Duquesne assistant coach Jeff Gibson went scooting toward the finish line of the Atlantic 10 Championship course March 5 at Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va., to deliver good news.

Brianna Schwartz and her fellow Dukes were surprised at what he had to say.

Duquesne coach Jim Lear told the team he thought they could finish third or fourth if they all had good races.

Led by Schwartz, a Shaler Area graduate who placed seventh, the Dukes had five runners finish in the top 25, which allowed Duquesne to finish two points ahead of Dayton and capture its first A-10 title since 2014 and the first in program history.

Schwartz, who is a graduate student, finished the race in 17 minutes, 37.6 seconds.

“It was crazy,” Schwartz said. “This was my first A-10 race. I wasn’t sure what to think. I didn’t know what to think of the other teams. … When we were waiting at the finish line, our assistant coach came running over and had this excited look on his face and I thought we finished second.”

The jubilation that followed when Schwartz found out they won was her favorite moment as a Duke. One of the live streams of the race captured the excitement on their faces.

Schwartz’s moment was earned as part of a long trip back to Pittsburgh. A PIAA cross country champion at Shaler, Schwartz’s career took her to Colorado.

Once Schwartz made it to Boulder, she ran into issues with injury and illness. She discovered she had Celiac Disease, an immune disease which causes damage to the small intestine.

Schwartz also found out she had issues with low bone density, which makes her more susceptible to injuries.

People with Celiac Disease are allergic to gluten, which led to Schwartz changing her diet.

“I’m on top of that every day,” Schwartz said. “My mom has it too and she is a big supporter. We talk about it and share recipes. I make sure to take calcium supplements and iron supplements to build up some of what I lose before I found out I had Celiac. I didn’t show symptoms when I was younger.

She ended up redshirting her freshman season and had her best season as a senior in 2018, placing 38th at the Pac-12 Championships.

Being injured and homesick led to Schwartz to take an internal look at her mindset. Since Schwartz was injured shortly after heading to college, she didn’t have an opportunity to bond with her new teammates.

“A lot of people told me pick a school where you were happy if you weren’t running,” Schwartz said. “My mindset was that I wouldn’t be happy if I wasn’t running. That wasn’t a healthy mindset to have. I never thought about what would happen if I did get injured. I was broken and really alone.”

Schwartz decided when she was done with school at Colorado that she wanted to compete for her final year of eligibility. She contacted her former Shaler coach Sam Bair, who put her in touch with Duquesne coach Jim Lear.

During her first season with the Dukes last year, Schwartz couldn’t stay healthy and the spring season was canceled because of the pandemic. Still, she preserved by bonding with her younger teammates and worked to help train the Shaler cross country team in the fall.

Schwartz suffered another injury in late October and wasn’t sure how she would perform when — and if — Duquesne raced again.

“She handed it unbelievably,” Lear said. “Most other people would have quit to be bluntly honest. She is great with the other kids on the team and enjoys running with them. We hoped things would turn out well, but the question was always could she stay healthy?”

Duquesne didn’t have an opportunity to run on grass before its first meet of the season. The brutal winter limited the team to training on Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park.

Not being able to train on grass didn’t concern Schwartz too much.

“I was more worried about racing in general,” Schwartz said. “None of us had raced in a whole year. I only started training in late December. I was setting my expectations lower for how I would perform. It was hard to get back into the racing mindset. We all leaned on each other and they are all really great girls.”

Schwartz led Duquesne by finishing 24th at the Spider-Patriot Invite in late February by finishing the race in 17:52.3.

Lear was pleased with how Schwartz set the example on and off the course. That allowed her to be part of a championship in her final cross country race.

“What I’m hoping is the other kids see how she acts with the younger kids,” said Lear, who was named A-10 Coach of the Year following the championship race. “I hope they realize what she does for them and helps pay it forward.”

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