Feature by Abiba Biao ‘28, Video by Leah Coleman ’24
Gillian Penna waited steadily on the start line, glancing down at her watch before looking up at the lap awaiting her. As the scorching autumn sun illuminated the track field, she took a deep breath, tired but not yet finished. She always gives her all, and this time would be no exception.
“Three, two, one - go!” With those magic words from Coach Funaro, Penna burst into a sprint, her strides brimming with determination. Pulse racing, lungs burning, she ran along, her teammates in close pursuit. As they finished their lap, a rush of morale flooded over the women’s track and field team, exchanging high fives and congratulatory messages after their practice.
"Good job girls!" yelled Penna, flashing a grin before taking a sip of water.
Penna, 21, is a senior at Southern Connecticut State University and a member of Southern Connecticut’s women’s track and field team. A member of the graduating class of 2023, she’ll be earning her bachelor's degree in health science this spring and will be returning in the fall to pursue a masters in sports and entertainment management.
A North Branford native, Penna is the middle child of a family of five. Athleticism is widely upheld in the Penna household with her siblings dabbling in football, dance, gymnastics, and swimming. Her parents pushed her to succeed in school by emphasizing both academic achievement and sports.
Initially coming into Southern as a 400 meter runner, Penna has since expanded her repertoire, running the 500 meter dash, 200 meter dash, and 4 x 400 meter relay. This year, however, she'll be competing in the multi-events which include the pentathlon and heptathlon. The pentathlon and heptathlon are two-day athletic contests with the pentathlon being done indoors and heptathlon being done outdoors. The pentathlon consists of five events: long jump, high jump, shot put, 60 meter hurdles, and indoor meter dash. The heptathlon consists of the same events as the pentathlon with the hurdles being 100 meters instead of 60, and two additional events of javelin and 200 meter dash.
One of the challenges Penna highlighted about this transition is the learning curve of the field events, describing them as “a little bit more technical than some of the running events.” Despite these difficulties, she’s eager to take on this season and attributes her love of running to her supportive team.
“My favorite thing about track here is I love my team, I love my coaches, I like the environment.”
Dance served as the catalyst for her athletic career, devoting a large part of her elementary, middle, and high school years to the craft. She began dancing at the age of three, competitive dance at the age of six, and ballet at the age of twelve after enrolling in New Haven Ballet.
Throughout high school, she continued to get opportunities in ballet, training at Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet, (now known as Philadelphia Ballet). A typical day for her in high school was going to track practice at 2:30 and then going to the studio after ballet until 8 at night.
However the upkeep of ballet came at a hefty cost, sacrificing not only her time but also her education and physical health. Continuing ballet professionally would require her to give up high school and she sustained several injuries while training which would frequently prevent her from performing. After a hard talk with her parents she decided to put ballet on pause and focus on healing from her injuries.
While painful, her ballet injuries didn't deter her athletic pursuits and instead, offered redirection. To hasten the recovery process, Penna was advised to cross-train, inadvertently marking the start of her relationship with track.
“That's kind of where track started and ballet ended,” Penna said.
Her tumultuous athletic journey has taught her to be more receptive to change. While 16 y/o her didn’t know how to embrace change due to her fixation on ballet, Penna does so now, changing her major several times before settling on health science, exploring opportunities and practicing self-love and forgiveness.
“I’m a very firm believer that everything happens for a reason and everything works out like it's supposed to,” Penna said.
While Penna had to stop ballet she didn’t give it up completely, living vicariously through her younger sisters. Addison Penna, the youngest out of the five siblings, first started out through dance and now is doing gymnastics. Addison, who has down syndrome has a flourishing athletic career, taking home first place in gymnastics for Team Connecticut in the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Florida.
Penna highlighted the skewed narrative surrounding individuals with special needs, with mainstream media often emphasizing their shortcomings than their accomplishments.
“You’re not always told all the amazing things that these kids can do. A lot of times there’s a lot of focus on what they’re not able to do.”
As she transitioned into professional gymnastics, Addison's family was incredibly supportive, accompanying her to practice and providing her with emotional support. When it came time to see Addision on stage, Penna put her role as an athlete down to become a cheerleader and proud older sister. With Addison always yelling and clapping loudly in the crowd during her games, it was a full circle moment for Penna, extending that same love and energy back to her.
“It was exciting to see her accomplish something that she’s worked so hard for.”
