COLUMBIA, Mo. – Freshman standouts Kara Muller and Carly Henderson will represent College of Saint Mary on Friday in the 45^th-annual NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

The Flames duo is among 36 teams and 82 individuals who have qualified for the annual meet that will be contested in Columbia, Mo., for the first time. Start time for the 6,000-meter (3.73 miles) women's race is 11:30 a.m.

While a great accomplishment, CSM Coach Derek Fey said he knew his two freshmen were capable of big things in their first collegiate seasons. Muller was an accomplished athlete at Bellevue West, while Henderson starred in multiple sports at Riverside High School in Oakland, Iowa.

"I knew when I recruited Kara and Carly that we were getting superstars,'' he said. "Kara was a multiple Class A state medalist in cross country and track and field. Carly was named the Southwest Iowa High School Athlete of the Year last spring. They've lived up to the hype and then some. These are two athletes who can help define a program and they've already proved it.''

The trip to Missouri won't be without some heartache for the Flames program. After finishing second in the 12-team GPAC Championships on Nov. 9, they believed they would be selected as a team qualifier for nationals, but that was not the case.

"We talked all year about the uphill climb it would be to get national attention, since we were an unknown,'' Fey said. "When we received votes for the national poll after just our second meet, I kind of threw that out the window. We kept receiving votes in the polls, didn't have a bad race.

"I told them before the GPAC Championships that we would have to finish second in order to have a shot at nationals. Every GPAC runner-up team had qualified for the national meet prior to this year. It was a tough meeting when we found out we were left out and I let them know that it came down to their name not being Concordia or Doane. To finish second, having never finished higher than sixth place in the conference, and starting out as preseason ranked seventh, it was a storybook ending.''

Goals are difficult to set with such a large field, so Fey said he wants his athletes' priority to be running their best and enjoying the experience.

"With no expectations on them, Friday will be a matter of just running loose and taking in the moment,'' he said. "I think finishing in the top third of the field is achievable, but this will be the first of several opportunities for them to get in the mix with the nation's best NAIA runners.''

The 2024 NAIA Women's Cross Country National Championship is broadcast free on the NAIA Channel of the Urban Edge Network and the newly redesigned NAIA Network.