Northern's Field Soosloff ready to run for a national title

Most of the Montana State University-Northern cross country runners finished their seasons with the Frontier Conference Championships in Dillon a few weeks ago. But for Field Soosloff, the season will come to an end Friday in Vancouver, Washington, when he heads in to the NAIA National Championships. Soosloff competed in last season's NAIA Nationals where he finished 229th so he will be hoping for a better outcome this time out.

"Last year, I didn't perform as well as I wanted, so I'm going into this race this weekend to try to be as competitive as possible," Soosloff said.

The race will be held at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Championship Course. While the course itself should not be much different than what Soosloff is used to, he will have to deal with expected heavy rain during his race. Soosloff is already planning how to deal with the rain and mud.

"You make sure you get a good warm up in, stay dry before your race, wear water-shedding clothes and then don't overthink it," Soosloff said.

Soosloff qualified for the NAIA Nationals with an individual at-large bid after finishing fifth with a time of 27:03.8 in the Frontier Conference Championship. While he hopes to build off his successful season, Soosloff also hopes his team can build off the successful season.

"Overall, it's been a pretty good season. I've ran my PR this year, been pretty competitive with the conference runners," Soosloff said. "The team is also looking pretty good. We got a bunch of new guys really putting in the work and I'm excited to see what the future holds next year."

Other Frontier Conference runners who qualified as individual at-large bids for this weekend include Montana Western's Luke Lutz and Rocky Mountain College's Jackson Wilson and Jackson Duffey. The Carroll College men's cross country team qualified as a team as the Frontier Conference champion.

Back in April, Soosloff competed in the delayed NAIA Nationals in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Soosloff took 229th with a time of 27:45.64. While he did not get the result he wanted, Soosloff believes competing in finals last season will help him going into this weekend.

"I won't be as intimidated because I know how the race will start," Soosloff said. "I feel much more confident and much more comfortable in that large championship style race."

Soosloff will compete in the NAIA Nationals in Vancouver Friday.