MSUB SPORTS – As the day breaks Saturday in Monmouth, Ore., the atmosphere surrounding Ash Creek Preserve on the Western Oregon University Campus will be heavy, thick and bogged down. Not by overwhelming humidity or inclement weather. Rather, it will be the nerves and anticipation of more than 100 runners preparing to take their first steps at the 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships.
 
Among the group will be returning all-conference performers and perennial team champions such as the winners of the past five conference championships, the Alaska Anchorage women. Runners from all over the globe will compete as the conference's cross country teams are as diverse as any other sport in the NCAA.
 
Sporting the navy and gold with the number 191 affixed to her uniform will be Montana State University Billings senior Nocona Frame, who knows as well as anybody the progression and rhythm associated with a cross country meet.
 
The build-up is intense, with each minute leading up to the start seemingly dripping by more slowly than the last. When the warm-up for running a race is to do just that – to run – it may seem as though distinction between the preparation and the actual event would be hard to identify.
 
But when the starter's gun is raised, dozens of runners leaned forward in athletic ready positions, it is an overwhelming sensation unlike any other.
 
"Before the race starts you are really nervous and you just need to keep moving, but when the gun goes up, all of a sudden everything goes calm," Frame described. "You start breathing hard, but it is calm."
 
The few seconds of hesitation after the gun is raised mimic an eternity, and almost as though it were in slow motion the pop of the cap beckons the runners to begin one of the most trying mental and physical journeys that exist in the sport.
 
MONTANAN AT HEART
 
Frame hails from Glendive, Mont., where she first took an interest in running when she was in middle school. "I wanted to be a sprinter and a high jumper, but I was just awful at it," Frame remembered with a smile. "I decided to try out distance, and I ended up being ok at that. I kept doing it through middle school."
 
Not only was Frame "ok," she turned heads by placing sixth in the state in cross country as a freshman at Dawson County High School. Each day Frame began to realize more and more that she was a natural runner, as she tried other sports that never stuck. "I played basketball my freshman and sophomore year, but I just didn't like it as much as running," Frame said.


Frame's early success continued throughout her prep career, and her senior season she took third in state in cross country, placed second in the 800 meter and mile races in track, and won the individual title in the two-mile.
 
Brimming with potential and peaking at the right time, Frame set her sights on competing at the Division II level and committed to becoming a Marauder at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D.
 
RIO
 
"Initially, I was saying 'I'm done, I can't do this,'" Frame recalled about phone calls she would make to her sister Rio Frame early on in her collegiate career.
 
Frame's potential had been put on hold, as she sustained a stress fracture her freshman year before the outdoor track season began. She initially recovered in time for her sophomore cross country season, but a second stress fracture, this time in her foot, once again interrupted her career.
 
"I tried coming back and to start running again, but it just kept hurting," Frame remembered. "I had a decision of whether I wanted to have surgery and keep running or to just be done altogether."
 
At times, the latter option seemed to be the most practical, as Frame began to wonder whether putting in the unimaginably hard work to recover was worth it only to be let down by a subsequent injury. But through all the doubt and uncertainty, Frame had a rock-solid constant in the form of her sister standing behind her.
 
"She just told me that I really needed to continue my passion and that she was going to support me in coming back," Frame said regarding phone calls to her sister back home in Glendive. "She was going to run at MSUB, and she talked to my parents and sort of convinced them to convince me to keep running too."
 
"I was recruiting Rio Frame and I ran into Nocona while watching the state high school meet," said MSUB head coach Dave Coppock. "She was on crutches and in a boot at the time, and I asked how she was doing and if she would be able to run the next fall."
 
Frame informed the 26-year Yellowjacket coaching fixture of her uncertainty about returning to the University of Mary, and even to running cross country again at all.
 
"I knew I had a good opportunity when I saw her, and told her to get ahold of me if she was looking at other schools," Coppock said. "I could see that she still had that competitive drive and despite the crutches and boot I thought, 'she could be a great recruit!'"
 
Not only was Frame a great recruit, but she is a less common one in that she has proved her worth on the course. After making the decision to become a Yellowjacket, Frame had to sit out her junior year as she recovered from surgery. Now back on the course, she has stolen headlines and conference recognition as the Yellowjackets' top runner this fall.
 
Frame has won two races and placed second in a third so far during the 2014 season, entering the GNAC Championships as MSUB's top runner with a chance to make the all-conference team with a top-10 finish.
 
While Frame's success has reinforced her decision to persevere and continue her career, perhaps the thing she finds the most joy in is running alongside her sister who is now a highly-competitive sophomore for the 'Jackets. "Running with Rio has been amazing, it is so fun," Frame said. "Just knowing I have her all the time to support me has helped me so much. We are also very competitive with each other and we don't want to lose to the other one. That pushes us every day."
 
"There's both a supportive role and a rivalry," Coppock said regarding having the sisters on the team. "I think it has helped both of them push each other as well as the team. They are very close as sisters, but they will definitely race hard against each other."
 
PATIENT BEYOND HER YEARS
 
Frame has not had the luxury that many cross country runners do in terms of continually building upon personal bests and shaving off time as their careers progress. With nonstop road blocks, the task of building any sort of momentum or cadence has been nearly impossible.
 
Despite the physical limitations, Frame has never lost focus of pursuing her goals, proving this fact by returning to the course better than ever this season.
 
"Being an upperclassman she demonstrated a tremendous amount of patience and focus in sticking with her rehab schedule," Coppock said. "She definitely had a goal and a vision of where she wanted to go that year and I think that was a result of the amount of college experience she had acquired over the years. Trent Hooper, our volunteer assistant, spent a lot of time with her while I was with the rest of the team and really helped keep her progressing."
 
"Dave was awesome, and he supported me through everything," Frame said. "He let me take my time and he knew that I could help the team in the future if I just took it slow. That was more beneficial than trying to push me to get back."
 
Not only was Frame receptive to the fresh culture and atmosphere she experienced with the MSUB coaches, but it was the entire change of scenery at the university as a whole that also played a key factor in helping keep her mentally strong.
 
"After looking at the school here, for what I wanted to go into, MSUB has an excellent education program and a geography minor," said Frame who is a history major with ambitions to become a teacher. "One of the biggest reasons I want to be a teacher is that I can't imagine not being in this type of atmosphere, being around students. The energy that they have is one of the main reasons I want to do it."
 
While it was not an opportunity that factored into Frame's initial decision to transfer to MSUB, the fact that the Yellowjackets will serve as the host for the 2014 NCAA Division II West Region Championships in cross country is certainly a major benefit in its own right.
 
"For me it is perfect timing with the goals I want to achieve and for the team to achieve," Frame said about the upcoming race on Nov. 22 at Amend Park in Billings. "We have the best chance of doing well on our own turf and to be able to prepare how we need to and not travel is big. Having our own community and families be at the meet is going to make it an amazing atmosphere."
 
THE ZONE
 
Before competing against hundreds of other student-athletes at the 32-team regional meet next month, Frame will focus on the task at hand during Saturday's GNAC Championships. She has already begun to envision the starting gun raised and feel her senses tighten as she focuses on nothing but releasing her energy into the run.
 
Mile 1. The pace has been established and the brain takes the reins. "You start thinking about where to make your moves, when you need to surge, and when to get around people and start kicking," Frame said.
 
The Late-Middle. Focus reaches a new high, goals begin to fall into place as preparation becomes reality. "Sometimes Dave is there telling you to make a move, and he knows you almost better than you know yourself," Frame said. "Other times, you might be feeling good and make a move, or it is just based on how long of a race you have left."
 
One Thousand Meters to Go. Begin the final kick, make moves around opponents. "You focus on getting around girls, and really start kicking it in," Frame said.
 
The Final 800. Let's go.
 
"It hurts. A lot. I don't know why we do it because we are in pain every day," Frame said. "When you get done, it is pure exhaustion, and your whole body is weak and limp as people at the finish are just trying to push you through the chute. It is just exhilarating."