PURCHASE, N.Y. - NCAA Division III student-athletes often take the road less traveled.

However, Purchase College women's cross country alumna Ciara Ryan '19 redefined that notion during her Panther career. 

After first starting her college journey at Mohawk Valley Community College, where she did not compete on the cross country team, Ryan (Pine Island, NY) arrived at Purchase in the fall of 2016. 

Initially, Ryan's athletic adventure started slowly. While Ciara joined the Panthers' squad in 2016, she only competed in three out of nine races that season. The first came on October 8th, as she raced in the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlander Challenge and finished 101st overall.

Ryan then raced in the St. Joseph's College-Long Island Invitational one week later, before placing 60th out of 104 runners at the Skyline Conference Championships to closeout her first season with the Panthers. 

With the solid start to her career, Ryan was expected to become one of Purchase's key runners in 2017 as a junior. However, much like the season before, Ciara was limited in the meets she appeared in.

In 2017, she competed just twice, but continued to show her potential as she recorded a career-best finish at the Skyline Championships by placing 53rd overall.

While its hard to leave a lasting impact with just five races over a two-year span, Ryan more than made up the difference as a senior in 2018.

From the get-go, she came out on fire. During the opening meet, the Purchase College Invitational, Ciara crushed her previous best-finish by coming in 44th place. That trend continued over the season, as she saved her best for the Skyline Championships once again, placing 34th out 104 runners and setting a new personal-record.

Ryan also crushed other previous season marks during the 2018 campaign, as she competed in all eight races and finished in the top-47 in six of them. In the final race of her collegiate career, Ciara tallied a time of 32.05.7 at the ECAC Championships for a 36th-place finish. Ryan later graduated in May 2019 to closeout her Purchase tenure.

Throughout her time at Mohawk and Purchase, Ciara Ryan showed just how interesting and different every student-athlete's collegiate journey can be. And even though it didn't follow the traditional path, she still became a fixture on the women's cross country team. 

So it just goes to show that sometimes, the best path forward really is the one less traveled after all.