Point Park runner Alyssa Campbell continues to build on sophomore success

The Instagram post already is written: Eight years of running means eight years off.

Point Park junior Alyssa Campbell is planning ahead for the last race of her senior season. When she is finished competing for the Pioneers, she aims to back off on her volume of running.

In the meantime, she will try to add to her collection of college accolades.

Campbell, a New Brighton graduate, is coming off a breakout sophomore season. She won the River States Conference title and earned NAIA All-American status in cross country and captured three golds at the RSC indoor track and field championships (3,000, 5,000, 3,200 relay).

The 2020 outdoor track and field season, of course, was canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic, but Campbell still did enough to earn RSC Female Athlete of the Year — for all sports.

“I found what works for me is saying I am going to do my best, and once I’m in the race and I size up the competition, then I will make goals along the way,” Campbell said. “I guess that’s not the ‘winner’s mentality,’ but it has worked for me.”

As accomplished as she was coming out of high school — a dozen medals between WPIAL and PIAA track and cross country — she was far from a finished product when she arrived at Point Park. She had potential that remained untapped and had volumes to learn about collegiate competition.

Fortunately for her, Campbell was tutored by one of the best runners in the country: Anna Shields. A senior during Campbell’s freshman year, Shields was a 10-time NAIA champion in cross country and track and collected multiple All-American honors.

“Anna adopted me, I would say,” Campbell said. “She really took me under her wing. She just saw something in me, and I really appreciated that.”

Said Shields, who runs professionally: “Alyssa is an absolutely tenacious runner. She was always interested in getting advice about race strategy. She can be counted on to have a great (finishing) kick in cross country and track.

“She can run the mile. She is also a national qualifier in the 5K, so she has a lot of range.”

Jim Spisak, in his second season as the program’s coach after a year as an assistant, said Campbell’s biggest area of improvement has been consistency, noting she “rarely has a bad race.”

She also has adapted to running in a pack, he said. In many of her high school races, Campbell could get out in front and dictate the pace, but now she will roll with the ebbs and flows of a race.

“When you get to the national meet, it can be kind of tactical,” Spisak said. “It starts slow, then there are surges and a fast finish.

“She has gained experience running with others, hanging in there when the pace is hot and still having a good finishing kick and not relying too much on that.”

Campbell served notice her cumulative knowledge is paying off, routing the competition at the 2020 season-opening Westmoreland County Community College Invitational. Campbell won in a time of 19 minutes, 17 seconds, nearly 3 minutes ahead of the runner-up.

She will have to wait until April to try for another All-American honor in cross country. The NAIA moved the national meet to April 9, 2021.

Campbell said she isn’t thinking specifically about national championships or All-American honors. Her focus remains on running her best race and letting the results fall where they may.

“I’ve definitely matured a lot and learned a lot about running,” she said. “I just kind of did it, not understanding about it. Obviously, I have goals for myself, but I don’t have a specific ‘ceiling,’ if I’m being completely honest.

“I just want to (run a personal best), and I want to get stronger. … And the goal is to never stop getting better.”

Until it’s time to take those eight years off.