Narloch leads youngsters
It isn’t common for any team to rally around a sophomore to carry them through a season, but that has been the story of the NDSU women’s cross country team this year.
The Bison cross country women’s team is young and has little experience heading into Fort Wayne, Ind. for this year’s Division I Independent Championships, but head coach Ryun Godfrey wouldn’t have it any other way.
“ The fact that were young means we are competitive and have something to prove to other schools at the independent championships,” Godfrey said.
Sophomore Nora Narloch has quickly become the leader in front of this young Bison squad.
Narloch has led the Bison in all five competitions this year, placing as high as second.
She has also been named NCAA Division I Independent Runner of the Week.
Instead of stressing about beating the other runners, Narloch has a simple goal in mind this weekend.
“ My goal is to get a good time and hopefully finish with a time under 22 minutes,” Narloch said.
Junior Veronica Nagel has also been a consistent contributor this season.
She has two top-10 finishes including a fourth-place finish at the NDSU Open.
There will be nine teams at the event this year, including IPFW, Chicago State, Longwood, New Jersey Tech, SDSU, Texas-Pan American, California Davis and Utah Valley State.
With defending champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi no longer attending the meet, the event winner is wide open.
The toughest competition this weekend will be coming from SDSU and Utah Valley State.
Last year, SDSU was the runner-up at the event. Utah Valley State has won three team titles already this season.
At the Jim Drews Invitational on Oct. 15, SDSU edged Northern Iowa for the team title. NDSU finished in 22nd-place in that event. Individaully SDSU’s Becka Manshiem – who is a favorite to win this year’s Independent Chamipionship – had an impressive second-place finish.
Along with the tough competition, the Bison will have to bear harsh weather conditions at the meet.
The forecast for Saturday predicts a temperature of 40 degrees. In addition to the cold weather, the course will likely be wet.
“ We need to see where we can place at the Independent Championships and improve upon that mark in the next couple years,” Narloch said.
Godfrey would like Narloch and the two seniors – Cody Halsey and Beth Novak – to step up this weekend and surprise some people.
Godfrey will also be looking for sophomore Laura Hermanson and freshman Amy Bestland to run well this weekend.
“ Experience like the independent championships will build our confidence and over time, achieve our goal of winning,” Godfrey said.