the sport on hold until after nationals. She also made the mature decision to focus solely on Foot Locker. She turned down an at-large invitation to compete this past Saturday at Nike Cross Nationals. 

“I knew that it would be a lot of traveling even with just Foot Locker, so I didn’t want to go one week before and do another long trip and tire myself out,” she said. “And because it’s my first year and I’m new to all of this, I just wanted to take it slowly and prepare myself for one race, so I could perform to the best of my ability.”

While Masciarelli, No. 3 in the latest DyeStat National rankings, will not face two-time NXN champion Katelyn Tuohy or four-time All-American Kelsey Chmiel from New York, she’ll go against a veteran group of big-stage runners, including 2017 Foot Locker runner-up Katelynne Hart of Glenbard West IL, NXN third-place finisher Taylor Ewert of Beavercreek OH, Foot Locker Midwest champion and NXN fourth-place finisher Emily Covert of Minneapolis Washburn MN, and San Diego native Kristin Fahy, the West champion from La Costa Canyon, among others. 

“I know a lot of the other girls have been to Nike or Foot Locker in the past years, so I just want to go and have fun and learn from them, and enjoy the experience,” she said. “I’m really excited to run against all the fast girls and try and run a really fast time and just place in the top 10, hopefully.” 

Gaudet said they haven’t had conversations about time or placement, but she isn’t worried about Masciarelli. If anything, her quiet demeanor and level-headedness will play into her favor on the challenging 5-kilometer course at Balboa Park’s Morley Field. 

“I think if she runs a smart race and she runs as hard as she can, which she didn’t do at regionals, I think she should do pretty well,” Gaudet said. 

Added Masciarelli: “I feel like I’ve kind of been saving it for this race. In the other races I’ve done this season, I haven’t had to really go all out ... but definitely on Saturday, I’m going to go all out.”