WOODBURY— As the 2025 fall sports season kicks off there’s an unfamiliar face on the Nonnewaug cross country team. 

Danielle Carroccio, a new math teacher at Nonnewaug has stepped up to fill the spot of the girls cross country coach. Before Nonnewaug, Carroccio taught math at Region 20 and has a well rounded sports background. 

“Before coming to Nonnewaug I coached middle school track for two years and then for the high school level of coaching the only experience I had was volleyball,” said Carroccio.

Even though Carroccio didn’t have much high school coaching experience, Grace Rubacha, a senior captain on the cross country team, thinks her supportive energy is encouraging the girls to strive for the BL title. 

“She’s really sweet and supportive and you can tell with her energy that she just wants the best and that we’re going to work together to win the BL,” said Rubacha. 

Making sure the team works together and improves on their skills is very important to Carroccio. 

“For coaching, it’s learning how to coach cross country. I do know how to be a coach; I get along with the athletes, but I’m also a semi perfectionist, so that part of it right now is hard for me because cross country is multi-faceted,” Carroccio continues. “It’s individualized but also a team sport, you can have your individual glory for it but for the school to win a championship. I need to place five good runners, they need to have good numbers, and they need to work as a team.”

Carroccio’s positivity and will to win is not only evident to the girls team but the boys cross country team is also picking up on it.  

Boys cross country coach Deborah Flaherty thinks that Carroccio is adjusting well and the team is having fun.  

“I think she’s doing a great job, she’s been a coach in the past, she’s coach certified so it’s not like she’s new to coaching which of course helps,” Flaherty said. “She has a really positive outlook, she likes to collaborate and I think the kids are having fun and that’s reflective of good coaching as well so she’s adjusting nicely.”

Junior captain Luke Lodice agrees with Flaherty that the girls team is set to create many memorable moments this season. 

“I think that they’re going to win the championship again this year,” Lodice said. “They’re going to improve their times and under the right coaching they’re going to have more fun.”

Even with only being on campus for a few weeks, Carroccio already is feeling at home. 

“It’s been pretty seamless here, the environment at this school has been amazing, I was talking to [Superintendent] Murphy yesterday and I was saying, overall the students are the same kind of kids but everyone here kind of just seems happy,” Carroccio said. “I haven’t heard a lot of negativity, from students and from teachers alike, it’s very welcoming here.”