WESTHAMPTON — December 14 found Ally Roessling in an inquisitive mood.
The Hampshire Regional senior thought she had narrowed her school choices to the University of Miami, George Washington and Pepperdine.
She wanted to add another California school to the mix.
San Diego sounded like a worthwhile location to explore.
“I had heard of San Diego being a really pretty place, and I wondered if they had any schools there,” Roessling said. “I literally did a Google search ‘colleges in San Diego,’ and the University of San Diego came up. Mind you this is like December 14, I had already applied to all my other schools.”
It checked all of the boxes, though. Reasonable-sized undergraduate population at 8,000? Well-known pre-med program? Far away from western Massachusetts?
Roessling applied that night and it was a good thing she did.
“The (application) deadline was the next day,” she said.
San Diego also offered Roessling an opportunity she’d only began considering over the summer — a chance to run competitively at the Division I level.
“I never thought that I could run DI until this summer when I went to a camp at Johns Hopkins,” she said. “I had never run cross country even until this fall, but I realized time-wise I could probably compete at a DI school. That was when it sparked my interest and I started looking at schools.”
She emailed San Diego cross country and track coach Will Guarino and filled out a recruit questionnaire.
“He called me two weeks later,” Roessling said. “We started the process of talking, and we really clicked.”
Roessling signed a National Letter of Intent to run for the Toreros on Wednesday. She’ll contribute to both their cross country and track programs.
“She’s a very determined person, she’s very methodical. She has a mind that’s very analytical, so therefore she understands systems,” Guarino said. “I’m excited to work with her.”
The fact that Roessling didn’t start running cross country until her senior year didn’t bother Guarino. He liked that she was willing to improve and be developed.
“She has the natural leg speed for track,” Guarino said. “In cross country, she comes from the Northeast. Anybody that runs behind a snow plow in the winter and gets out behind their own merit deserves an opportunity to be developed.”
The 1,500-meter and 5,000-meter runs are possible collegiate events for Roessling, Guarino said.
“She could be an amazing steepler, and she doesn’t even know it,” he added. “Ally exhibited both the mental strength and the heart for what it took to be a good runner. She didn’t have the walk-on standard (when she first contacted the University of San Diego). She improved a lot in a very short period of time because she wanted to run for the University of San Diego.”
She also wanted to enroll in its pre-med program.
Roessling has volunteered in the pediatric department at Baystate Medical Center for the past two years.
She’d eventually like to work in that field and was drawn to the three hospitals within four miles of the San Diego campus.
“I needed to be near a children’s hospital because I know I want to do some kind of pediatric (work), either at a hospital or something,” Roessling said. “They have a strong matriculation to med school.”
The hardest part about the move for Roessling will be the distance from her family.
She has a big family that she’s close with and will miss seeing her baby cousins grow up.
But she knew that would be the case when she wanted to go to a school so far away from western Mass.
“I visited in February. The campus and the feel of the dorms, it just felt right as soon as I was there. At that point I kind of knew,” she said. “There’s this valley. The school overlooks this pretty valley. It was like sunset, I was standing there and we were having dinner or whatever, and I was like, ‘this is it.’ I knew at that point. The air was perfect, it was like 70 degrees and beautiful. I was talking to the girls (on the team), and I knew I could see myself there in the fall.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowsk@gazettenet.com.