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takes that were made back when most of its members were in elementary school. And the basketball team, which was asked to carry on after losing its best player early in the season. And the wrestling team, which was asked to fulfill sky-high expectations knowing that it was going to get every opponent's best shot every night. Those athletes fought valiantly and ended up producing one of the most memorable years in Penn State sports history. But we could all learn a thing or two about perseverance from Casciano. She didn't succumb to fear or give up on her academic or athletic goals. Thanks to the support she got from her parents – her father learned everything he could about her condition and quizzed her doctors as if he had a medical degree himself – she was able to keep her spirits up. "I never really was scared or worried," she said. "I knew I was in good hands." Casciano's ordeal turned out to be even harder than everyone thought it would be initially. It was thought she would only need to have half of her thyroid removed and would probably only require a week of post-operative recovery. But last October, two days before she was set to have surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, her doctors found that the cancer had spread. That discovery turned what was supposed to be a one-hour procedure into a five-hour operation in which surgeons removed her entire thyroid along with 42 lymph nodes. Casciano also received radioactive iodine treatment to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue. Because the surgery was more extensive than expected, so too was the recovery. She ended up having to spend a month at home recuperating. But while she wasn't on campus, she kept up with her 13-credit class schedule and finished the semester with a 4.0 GPA, making the Academic All-Big Ten squad. "My professors were great. They were really helpful and accommodating," she said. "They let me make up assignments when I could, which was nice." In January she began running again. The lingering affects of the surgery and medication made it difficult to get back into a training regimen, but she fought through the pain and fatigue. "After a five-hour surgery, your body is just all screwed up," she said. "You have to adjust to that. I hadn't been training for too long to get in shape for the races, so that was hard." By April she was ready to return to competition. She came back for a meet at Bucknell, and while she was discouraged to finish 74th in the 1,500 meters – about 20 seconds slower than the personal best she ran at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships the year before – she continued to make strides. By the end of the season, she was within two seconds of her personal best from the Big Ten meet her freshman year. "That lifted my spirits," she said. She got another lift in April when she received one of two True Grit awards presented by Penn State's Student-Athlete Advisory Board. The awards go to male and female athletes who "overcome a serious obstacle or injury [to] succeed both in the classroom and on the athletic field." "It was nice," Casciano said. "But I felt like everyone who helped me out should have gotten more recognition than me – my parents, my coaches, my teammates and friends. They've been there for me the whole time." They will continue to be there for her. She will have to take thyroid hormone pills for the rest of her life, and she is being monitored for any signs of recurrence in her lymph nodes. But her long-term prognosis is extremely positive. This fall, Casciano will be back at Penn State for her junior season. She's training at home this summer in hope of helping the cross country team continue its run of Big Ten and NCAA success. "I just want to make an impact," she said. That shouldn't be a problem. As an example of how to handle tough times with grace and determination, she's already made one. www.AmericanAleHouse.net 821 Cricklewood Drive, Toftrees State College Now in 2 Locations

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