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SEATTLE – In her first and only season of college cross country, Katie Thralls will take away many treasured memories.
 
Leading for part of her first race. Earning a major conference award. Even running at nationals.
 
And one more:
 
Finding out what Fairbanks, Alaska actually looks like.

“It was fun see Fairbanks in the summer – I got to see the outside,” said the Seattle Pacific senior, whose previous three trips to that part of The Last Frontier were in either January or February with the Falcon women's basketball team. “It was minus-40 degrees the last time we went.
 
“I really loved going for basketball, but I wanted to see this place when it's not so white and cold and dark.”
 
In fact, Thralls has seen plenty of daylight this season. Even though she is a cross country newbie, she has been at or near the front of the pack in all but one of her races.
 
Thralls is hoping for more of the same this Saturday when she and her teammates step to the starting line in Joplin, Mo., at Missouri Southern State University for the NCAA Division II nationals.
 
The Falcons will answer the starting gun at 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, having qualified on Nov. 3 at the West Regionals in Hawaii. Leading the way was 22-year-old Thralls (Livermore, Calif.) with an 11th-place finish that made her an All-Region selection.

"Knowing that nationals is something to strive for and reach for, and now that we've actually made it, it's like, 'Wow – I can't imagine,'” Thralls said. “It's actually here, it's reality.
 
“It's not just one of those dreams.”
 
A FIT – AND A GOOD ONE, TOO
When Thralls arrived in the fall of 2009, basketball was her main game. A 5-foot-5 guard, she joined a team whose backcourt was populated with veteran talent. Even so, Thralls got into 24 of SPU's 31 games. She continued to see limited playing time as a sophomore and junior, but was widely respected by her teammates and Falcon coaches for her solid work ethic.

It was toward the end of last basketball season that she decided to give track and field a try.
 
“I did not even imagine that I would be able to be part of that,” Thralls said. “Even in high school or college, I never thought I would be on a track or distance running team.”
 
Right away, it clicked. Thralls qualified for the conference meet in the 1,500 and 5,000 meters, eventually finishing ninth in the 5K, just one place out of the points.
 
Given that kind of success, she was eager to take a shot at cross country.
 
“Before the season I was like, 'I've never done this, things could go totally different than how I had pictured,'' Thralls said. “But I was excited more than anything. I had one season. I just wanted to give myself the freedom to stay relaxed and enjoy every minute of it.”
               
Her first race was a 6-kilometer event in Fairbanks on Aug. 30. Near the midpoint, Thralls found herself in front. Falcons teammate Robyn Zeidler eventually caught up and took over the lead, but Thralls finished a solid second.
                                                
Two days later in the 4-kilometer short-course event, she ran third overall. A couple weeks after that at the Sundodger Invitational in West Seattle's Lincoln Park – a red-letter day on the local cross country calendar – Thralls placed seventh, the second of three Falcons in the top 10.
 
“It has been wonderful to see her blossom and grow through the season,” coach Erika Daligcon said. “Track was sort of a learning experience for her in many ways. But she was willing to get in there and compete right from the start. Someone (like Thralls) who is willing to compete and has talent, too – that's even better.”
 
CLEARING A HURDLE
Thralls did encounter one speed bump. At the Charles Bowles Invitational on Sept. 29 in Salem, Ore. – SPU's last major meet before conference – she started out fine, but then began to fade ... and kept fading. Thralls wound up 172nd overall, No. 9 for SPU.

It left her shaken, not knowing what had happened – or why. Thralls went to the doctor and was diagnosed with iron deficiency. But the good news was two-fold: It was easily treatable, and she still had three weeks before the GNAC meet.
 
“Hopefully, it's a one-time thing,” Thralls said. “After talking to most distance runners, they've had that struggle at some point. So it's kind of reassuring to know that it happens and they've gotten through it.”
 
Thralls was in the starting box for the GNAC Championships on Oct. 20 in Monmouth, Ore. She and Daligcon worked closely in the aftermath of the Bowles, and both were confident that Thralls was ready.
 
“Erika was very smart and creative in helping me rebound from that,” Thralls said. “Going into that last loop, I'm running and feeling good – and I'm almost done with the race.”
 
Thralls was back at No. 2 for SPU that day, 18^th overall. As the highest-placing non-freshman in her first GNAC meet, she was named the women's Newcomer of the Year.
 
“We just tried to come up with a way so she could still get in (the training) that she needed so that her confidence was still there,” Daligcon said, “while at the same time resting the parts of the body that needed to be rested so she could restore those iron stores.”
 
BACK IN FAST FORM
By the time the team landed in Hawaii for the NCAA West Regionals, the low iron incident was little more than a distant memory. Thralls went out with the leaders immediately, and, surprising even herself a bit, stayed with them for the entire 6 kilometers on Kahuku Golf Course.
 
“I was not expecting that,” she said. “I was a little nervous about the first mile, finding myself near the beginning of the pack. I was wondering how it would play out. Then, I just kept running, kept feeling OK, and kept going.

“I was pretty surprised I wasn't getting passed,” Thralls added. “But I was like, 'Well, I'm not going to slow down.'”

Her 11^th-place finish, in 22 minutes, 8 seconds, made her the first of four Falcons among the top 40 as they secured the fifth and final team qualifying spot to nationals.
 
“She's a true competitor, and that showed through,” Daligcon said. “She wanted it and was very focused through the warm-up and the start, and was hanging off of that front pack.”
 
Thralls, with her near-perfect 3.96 GPA as an exercise science major, has yet to decide if she'll play one more season of hoops or do indoor track this winter. Either way, some of her biggest fans are the Falcon basketball players.
 
“The coaches and my teammates have been so supportive,” she said. “They sent me a little birthday care package when I was in Hawaii for regionals. I thought of them the whole time.”
 
Thralls will be back on the outdoor track next spring, and plans to keep racing, possibly in triathlons, after she's done at Seattle Pacific.
 
 “I still feel young in the sport,” Thralls said.
 
“But I can say that I'm a runner now.”