Amanda Vestri has high hopes and goals for her final season as a collegiate runner. So far, the talented distance runner who competes for Syracuse is off to a great start.
She finished in 6th place in the women’s 5000m at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in early March, which earned her First Team All-American honors.
Vestri’s performance at the NCAA Indoor championships was a long-time coming, and she made sure to make the most of the opportunity and show that when healthy, she can compete with the best.
“Yeah, I definitely still think I have something to prove in this sport,” she said. “Not to beat a dead horse, but you know, after my injury in the fall of 2021, I didn’t get the opportunity to kind of show what I was capable of at the national meet in cross country. And I had felt like I was the fittest I’d ever been. And so from that day on for the last year, over a year, I’ve just been thinking about these big races and thinking about you know, not wasting the opportunity.
And that’s kind of like been my mantra over the past year is like don’t waste any opportunity that you get because you know, I do want to run professionally and I know that there’s a lot of talented women so I just I showed up and you know I put on the performance that I could that day but there’s definitely more to be done and things that I could be smarter about going forward.”
Vestri suffered an injury prior to the NCAA Cross-Country National Championships in 2021. She missed 13 months of racing, which included the indoor, outdoor and cross-country seasons in 2022. While the journey was challenging, she took a leap of faith and came back to Syracuse to achieve the goals that she set out for herself and reach her full potential.
“I don’t really believe in limits,” she said. “And I think it’s kind of been shown how good women’s distance running is getting in this country. But for me personally, I think after that injury, it definitely took me a while to get back. And I took a leap of faith coming back here for another year, I could have just, you know, called it in and said, Well, you know, maybe I’ll try in the future and kind of do things on my own. But I trust my coach, and I know that he has my best interests at heart and that he was going to be capable of kind of helping me put together really good workouts and having a really good indoor and outdoor season. So yeah, it definitely makes it that much sweeter, being out of racing and doing what I love for a year.
And so I think when I opened up my first 5k in December, we didn’t really know what to expect in terms of time, and I still don’t think I’ve reached my potential at all in the 5k. Indoors, I think if I was given the opportunity to run another fast indoor 5k, that it would be, it would be really good. But kind of now we’re shifting the focus to outdoors and the 10k and have some goals for there too. So yeah, overall,though, it does make it a lot more special, kind of having that taken away from you for a year. And I couldn’t be more grateful to be where I am right now.”
Vestri leaned on her faith as she endured the adversity that she dealt with. She believes it’s the most important thing that helped her overcome the difficult times.
“It’s been the number one thing that’s gotten me through it,” she said. “Last year was really hard. That injury right before the national championship, after winning the northeast regional meet by the margin that I did, I was going into nationals feeling confident that I could place top 5 at NCAA’s. Having the MRI show an injury literally the day before we were leaving for Florida for the meet – it crushed me.”
She said that the trauma from the injury still lingers in in her mind. A friend of hers sent her a faith based book that she read, while also continuing to pray and go to church. The steps that she took to lean on her faith changed her perspective on the injury.
“Ultimately, I do think the injury helped me become a better runner mentally because I started seeing myself as more than just a runner and someone who is a daughter, is a sister, is a friend – all those things,” she said. “I think ultimately at the end of the day, it was all a part of God’s plan. The fact is, if I would have never gotten injured in the fall of 2021, I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t have just gotten 6th in the indoor 5k.”
Vestri’s talent is undeniable, and she’s been consistent in her performances, stemming back to her days running for Iowa State and now Syracuse. The love that she has for the sport keeps her coming back and keeps her going day by day.
“I think it really comes down to the fact that I love running so much,” she said. “I’ve loved running since I was 11 years old. And my dad is like one of my, one of the closest people to me in my life, if not the closest and whenever I’ve gone through times of doubt or questioning myself. He reminds me that anything, anything is literally possible. And that kind of instills this unwavering hope for me and this commitment to myself that I’m not going to give up even when things get tough.
And I think that’s ultimately led me to where I am today and talking about you know, just being consistent. I think it all stems from the work that you put in, day in and day out and the joy for what you’re doing day in and day out. Because ultimately, if I didn’t enjoy running, and I didn’t enjoy putting in the work with my teammates, and with my coach, I wouldn’t do it. So I think the consistency just stems out of years and years and years built on top of one another doing what I love and wanting to be competitive and be the best.”
