In just her first year at the University of New Hampshire, Ruth White earned All-American status on the track.
And now one of the top 10,000 meter runners in the nation is already making her presence felt on the cross country course.
The sophomore from Orono notched her first-ever college cross country race win on Tuesday.
“She’s pretty incredible,” said Alison Duffy, an assistant coach on both UNH’s cross country and track teams. “She’s fun to watch, and she’s one in a million with just her natural abilities, her work ethic, and so forth.”
White’s time of 10:59.42 on the 3,000 meter home course for UNH edged out Siena Brunetti of Holy Cross by about four seconds.
That first career cross country win for White starts her fall season off strong after a blistering summer.
White finished eight overall in the Division I national final for the women’s 10K in June, bringing home Second Team All-American honors from that race in Eugene, Oregon. She was named the women’s outdoor track and field performer of the year in the America East Conference later that month.
She followed that up in August as the top Maine woman finisher in the Beach to Beacon 10K race in Cape Elizabeth.
Whether it’s been on a track, the road or a cross country trail, White has excelled on all kinds of courses.
“It’s fun watching her on the cross country course as well,” Duffy said. “It’s just a different vibe than the track.”
Duffy said White is also fun to be around and a productive person to bounce ideas off after practice. White has even become the team’s unofficial “stat queen” according to her coach.
“She knows temperatures everywhere at what time of day, she knows the distances of everything, she knows all the runners, she knows splits,” Duffy said.
That expertise included White diagnosing that the opening meet was a little longer than 3,000 meters, which helped ease some worries for her teammates about their final times.
“So Ruth is our stat queen for sure,” Duffy said. “It’s hilarious.”
Duffy also said that the 3K race being shorter than the typical 5K or 6K in women’s cross country was a good test for White.
“You kinda have to go out faster because if you kind of get your positioning, you don’t have time to catch up. So there were nerves across the board from every single woman,” Duffy said. “But this was a good race for Ruth because she is such a powerhouse in the distance events. This was good for her to work on getting out, and her speed. And it was a tough course.”
Duffy said there is more pressure on White coming off such a strong solid freshman season. But pressure is nothing new for White after her decorated career at Orono High School. Duffy also expects that White will be putting plenty of pressure on herself.
But as Duffy works to help White reach her lofty goals, the UNH distance coach is also focused on keeping things balanced for the sophomore — and keeping White healthy.
“I just want her to keep that joy that she experienced last year into this year,” Duffy said, noting that she may not run White all every single meet this cross country season as she thinks about pacing throughout the entirety of White’s college career.
Duffy said White continues to be a respectful and hard working member of the UNH team, which was ranked number one on the preseason America East coaches poll.
