Jamestown Community College’s Arryanna Bardo placed 38th at the NJCAA Division III cross country championships in Ford Dodge, Iowa on Saturday. Photo courtesy of JCC Athletics

FORT DODGE, Iowa — You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more unexpected plot twist than the one experienced by Jamestown Community College’s Arryanna Bardo, who finished 38th in the nation in Division III cross country on Saturday on a snow-covered course.

“It was an awesome experience,” Bardo said. “Not many get to say that they have gone to nationals, especially in a sport they just started this year. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity with cross country.”

Arryanna planned to play soccer for JCC this year, but when that season was eliminated in September, Bardo didn’t simply give up; she followed Forrest Gump’s advice and started running, and that turned into deciding to join the Jayhawks’ cross country team.

“If you told me before September that I would be running cross country and not playing soccer, I would not have believed you and probably would have called you crazy,” Bardo added. “But when life gives you an obstacle, you have to find a way through it. Even if the way through is running a lot.”

From there, the South Dayton native began to shine on the courses across Western New York. She finished 17th out of 47 in her first event at Finger Lakes Community College. By the end of the regional season, Bardo captured a 6th place finish in the Region 3 championships and a spot on the All-Region team.

That brings us to Saturday, where Bardo not only finished in the top half of a national championship, but also once again set a new personal record time of 24:25 in near whiteout conditions.

“I had a great experience, especially with the snow,” laughed an exhausted Bardo. “It was a completely different environment than I’ve run in before, which made it even more fun even though I was freezing.”

Bardo not only ran her best, but she also finished ahead of several of the runners she was chasing during regionals. A goal she set for herself as she trained for nationals.

“It was pretty great being able to run a personal best in my final run of the season,” Bardo stated. “I’ve come a long way since the start of the season and worked to push myself more every week, and it’s good to see that all the work I have put in has paid off.”

Bardo now sets her sights on Thiel College, where she plans to play soccer, but she hasn’t ruled out joining the Tomcat cross country team just yet.