Despite losing four runners from last season’s team that placed third at the NCAA championships, the University of New Mexico women’s cross country team didn’t fade in 2015.

Natalie Bach-Prather was home-schooled while growing up in Marshall, Texas, where her only taste of running came from racing her dad. But now she is making up for lost time – all without leaving her hometown.

Maria Hauer, who was born deaf but can now hear at a 60-80 percent level after seven surgeries, competed for the Huskies’ cross country team in the fall, the Nordic ski team in the winter and ran the 800-meter and the 1,600-meter relay for the track team in the spring. She also dabbles in music, playing the violin, piano, baritone, trombone and the clarinet.

Bring six national championships together in one weekend festival – which took place in Division II for the eighth time in December – and the impactful moments multiply.

D’Agostino credits her experience as a student-athlete for preparing her for a professional career as a runner, both on and off the track.

Michmerhuizen graduated from Calvin College and now puts the lessons she learned as a student-athlete to use as she pursues her Ph.D. in pharmacology, hoping to one day find better treatments for people with diabetes.