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Karly Fisk made the most of her first season on the Montcalm Community women’s cross country team in 2025. Now, as a returning sophomore, she aims to enhance her experience as one of the team leaders. 

Last year, the Sand Lake native had an enjoyable season, being part of a young team that made it to the NJCAA Division II National Championships. She was also named to the NJCAA First Team-All Academics. Entering her seventh year of competitive cross country, Fisk said just being a part of a collegiate team was the biggest feat she reached. 

“To me, it means I have the ambition, discipline and self-motivation I need to accomplish anything I set my mind to,” said Fisk, who is the first in her family to be a collegiate athlete. “Competing in cross country at a collegiate level has shown me that I’m capable of doing more than I thought.” 

Fisk said she took everything in from her season a year ago, from bonding with her teammates to realizing just how united competitive collegiate cross country athletes can be even on the biggest stage. 

“What I liked most from last season was the new experiences meeting new teammates and learning the differences between college and high school cross country,” Fisk said.  

She said those great experiences continued at the national championships meet. 

“Before the NJCAA Championships 5K race started, I chatted with some other runners and gave some spare spikes I had. It was nice and refreshing to see despite different backgrounds and the competitive setting, everyone wanted each other to succeed.” 

With the experience she gained last year, Fisk will be expected to use what she learned to help the progression of this year’s team, which includes another returning runner, sophomore Joslyn Dickman (Alma, Mich.) and four freshmen. Centurions head coach Nathan “Q” Van Holten said it will be up to his two sophomores to help get their new teammates up to speed. 

“Being a second-year runner and having been to a national meet, I’m hoping Karly can exude that experience to others,” Van Holten said.  

Over the summer, Fisk worked at Flexco, a manufacturing company in Grand Rapids, working as a product inspector, mainly inspecting belt fasteners to ensure they meet the company’s measurement specifications. She also worked with a student engineer on his summer project in programming a Keyence machine, which is an industrial automation device that is used to inspect, measure and identify parts on manufacturing lines. 

Her summer also included off-season training for cross country, ratcheting up her intensity as early as April.  

“I mainly focused on running five to six times a week, running a minimum of three miles a day,” she said. “I’m working on building more strength.” 

Last season, Fisk gradually improved and became faster, according to Van Holten. Just having her return was a big win for him and the team, and he is hoping she continues to improve. 

“I’m expecting her to continue to string together more miles,” he said. 

With what Fisk showed at the national meet, where runners were up against snowy conditions, Van Holten saw that potential Fisk had to reach that next level. 

“I think what impressed me most about her at the national championships was just that she continued to push through,” he said. “It was tough conditions out there and she showed another level of toughness.” 

The team held a preseason camp, which Van Holten said gives his players an opportunity to get to know one another as the team prepares for its first meet of the fall season, which is Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Ray Helsing Bulldog Invitational at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. 

Fisk is ready for the season to begin and ready to take on the challenges she has set for herself. 

“My goal for this season is to obviously beat my personal record, but also to run for myself,” she said. “I want to see what I can do, be my own best — athletically and academically — and enjoy my last year with MCC. It’d also be nice to earn the NJCAA First Team-All Academics award again this year.” 

As far as team success goes, Fisk said it is simple. 

“I feel like success for the team this season is just getting out there and doing the best we can,” she said. “That includes prioritizing celebrating each other’s successes and encouraging each other to be better.” 

With her experience from last year, Fisk said she’s better prepared to know what to expect with training and the competitive environments the team will see. With that, she is hoping to step in as a leader by helping her new teammates. 

“I can help the upcoming runners adjust,” she said. “I can help them shake off any nerves and give advice when they need it.” 

Connecting with one another and supporting each other, she said, will be key in having and enjoying a good season. 

“The key is building a bond with the new personalities,” Fisk said. “We had a close group last year, even spending time together outside of practice. So finding that closeness again will take time.”