Former IHA track star Sarah Pagano to represent United States at Pan American Games – NorthJersey.com
Former IHA track star Sarah Pagano to represent United States at Pan American Games NorthJersey.com
Former IHA standout Sarah Pagano will represent the United States at the Pan American Games 10000 meters Tuesday.
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Sarah Pagano reaches another milestone in her running career Tuesday, Aug. 6 when she’ll be on the starting line representing the United States in the 10,000 meters run at the Pan American Championships in Lima, Peru.
It’s the latest step in a remarkable career that started when the then IHA freshman came out for cross-country in the fall of 2005.
Since then, Pagano, 28, has excelled at every level she’s competed at, from high school, where she won eight Non-Public A group titles in indoor and outdoor track and earned five podium finishes at the State Meet of Champions; to college where she earned All-American status in the 10,000 and was a multiple time all-conference selection at Syracuse; and to the professional ranks where she finished sixth in the 10,000 meters at the recent USATF Championships in Des Moines, Iowa and earned selection for the seventh time as a representative of the United States at a major international championship.
“I think as every year progresses, I have big goals for the year and things have progressed the way I’ve hoped,” said Pagano, who now lives and trains in San Diego, California and represents Oiselle, sponsored by the women’s apparel company.
“When I turned pro five years ago after college, I didn’t know how it would go, but looking back and seeing that I’ve been able to make it my living for now, makes me appreciate my coaches and sponsors even more.”
Pagano was one of the best high school runners in North Jersey history, becoming one of the few runners to win the 3,200 meters indoors and outdoors and win the 5,000 meter cross-country race at the state group meet in back-to-back years. She also led IHA to a state group title in 2008, its most recent, and back-to-back All-American awards in the New Balance indoor national championships in the distance medley.
Pagano also earned the highest North Jersey finish ever in the Nike Cross Nationals championships, placing 58th of 199 runners at the 2008 meet in Eugene, Oregon.
“I came from a Bergen County running culture with good competitive vibes,” said Pagano. “Nothing’s ever a given in competition and I never thought I was better than anyone else. I never even won an overall state title.”
Pagano moved up to the 5,000 and 10,000 at Syracuse, a perennial distance powerhouse and helped the Orange to two NCAA cross-country finals and earned her All-American status with a 7th place finish in the NCAA 10,000.
Then she moved to Boston after graduating with a degree in nutritional science and multiple All-Academic honors and began running for the Boston Athletic Association, one of the oldest athletic clubs in the country and its coach Terrance Mahon.
“I thought, let’s see how this goes and I got lucky because it was a great place to run and he is a great coach.”
Mahon continues to coach Pagano as the coach for Oiselle.
Pagano represented the United States at the Ekiden 5k road race in Chiba, Japan in 2014, where she was fourth, and in back-to-back races at the Great Edinburgh cross-country races in Scotland, where she teamed with former Midland Park and Richmond star Amy Van Alstine to help the U.S. to consecutive third place finishes.
She also represented the USA in the last two IAAF World Cross-Country championships, in 2017 in Kampala, Uganda, where she finished 30th overall and as the fourth American and four months ago at the 2019 race in Aarhus, Denmark, where she was 50th but the second American finisher.
“That (Aarhus) was the toughest course I’ve ever run and maybe the most interesting,” said Pagano. “I’m always honored to be on a team like that and every time I run it’s special.”
Gradually, Pagano has been moving up the ranks on the track. She was fifth in the U.S. Nationals 10K in 2018 against a lesser field and this time felt she had a chance to make the Worlds team in Qatar in September.
“I wanted to be in the top group and tried to make the top three,” said Pagano, who hung on to the lead pack of five veterans for five laps after the pack split open midway through the grueling race, before fading in the final 3,000 meters to finish sixth. “I know I’ve got to get stronger so I can stay with the leaders the entire way to finish and I’m still working on that.”
The Pan Am 10,000, scheduled for 6:25 p.m. Tuesday EDT, is scheduled to be streamed on ESPN, either on ESPNU or ESPN Deportes. Start lists are not yet released, but Pagano has run several races below the Pan Am record of 32:41.30 set at the last Pan Am Games in Toronto in 2015.
“(USA teammate) Eliana Tabb is one of my best friends and we’ve raced against the Canadian entries who are always tough,” said Pagano, who hopes to earn her first international medal. “And until we know who’s in the race, it’s difficult to know where we stand.”
How much longer will Pagano run professionally is still up in the air, but Pagano isn’t really thinking about that right now.
“I’ll take it as it comes,” she says. “When I look back, it’s nice, but it’s also nice to look forward. Everyone has their own path to get to this point and it’s cool to see so many different ways to get to the same place.”
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