Contact: Sam Fretto, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, sjfretto@noctrl.edu
Oct. 3, 2024 – North Central College women’s cross country senior Paige Runkle has left her mark as a Cardinal, not just on the course as a student-athlete but also with her campus involvement in clubs and student organizations. The senior who majors in sport management has a love for running, coaching, but also sport event planning and hopes to use all three in her future.
“Right now, I’m coaching at High Five Sports Club in Naperville, coaching little kids. I’m also really passionate about event management and running.” Runkle said, “I’ve volunteered with Chicago Event Management, which is the company that puts on the Chicago Marathon, three separate times.”
Runkle has a lot of experience in her field of work outside of school, but on campus she is the President of SportxNC, a student organization at North Central. Runkle is in her second year as president, and she has been able to transform SportxNC.
“Last year my goal was to transform the club and make it more about the student experience. We do a mix of social events like our second annual s’mores and Spikeball event, which turned out amazing.” Runkle said, “We had over 60 people come make s’mores, play Spikeball and hang out for the full event.”
Her vision of SportxNC goes beyond fun get-together events, as she has been able to develop SportxNC to involve volunteer work as well as networking.
“We also host volunteering events. We’re taking a group of about 20 to 25 people to volunteer at the Chicago Marathon. We also put together a bunch of networking events too.” Runkle said, “We hosted three different panels last spring with 12 different panelists between them, most of which are North Central alums.”
When Runkle is not preoccupied with academics, student organizations, or work, she is a multisport athlete competing in cross country and track and field. Runkle is a third-generation cross country athlete, with both her grandfather and father running cross country before her.
Runkle, who has competed in 23 total cross country races in her collegiate career, looks to finish her cross country career strong, and she credits the bonds she has created with her teammates and coach Mahesh Narayanan.
“This year we’ve done a lot of team bonding. We’ve had bonfires. We went over to one of our teammates' houses for Labor Day dinner and had a cookout there. Honestly, a lot of team bonding surrounding food.” Runkle said, “Coach Narayanan has said we found a good balance of making sure we’re having fun and putting in hard work and knowing when to make that switch.”
Since the Cardinals are in the midst of their cross country season, Runkle went in depth on game day rituals and any superstitions she may have.
“I’m superstitious in some sense. My favorite thing I’ve found out is that the night before, if I eat salmon, I have a great race the next day. I’ve done that for the last two years at regionals, and I have ran personal best times each of my last two years.”
Runkle says she is particular about one piece of attire she must wear to all meets: positive affirmation socks.
As a member of the graduating class of 2025, Runkle looks forward to the future and what the rest of her final year has to bring.
Runkle wraps up with a ringing endorsement of North Central College and what it means to be a Division III athlete.
“Being at North Central and being a Division III athlete allows you to have a lot of opportunities to try other things as well. I don’t think I would have been able to be this involved if I had gone Division I or if I had gone somewhere else.” Runkle added, “North Central offers a lot of opportunities that I think are unique to North Central and not a lot of people get.”
The Cardinals return to the course one final time before the CCIW Championship on Friday, Oct. 18, for the Pink Classic hosted by Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. The race is set to begin at 2:15 p.m.
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