AOTC: Natalie Sonnanstine looks for more after a great freshman season

Ed. Note: Bethel sophomore Natalie Sonnanstine is this week’s female Spotlight Athlete of the Week, as the all-league runner looks for a better year in Cross Country this fall.

Sophomore Natalie Sonnanstine had a strong freshman year for the Bethel Bees as she competed with the Bees in the cross-country season last fall. Now that she is approaching her second year of running with Bethel, Sonnanstine will be looking to continue her success from last season, which included being honored as an all-Three Rivers Conference selection.

“Getting first-team last year was a big accomplishment and a goal I didn’t even realize I could achieve,” Sonnanstine said. “I made the goal of improving my time each race last year and knew that getting TRC first-team was a long shot. I certainly didn’t think I would make it freshman year and it was such an honor.”

Not only did Sonnanstine have an amazing rookie cross-country campaign, she also competed on the track team in the spring, which gave her the chance to improve and will use that when cross starts next month.

“Track did teach me to run shorter distances faster,” she said. “I was able to improve my times, which will help me improve for cross country. I made some great new friends during this track season, which made the season a lot more fun too.”

Sonnanstine got into the sport because of her love for running since she was younger. She knew right away that she would love the sport.

“I was encouraged to try a lot of different sports, but didn’t enjoy “contact sports” and just wanted to run around,” the Bethel sophomore said. “I love that cross-country allows me to be successful on my own but still be part of a team.”

With the season less than one month away, Sonnanstine has already wisely used her summer to prepare for what she hopes will be an even better season and more success for not only herself but also the Bees team.

“For summer training this year, I am running farther than I have in the past,” she said. “During August, I hope to balance my long runs with workouts to improve my endurance and speed. With stronger workouts over the summer, I’m hoping to improve my race time by up to two minutes this year. It would be great to get top eight in the conference again this year. We have some very good freshman coming up this season, which definitely helps my motivation to improve.”