PERRY HALL, Md. — Vince Ciattei, a Perry Hall High School graduate, won the 5000 meter national championship, capping a running career that started in the hallways and on the fields of his Baltimore County high school.
Ciattei said cross country was initially just a way to fill time between other sports.
"But then I came back cause I enjoyed cross country a lot. I came back for outdoor track in the, in the spring. Then the following year for whatever reason, I just believed that I could be better at running. So I ended up running indoor track instead of basketball," Ciattei said.
As his personal best times continued to drop, his commitment to the sport grew. Ciattei said the early progress kept him motivated.
"When you're new to the sport, you can do a pretty minimal amount of training and see your times just soar, and it's a really exciting thing to be like, 'oh wow, I did this much training and I ran this much faster,'" Ciattei said.
Ciattei joked that running is often used as punishment in other sports, and that a large portion of people don't enjoy it, yet it has become his whole life.
"So honestly, having a national title on the track, I feel like that's another thing where I can be like, well, I spend all my time running and training, but I'm a national champ now it's a good justification," Ciattei said.
He trains at altitude, running up to 90 miles a week. While he usually competes in the 1500 meter, it was the 5000 meter where he finally claimed a national title.
"I've been 4th, I think three times at USAs in the 1500. I've been 3rd, I've been 2nd. I've done everything except win in the 1500 on the track, and then the one that I finally got to cross the line first in was the 5K. So like, a little bit ironic, just that I've been chipping away so long in the 1500 and then found that success in the 5K," Ciattei said.
His next goal is to become an Olympian. Ciattei said the sport has already taken him far beyond Perry Hall.
"I've spent a lot of time in Europe now, I've raced in New Zealand, I've raced in Hawaii, I've raced in Africa. It's really cool to like think of think back to for a while, I was just running around the streets from my front door or from the high school, like running around the fields at the high school, and eventually it brought me all of these places, but that whole journey started from finding something, finding that passion back home," Ciattei said.
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