Kierra Jensen figures she will get by with a little help from her friends.
Jensen will toe the starting line at the NAIA Women's Cross Country Championship on Nov. 22 in Columbia, Missouri, but she won't be alone. Joining her will be her Kansas Wesleyan teammates who qualified for the national race Nov. 9 at the Kansas Conference Championship in Leavenworth.
The women's team will have additional support with KWU men's team competing, as well. It's the first time in school history the men's and women's teams have qualified in the same year. Both squads finished second behind Saint Mary in the KCAC event.
"I think it's huge - the girls have been really excited," said Jensen who ran for KWU coach Garrett Young at Southwestern College before deciding to rejoin him and transfer to KWU in August 2023. "Last year, I wasn't eligible to run. We're all chomping at the bit, ready for this year. We wanted to qualify and go with (the men) this year."
Mission accomplished. Wesleyan will join 34 other teams and 82 individuals for the 6-kilometer race that begins at 11:30 a.m. at Gans Creek Cross Country Course.
"There are some more nerves going into it, for sure. I'm a little more nervous about it," said Jensen, who finished 10th in the conference race. "But I've had a great time running with my teammates. I really leaned on them this season, so I plan to just keep doing that and keep running like we've been running."
Jensen said it has been a team effort. Three runners who competed in last year's NAIA race are back in 2024 - Madisyn Ehrlich, Josie Koppes and Charlee Lind - along with newbies Alayna Behrman, Kirstin Hackney, Hailey Nordhus and Jensen.
"I really think we've gotten better at running together," Jensen said. "Last year it might have been a little bit more individualized, but this year we've got very distinct packs, and the packs are even getting closer together now.
"It's been really cool to see groups of three to five and they're all shoulder to shoulder the whole race. We know our strengths. Some of us push a little more in the middle, some of us have better kicks, so toward the end it's like, 'You go, you've got it, I'll come up from the rear.' "
Young, who is in his third season at Wesleyan, agreed.
"They've run really well all season, been very composed in big meets and small meets, and they're ready," he said. "If we look at the collective body of work that they've had this season, I think they are showing that we're still getting better."
The Coyotes are familiar with the Gans Creek Course, having competed there in the Brian T. Simpson Invitational on Oct. 22. They finished third out of 15 teams.
"We spent some pretty substantial time out there on the course, doing some envisionment," Young said. "We said, 'The next time you're here, there's going be 300 women on this starting line, it's going to be cold, it's November, it's going to be a championship meet.' They're not going to get that same level of nervousness."
Young describes the course in one word - fast.
"It's a Division I-caliber course. It's really high quality that's built for championship-style racing, and it does run very fast," he said. "It is very much going to reward the teams that have prepped some of their foot speed and are ready to run fast."
Young is pleased and proud to have both of his teams qualify for nationals.
"It's historic," he said. "I think it's just a culmination of the timing. You have two really great groups of athletes on both the men's and women's sides. To be able to have them all at the university at the same time I don't think is coincidence. They really came together to accomplish something this year and we're excited to see where it can take them."
Jensen said having some familiarity with the course helps, but it won't erase all of her nervousness. That's where training and experience will come in.
"I try to take it one K (kilometer) at a time," she said. "Coach usually has a race plan for us, so we talk through that, and then with teammates we really lean on each other with the race plan - we've got to do this on the first K, we've got to push a little on the second K, just keep passing people on the third. If the plan changes, we adapt a little.
"I definitely want to go into it and relax. I know it's going to get really packed really quick, and I know if I'm panicky and trying to get out, somebody's probably going go down and it very well could be me."
Young is optimistic the pack will prevail.
"Every meet this season, we've been under a minute for our one through five splits, with a lot of our meets coming close to 28:35," he said. "If we can continue to keep a split like that together, then we should have five women under (100th place) in terms of individual placement. If you do that, you give yourself a shot of scraping out a top-10 finish."
Jensen plans to enjoy the experience, regardless of the outcome.
"To see the work I've put in over the past year and have it come to this point, I'm just really proud of myself," she said. "I'm proud of my teammates.