Sintayehu Vissa Never Stopped Following Her Dreams and the Journey Could Lead to an NCAA Title

Editor’s note: Italian pole vaulter Helen Falda is a seven-time NCAA Division 1 All-American with a personal-best 14-6 (4.42m) clearance, who graduated from the University of South Dakota. She was also instrumental in helping friend and fellow Italian athlete Sintayehu Vissa follow her childhood dream to come to the United States to compete at the collegiate level, which she has done as an All-American at Ole Miss following her initial stop at Division 2 St. Leo University in Florida. Falda shares her perspective on Vissa’s incredible journey ahead of the Division 1 Indoor Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala., with the Ole Miss standout scheduled to compete in the mile and distance medley relay in pursuit of a pair of NCAA crowns.

By Helen Falda for DyeStat

Imagine having the dream to be a champion and leaving everything behind to chase every goal of yours.

Also imagine tearing your meniscus, doing six months of rehabilitation and hard work without even knowing if it is going to work.

Then imagine again crossing the world because you did not give up on your dreams.

It’s hard to imagine all of this is possible, especially in the career of one elite collegiate student-athlete.

But Italian standout Sintayehu Vissa has done all of it and more in less than two years at Ole Miss.

And she is looking to make even more happen Friday and Saturday in the mile and the distance medley relay at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships at the CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.

The Beginning

Vissa, at the time already living with her adoptive parents, tried track and field for the first time in Italy when she was 11 years old.

As a young girl and new to the sport, she did not take it too seriously, at first.

She saw track just like any other extracurricular activity to do after school. Over the years, track and field was no longer just a hobby of hers, but it developed into more of a passion.

She started to be interested in not just running, but learning to compete hard.

Every year, she was able to qualify for her age group national championships, and eventually in the senior division.

“It’s crazy to think that I started this sport as a 400-meter hurdler, and now I am doing something completely different.” Vissa said, laughing.

She did not know she was destined for something much different and even more significant than that event.

The Irish Journey

“Around my junior year of high school I was one of the best in Italy in my category. I was thinking more and more to join my Italian friends that had already left to become student-athletes in the United States,” Vissa said. “I started to do a lot of research and look for schools, but my English was not good enough to pass my classes in English and start University in the States.”

Therefore, after high school graduation, Vissa left Italy and went to live briefly in Ireland to study English.

After four months, Vissa went back to Italy because she tore her meniscus.

“I started a six-month long rehabilitation process without knowing if I could ever get healthy again,” Vissa said. “At the end, though, everything went OK.” 

Not the ideal fit in Florida

After her knee healed, Vissa decided to finally make her American dream come true and leave for St. Leo, an NCAA Division 2 University in Florida.

But the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic, coaching and remote facilities did not make her experience at St. Leo very pleasant.

Vissa found great friendships, but she knew that she did not want to live in the United States to just have fun and experience a new culture. She wanted to be the best she could be in the sport.

“Because of COVID, coaches were not much around us athletes, they were telling us how many miles to do, and that was it,” Vissa said. “Facilities were also very far from campus and not comfortable at all. I did not think that was the right place for me to perform at my best so I decided to transfer and start all over again.”

Ole Miss: The True American Dream

“I started to send a lot of emails to DI coaches. I wanted to move up from D-2 and I was hoping I had a possibility at an SEC school,” Vissa said. “The Ole Miss coach (Ryan Vanhoy) was the first one to reply to me, just after an hour. He wanted to do a video call and offered me a scholarship right away. It was all I wanted and I was speechless. Funny story though, the only words that came out of my mouth were, ‘Let’s see if I can make this work, and I don’t even know why I said that.’”

After a week, Vissa officially transferred from St. Leo University to Ole Miss. At that time, she finally had her dream coach, conference, facilities, school, uniform and collegiate experience.

In the middle of her first semester, she already became an All-American in the distance medley relay at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. She also knew she made the right choice, because she improved right away in the 800 meters and the mile.

Improving and succeeding in any event became easy for Vissa. She bought into her distance coach Ryan Vanhoy from day one.

“I believed in my coach right away. I do not have any doubt that if I do everything he tells me to do, I will be successful. I made sure to tell him that it does not matter how hard the workout is. He tells me what to do, and I will do it until I can’t walk anymore,” Vissa said. “Coach Vanhoy demands a lot, but is also very understanding.”

VIssa knew that trusting the process was going to be fully worth it, especially because of the multitude of very successful athletes that Vanhoy coached in past years at Ole Miss.

Another great relationship that Vissa has developed is with Ole Miss head coach Connie Price-Smith, a four-time U.S. Olympian and two-time Pan American Games shot put gold medalist.

“She is a strong person,” Vissa said. “She has a great energy, she is like a mentor, and it is always great to have her around. But the most inspiring thing is that she is a woman. I know I can always count on her.” 

An Exciting Present and Signs of a Brighter Future

When talking about what she has already accomplished this indoor season, including becoming the first Ole Miss female athlete in program history to win Southeastern Conference indoor titles in the mile and DMR, Vissa remains humbled by her achievements.

“Wow, it is still hard for me to believe what I have done so far,” Vissa said. “I don’t think I have realized it yet. I want to prove to everyone that what I have done, it’s not just luck, but simply hard work.”

Vissa has run 4.32.70 in the mile this season, placing her sixth among the Division 1 qualifiers entering Friday’s semifinals.

She has also run 9.04.95 in the 3,000 and anchored Ole Miss to a 10:56.39 performance in the DMR.

“I will tell you more about the day I ran 4.32 in the mile,” Vissa said. “My coach told me to follow my teammate and friend until the 1,200-meter line. She was going to keep a pace of 4.40. After that, my coach told me to finish as fast as I could and to see how my body reacted to that.

“After the 1,200 line, though, I felt so fresh, my legs were not tired and decided to try and finish even faster than the pace. It’s crazy to think, but I ran the last 400 meters in 62 seconds.”

For two hours after the outstanding performance at Vanderbilt, Vissa even had the honor to be at the top of the NCAA rankings.

Vissa ran 4:33.96 to win the SEC mile championship Feb. 26, after anchoring the DMR with a 1,600 split in 4:30.23 for the Rebels the night before, teaming with Anna Elkin, Jayda Eckford and Loral Winn to earn the historic win for Ole Miss at Texas A&M.

“Anytime you have anyone come into your program who is going to elevate your whole group, it makes everybody better as a whole,” Elkin said. “She is an awesome teammate and friend, and that, alone, is great, but even more, it just raises the standards for this program for the people who are on the team now, and for the recruits who look at her and say, ‘I want to be that as well.’”.

In the future, Vissa will also keep working toward breaking the Italian indoor mile record of 4.28.90, held by 1984 Olympic 1,500-meter gold medalist Gabriella Dorio.

But for right now, Vissa is continuing to enjoy expanding her range, including All-America honors at the 6-kilometer distance by placing 33rd at the Division 1 Cross Country Championships in November in Tallahassee, Fla.

“I am just having fun trying a lot of different distances,” Vissa said. “Because of my background, I have the speed, which is something very reassuring. Whatever distance they make me run, I can finish fast.”

Starting as a 400-meter hurdler, Vissa doesn’t know which event she will specialize on as a professional athlete, but one thing she knows and is excited about is that she has coach Vanhoy by her side, and he will continue to develop her every step of the way, especially this weekend at the CrossPlex.

“I’m excited to see what is going to happen next, because I am capable and ready to learn to get better to see what is going to happen against athletes who I have never raced before,,” Vissa said. “Everyone has different tactics, but I know I have the kick and I will definitely use it.”