DETROIT (11/1/2025) -- The podium finish for a championship race always brings the best smiles out. The best of the Horizon League honored in front of their peers, in front of their teammates, and in front of their families.

But for Nina Pizzo, that smile was bigger than anyone could imagine. 

For that smile, though, nothing came easy, not even her All-Horizon League 6k run of 21:38 for 14th overall and Second Team honors. The time ranks fifth in the Titan record book and is the second-best time ever for a UDM runner at the league championships. 

"Just hearing other coaches and fans yelling, I knew the girl who was in 10th was not very far from me. She is right there, I can see her. I had the most family I've ever had at a race, and this is the closest I've ever been to the podium," said Pizzo.

But coming down the final 2k, she was in a battle, a battle for the 10-15th spot. A 10th-14th finish gets you on the podium, while a 15th has you on the outside looking in.

"I just remember, do not let go, you're so close, and I would rather almost die at the end of the race and get a podium finish, than finish and wonder what if. I was pushing, and then the last 100, 200 meters of that stretch were so long. I'm usually really good at my kicks and very confident. For the first time, my legs felt like they were about to give out, and I remember, oh my God, hold on, hold on, please, you're so close. I want this so bad. You worked all season for this. There's no way I'm going to let anything get in the way of that. Not me, not my legs getting tired. Nothing. I remember there was a pack of girls behind me, two or three girls. They passed me. I'm like, oh my gosh, go, go, go, go, go."

The runners started crossing the finish line. The 10th runner was at 21:27, then 11 at 21:31. The pack kept crossing, with 12th clocking 21:32, 13th at 21:33, and then two runners came in at almost identical times, with Pizzo just taking 14th by milliseconds over the 15th place runner from IU Indy. 

"There's no way I can drop this, and I just collapsed at the finish. I felt like I couldn't breathe for the first time all season, but all I cared about was my place. I think the only thing I said to my trainer while she was treating me was 'What place is it?' She didn't know, so I asked again, 'What place is it?' Finally, I got up, and my family was there, and they're like, 'You got 14th.' I literally don't know how I mustered up the strength to do it, but I was jumping up and down. I was so relieved and excited. I don't even know how I did it. Five years of running, I was like, I'm this close to getting a podium finish, to getting a plaque, there is literally nothing I will let get in the way of me and that."

Consider this: in her collegiate debut in 2021, she was 60th out of 64 runners at the annual Detroit Mercy Cross Country Invitational with a 5k time of 24:43. She was the last of five Titan runners competing in the race, finishing behind her closest teammate by nearly four minutes.

"Before entering college, I was struggling with a stress fracture that happened during the summer," said Pizzo. "I didn't really get to train as hard as I normally would, and when the season started, I wasn't even close to ready. I then had a stress reaction during the season, and I only ran in two races, and they were really bad. In practice, I was huffing and puffing, I was just so out of shape."

The following season, she was 102nd out of 104 runners at the league championship, finishing in 28:16. Again, she was the last Titan in the race by nearly three minutes.

"My confidence wavered for the first time for cross country because I was so used to just going with the flow and being good at it with little to no effort. The intensity of the workouts we did, the mileage, I just wasn't prepared for it, and I started to doubt if I could do this, I started to doubt my place on the team," said Pizzo. 

In her first two years, she ran in a total of eight races and was last on the team in half of those competitions. 

"For context, my junior year of high school was like my best year PR wise," said Pizzo. "My senior year was the Covid-19 year, so nothing was normal. I was coming in thinking I was going to hit my PR and raise it, but that didn't happen. In two years, I was nowhere near what I was in high school, and I started to feel the pressure from my performances, injuries, and low iron. It was nothing like high school, and I was just thinking, 'Am I washed up? Are my glory days over? Maybe I should just focus on my academics".

As a junior, her times started to improve, but she was still behind her teammates and was not in the scoring five in any race. But with the help of her teammates and head coach Guy Murray, she kept on plugging away, putting in those miles. 

"Coach Murray was there every step of the way," said Pizzo. "He was always looking out for me. He knew everyone's limits on the team, which I really respect. He knew my limits and that I wasn't, at the time, fit enough to run the entire workout with the rest of the team. He has seen situations like mine before, and sometimes, when someone is injured, especially a freshman, you're too scared to take a day off because you're new to the team. You just need to rest, and if there was anyone who taught me to take a step back, relax, and try to figure out my injury and stay consistent with that, it was Coach Murray."

She came close to breaking 20 minutes in the 5k as a junior, and at the league championship, she was 91st in the 6k in 24:26, just missing the varsity five, taking sixth of 10 runners on the squad. 

"I was making strides, and my teammates and coach were always there for me," said Pizzo. "Coach Murray was always celebrating my times,  even when they weren't really that impressive. A 23 to 22 or 22 to 21-minute or 20-minute 5k is a lot less impressive than an 18 to 17-minute one, but he still celebrated those, and he saw potential in me the entire time. Honestly, that is kind of what kept me going."

"My teammates were always the same way. I think the team culture is really something you don't find on many cross country teams. A lot of teams have a toxic, competitive culture, and people start cutting corners or, you know, sabotaging, things like that. I think my teammates really wanted to know me for me, and so when my racing wasn't good enough, I didn't feel like they only knew me as a runner. I think they knew me for me, and I believe that team culture encouraged me to get through things, to take a step back and do my rehab exercises, and not push it all the time. Those little things helped a lot because I could work at my own pace, and they would still be there for me no matter what."

It wasn't until her senior year that she could line up for a race with full confidence. She had battled injuries, illness, and herself, but at the Michigan Open, the 2024 season opener, she was the second Titan to cross the finish line and 26th overall in 20:08, nearly two minutes faster than her time at the race in 2023.

"In high school, my PR was 20:03, and I ran that Michigan race at 20:07, something like that, and I remember Allison Sherman, my former teammate, one of our best runners, Big Sherm was there. I'm not even kidding. She watched, and I went up to her and started jumping up and down, and I was like, 'Did you see that?' Allison, you'd better watch me this season, and she was so excited for me."

Two weeks later, at Notre Dame's National Catholic Championships, she broke the 20-minute barrier and led the squad, placing 53rd in 19:24. It got better the next time out at Louisville as she topped the team again and crossed the 19-minute mark, registering 18:47 for 20th, besting her time on the course by almost three minutes. 

"It's so much fun, so much more enjoyable," said Pizzo. "I tell my teammates all the time, I'm like a broken record, but I tell them, it's so much easier to run when you're good. It's a lot harder when you're not, and you have to keep going. It wasn't great early on. My parents were hard on me because they didn't want to see their kid finishing last or way behind, but they were also very encouraging with everything, and they have always been here for me." 

Her graduate senior season has been nothing short of spectacular. Even before the All-Horizon League effort, she was runner-up at Oakland in 18:53 before a PR of 18:20 at Notre Dame for 22nd and a bronze finish of 17:59 at Canisius, just the seventh Titan in school history to break 18 minutes in the 5k. 

"I love this sport, I love running. I think I bring a certain energy, and even in my down years, I was always the hype man of the team. I love my teammates, and they made it that much easier," added Pizzo.