Churchill, formerly of Florida State, posted a huge 5,000 meter PR at the Bryan Clay Invite

Purely by luck of the draw, not some grand design, it so happened that at the starting line of last November’s NCAA Cross Country Championships Alyson Churchill found herself next to the box for the yellow-clad contingent from Northern Arizona University.

Talk about fitting.

Few knew it at the time, but Churchill, who had qualified for nationals as an individual from Florida State, had already committed via the portal to transfer to NAU in January for her final year of eligibility.

So, on that November day in Charlottesville, Va., Churchill was close, proximity wise, to NAU, though not yet a part. In fact, the senior from Tallahassee, Fla., (with a Covid year of eligibility remaining) had chosen NAU over two other top teams lining up at nationals – North Carolina State and Georgetown.

“It was funny how that worked out,” Churchill said of nationals, at which she placed 22^nd, two spots behind NAU’s Elise Stearns. “I was standing right next to them.”

NAU, of course, could have used Churchill on that day, since NC State squeezed out a one-point victory over the Lumberjacks. Now, though, Churchill is in Flagstaff and fully within the NAU program, after graduating from FSU in December with a degree in psychology.

And, barring wildly unforeseen circumstances, Churchill figures to be in NAU starting assignment box this coming November. She is redshirting the outdoor track season, a decision jointly reached with coach Mike Smith so that next fall she will have a full year competing for the Lumberjacks – cross country, indoors and outdoors.

That does not mean Churchill is just chilling in her new home. Hardly.

Last weekend, at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Southern California, Churchill ran unattached in the fast heat of the 5,000 meters and raised the already high expectations others have for her as NAU’s women shoot for their first NCAA cross country title in the fall.

Churchill, 21, achieved a massive PR by finishing seventh in the top invitational heat in 15:17.20, beating professional runners such as Emily Infeld. That performance eclipsed Churchill’s previous mark of 15:33.83 set in the NCAA East Regionals last May. In the past two outdoor seasons, she has improved her 5K track time by nearly 45 seconds.

Because she is redshirting, of course, Churchill will not be competing in the NCAAs in June. But her performance last week at the Bryan Clay Invite would have been the fourth fastest time for a collegiate woman so far this season.

There is a good chance, though, that Churchill will have another big meet on the horizon in June: the U.S. Olympic Trials. Her time at Bryan Clay was only five seconds off the trials standard of 15:10 and, considering it was her first race of the outdoor season, one can assume she has faster races in her. Churchill said her next race may be the Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles on May 11., but it likely will be her debut in the 10,000 meters.

“I hope so,” Churchill modestly said when asked if she feels confident of qualifying for the trials in Eugene, Ore., June 21-30. “Talking with coach Smith, he thinks the time that I ran might get me in anyway, filling (out) the field. I definitely want to try to (run the standard), though.”

“There’s been so many great things about being on my own. I think I was ready for it. I knew it was going to be hard, but I wanted a new adventure.”Alyson Churchill

Whether or not she qualifies is merely a short-term goal for Churchill. She and the NAU coaches are taking the long view and looking to get her integrated into the NAU system and fully acclimated to the 7,000-feet altitude (as opposed to 235 feet in Tallahassee) by next school year, when Churchill will begin a master’s degree in sustainable communities, part of the environmental sciences program.

It’s been a big, life-changing move for Churchill. She grew up in Tallahassee and won several state titles and decided to stay close to home and accept a scholarship at Florida State. How close? Churchill grew up just 11 miles north of the Seminoles’ campus. So, a move 1,800 miles to Flagstaff takes some adjustment, particularly in the winter, when this white stuff called snow covers her new town.

“It definitely felt scary, since this is my first time living away from home,” she said. “It’s been hard being away from my family for the first time, but there’s been so many great things about being on my own. I think I was ready for it. I knew it was going to be hard, but I wanted a new adventure.”

The locale of Churchill’s “new adventure” had not been determined when she started the cross-country season last fall with the Seminoles. But Churchill knew she was on track for getting her undergraduate degree by December, and she wanted a new challenge. She said she enjoyed her four years at Florida State, but the women’s cross-country team had undergone three coaching changes in her time there.  

Stability, then, was one factor she weighed in looking to transfer. Another was running for a program that could help her maximize her running potential and also perhaps make her a part of an NCAA title-winning program.

Two schools fit that profile perfectly: North Carolina State and NAU.

The Tar Heels had built a women’s cross dynasty, winning their third straight NCAA title in November with that one-point victory over NAU. But top runners Katelyn Tuohy and Kelsey Chmiel were on their way out, opening room for a runner of Churchill’s pedigree. The Lumberjacks, on the other hand, would be returning most of their runners from last season but needed another potential top-20 finisher to challenge the likes of NC State, Oklahoma State, Alabama and BYU.

Churchill chose NAU after a weekend October visit.

Her reasoning?

“It was exciting, and I just loved my visit here,” she said. “I decided (on NAU) right after my visit. I did look at North Carolina State and Georgetown. I really enjoyed all my visits, and it was cool to see the different places and programs. Just the feeling when I came here was, ‘Wow, I could see myself being happy here.’ That was the biggest thing.”

Not that there haven’t been adjustments. Beach to mountains. Sun and humidity to cold and snow. The higher elevation. Being part of a well-balanced team rather than the dominant runner.

Things are going remarkably well, judging by her indoor season at NAU and the first outdoor 5K she ran unattached. In February, at the Husky Indoor Invitational in Seattle, Churchill set an NAU and Big Sky Conference record in the 3,000 at 8:55.02. And that came after only training a month with her new teammates and adjusting to altitude.

“So far, I feel like it’s been really helpful at altitude,” she said. “I feel, more recently, a lot more adjusted to it. It has made a big difference in going back to sea level to race. It feels so good. It’s been a quicker process to adjust than I expected it to be.”

It’s also safe to say that Churchill has upped her training load at NAU compared to her time at FSU. Smith is known as a coach who embraces weekly double-threshold workouts for his athletes at 7,000 feet – no easy task.

“Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of threshold work and that’s something new for me,” she said. “I never did that much threshold. We never did double thresholds. I’ve felt stronger aerobically, and I imagine being at altitude has helped with that, too. Pushing each other in workouts, has helped me. I like it a lot. There’s something about threshold that works for me.”

She said she also embraces interval days, because she’s trying to improve for closing speed, especially in the 5,000.

“I think I’m getting better at it,” she said.

The Bryan Clay 5K showed that improved fitness. Churchill went out hard, but in control, in the race, found a groove and maintained her place in the final laps. Next thing she knew, she had run a 16-second PR.

“It was just a fun experience,” she said of the Bryan Clay 5K. “I felt more confident and calm going into the race than during indoor season. The race was a good set-up to run fast. The weather was perfect, and the race strung out to where we were all running in a line. I was just trying hang on to the person in front of me.”

Though she might have liked to see what she could do this June in the NCAA 5,000, Churchill seems content in her decision to redshirt the outdoor season.

“I’ve got to think that, this time next year, I’ll be really glad to have that outdoor season,” she said. “With running in general, I’ve never really thought that far ahead; I’d just focus one season at a time. Now, I’m starting to look ahead.”

That could mean the Olympic Trials and, perhaps eventually, a professional career. It’s an open now, she said. She has seen all the pros working out on the NAU track next to the NAU runners and sees a pro future as perhaps viable.

There’s still work to do in Flagstaff, though. Such as, getting used to a real winter. She already bought some cold-weather clothes in preparation, but still the cold was a shock to her system.

“The snow and ice, when I first got here, I don’t think I could’ve prepared for that,” she said, laughing. “I have my car here now, but I haven’t driven when there’s snow or ice on the ground, because I’ve been scared about it.”