After a successful season last year and a 16th place finish at the NAIA National Championships in Vancouver, Washington, the Fighting Saints welcomed five first years to the team this year, bringing it to a total of 19 runners.
The Saints kicked off their season with the MSU Bobcat Twilight in Bozeman Montana, placing third with three finishes in the top 15 from Reghan Worley (8th), Natalie Yocum (12th), and Nicole Morgen (15th). First year Sydney J Lamb had a breakout race, setting a new personal record of 20:54.5.
Head Coach Shannon Flynn credited some of their early success to the Saints’ summer camp, where the team set their goals for the season, both for competitive results and for team atmosphere. The Saints have big competitive plans for the season including winning Frontier Conference Championship and placing in the top ten at the NAIA National Championship in Tallahassee, Florida. Coach Flynn spoke about the team’s dynamic both in practice and outside of practice, which will assist the team in reaching their goals this season.
The Saints are coming off of a strong finish last season. They placed 16th overall as a team, and Reghan Worley, a senior political science and history major from Evanston, Wyoming earned All-American status with a 33rd place finish.
Andria Mourich, a sophomore political science major from Laurel, Montana, also made the Top 100 by placing 86th after running much of the race with Natalie Yocum, a senior biology and environmental science major from Frenchtown, who finished 106th. Several other members of the team finished the season with personal bests and improved finishes from last year’s nationals performance.
The Saints will travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to race against other competitive nationally ranked NAIA teams. As the season unfolds, they anticipate being ready for any challenge.