The switch from high school to college can be a struggle for some freshmen, but for Massachusetts women’s cross country runner Christina Derosa, it has been a cakewalk.

As a freshman, Derosa doesn’t have to worry simply about juggling classes and getting use to the different lifestyle, she also has the pressure of being the number one runner on the No. 15 Massachusetts cross country team.

“The transition has been very good so far,” Derosa said. “It’s definitely a lot different than high school though.”

Derosa has been outstanding during her first year in college, placing first among UMass runners in every meet this year and earning the top position on the team. In her first college meet ever, Derosa placed 21st out of 94 overall runners at the New Hampshire Invitational, where UMass placed seventh as a team.

On September 18, Derosa took first place with a time of 18:12 at the three mile long UMass Invitational. Her most recent meet was against challenging Syracuse University at the Orange Cross Country Classic, where she placed second overall and first among UMass runners. Despite her success, Derosa continues to make the difficult transition from high school cross-country to college.

“Since it’s my first year here, I haven’t ran any of these courses in a meet before, so I don’t know what to expect,” Derosa said. “But it also takes away from the pressure, because I don’t really know what parts of the course are going to be challenging, so I don’t have to worry about it.”

The meets are not the only major difference that Derosa has faced so far, as she is also getting use to the different style of practices that coach Julie Lafreniere runs.

“Christina is responding very well to the type of training that we have been doing,” Lafreniere said. “We have two hard practices a week in which the girls have to get up early.”

Derosa’s practices in high school were much shorter when it comes to running, but she has benefited from running longer distances during practice in order to prepare for the meets.

She has also benefited from having a strong team behind her, and veteran leadership from seniors Amanda Dahlberg and Alexis Anzelone.

“In high school it was usually me and another girl that were the top runners on the team,” Derosa said. “It is so much different because everyone on this team are good runners, and the team as a whole is strong.”

Academically, Derosa has been managing her time and doing her work during the little time that she isn’t running. She is happy with her class schedule and has been getting plenty of sleep, getting to bed at 9:30 p.m. some nights, especially before those early 6 a.m. practices.

Derosa and her teammates continue the season with the New England Championships tomorrow followed by the Albany Invitational on October 16.