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Big Sky Conference Champ Camila Noe's Prospects Looking Up After TransferPublished by
No Place Like Home For Montana State's Camila Noe
By Theresa Juva Brown for DyeStat
When Camila Noe of Montana State University crossed the finish line to win the women's 5-kilometer title Nov. 2 at the Big Sky Cross Country Championships in Greeley, Colo., she was was overwhelmed with emotion.
“I was definitely a little teary looking back at last year,” said the 19-year-old Bozeman native, who was the first Montana State woman to capture a Big Sky cross country title in 27 years.
“It felt like such a powerful moment.”
Last fall, such a big achievement seemed far out of reach as Noe, then a freshman at the University of Portland, struggled to recover from a femur injury and adjust to life away from home.
Discouraged after suffering a second injury — a tibia stress fracture — Noe decided to return to Bozeman and enroll at Montana State University. Healthy and happy, she competed for the Bobcats for the first time in outdoor track.
“Everything kind of fell into place,” said Noe, a Bozeman High graduate and former state champion in track and cross country.
“I felt at home and having my family here to support me was super helpful.”
Lyle Weese, Montana State’s director of cross country and track and field, happily welcomed the hometown distance star. He remembers being especially impressed when she ran 9:54.9 to take second at the prestigious Brooks PR Invitational in June 2018.
She arrived at Montana State still recovering from a stress fracture, so Weese was careful to ease her
back into training.
“Any time there are injuries, the biggest thing to avoid is big jumps in intensity and training volume, and that’s what we tried to avoid with Camila,” he said.
After a summer of solid running, Noe and Weese set their sights on the Big Sky title. Not only did Noe win, she dominated the snow-covered Boomerang Links Golf Course from start to finish.
And although she is only a freshman on the team, she has quickly established herself as a role model and leader.
“She sets a great example with the hard work she puts in,” Weese said. “Everyone else on the team can sense and feel how invested Camila is in her training and racing.”
Now that she’s notched a conference title, Noe hopes to perform well at Friday’s NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country Championships at Rose Park Golf Course in Salt Lake City and secure a ticket to nationals.
The top four individuals at regionals who are not members of national-qualifying teams will get to compete Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, Ind. Two additional at-large selections will be made by the NCAA Division 1 Championship committee, bringing the total to 38 individual athletes along with the 31 team qualifiers.
“Just going to nationals would be pretty amazing,” she said. “And if I make it there, I just want to end my season knowing in my heart I did all I could have.” More news |
