However, even she was surprised with how well they performed in their first meet. The Wildcats as a team finished tied for first in points and came in second place at the Northwood Invitational last weekend.

Senior Katelyn Smith led NMU, taking second in 18 minutes, 22.9 seconds, while newcomer Madison Malon as fourth in her first meet with the Wildcats in 18:40.6. Junior Ellise Longley took sixth in 18:49.0 to help Northern place three runners in the top 10 as three other Northern freshmen also finished in the top 20.

When asked Tuesday about this opening meet, Ryan was pleased and said she knew that she was going to have a solid team as the Wildcats try to get back to the NCAA Division II national championships after missing out last season.

“We had a scrimmage up at (Michigan) Tech the first week of school and we did a time trial the first week of training,” she said. “So I knew the kids came back fit and then we had some freshmen that were going to be right in there and they were.

Katelyn Smith

“So that’s definitely really exciting. I knew that we’d have a good team this year, but some of the freshmen surprised me. I knew it was my best recruiting class ever of freshmen, but they surprised me even more than I expected.”

She also said there’s quite a few runners that are impressing her so far, with Smith leading the pack after missing significant time a year ago.

“We have Katelyn back, which is nice,” Ryan said. “She missed a whole year last year with some issues. So she’s back and fit and mentally strong again and ready to go, which is great. She’s a great leader for our team.

“Then Elise, who is a junior, and she made a big step up from last year. So she’s right in there and Hanna (Torvi), who’s a senior, then the freshmen.

“Madison is a freshman and Paige Saiz and Meghan Langworthy, all three of them are in the top eight of the group. So to have that many freshmen in there is definitely good for this year, but also for the future. We have four freshmen in the top 12. So it’s looking good for this year and the future.”

Ellise Longley

In the present, the Wildcats’ have a meet Friday hosted by Michigan State University in East Lansing with the Spartan Invite. NMU will go up against some NCAA Division I programs and it’ll be an interesting test for Northern’s freshmen.

“Our one freshman, Madison, had trouble with going out a little too fast,” Ryan said. “She led most of the race at Northwood, even though we talked about not leading the race. So she went ahead of the top Saginaw group and ahead of Katelyn, who was leading by eight seconds at a mile into the field.

“We worked on that in practice and we’re going to work on that again. I see even greater things for her coming, once she learns how to watch her pace.

“It was similar. We learn from every race that we do. We learn different things. Learn how to pace and learn how to race. This now will be a much bigger meet, there’s going to be like 30 teams, so we’ll get used to being with more athletes, which will be what some of the bigger meets like conference, regionals and hopefully, nationals.

“This one and the Roy Griak (Invite in Minneapolis) are both really big events with a lot of good teams. So, it’s a similar way that we’re approaching it, but also trying to learn what we didn’t do quite right last meet and take that forward this meet.”

Ryan Stieg can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.