A four-year track and cross-country (XC) star at Stillwater High in the Upstate Capital Region of New York, Anthony Zazzaro, a high honors student, is used to bucking fierce headwinds  Stillwater is a very small school (graduating class of around 70) with a strong athletic tradition.

Nevertheless, the XC team had only two members this past year. For Anthony, it means running and training alone, close mentoring by his Coach, Shawn McClements and plenty of support from his townsfolk for whom he has become a familiar sight running in all kinds of weather - all year long. 

Coach McClements comments: "Anthony and I have a very holistic coach-athlete relationship. For us, it's always been about advancing the whole person, because Cross-Country is very mentally and spiritually demanding. Moments racing alone in the  backwoods test a runner as he confronts obstacles."  
 
Why has Anthony continued, year after year, in these stringent conditions?  To answer, just know this about the young man. He has set high standards for himself. He has no Olympic dreams, but he does want to perform to his maximum potential - to be the best as his own champion. Anthony was as the first and only Stillwater XC runner ever to advance through the States competition to the NY State Federation Championships, which he did in 2022, 23 and 24.  After the 2024 season, he won the Class C State Silver Medal.

Anthony Zazzaro exemplifies the qualities of Fortitude, Perseverance, Bravery and Faith. These were learned and nourished by his family. From his father, Mark, grandson of immigrants from Calabria, Italy, Anthony inherited the work ethic common to Italian Americans. From his Puerto Rican mother, Diane, Anthony understood the value of community service and engagement. In High School, his mom participated in every student club imaginable and was President of her class.
 
Anthony's most cherished and poignant moment in racing was competing in the Kelly's Angels Mother's Day Race in 2023 at the age of 15. Kelly's Angels was founded by Mark Mulholland, an area media personality, to honor and memorialize his wife Kelly who passed from cancer in 2007 at the age of 37. Among the many, many programs they run is the Mothers's Day Race. Kelly's Angels was well known to Anthony who had been a beneficiary and contributor to their outreaches, since his mother was suffering from cancer herself.
The race in 2023 was supremely special to Anthony. He ran to honor his Mom who had been the major force and fan motivating her son to succeed, taking him to practices and events as a child, gently prodding him to get up and running on those cold weekend mornings when other teens  would nestle in bed for a few more hours. In this May of 2023, Diane Zazzaro was at the end of her heroic two-year battle with cancer.

Anthony set out to win the race for his Mom, and so he did!  As he recounted, during that effort his heart was breaking, but pumping harder than ever. "Every breath, every step I took, I wanted it for her."

In a wheel chair, Mom witnessed her son's Mother's Day tribute to her. It was to be one of her final shining experiences. Three days later, she passed away.

Devastated but unbroken by his loss, young Anthony dedicated his racing career to Diane. And so it is, now, two years later, he runs with purpose, commitment and unbreakable resolve, pursuing personal excellence..

And, in this difficult situation, running against the wind, Anthony is blessed and encouraged by the memory of all the "Kellys" who left their families much too early. Sunrise or sunset, the cold of dusk and the heat of mid-day are part of the continuing cycle of training, competing and achieving. And so, just recently he handily won the Springfield, Ma. Invitational to begin his indoor track season. There is more to come. Much more!
But Anthony doesn't run alone. He has many angels on his shoulders to propel him ever onward. 

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Silvio Laccetti, Ph.D is a retired History Prof., a national columnist and director of The Silvio Laccetti Foundation
Note: As of this writing Anthony Zazzaro's career record is: 65 Starts, 41 wins, 7 seconds and 1 third.