Division 2 Queens University All-American Eager To Apply Her Distance Running Training Into A 'New' Sport

By Mary Albl of DyeStat

Photos by Dani Nicosia and Lauren Ellsworth

Fatima Alanis is like a kid the night before Christmas as she describes the emotions embarking on her first cross country season this fall — anxious to discover something new she already knows she’s going to love. 

“I'm so excited. I love trail running, and I've never done a cross country race, so I’m excited,” she said. 

To go into a little more detail, the Queens University of Charlotte, N.C. freshman has never participated in the sport of cross country before.

With a triathlon-focused background, originally recruited to Queens as a member of the triathlon team, she’ll make her debut for the Royals on Friday at the Queen City Invite at McAlpine Creek Park with a tempo run and then get the full experience Oct. 2 at the Louisville Classic.

Queens enters the season as the preseason favorite to win their fifth straight NCAA Division 2 South Atlantic Conference title and look to claim their fourth NCAA Southeast Regional championship. 

“I just love the team aspect of it,” Alanis said. “I didn’t know about the point system and how we can qualify for nationals, so I'm just so excited as a team, and obviously I think our goal is to get to nationals.”

Racing is not new territory to Alanis. She’s coming off an historic spring track season for Queens that saw her, again, make her track and field debut, finishing third at the Division 2 Outdoor Championships in the 10,000-meter event (34:10.69) and ninth in the 5,000 (16:23.60). 

“I don't think she's put any limits on herself because she has no experience to know what those limits could potentially be,” head cross country coach Tom Scott said. “She’s so competitive.”

Originally from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, Alanis and her family moved to the United States when she was 8 years old. A gymnast for nearly 10 years, she said when she arrived as a freshman at Staples High in Westport, Conn. the more popular-played sports in the Northeast like field hockey just didn’t appeal to her, so she tried running. 

“The only sport that I could do without any background was track,” she said. “I liked it, but I wasn't good at it.”

Halfway through her time at Staples, her parents divorced and she moved back to Mexico with her mom, Patricia, where she finished out the remaining two years of high school. She said that was one period in her life she took time away from sports as a way to cope. 

“I was angry, I missed my life back in the U.S.,” she said. “My mom noticed me not doing sports, so she signed me up for a little road race. I got second place and I loved it." 

Through that road race is how she was introduced to the idea of competing in triathlons, which include swimming, biking and running. She met a coach who invited her to train with their club team. Hesitant of the idea of adding biking and swimming to her repertoire, it was the allure of the competitive atmosphere and hard aerobic training that was the final push. 

“It was definitely something I wanted to be a part of,” Alanis said. 

Since age 17, triathlons have been a constant in her life. Still living in Mexico, in September 2018, she won the 18-19 Age Group title at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Gold Coast in Australia. Her winning time was 2:16:59 for the Olympic distance (1,500-meter swim, 40K bike, 10K run), which was more than a minute faster than second place. She followed up her ITU World title with a third-place finish in the 20-24 Age Group category in In 2019 in Lausanne for the Olympic distance and a first-place finish in the sprint distance (750-meter swim, 20K bike, 5K run). 

She explained the success made her believe this was something she could keep pursuing at a higher level. 

“But in Mexico, if you go to college, it’s tough to do college and sports,” she said. “And that’s when I found Queens. After ITU Worlds in Australia, I got in contact with Sonni Dyer (head coach at Queens), I forget who emailed who first (but) It took a bit of convincing since I didn’t go (to Queens) until 2020, but it was the best decision.”

So how did a world-class triathlete end up on the track and field and cross country roster? Scott said Fatima’s roommate at the time, Katinka Prestoey, who was also a member of the track team, hinted to him that he needed to connect with Alanis, a triathlete, who seemed to be really fast.

“I gave Fatima a call (inquired about her 5K time) and asked if she was interested in doing track and cross country and she said she’d love to try it out,” Scott said. “Little did we know, we’d be getting someone who could run a 16:20 and get third at the NCAA Championships.”

Alanis ran her first collegiate track race in March of 2021 — she told Scott the spikes felt weird and she wasn’t used to the tactical aspect. But Alanis’ self-described driven personality shone through as her times kept improving each time she raced.

Teetering on the cusp of a secured qualifying mark for the NCAA Division 2 Outdoor Championships in the 5K, Queens flew Alanis to Oregon to compete at the Portland Twilight where she finished third and ran a personal-best 16:20.75, improving upon her previous time of 16:31.64. She said she was able to get into the 10,000 at nationals as well because she was already entered in the 5,000. 

“I did not expect that,” she said of her performances at nationals last spring. “I was so excited.”

Scott explained he’s had triathletes on the team before, and their strong aerobic base is a much-added benefit to their resume

“What I’ve noticed with the triathletes is they are so aerobically strong,” Scott said. “They do so much pool and bike. For Fatima, she was aerobically very, very fit, she just didn’t have the track legs or the pace work underneath her and so it took a little bit of racing, workouts and pacing. But it shows the kids on the team that aerobic development is the most important thing. The exciting thing is she’s just a freshman (in cross country) and she’s got so much time to continue to develop and improve.”

Alanis was able to focus most of her training on track last spring, as the pandemic limited her triathlon schedule. This fall with both cross country and triathlon both going on, it’s been more of a juggling act for Alanis, who is a sophomore academically. A typical day is a 7 a.m. run, breakfast and homework, class, a workout with the triathlon team, lifting, lunch and then usually a ride in the afternoon. 

“I love it,” Alanis said of doing two collegiate sports. “The more things I have on my plate the better; I’m more productive.”

While it’s an overwhelming schedule to the eye, Scott explained communication is key for success academically and athletically. 

“Those athletes are doing a lot of training, around 20 hours,” Scott said. “The communication aspect, how are you feeling? Making sure we are both on the same page, and working with the schedules. Fatima is also one of our higher mileage athletes, around 55-60 miles a week.”

While she has yet to hit the trails for her first race, Alanis’ triathlon season has been off to a fast start. She competed for the club triathlon team Sept. 5 against Wingate University, finishing second for the team, and Sept. 12, she finished first at the Patriot Triathlon in Williamsburg, Va., in 1:08.42.5 to help the Royals capture first, defeating Division 1 teams Duke, Navy, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, N.C. State and William & Mary.

While the results are impressive for Alanis she said her success has been a result of her work ethic and grounding, which she credits to her upbringing.

“I’m not sure it’s come easy because when I qualified for Worlds, not meaning to, I realized I could do it if I really set my mind to performing and training a lot,” she said. “I’m really grounded, and do the extras like sleeping, eating right; I think that's what I'm good at.”

Alanis’ track and field and cross country transition to the team has been equally impressive as Scott believes this group has a shot to accomplish something special this season.  

“She's a little bit quieter but she’s opened up a lot,” Scott said. “She's a great teammate, really, really supportive, she's fun, energetic, and a hard-worker. She gives it her all in every single race. I think we are going to have a really, really successful season and I think our women’s team can be top four or five at the NCAAs.”

While it was never in her original plans to run cross country, like her triatlon career, Alanis is taking full advantage of all of the unknowns.

“I’m reminded of this everyday of how grateful I am,” she said. “I’m so cautious of the fact this doesn’t exist in Mexico. Queens allows me to do everything — study psychology, do my research, have an internship, it's amazing how everything is possible here. It’s an incredible support system that allows me to achieve everything, which I love.”