SUNY Cortland Athletics

This is part of a series of interviews that Cortland track and field/cross country runner Shannon Imbornoni '21 conducted in 2020 with former Cortland track and field and/or cross country individual national champions.

Interview Menu

Christina (Acquaviva) Riese ’07

Christina Acquaviva Riese is a two-time individual NCAA champion and a seven-time All-American. In 2007, she was named C-Club Female Senior Athlete of the Year. Since 2007, Riese holds the school record and SUNYAC record in the 55m hurdles. She also holds the school record and SUNYAC record in both the outdoor 100m hurdles and the heptathlon. Additionally, Riese has won the Cortland track and field Red Letter Award four times: twice indoor and twice outdoor. The Utica native currently lives in Colorado.

Some of the questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.


Why did you choose Cortland?
I couldn’t decide between SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Cortland. I really liked the athletic side of both schools and they both had the major I wanted to go into at the time, which was education. Honestly, I flipped a coin and it came up that Cortland was it. That’s how I choose Cortland; it’s not really your typical story.
 
What do you remember about your national title season(s)?
The beginning of the year was pretty tumultuous. Shawn Wilbourn was the head coach and he was also the heptathlon coach. He was my coach for everything and he left to go to Duke [University]. I was really heartbroken in the beginning of the year. [Steve] Patrick was there to help me with the hurdles and he continued to do that as he transitioned into my heptathlon coach. It really worked out great. The training process really worked out in the end, so props to Patrick because he got me to my national title. Off of the track, I switched majors my second semester senior year. I was going to go into teaching and the school told me I could either student teach or I can run track, so I had to decide. I wanted to run, so I made the decision to drop my education major and major in biology. It was a hard year with everything that I had to do, especially since after college, I went into physical therapy, so I had to get all the pre-requisites for school. My second semester senior year was full of microbiology, chemistry, physics and statistics. All of that on top of training and trying to win my national title was a lot, but I think it helped me focus and kept me on track for what I wanted to do.
 
What was winning your first title like?
It’s funny because I won both on the same day. The heptathlon finished before the hurdle finals, so when I finished the heptathlon, I kind of knew I had won, but it wasn’t official yet. I got on the line and ran the 100m hurdles, finished and stood at the end of straightaway with Patrick and my boyfriend at the time, who is now my husband. They both were like, ‘did you hear that’, and I said, ‘hear what’ and they said ‘you won the heptathlon.’ So, I kind of found out that I won the both of them at the same time! I started crying and I was just so happy in that moment. It was also a relief because I had put in so much hard work and it was nice to know I achieved both of my goals.
 
What is your favorite memory of Cortland?
There are so many great memories. Outside of track, the team would play ultimate frisbee and volleyball together. Just being together and doing something not like practice was so much fun. One year, we were at ECACs [Eastern College Athletic Conference] for a meet and it was the only nationals I did not qualify for. It happened to be on my 21^st birthday and I was so frustrated, sad and disappointed with myself. A bunch of my teammates went and bought little dixie cupcakes from a vending machine, stuck matches in them and they all sang happy birthday to me. It was just so nice after a really long day. The support that I had from them was amazing. Also, meeting my husband was obviously amazing. He [J.J. Riese] was on the track team too. Also, when my 4x400m relay team qualified for nationals; that was so much fun. When you qualify for nationals as a team, it’s different from qualifying individually. You get to celebrate and enjoy it with other people. I remember being at the finish line with my teammates hugging them after the race. There’s not just one memory, there are so many.
 
What have you taken from being a part of the team?
When I first started at Cortland, Jennifer Potter was the head coach, who then took a job somewhere else that same year, so John Crawford was the interim coach until the next year. Then we had Shawn Wilbourn, Matt Moran and then finally, Steve Patrick. I had a different head coach every single year. Being a part of the team was the one consistent; the teammates and working towards a goal. Off of the track, I didn’t have the best relationships, so having that one constant with my teammates and a goal every year was special. With all the different coaching changes and the issues I had off the track, it was nice to have the one constant. Also, perseverance; even with all the changes, working hard and staying focused on what your goals are is one of the biggest takeaways from being on the team. You never know what is going to come at you in life, so as long as you are focused and have a goal and a path, I think that is most important thing to keep you together, sane and working towards what you need to work towards.
 
What are you doing now?
I am a physical therapist and do homecare physical therapy in Colorado. I love it. It took me a while to figure out what in physical therapy I wanted to do, so I did a bunch of other things before homecare. I love what I do.
 
Do you have any advice for Cortland XC/TF athletes now?
I know it sounds cliché, but enjoy every moment. Enjoy the practices, your teammates, the meets and all the ups and the downs because once it’s over, you’re going to miss it. I’m fortunate where my husband is a coach, so I live vicariously through him and his athletes, but I definitely miss it. I miss the competition, the hard work and I wish I could go back some days.