La Salle runner Gwenno Goode savored the spoils of her first NCAA championships

La Salle cross-country coach Tom Peterson was hoping for a harsh environment at the NCAA Division I championships on Saturday.

“I personally, would like the weather to be pretty nasty,” said Peterson, who was at his old stomping grounds of Madison, Wis., the site of the event after spending two years as a volunteer cross-country assistant at Wisconsin. “If it’s cold, rainy, or snowy, I just think we would adapt well to that.”

Cold weather is a natural habitat for sophomore Gwenno Goode, who is from Wales. Goode earned her spot in the championship meet for La Salle with a seventh-place finish in the women’s 6,000-meter event at the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet at Penn State. She crossed the finish line in 19 minutes, 51.1 seconds, a personal best by nearly 20 seconds.

The temperature hovered just above freezing in Madison. Goode said that her experience running an extended cross-country season in typically brisk Wales has prepared her to deal with the elements.

“We’re used to running in the really cold snow and rain,” Goode said. “For me, that’s cross-country. The [cross-country] here … it reminds me of glamping. You’re doing it, but it’s a bit more bougie. Back home it’s like camping, where you’re in the mountains with no water, no toilet.”

Goode finished 99th in the NCAA meet at 20:31.4. Not bad for her first championship run. She was one of two runners hailing from Philadelphia-area teams in the event as Villanova’s Sadie Sigfstead finished 15th in 19:49.

» READ MORE: Sadie Sigfstead sets the pace in a resurgence of women’s cross-country at Villanova

Goode came to 20th and Olney last year from Barry, Wales, a port town roughly 10 miles southwest of Cardiff, the capital. While she competed in many sports, soccer always drew her attention. It wasn’t until her junior year of high school that she decided to make running her main focus.

“In my last two years of school, I thought I needed to focus on one thing,” Goode said. “I [could not] balance schoolwork and training for both. So, I picked running. I don’t really know why I picked running. Obviously, there was something subconsciously … I was gravitating more towards that.”

In her first year with the Explorers, Goode dealt with some struggles in the cross-country season. She ran four races in the fall. Her best time, a 21:59.7 finish at the Mid-Atlantic Regional meet, earned her a 109th-place finish.

However, in the indoor track season, Goode found success running the 3,000 meters. She finished third at the Atlantic 10 indoor championships in 9:45.21.

Goode translated her indoor times to success in the outdoor track season. In her first 3,000-meter steeplechase race of her freshman season at the Larry Ellis Invitational at Princeton, she finished in 10:18.44. It qualified her for the NCAA East Regional meet.

Goode was more prepared for her sophomore cross-country season than she was in her first fall in the States. Still, she tried not to place too much pressure on herself.

“At the start of the season it was kind of like, ‘Oh, I’d like to get top 20 at A-10s,’” Goode said. “And then the coaches [are] like, ‘You know, you can do a little bit better than that.’ I was like, ‘All right, let’s get top 10 then.’”

After back-to-back personal bests at Lehigh’s Paul Short Run (20:37.8) and the Princeton Fall Classic (20:09.9), it became clear to Peterson that Goode had a chance to make it to nationals.

“She ran and competed with some really good individuals from around the country,” Peterson said of Goode’s performance at Princeton. “If she could do that, and we’re pretty early in the training cycle at that point, then I think she could repeat that come November.”

Then Goode captured the Atlantic 10 Conference championship in 20:10.4, finishing 21.5 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

“After A-10s, then I thought about nationals,” Goode said. “I didn’t think of nationals at the start.”

Part of what has eased Goode’s transition from Wales to Olney is her focus on being a well-rounded individual. Goode is studying communication, with a concentration in media and journalism. She has aspirations of anchoring sports programs for the BBC.

“The thing that stands out for [Goode], and the [international] student-athletes that adapt well to the U.S. in the NCAA system, is that they embrace the total experience,” Peterson said. “I think [Goode] embraces the experience of being a student in a foreign country, in the U.S., in the NCAA system. She’s interested in what she’s studying. She’s interested in what Philadelphia has to offer. The sport is a [part] of her personality, but it’s not fully who she is.”

Alongside her development as an athlete and student at La Salle, Goode has also developed a sweet tooth since arriving in the States, taking in the spoils of so many things to choose from.

“Since being here, I always need a dessert,” Goode said. “I don’t know if that’s just the American culture.”

Cookies and ice cream are Goode’s indulgences of choice. Her favorite spot for cookies in Philadelphia is New York City-based Levain Bakery, which opened a location in Rittenhouse Square in October.

Regarding ice cream for Goode, who describes herself as a “foodie,” Dairy Queen is the only place that could make qualifying for the NCAA cross-country championships even sweeter.

“I love a good Blizzard with loads of peanut butter, loads of chocolate, loads of Reese’s,” Goode said. “That’s what we had post-regionals. The coaches promised us Dairy Queen, so we all got that, which was really fun.”

But being so close to Chicago for the national championships, Goode was more amped for something a bit saltier.

[The coaches] are not big foodies like I am,” Goode said in advance of the event, “But ... I do know we are going to go to Chicago and get a deep dish pizza, which I’m very excited for.”