Alexa Fitzgerald
Christian Parenti (‘19), a New Hampshire native, came to the Forest to branch out in search of a completely different and personal education. Drew has given him both, while outside the classroom he has consistently paced the Rangers men’s cross country team all season.
Being a student athlete is not always the easiest as Parenti says, “taking on a full course load along with having a job and practice everyday can be both physically and mentally taxing. It’s a full time job. Some days it can be quite difficult but the reward is worth it.” That it has been for the junior who took home Landmark Conference of the Week Honors and ECAC Runner of the Week Honors following his 26-second win to capture first place at the Saint Elizabeth dual meet on October 20.
The business major and computer science minor has his hopes set on the team starting to be able to compete with the top schools in the conference and to crack the top 5. Individually he has his sights set on, ”wanting to break the school record for fastest 8K.” While the season has been full of ups and downs with numerous injuries for his team, Parenti says, “the team has been running really strong going into this weekend’s ECAC championships and regionals.” He expects that his teammates will make many personal records.
Parenti only began running competitively his freshman year of high school as a means to get in shape for other sports he was playing at the time. When Parenti quickly discovered his hidden love for running, he dropped all other sports to run year-round, and it has stayed that way ever since. He says, “When the season is over I will take a very brief break and head right into an unofficial winter season consisting of road races and indoor track meets where I look forward to competing in the mile.” In between it all, Christian added that he would love to study abroad. His first choice would be to definitely go to Italy because of its beautiful cities and culture.
