Pace University sophomore Mariah Jno-Charles was named Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week for the first two weeks of this season.

Jno-Charles earned runner of the week after her performance at the Vassar Ron Stonitch Invitational on September 10th,  she attributes her award to her head coaches strategy.

“[Head Coach Alexander Bean] told me to go out very hard with the first group of girls for the first mile,” Jno- Charles said.” Then try to hold on for the second mile, and if I die out that’s fine, coach just wanted me to race with the top girls.”

Her confidence level definitely increased as she was racing with more experienced  runners.

“I wanted to see what is was like to race with the top girls,” Jno- Charles said. “I think it worked in my favor, I was able to do it and it made me more confident in my abilities.”

She finished eleventh in the race, with an average mile time of 6.16.1, and on overall time of 19.28.7, but since she showed the best improvement throughout the race she was given the ECAC runner of the week award.

The Queensborough Invitational was held the following week on September 18th, and thanks to her performance from the previous week, Jno-Charles had a different mindset going forward.

“The second race I knew that my intention was to win,” Jno-Charles said. “I went out really confidently, I took out the race and just held on to my position.”

Jno-Charles  positive mindset helped her  finish first in the invitational, propelling her to be named ECAC runner of the week for the second consecutive week.

The hot start that Jno-Charles has gotten off to can be attributed to her offseason workouts, noting that this year she took her training much more seriously.

“Last year I was a freshman, so I did not really train over the summer between high school and college,” Jno-Charles said. “But this year I was more serious about it because I worked at a running camp over the summer and that got me more in shape.”

Jno-Charles hopes that all of her offseason training will help her accomplish some personal goals that she has set for the rest of the season.”

“I want to break 19 minutes, ” Jno-Charles said. “I have gotten close but this season I really want to be under 19 minutes.”

Also, Jno-Charles wants to place in the top 15 at the NCAA East Regional Championships in November.

Jno- Charles hopes that achieving these goals will earn her some recognition.

“I just want people to know my name,” Jno -Charles said laughing.