Breaking new ground – personally, and for her school

Before Annabelle DiStefano hung up her soccer cleats and put on a pair of running shoes for the fall sports season, only one member of Albany High School’s girls’ cross country team had ever won a Suburban Council meet since the Falcons joined the expanded league in 2015.

Barely a month into her first cross country season, DiStefano has now done it twice. 

A sophomore, DiStefano won Tuesday’s home Suburban Council meet against Averill Park and Schenectady at Capital Hills Golf Course, with classmate Matilda Gish finishing second to help the Falcons to the overall team win as well.

That followed DiStefano’s first-place finish in the Falcons’ home Suburban Council meet against Niskayuna and Ballston Spa on Sept. 12, when she joined 2017 graduate Eileen Bequette as the only members of the girls' team to win a league cross country meet.

As a ninth-grader last year, DiStefano was a starter on the mod-9 girls’ soccer team. All it took was one season of indoor track last winter to convert the long-time soccer player to a devoted runner. 

“I really like the hard work and what running teaches me about myself,” she said. 

That hard work is paying off. 

In addition to the two wins in Suburban Council meets, DiStefano also took first at the Broadalbin-Perth invitational on Sept. 16, winning the 5,000-meter run by nearly a minute to lead the Falcons to a second-place finish as a team.

“She is so young and new to the sport that she doesn’t even know what she is capable of yet,” coach Amanda Davey said. “She has the drive every coach wants in an athlete.”