Freshman Jenn Randall nervously stepped to the line at the Oswego Invitational on Saturday. Not only was it her first collegiate cross country race, it was the first cross country race of her life.

“I was nervous, a little intimidated,” Randall said.

Whatever nerves she felt, Randall did not let them affect her race in the slightest, taking the lead from the opening gun and never looking back. After an opening mile of 6:26 she opened a small gap on the chase pack led by senior Amanda Boccio, and continued to power ahead to win the 4.5-kilometer race in 17:38 — 13 seconds ahead of Boccio.

“She has a lot of talent to be able to overcome her nerves and win her first career race,” Boccio said.

For her efforts at Oswego, Randall was named Empire 8 Runner of the Week.

Randall grew up in a small town where her high school was also her middle school and elementary school — Cincinnatus Central School houses prekindergarten through 12th grade all in the same building. Her graduating class last year was only 55 students.

“Going to a small school was great because it was so personal and the community is so supportive,” she said.

It is because of Cincinnatus’ small size Randall’s running career is just beginning. Her school did not have a cross country team and only started a track program her junior year. On the track team, she was the only female distance runner, so she usually ended up running with the men on the team. Despite these barriers, she placed ninth at the New York State Championships in the 1500-meter.

Randall said having teammates to run with on a daily basis is helpful.

“It’s really nice as far as motivation goes,” she said.

Randall was only lightly recruited out of high school — despite the potential she showed — mainly, she said, because no Division I coaches had ever heard of her high school.

At most meets in high school Randall had very little competition, which led her to develop the front-running style she used at Oswego.

Despite her lead in the race, Randall never looked behind her to see where her competition was. She said she was probably the only one in the race who didn’t realize the gap she had opened up.

“I was always afraid someone was going to pass me in the end,” she said.

Head Coach Bill Ware was impressed by Randall’s performance in her first race, but expects bigger and better things as the season progresses.

“She’ll run better with competition,” he said.

As for herself, Randall said she doesn’t like to set long-term goals.

“I take it race-to-race and improve,” she said.

Box Score - 2009 Oswego State Invitational - 9/12/2009