La Salle-Peru junior Gianni Verucchi did track and field as a freshman and fell in love with running.

“I liked my teammates, I liked my coaches, I liked everything about running,” Verucchi said. “I thought it was very fun.”

So Verucchi joined the L-P cross country team as a sophomore.

“I like the feel of running,” Verucchi said. “I love knowing that all my practice pays off. In other sports, you can practice all you want and it might not pay off. But in running, every single time you pick up your shoes and put them on your feet, every time you run, you’re getting better.”

Verucchi put in a lot of work last summer and throughout his junior season and it paid off with what he called a “breakout season.”

Verucchi ran a 17:08.5 in the season-opening Morris Early Bird Invite and cut nearly a minute off his 3-mile time with a personal-record 16:19 near the end of October.

He had five top-five finishes, including a runner-up at the La Salle County Invite and fourth-place finishes at the Ross Greiter and Gary Coates invitationals.

Verucchi placed 11th in the Class 2A Metamora Regional, which was a 2.94-mile course, and placed 40th at the Geneseo Sectional, narrowly missing a state berth.

For all he accomplished this season, Verucchi is the 2025 NewsTribune Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year.

“I think it was a very fantastic season for me,” Verucchi said. “I love my teammates. I love the way I performed. It was a breakout season for me and I still have one year left to prove myself even more.”

Verucchi earned his breakout season by running more miles in the summer and pushing himself “past my comfort level.”

Verucchi ran 20-30 miles per week during the summer.

“I was consistent in my training, but I didn’t really try for speed stuff,” Verucchi said. “I got my endurance up, and that translated very well to cross country because I build up my base really high. Once I got into cross country season, I had to start doing the speed stuff, and it all clicked from there.”

Verucchi upped his mileage to a peak of around 55 miles per week during the season, running extra miles outside of practice.

“He had an excellent season,” L-P coach John Beatty said. “He put in a ton of work. Throughout the summer, he was putting in the miles at the summer workouts and then working out on his own. He did that through the middle part of the season where we’d have days we didn’t have practice, and he was putting in extra miles. He was doing the workouts really hard. He was doing everything he could do to get himself in position to be successful.”

Verucchi lowered his time throughout the season. After a 17:08.5 for 3 miles to start the season Aug. 27, he ran a 16:55.2 on Sept. 9, a 16:50.4 on Sept. 20, a 16:34.1 on Oct. 4, and a PR 16:19 to place ninth at the Interstate 8 Conference Meet on Oct. 18.

On the 2.94-mile course at the regional, he ran a 15:44.8 before finishing with a 16:31.1 on the 3-mile sectional course.

“He started out strong and pretty much stayed strong,” Beatty said. “He peaked right when we were looking to get him to peak. He had a couple PRs toward the end of the season.”

After a strong junior season, Verucchi hopes to break the school record for a 3-mile course, while Beatty and Verucchi are also hoping for a state berth.

“You still have to run the right race on the right day, but he should be able to make it, and we’ll see how far he can go,” Beatty said.