Theodora Zastrocky put in the miles in the classroom and on the cross-country team at Regis University. Now, the star student and runner is off to even bigger astronomical endeavors.
Zastrocky arrived at Regis University in 2016. She was a home-school student growing up in Durango and did not compete for the Durango High School cross-country team. But when she got to Denver, she wanted to turn her love for running into becoming a college athlete. The daughter of Josh and Juliana Zastrocky went on to become a four-year letter winner in cross-country, improved on her times each year and did it all while she finished with a double major in English and physics with a minor in mathematics.
The Honors Program student and two time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Academic Honor Roll recipient did it all in four years.
“Running and cross-country helped me with structure,” Zastrocky said. “To be up at 5:30 a.m. to get to practice, I then had the whole day ahead of me to get work done, I was on a team where we all had a heavy course load with difficult classes. We all pushed each other to do the best we could.
“Taking 18 to 20 credits a semester, it’s a lot, especially with the commitment of running. But I was always good at putting my head down and getting done what needed to be done.”
Zastrocky’s impressive list of college accolades continued to grow this spring when she was granted the distinguished honor of becoming a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. She will begin graduate work at the University of Wyoming and have her next three years of tuition fully funded by the $138,000 fellowship along with a stipend for living expenses. Jennifer Forker, director of communications at Regis University, said only 16% of applicants are accepted and that only the strongest prospective science graduate students apply.
Zastrocky has already completed two research projects at Notre Dame and Wyoming, and she will continue to research extragalactic astronomy at Wyoming with a specific study of massive black holes found at the center of galaxies.
“I think one of the things that went into me getting the fellowship was the cool research opportunities I had at Notre Dame two years ago and this last year at Wyoming,” she said. “I had experience I could show the committee, and I could show that I was capable of carrying through research projects to completion. Having done all of the things I’ve done and to show I can balance a heavy course load with being a college athlete, I think I showed that I could handle it.”
Zastrocky has long impressed her coaches, mentors and peers alike. Regis cross-country head coach John Esquibel marveled at her steady improvement during her four-year athletic career. Zastrocky had run a few half marathons before college and had no problem logging long miles in 90-minute to two-hour runs. It was her speed that needed work when she asked Esquibel if she could walk onto the team in 2016. He said she went from running a 12-minute mile to a 6-minute mile pace, especially after some revelations in her stride with the help of graduate assistant coach Chris Boyle.
“She was my hardest worker in cross-country that I have ever coached,” Esquibel said. “From the day I met her, she was so exciting. Her determination from Day 1, she never had the talent to be a national champion, but she was just the hardest worker.”
By the time she was a senior, Zastrocky finished with a personal-best time of 24 minutes, 46.3 seconds at the RMAC Championships 6-kilometer race. She recorded a personal-best finishing place of 29th at the Joe Vigil Open in 2019 in Alamosa with a 23:10.2 in the 5K race.
Zastrocky was able to continue to improve on her speed despite lengthy periods away from the team while doing research at Notre Dame. Esquibel would send her workouts, and he had little doubt she would complete them and surpass what he had asked.
Esquibel also saw Zastrocky grow as a leader on the team, which also features 2017 Durango High alumna Sarah Smagacz.
“I could depend on her to do everything we needed to motivate the team,” Esquibel said. “A lot of the kids look up to her by example. If you gave her a workout, she did everything, and she encouraged people to run with her. Her leadership skills were awesome, and she ended up being a top-three runner her junior and senior years. The improvement she showed was hard to believe.
“I’ve had some great student-athletes, but I would put her among my top three ever.”
Zastrocky, who said her favorite trails to run in Durango are Hogsback and the Animas River Trail, joked she would spend the next three or four years as build-up years to get ready to run the 26.2-mile marathon distance. She aims to complete a few half marathons after the COVID-19 pandemic draws toward a conclusion and races can be held again.
But, for now, her major focus will be on her research and making the most of the NSF fellowship. And when it comes to academia, running goes hand-in-hand for Zastrocky.
“Some people are only motivated by races, but I like the process so much,” she said. “Running is an outlet for me to stay up on my school work. I can go for a few hours and not think about school or anything else. I just put my focus on my body moving and the pace for that day. It’s been a huge part of me getting through college with this intense academic focus.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
