Peabody’s Rocha regional cross country champ

A year’s worth of experience and a sound strategy can do wonders in almost anything. In cross country running, those two elements are especially crucial.Ask Peabody’s Catarina Rocha. She’ll agree.Rocha ran in the Northeast Regional Foot Locker cross country race last year, finishing third. She learned a few things ? and apparently learned them so well that she ran in the race again Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx, and won it this time.Rocha, who has been a standout runner for Peabody for three years – ever since she made the switch from soccer to cross country – ran the 5K course in 17:49.5, 39 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Megan Curham of New Jersey.”I was a slower time,” she said, “because it was windy, and because it was a slow course.”The race, she said, began in an open field and continued into some woods where the uneven terrain slowed everybody down.”There were a lot of turns,” she said, “and there were some logs in the ground that you kind of had to go over. But it wasn’t bad.”Her father, Joe Rocha, who is also her coach, said “she ran a disciplined race ? we set out a strategy and she followed it. She ran a perfect race.””I felt good coming out of the start,” she said. “I stayed in the top 10 for the first couple of miles ? maybe fourth or fifth behind the lead runner, so the people head of me could cut down the wind ? but also just to get a fell for the race.”She made her break at the beginning of the third mile.”I felt good,” she said, “so I started breaking away. I got a good lead, and tried to maintain it.”She said it helped that Curham, and others, were close behind.”I was pushed,” she said. “And I like that because it was real competition. It’s good to run with other people because they push you more.”Although the experience of running at a high level helped her, the course was different than it was last year as it was at a different site. It was more the experience of having run a race of that magnitude, and understanding what to expect, that helped her, she said.”This is a very proud day,” Joe Rocha said. “the conditions were not conducive to running a fast race. It was windy at the beginning and windy at the end. But we’re very proud.”Joe Rocha said that the balancing act between being a parent and a coach can be hard.”The emotional part ? I’m a father,” he said. “The coach in me wants to make sure she trains, and that we keep to the plan.”But just as a father, I think it’s amazing what she’s accomplished,” he said. “As a coach, that’s the progress you want to see in your runner. As a father, I’m happy ? and I’m exhausted.”Next up for Catarina and the rest of the Rochas is a trip to the nationals in California in two weeks.”We’ll all be going,” he said. “My two boys, my wife, myself, and – of course – Catarina.After that? Rocha will hone in on figuring out where she wants to go to college. An excellent student (she received the Moynihan Lumber Student-Athlete scholoarship last year as a junior), she’s had no trouble attracting offers. She says she’s looking at Providence, Connecticut, Boston College and Georgetown.”They’re all interested in me,” she said. “Once all this is over, I’ll sit down and figure out what I’m going to do.”Steve Krause can be reached at [email protected].