Norwin grad Allie Plassio determined to help Point Park women's cross country back to top of conference

The Point Park women’s cross country team is used to being top dog in the River States Conference. With decorated runners such as Anna Shields and Alyssa Campbell, the Pioneers long have been the team to beat.

But last fall, St. Mary-of-the-Woods, a newcomer to the conference, knocked Point Park from its spot on the podium.

The Pioneers are focused on bringing the conference championship trophy back to Pittsburgh, and one of the catalysts will be Norwin grad Allie Plassio. The junior was voted a captain by her teammates, and she understands the urgency to take back the title.

“It just stung so bad,” she said of last year’s loss in the RSC final. “In our minds, we were so prepared, and we were ready to go and we felt great. I think that’s been a motivating factor since last season.”

Plassio will be more than a figurehead. She will be a primary scoring contributor after being Point Park’s No. 4 finisher (17th overall) in the conference final. With the graduation of Alyssa Boyd, that leaves Campbell, the reigning RSC individual champion, and Jana Schmid as the only returning Pioneers who were ahead of Plassio at the conference meet.

Coach Tim Creamer said he can see a big change in Plassio from a year ago. After overcoming knee issues that dogged her during the spring outdoor track and field season — Plassio said she had tendinitis and bone density issues — she has come back a stronger runner.

“You can just see her get stronger and more determined and more competitive as a runner,” he said. “That work ethic is paying off for her. She’s going to be one of our top runners on the team this year.”

In workouts, Creamer has been encouraging Plassio to keep pace with Campbell as long as she can. No easy task, but it has become more feasible thanks to Plassio putting in increased mileage over the offseason.

And she took a more tactical approach to those miles, carefully mapping out her runs and doing a lot of math with her pacing. (“I think my coaches get mad at me because I look at my watch too much,” she said.)

It doesn’t hurt that she has a capable training partner under her roof. Her twin sister, Katie, is one of Slippery Rock’s top five runners, and the two work out together in the summer.

Some of Katie’s habits, she said, have rubbed off on her.

“I kind of follow her training in the summer,” Allie said. “She’s a bit faster than me, so I kind of did what she did. She has the brains of a runner, and I have the heart of a runner. I just follow whatever she does.

“When I was younger, I would just run. I was just all heart. I think it worked for me for a while. And then once I got to college, I had to kind of start strategizing.”

Last season, Plassio said, she dropped her personal best 5K time from 20 minutes, 40 seconds to 19:56. She wants to slice another chunk of time this season, and while running in the mid-18s as her sister did this past season might be a bit out of reach, Plassio said she would like to inch close to the 19-minute mark.

Plassio, naturally, would like to contend for the conference individual title and qualify for nationals. Creamer believes those goals are attainable, if not this season then next.

“I think if she keeps putting in the work that she’s been putting in and has the attitude and determination that she has had, the ceiling for her is definitely there for her to be a conference champion and to qualify for nationals as an individual,” Creamer said. “If, for some reason, we wouldn’t get that (nationals) berth as a team.”

But the possibility of not winning the conference and not making nationals as a team is not in the conversation around Point Park. Nothing less than winning it all will do.

“I think we definitely have what it takes,” Plassio said. “We’re capable of it, and if we keep working hard … we have what it takes. We just have to do it.”