Liza Pasciuto

Height:
5-5
Class:
Junior
Hometown:
Murrieta, Calif.
High School:
Murrieta Valley

COLLEGE--2005: After missing the first race of the season, Pasciuto returned to form as one of the Buffs top racers. In her first race back, she placed 39th overall and was fourth for the Buffs at Pre-Nationals. Pascuito moved up to CU’s third runner at the Big 12 Championships by shaving 56 seconds off of her time from the previous race. She was the top finisher for CU at the NCAA Mountain Regional, taking second overall. Her best race of the season was at the NCAA Championships where Pascuito took ninth overall (2nd for CU) in a career-best 20:02. 2004: One of the top newcomers on the 2004 roster, Pasciuto was the second-highest finishing true freshman in both regular season races, and in both during the postseason, scoring as the Buffs’ No. 5 runner in the Rocky Mountain Shootout (11th overall), Pre-National "white" race (39th overall), Big 12 Championships (10th) where she was the highest finishing "true" freshman and NCAA Mountain Region Championships (12th). She ran beyond expectation at the NCAA Championships, finishing as CU’s No. 2 runner, 13th overall, the second best by a CU frosh in a national championship race, trailing then-Sara Gorton’s eighth place effort in Ames, Iowa in 2000. Following the collegiate slate Pasciuto became the Buffs’ third straight USA Junior National Cross Country Champion when she covered the Vancouver National Historic Site 6k course in 21:50.1, a comfortable 13.8 second ahead of the race runner-up. As one of six members of a US delegation to run at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in St. Galmier, France a month later, she finished 42nd in 22:58. HIGH SCHOOL: A former 1986 National Pool Soccer Player, Pasciuto would run as part of her soccer training, then dropped soccer and started running competitively her freshman year of high school. A four-year letterwinner in cross country and track (800-3,200-m) for Murrieta Valley head coach Steve Chavez, Pasciuto was the All-Southwestern League MVP her freshman through senior seasons in cross country and in the 1,600 her freshman through junior season and 3,200-m as a freshman and sophomore. She was an all-state performer in the fall all four years at Murrieta Valley and all state on the track (1,600) as a junior. The Nighthawks were the 2002 CIF Southern Section and state champions before settling for runner-up distinction in ’03. She is the school record holder in the 800-m (2:14, 2002 Asuza Pacific Invitational), 1,600-m (4:53, 2002 Arcadia Invitational), 3,200-m (10:48, 2002 CIS), 3-mile (16:38, 2003 Woodbridge Invitational) and 5k cross country (17:35). As a freshman, she finished sixth at the FootLocker Regionals in Walnut, Calif. and matched that finish for All-American distinction at FootLocker Nationals. She didn’t finish the regional race as a sophomore due to injury, finished 22nd as a junior and returned to the national spotlight when she finished sixth at regionals and 29th at FootLocker nationals in San Diego. She was also a first-team all-league forward in soccer as a freshman. Pasciuto was recruited by UCLA, Washington, Arizona State and Columbia and took unofficial visits to Stanford and Cal. IN THE CLASSROOM: An honor roll student at Murrieta Valley, Pasciuto is majoring in marketing at Colorado and earned a spot on the Commissioner’s Honor Roll during the spring of ?06. PERSONAL: Elizabeth Anne Pasciuto was born August 8, 1986 in San Pedro, Calif. She is the daughter of Anthony and Christina Pasciuto of Murrieta. Her sister Danielle is a senior at San Diego State and her younger brother, Andrew, is a sophomore. Her hobbies include playing soccer, spending time with the family’s two whippets, and her new puppy, Thor. She didn’t start running until her freshman year when she was training to play soccer, which ultimately led to her following a running career over soccer.