DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College women's cross country and track program is set to welcome nine new student-athletes — two transfers and seven true freshmen — to the fold next fall, joining a Skyhawks' roster that retained all 12 runners from the 2019-20 season.

"This class should do wonders, not only for our depth, but also for the competitiveness of our team at races and every day at practice too," said second-year head coach, Brett Sublett. "We don't want to create a culture where people are racing each other every day, but rather they are pushing each other to get better. Having all these new young women in I think will make all the returners that much better."

The Skyhawks finished 18^th as a team at the NCAA South Central Regionals and 10^th overall out of 16 teams last fall at the RMAC Championships before the Covid-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 spring track season.

Sublett said he is encouraged by the current direction of the program and noted that he put an emphasis on recruiting student-athletes with winning pedigrees when constructing the 2020 recruiting class.

"A big thing I was looking for was, mentally, the competitive mindset. We have a great work ethic going with our returning girls. In our sport, you really have to be intrinsically motivated, want to get better and want to win," Sublett said. "In my recruiting, I was looking for young women who had that motivation, who are used to winning, know how to win and what it takes to win."

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Nijillanaa Hunter /// Junior /// Mesa, Arizona /// Mesa Community College

Hunter spent two seasons with Mesa Community College, graduating with two Mesa Invitational Meet records in the women's 800-meter (2:20.29) and 1,600-meter (5:41.52). Her 800-meter personal record is 2:13.00 and she projects to be a weapon in the middle-distance races during track season.

Sublett: "Her coming in with an 800-meter PR of 2:13.00 is pretty stout and we're excited about that. She has a lot of pure speed and I'm a big fan of, when someone has that natural speed, training for cross country at high elevation won't be difficult to do. I think she is going to transition nicely into an endurance runner when she gets up here."

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Esther Beck /// Junior /// Albuquerque, New Mexico /// Central Arizona College

Beck transfers to FLC after a successful junior college career at Central Arizona College.  She was a two-year starter and helped the Vaqueras to an ACCAC cross country championship in 2019.

Sublett: "I know her high school coach (Eldorado HS) well and he spoke really highly of her, so I give a lot of credit to her coach for her and I connecting. She's probably going to do some steeplechase when we get to track season and the 5,000-meter run. She is more of an endurance-based athlete. As a transfer, she has a little more mileage in her legs, so she can handle a little higher training volume than maybe a freshman."

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Katie Fankhouser /// Freshman /// Lyons, Colorado /// Lyons High School

Fankhouser comes to Durango from Lyons High School, a Class 2A cross country powerhouse. She was the Class 2A individual state champion and voted the Runner of the Year in 2018. Fankhouser has also been named a two-time First Team All-State selection, presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.

Sublett: "She has a really competitive pedigree and comes from a very competitive program. Katie had a number of different schools looking at her, including a couple of Division I schools, but she fell in love with Durango on her visit. She is certainly capable of being one of our varsity top-seven runners as a freshman. She's also a 4.0 student and Engineering major. Just a really strong young woman across the board."

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Ellyn King /// Freshman /// Lincoln, Nebraska /// Lincoln Southeast High School

King was a three-sport athlete at Lincoln Southeast High School, competing in cross country, soccer and track and field. She was a four-year starter and a team captain on her cross country team. Academically, King earned Academic All-Conference and Honor Roll all four years.

Sublett: "What attracted me to her during the recruiting process was, obviously, not only the times she was running, but her leadership qualities. She has a really mature mindset and is a competitor. I can see her stepping in as a freshman and be a driving force on the team. She has a natural leadership quality about her."

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Carmella Wright /// Freshman /// Fort Collins, Colorado /// Rocky Mountain High School

Wright is a four-sport athlete out of Rocky Mountain High School. She finished 86^th overall in the Class 5A CHSAA State Meet in 2019 with a time of 20:54.4 and is a raw talent with upside as she transitions to the collegiate level.

Sublett: "What I'm really excited about with Carmella is her raw athletic talent. She's played a multitude of other sports, including Nordic skiing, which I'm a big fan of because I've competed and coached in Nordic skiing for a long time. She has a ton of versatility and is a tremendous endurance athlete.

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Jaden Knight /// Freshman /// Colorado Springs, Colorado /// Liberty High School

Knight was a three-sport athlete at Liberty High School, competing in cross country, field hockey and track and field. She set personal records in the 800-meter run (2:39.31) and the 1,600-meter run (5:48.48) during her senior season.

Sublett: "She has really strong 800-meter and mile times, fast shorter distance times, and I think training her up for cross country and longer distances is going to be easy to do. She is a strong athlete and it may take her a couple years to build up some volume. But at least in this first year, she'll be able to compete in some shorter distances during track season.

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Sophia Estes /// Freshman /// Lucas, Texas /// Lovejoy High School

Estes is another potential impact freshman as she helped Lovejoy High School to a Texas 10-5A District Championship in 2019, finishing 6th overall with a time of 20:18.59.

Sublett: "She has good short distance speed and a pretty quick mile time. Coming from low elevation, it'll be a little bit of a transition for her, but I know she has been putting in a big summer of training. She's another really competitive young woman who will be shooting for one of those top-5 or top-7 spots."

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Madeline Shoemaker /// Freshman /// Phoenix, Arizona /// Desert Vista High School

Shoemaker comes to Fort Lewis from a premiere high school program in Desert Vista High School, the Arizona Division I state champions in cross country in 2016 and 2019. Shoemaker was a team co-captain in 2019 and an 8^th-place finisher at the 2019 Arizona Cross Country Division-1 Section-3 race (20:17).

Sublett: "Desert Vista is a blueblood program in Arizona. Travis Kearney, a member of our men's cross country team, connected me with Maddy since he also went to Desert Vista. When you come from a program like that, you're use to winning and I hope that is contagious with among our young women. It's great to have people like Maddy from programs like Desert Vista that know what it takes to succeed."

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Ellyse Fredericks /// Freshman /// Hopi Reservation (Arizona) /// Hopi High School

Fredericks rounds out the list of accomplished high school runners to join the Skyhawks in 2020 as she helped Hopi to a second-place finish as a team in the 2019 Arizona Division 4 state cross country meet. Individually, Fredericks placed 66^th out of 160 runners in a time of 23:08.7.

Sublett: "After talking to Ellyse a few times and her high school coach, she is someone who really wants to come here and prove herself. We're hoping for a lot of good things from her."