Concordia’s Ryan Makes the Transition

Concordia’s Natalie Ryan grew up playing basketball in Queensland, Australia. But now she’s a runner, training in the hills near the Turtle Rock community in Irvine.

Ryan, a former player on the Australian junior national basketball team, helped the Concordia women’s cross-country team move into the national rankings for the first time in school history this season.

And the Eagles, with their freshmen- and sophomore-dominated roster, also have hopes to win the school’s first cross-country conference title when the Golden State Athletic Conference Championships are held Saturday at the Newport Back Bay course.

“This is the first meet this season where everything is coming together,” said Ryan, a sophomore transfer. “We’ve had some illnesses and injuries all year, but we’re ready for this one. It’s great to see how far we’ve come in such a short time.”

Ryan’s rapid improvement has mirrored her team’s development.

She came to the United States to play basketball at Central Arizona Community College in Coolidge, but then sustained a serious knee injury. After surgery, which left her without a meniscus in one knee, she began running competitively for the first time last year, primarily to stay in shape.

Since then, she has shaved more than a minute off her best time from last year and is Concordia’s No. 4 runner.

“The twisting and turning seems to irritate my knee the most,” Ryan said. “But I’ve been fortunate in that it seems to have taken to running.

“I do think about playing basketball again. But right now, I’m 100% committed to running. I actually started this as a fluke, but now I want to see how far I can go in this sport.”

Concordia’s second-year coach, Joan Hansen Lester, a seven-time All-American runner from Arizona, is happy to hear those words.

“Natalie is gifted, but she just needs to have the patience to mature as a runner,” Hansen Lester said. “That will take some time.”

It hasn’t taken much time for the Eagles to gel into a contender, however.

Hansen Lester, a 1984 Olympian in the 3,000 meters, took over in June, 1996, but the ’97 team represents her first, full recruiting class.

And with new recruits Ryan, and the top three runners, freshmen Tricia Mattson, Rachel Lafady and Christy Ide leading the way, the Eagles won the Southern California College Invitational Oct. 11, and the UC San Diego Invitational Oct. 18.

“I think people were used to seeing Concordia at the back of the pack,” Ryan said.

That perception is changing.

“I didn’t think we’d be so good this fast,” Mattson said. “Now to hear Coach tell us that we have a chance to go to nationals? It’s been exciting.”