Paityn Noe, a senior at Ballard Community High in Iowa and a two-time Class 3A state cross country champion who produced the all-time mark on the 5-kilometer layout Oct. 29 at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge by clocking 16:48.58, joins DyeStat editor Erik Boal to reflect on her memorable performance and to discuss her preparation for the NXR Heartland Regional event Nov. 13 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, S.D. Noe, who finished 14th at the regional last season, examines how much she has progressed in the past season as well as the improvement in her fitness and the increase in her mileage. She revisits clocking 17:09.8 on Oct. 6 at the Fort Dodge Invitational in a state preview event at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course and the confidence that race gave her to become the first female competitor in Iowa prep history to eclipse the 17-minute barrier on the course at the state final, taking down the 2019 mark of 17:23.9 achieved by Camille Jackson of Ames. Noe examines how valuable the experience was competing Sept. 23 at the Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstadt Golf Course in Minnesota, where she was runner-up on the 5-kilometer layout in 18:08.1, trailing only the 17:37.9 effort of Abbey Nechanicky of Wayzata High in Minnesota. She speaks about the opportunity to race Nechanicky again in South Dakota, along with other elite athletes from the host state, along with Kansas, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota, and how much she respects the challenge of facing so many other state champions. Noe analyzes how instrumental her success during indoor track and outdoor track has been in not only enjoying a consistent summer of training, but also how important the opportunities to race at the Arkansas High School Invitational and the HOKA Festival of Miles were in helping her become more comfortable competing against national-caliber fields. She shares how significant it is to have such a strong contingent from Iowa racing at NXR Heartland, and how meaningful it would be to represent her state Dec. 3 at Nike Cross Nationals in Oregon.