By Jim Fenton
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The first cross country race she ever participated in was on Sept. 2, 2022.
Naomi Cass (Westport, Mass.) was a Bridgewater State University freshman when she finished 42nd at the Wheaton & Babson Season Opener in Attleboro.
Cass was not on the cross country team at Westport High School, playing soccer in the fall before running track later in the school year.
When she got to BSU in '22, however, Cass had missed women's soccer tryouts, so she instead turned to cross country.
What a move that has turned out to be.
Cass is putting together a career to remember for the Bears, making tremendous strides in a sport she was introduced to just a short time ago.
The elementary education and psychology major will take part in a second straight NCAA Division III Cross Country Championship race on Saturday morning in Terre Haute, Ind.
Cass is the only member of the BSU woman's cross country program to be a two-time participant in the national race, which was first held in 1981.
She placed 149th out of 293 competitors in Newville, Pa., last November as the program's first female to qualify since BSU Athletics Hall of Famer Molly Rouillard finished 50th in 2012.
This year, Cass will be running at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center beginning at 11 a.m.
A two-time Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Runner of the Year, Cass qualified by placing sixth at the East Region race last Saturday in Contoocock, N.H., the highest finish by a BSU women's runner at the regional championships.
Traveling to Pennsylvania for a national race was a brand new experience for Cass in '23, and she'll use what was learned back then this time around.
"It was surreal," said Cass. "It was crazy there. There were so many girls there. I've been in a race with 300 girls before, but all of the girls there have essentially the same pace. We all stay with each other. It's not like we spread out as much as a regular-season race.
"I've never really been in a race like that before. It was only my second year doing cross country. I remember there were girls who fell and you can't see more than a foot in front of you. If they fell in front of you, you had to dodge her. I'd never done anything like that before."
Cass finished in the middle of the pack in his first crack at the national scene.
"There's a lot of unknowns," said Cass of the NCAAs. "Pennsylvania has hills I hadn't seen in Massachusetts. But other than that, once the gun goes off, the nerves kind of disappear and you are in the right state of mind."
That race topped off quite the sophomore season in which Cass made a significant leap from her freshman year. She won the MASCAC race and was a five-time MASCAC Runner of the Week selection.
The improvement has continued in 2024 with Cass clearly being the top runner in the conference once again, winning the championship in Leominster by nearly 25 seconds.
She then had a personal-best time of 22:05.71 in the 6-kilometer East Region race last weekend and was sixth out of 232 runners.
The performance gave Cass her second straight All-East Region honor, her tenth MASCAC Runner of the Week accolade, and a second consecutive trip to the national championship meet.
Coming out of high school,Cass struggled a bit as a freshman due to anemia but was feeling better during the indoor and outdoor track seasons.
She then followed a training plan for cross country in the summer of '23, and that paid off into a big sophomore season. Cass followed the plan laid out by BSU coach Christine Kloiber this summer as well.
"Last year, what made the difference was my summer training," said Cass. "This year, I told my coach going into the summer to just give me what will let me have the best fall possible. I'll do my best to get it done.
"I went on a trip in the summer and was still up every morning doing laps in the parking garage. I feel the summer training is what really leads to a good fall."
Cass started this season by winning the Wheaton & Babson Season Opener, was 19th out of 345 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational and shaved 40 seconds off her time from the previous year to finish sixth out of 240 at the Keene State Invitational.
"Forty seconds is a big jump," said Cass. "It felt really rewarding."
Cass has come a long way since that first cross country race ever at the start of the 2022 season.
"It's probably (because of) coach's training (plan)," said Cass. "She knows her stuff and knows what will make me faster. As long as I can get through the season without any injuries or illnesses, I'll keep on improving from her workouts."
Cass arrived in Indiana on Thursday and is expected to race under partly cloudy conditions on a 50-degree day Saturday.
Unlike a year ago, Cass will not have any surprises during the trip to the NCAAs this time.
"I think I'll know how to approach it a little bit more," she said. "Hopefully, I can place a little bit higher and kind of calm myself down more a little bit in the beginning.
"I really want to improve my placing. My ultimate goal senior year is to become an All-American. This year, I'm going to aim for the top 75.
"I know what to expect. I've seen the course through a YouTube video and it looks so much flatter than last year."
To follow Naomi's progress at the national championship meet, click on the links below.