GREENFIELD — Christian Noble and more than a few hundred collegiate athletes packed inside the Birmingham CrossPlex at Birmingham-Southern College earlier this month expecting to compete.
Little did Noble, a Lee University senior, or his teammates realize, they had already ran their final events of the 2019-20 season.
“There were probably 300 athletes. We were all in there practicing, and then we felt it all at once, what just happened,” Noble remarked on the NCAA’s cancellation of all winter and spring sports and championships due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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“I didn’t know how to feel at first, but after a week or two, it just kind of hit, it’s not good. It’s not a position you want to be put in as an athlete to have your season taken away and not knowing if you’re going to get that season back.”
After putting together a career indoor track season for the Flames, Noble, a 2016 Mt. Vernon graduate, qualified for his first NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships. With a shift in his mental approach this winter and a revamped nutritional plan, the two-time All-American was primed to contend in two events.
Now, he’s running in place as the sports world came to a halt the week of nationals. Noble is still training with the 77-mile mark within reach, eyeing the Olympic trials in 2021, while also trying to subdue his sweet-tooth vice — Starbursts.
“I’ll have to wait for those experiences next year. I still have another year waiting, but I might have two years,” Noble said. “It’s just a very weird time for athletes. It’s difficult to explain unless you are affected by it at the collegiate level. Who knows if cross-country is even guaranteed? You don’t know how long this is going to last, and what decisions they’ll make. Who knows? There might not even be a cross-country season, if this keeps up and doesn’t slow down.”
In the interim, Noble, like most collegiate athletes, is running towards an unknown finish line. But, it’s one he believes could be his best after this past winter.
The pinnacle for Noble was coincidentally his last of the season inside the Birmingham CrossPlex this past February. The inaugural Gulf South Conference Indoor Track & Field Championship, a two-day event, required a massive second-day effort.
Alabama Huntsville held an 8.50 points lead over Lee in the team standings with the 5,000-meter run and 1,600-meter relay remaining. Noble, Casey Guthery and New Palestine graduate Caleb Eagleson stepped up to the challenge in the 5K.
The trio placed 1-2-3 with Noble in first at 14 minutes, 41.44 seconds, ahead of Guthery (14:42.79) and Eagleson (14:46.09) to put the Flames ahead en route to the team title.
“That was our first indoor conference meet ever. We hadn’t had one up to this point, and we had some DQs that really hurt us in the sprints. We had to get 1-2-3 in the 5K. With two laps to go, our top three pulled away,” Noble said. “We ended up winning the meet because of it. That was super special to come together and run for the team.”
Noble secured four gold medals that weekend in the 5K, the mile, 3,000-meter run and as part of the distance medley relay team. He also earned the event’s Most Outstanding Track and Overall Performer distinction.
It was the first of what Noble hoped would be many highlights before heading into outdoor season. After redshirting his junior indoor season and his sophomore outdoor season, Noble has one more year of track eligibility left, but losing out on this season was difficult to absorb.
“I don’t have the option to use this year as a redshirt, since we had already done that, so we’re just kind of waiting patiently to see if the NCAA will allow us to submit extension waivers, so I can come back a sixth year (for indoor),” Noble said. “If they do, I’ll more than likely come back and either start my MBA or just pick up a second degree for another semester.”
The NCAA Division I Council voted on Monday to allow schools to provide spring-sport student-athletes an extension of their period of eligibility. The change only applies to spring sports, which means Noble could have a sixth outdoor season that would make up for his lost 2020 campaign.
All Noble wants is an opportunity, especially after a trying two-year stretch that he turned around this season. As a sophomore and junior distance runner, Noble describes his times and performances as flat. He didn’t set any personal records and wasn’t progressing in his times.
He was named 2019 GSC Athlete of the Year and All-American for a second time in two years, but he knew more was possible, specifically a shot at a national championship. He needed to get his mind off the clock, and it paid dividends.
“I think that’s why I kind of got into a slump. I was focused on time way too much instead of just competing. My senior year, my main goal was forget about times. I’m just going to go out and just compete,” Noble said. “Don’t look at times or the clock, just look at who’s out there and compete with who is out there, and this was one of best seasons ever. You just saw the progression take off this year.”
The progression kicked off in December as Noble set a new school record for Lee in the 3,000-meter at 8:10.21. He also met the provisional qualifying mark (8:22.64) for the NCAA Championships with the automatic qualifying time sitting at 8:03.95.
During the Camel City Invitational in Winston-Salem, N.C. in early February, Noble placed fifth (8:05.86) in the Camel City Elite 3000, which included Paul Chelimo, a 2016 Olympian and silver medalist in the 5,000-meter run.
“I put two top-20 times up on the board, which no one had done up to that point this season,” Noble said. “People ran converted times, but NCAA doesn’t accept those. You have to be on a 200-meter bank track.”
A sport of attrition, Noble altered his diet prior to the season by lowering his protein intake and increasing more vegetables and other vitamins into his regimen. The mindset he reincorporated stemmed from his state-medalist career at Mt. Vernon while learning from cross country and track coach Bruce Kendall.
“Even in high school, coach Kendall would tell us you’re never guaranteed the next meet, so race like this one is your last one. My last meet was at conference and I ran four events,” Noble said. “I ran every race as if it was my last, so I’m really thankful that I put it all out there.”
His efforts didn’t go unnoticed despite the unexpected letdown at the end.
Noble was named a finalist for the NCAA Division II Track Athlete of the Year Award this month after situating himself as the top runner in the 3,000-meter and the No. 2 runner in the 5,000-meter at nationals.
“I never considered myself like an NCAA title contender for this season, especially for indoor because I had never made it to an indoor national meet yet,” Noble said. “After those first few meets, though, I set high expectations that I’m going go out there and run fast and compete as much as possible.”
That’s his goal still despite running without a knowing what’s next.
“It’s business as usual. We’re still getting out there and hitting the same mileage right now, but it’s going to be a little bit different approach heading into cross-country,” Noble said. “Hopefully, next year I have just as good of an indoor and outdoor season that I’ve so far and hopefully make the Olympic trials, which has been the goal since freshman year. It’s just keeping everything the same. Business as usual. Don’t overthink it, otherwise it will crash and burn.”
Noble won’t let that happen easily. After turning down Division I offers after a record-setting career at Mt. Vernon, many questioned his decision to attend Lee University over other powerhouse collegiate programs.
The answer: he likes to prove people wrong.
“When I first got to Lee, a lot of people wondered why I chose to go Division II when Division I was an option, but just looking back at what I did over the last four years, I don’t regret it at all,” Noble said. “You can’t get caught up in this giant mindset of Division I or that you don’t want to settle for Division II because it’s Division II. You can run just as fast and compete just as much as someone who goes to a large Power Five school.”
Noble finds motivation in being the underdog against elite competition, and it’s worked down to the second so far.
“That’s why I train so hard and work so hard to try to prove that I can be just as good as someone who goes to a large Division I school,” Noble said. “If I get beat by a large DI guy, then that was expected. But, if I beat a large DI guy, everybody is like, ‘whoa, you just got beat by a Division II runner.’ I don’t lose anything when I lose to someone, but they lose a lot if they lose to me.”
