By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- What a difference a year has made for Naomi Cass with the Bridgewater State University women's cross country team.
As a freshman in 2022, the Westport, Mass., resident was either the sixth or seventh fastest runner for the Bears and placed 36th overall at the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference championship race.
Just one year later, Cass has emerged as one of the top competitors in the conference, earning MASCAC runner of the week three times this season.
Cass and the Bears will be taking part in the MASCAC Championships on Friday in Devens, Mass., hosted by Worcester State University.
Prior to last year, Cass had never taken part in a cross country race, spending the fall playing soccer at Westport High School.
It was an adjustment period for Cass, and in addition to dealing with the typical freshman transition, an illness also slowed her down.
Cass noticed that she was getting tired more easily as the season wore on, and in December, more than a month after the final race, she passed out.
Tests showed that Cass was anemic and she was given iron to correct the problem.
"It was very gradual, not all of a sudden," said Cass of feeling anemic. "A five-mile run got to be hard at the end. By the end of the season, it was a really big struggle to do three miles.
"As my mileage increased, it got worse. My times got worse as the season went on. I was really anemic and just wasn't eating enough for how much mileage I was doing."
In her freshman season, Cass was the team's seventh-best runner at the Wheaton & Babson meet and was the sixth BSU runner to finish at the Westfield State meet and the MASCAC Championships.
After finding out she was anemic and going on iron to correct the problem, Cass was more effective for the spring track & field team. She was second in the 1,500 and seventh in the 800 at the MASCAC Championships and was on the 4x800 relay team that was 14th in New England.
A full summer of training and being fully healthy has combined to allow Cass to be one of the leading MASCAC runners this season.
She opened the season by winning the Wheaton & Babson meet in a field of 49, was second out of 184 runners at the Keene State meet, placed 24th out of 280 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational and seventh out of 238 at the Suffolk Invitational.
"I feel a lot healthier, a lot stronger," said Cass. "I had the summer training from my coach that has really made a difference.
"Our coach (Christine Kloiber) gave us daily workouts to do and I did just about all of them. I went on vacation and my boyfriend would ride his bike while I ran every morning before we'd do anything. I committed to doing the workout every day.
"I didn't do any running over the summer (before freshman year). We didn't have a coach the first three weeks (until Kloiber took over). I was kind of going in blind."
A year later, Cass was ready to go and the results have shown what a difference there has been.
"She did all her summer training. That made a huge difference," said Kloiber. "When you do your summer training and you have a year of training in the books, that really helps. She was able to build on what she did last year."
Cass felt confident going into the 2023 season, but she didn't know how successful she would be.
"I knew I was going to do good, but not necessarily how good," said Cass. "At UMass Dartmouth, my first 5K, I remember crossing over the line and didn't believe the time (18:40.38) that was on top of the finish. I waited until the results came out because I didn't think I'd be able to do that time.
"I knew I would be better this year, but I didn't know it would take me this far."
The improvement figures to continue at the MASCACs where Cass was unable to crack the top 30 a year ago.
Last season, though, is a distant memory for Cass.
"It feels great," she said. "I put in a lot of work this summer and it feels really good seeing the outcome of it.
"I wish I had that year back and do it healthy."
BSU finished third at the MASCACs last season and was picked to finish second behind Westfield State in the preseason poll.
Top runners behind Cass this season include senior Nicole Major (Andover, Mass.), who was second at the conference meet last year; junior Lily Valcovic (Taunton, Mass.), who was 18th a year ago; junior Kate Brown (Acushnet, Mass.) and senior Elisabeth Sweeney (Marshfield, Mass.).