Veronica Rocco '19 marks her fifth season on the Amherst College coaching staff as an assistant cross country and track & field coach in 2023-24.
Rocco coaches the women’s and men’s mid-distance and distance runners during the cross country and track & field seasons. Rocco has assisted in four Mammoth teams qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country National Championships. The women's team made its first national championship appearance since 2014 and placed 31st at the 2021 NCAA Championships and placed 12th at the 2022 NCAA Championships. The women placed 2nd at the 2022 NESCAC Championships where Mary Kate McGranahan '23 won the NESCAC Championship and later earned All-American honors. The men placed 23rd at the 2019 NCAA Championships and placed 28th at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
She has guided student-athletes to 50 All-Region performances, 22 All-NESCAC performances and 3 All-American honors. She also coached the 2022 & 2023 NESCAC Men's 4x800 Relay Champions and both the Men's and Women's 4x800 Relays to victories at the 2023 Indoor New England Division 3 Championships. Additionally, when she assisted with the long sprints group in the 2019-2020 season, the Women’s 4x400m Relay broke the school record twice, ending the season ranked 14th in the nation.
While she was a student at Amherst, Rocco captained both the cross country and track & field teams during her junior and senior seasons. She is a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic Team honoree and eight-time NESCAC All-Academic selection. Rocco served as the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at Amherst and as a chair of the NESCAC SAAC in 2019, spearheaded the development of the conference's and Amherst’s first-ever Mental Health Week.
Rocco also brings several summers of coaching experience to the Mammoths having served as an intern for the Northern Arizona Elite (NAZ), a professional running team based in Flagstaff, and Team Run Flagstaff, a community running group, while also conducting research for her senior thesis, “Why Flagstaff?: How a Mountain Town Became a Running Mecca,” for which she earned cum laude honors.
Rocco majored in American Studies at Amherst and holds USATF Level 1 and USTFCCCA Level 1 certifications.
