Big River Feature Interview: Natalie Todd

Ladue junior Natalie Todd has had an amazing cross country season in 2007. With three weeks still to go she is one of the favorites to take home the Individual Championship at the Class 3 State Meet in Jefferson City on November 3. Big River caught up with Natalie after her winning performance at the Hancock Invitational in September. The following article can also be read at www.stlscoop.com and found in the October issue, Central Corridor Edition, of St. Louis Scoop Magazine.

---There is a new kid on the block in girls cross country. She's given new meaning to the term “breakout season” by winning her first four meets by an average of 20 seconds. Her name is Natalie Todd and the Ladue junior has a story of perseverance every young athlete should hear.

Todd's tale of triumph began with more than a few tribulations. Coming off an injury leading into her freshman year Todd struggled in her first few practices and was one of the slower girls on the team. ....photo by Katie Sutton

Todd's coach, Matt Strayhorn, recalls that first year as being pretty normal compared to the rest of the girls.

“I think she ran in the 25-26 minute range,” Strayhorn said. “She was just one of the girls.”

If anything about Todd stood out it was the fact that she had more aches and pains than her teammates. She was suffering from severe shin splints. The pain was on-again, off-again for that entire year and into the following summer. The low point came at a running camp in Western Colorado before her sophomore cross country campaign.

“It really all came to a head at camp,” Strayhorn said. “She couldn't run at all and had to miss all the workouts.”

At that point Todd had tried just about everything to make the pain go away.

“I tried just taking time off and that didn't seem to help at all,” Todd said.

Eventually, it was a steady dose of physical therapy designed to strengthen her calf muscles that began to turn things around. She began her sophomore year on the junior varsity after a summer with very little running. Then, midway through the season, she showed a glimpse of what might be to come.

“At Edwardsville she came in second place overall in the JV division,” Strayhorn said. “We were all like, ‘wow, where did that come from?'”

She ended the year running on the varsity team and climbed her way to fourth on the team. Still though, her best time remained a rather modest 22:01 for five kilometers.

Her shins still not completely healthy Todd continued her physical therapy and worked hard on concentrating on her stride. During the spring track season it was back to the junior varsity squad for Todd who once again waited until halfway through the season to dazzle her coaches.

“This spring she won a JV mile and ran 5:38 ,” Strayhorn said. “That was kind of the start right there.”

Todd has wasted no time this season. After an injury-free summer of running, biking and swimming she came out of the gates like gangbusters and went straight to the front at practice.

“We have a very good girl on the team, Kelly Stromsdorfer, who has been our number one runner for the last couple of years,” Strayhorn said. “Natalie was way out in front of her at the first couple of practices.”

Todd carried that over to the first meet of the season, the First Capitol Invitational at McNair Park in St. Charles . The race featured last spring's Class 4 State 3200 meter champ Aimee Bonte from Rockwood Summit and Class 3 1600 and 800 champ Alyssa Allison of Festus. Todd ran with Bonte for much of the race as they slowly chipped away at Allison's early lead. With 1200 meters to go, Todd took the lead for good and marched to an eight second win over Bonte.

From there it has been more of the same. In week two she ran against an even deeper field at the Forest Park Cross Country Festival an blistered the race en route to a course record of 18:41 . Then she tackled the hills at the famous Sioux Passage Park in week three at the Paul Enke Invitational and won big again. Finally she conquered the field at the Hancock Invitational at Jefferson Barracks Park for her fourth consecutive win.

Now, one would think that with all these wins and these great times that Todd and her coach would be setting some lofty goals, maybe talking about State Titles or even National competitions. Not just yet. Todd is happy with how things are going but is taking everything one step at a time.

“I have won all my races but I still have some challenges ahead,” Todd said. “It's kind of surprising but it doesn't really feel that much different than it has before.”

Strayhorn echoes Todd's sensible approach.

“I'm not going to push any types of goals on her,” Strayhorn said. “First and foremost I want her to be a happy person.”

Talking to Todd you certainly get the feeling that this is someone who will continue to excel. Strayhorn called her “one of the most driven girls I've met” and it certainly appears that way out on the cross country course. Remember, this is all gravy for someone who spent much of the first two years of high school barely able to walk she was in so much pain.

“When my shins hurt really bad it hurt just to walk,” Todd said. “I never really thought about quitting though. It just didn't cross my mind.”

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