As a child growing up in Milan, Italy, graduate student and mid-distance runner Laura Pellicoro never would have expected to be where she is now, making waves in the world of track and field. In fact, her first experience with the sport at seven years old left a bad impression on her, with her first stint lasting only six months.
“I absolutely hated it,” Pellicoro said.
So how did Pellicoro go from hatred of the sport to becoming a five-time All-American, the first Pilot to win U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the Week, the first Pilot named to the Bowerman Watch List and breaking her own record for fastest 1,000-meter time by a women’s collegiate runner?
Simple. If there’s anything to know about Pellicoro, it's that she is resilient, hard working and always open to new experiences.
When a PE instructor at her middle school asked the then volleyball player to stand in on the team for one local cross country meet, Pellicoro accepted the task. It wasn’t until a successful race and advice from the coach to pursue the sport further that Pellicoro began to realize her potential.
Pellicoro was a natural. It took less than a year to win her first National Title U-16 for the 1,000-meter event in Italy and developed a goal to pursue the sport professionally. To do this, she sought the United States for the opportunity to pursue her athletics alongside an education.
Applying as an international student during the pandemic and the inability to tour schools in person made the process difficult. Pellicoro took a leap of faith by selecting UP.
“I looked at the UP website, and it just looked like a very nice community…I wanted to start my US college path at a university that feels more like a family,” Pellicoro said.
Sense of community is the pulse of the cross country and track and field programs, according to Teresa Perez, Pellicoro’s housemate, close friend and fellow mid-distance teammate.
“A lot of the girls joined this team and decided to commit to Portland compared to other colleges because the team culture just seemed so tight-knit,” Perez said. “I think that's something that's always passed down throughout the years, like it's never lost within the team.”
When in the presence of a special talent, it doesn’t take long to realize: It was clear from Pellicoro’s first year at UP that she was bound to lead an incredible collegiate career, according to women’s track and field Head Coach Ian Solof.
“I could tell right away, as soon as she got here, that she was just something a little different… something special, and she's shown that every season,” Solof said.
She has shown it each season, but in the past year especially, Pellicoro has raced to new limits.
Laura Pellicoro runs in a race at the UW invitational track meet. Photo courtesy of Pilot Athletics.
Shortly after setting a record 2:37.04 time in the 1,000-meter race at the University of Washington’s UW Preview on Jan. 17, Pellicoro set yet another record in a return to Seattle, running a 4:25.60 indoor mile time on day two of the UW Invitational Feb. 1. This time was not only a personal best but a school record and the best women’s mile time in the NCAA this season.
On Feb. 4, Pellicoro was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) female athlete of the week. The next day, she became the first Pilot to be named to the NCAA Bowerman Watch List, a list monitoring annual top-running candidates to win the Bowerman Award for best track and field athlete in the nation.
Despite success, if you run for long enough, it’s inevitable to encounter a few obstacles. During an off-campus practice run Sep. 2 in Scappoose, Oregon, Pellicoro began feeling pain in her right Achilles tendon.
After an MRI, Pellicoro learned that her Achilles suffered from tendinitis and bursitis.
However, what would shake many other athletes only further motivated Pellicoro.
“I was actually really lucky to get that injury,” Pellicoro said. “I learned a lot. Especially in terms of mindset; just trust the process... One thing that I learned, especially overcoming that injury, is that everything happens for a reason.”
Pellicoro’s struggles began long before the injury. While applying to UP, her proficiency in English was just high enough to be accepted and caused a lot of difficulty when she arrived on campus.
“I was absolutely terrible at speaking English, " Pellicoro said. “My teammates, my coach, my professors, they were really struggling when I was speaking.”
Pellicoro improved her English during her first year at UP by consuming English-language media such as “Harry Potter” and “Game of Thrones,” media she uses now to wind down in the little free time she has.
Slowly but surely, Pellicoro became more comfortable not only with the language, but the team as well.
“When she came, she didn't really know English that well and was separated from the team,” Perez said. “But through the past years, she’s really integrated well with the team, and she's the biggest role model and team leader.”
Language barriers and injury struggles, however, pale in comparison to Pellicoro’s natural talent and killer work ethic.
“We've had a lot of good runners over the years, and she's just at a higher level,” Solof said. “She has basically everything that you need. She has a lot of talent, but she works hard. She has a great mentality. She's a great team person…. everything that you would want from an athlete… I feel fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to coach her and to have her here.”
Pellicoro’s positive mentality is noted by her teammates as well.
“She's serious when she needs to be, but her personality comes out too,” Perez said. “She just keeps it very fun and light. I know for a lot of us, it's very easy to get nervous before races and she's always helping us realize that confidence in ourselves.”
Even as Pellicoro continued training to be the best runner she could be, her training was not confined just to the track or the weight room. When she moved off-campus in the fall of 2023, she began to practice her longtime love of cooking.
“I love cooking for my teammates, my friends, my boyfriend, so that's definitely the one thing that I love, because it's kind of like a language for me,” Pellicoro said. “In Italy, I feel like it's such a big component of each person's personality because you usually cook with your grandma or mother.”
“Her pasta is unreal,” Perez said.
A pasta dish Pellicoro cooked. Photo courtesy of Laura Pellicoro.
Pellicoro doesn’t just feed her teammates with food but with guidance and encouragement as well.
“She's the one that gives our team pep talks,” Perez said. “We usually always huddle before a race, and she's the one that usually leads those talks. What she says, you can tell it’s from the heart.”
As the end of her time at UP approaches, Pellicoro has undoubtedly left her mark on Pilots' history.
“It's tough to lose the best runner you've ever had in program history, who's done all these amazing things,” Solof said. “But at the same time, you feel good about the experience that they've had and the legacy that they leave, and what their presence here has done for younger people and some of the freshmen on the team now…”
As Pellicoro prepares to depart from UP and begin running professionally, she clings to the same positive attitude that got her this far.
“When you go into a race, at least to me, I don't need to make a specific mindset because I've worked hard consistently, I know that my body's there, and so my mentality is that I'm ready, and I want to have fun,” Pellicoro said. “This is the thing I’ve learned most after last semester: I’m here because I’m having fun.”
Kaeden Souki is a sports reporter at The Beacon. He can be reached at souki28@up.edu.
