“It was like a dream come true," redshirt junior Rachele Schulist said. "We knew we had a lot of potential and knew we could maybe do it but didn’t really know until it happened. It was just so awesome to have it come together.”

It was an experience none of them will soon forget. When the pieces fell together, it was a testament to the kind of humbleness and charisma the team's director Walt Drenth instills in his team.

“When we got into the competition, just knowing we probably couldn't have hit on any more cylinders, it was pretty gratifying," Drenth said. "It was a great group of people. We travel with the kind of people you want to hang out with; that makes it easier. Sometimes that can be complicated but it wasn’t. It was great to see them at their best at the end. I think that is probably as exciting as anything."

The Spartans finished the national championship race with a score of 85, well ahead of runner up Iowa State who finished with 147 points. Schulist led the way, finishing fourth with a time of 19:54.30, and was followed by three other Spartans in the top 25 — Lindsay Clark, Julia Otwell and Leah O'Connor.

Schulist is one the four top returning runners — along with Clark, Alexis Wiersma and Katie Landwehr. For Schulist, while her fourth place finish was a program best finish at the national meet, even with all the recognition and awards for her accomplishments, she chooses to focus on the team.

“I think a lot of our girls are capable of [being All-American]," Schulist said. "I don’t want to make it the focus. Really the greatest thing would be running side by side with the “Michigan State” across our chest. It’s really powerful to be able to do that with each other. That’s really what we’re going for."

Coming off a national championship season in any sport, the expectation would be to repeat as champ. It’s the peak. For this group of girls, expectations will remain just as they were; to attain a better version of themselves every day.

"We’re just going to try and be our best at the end of the year," Drenth said. "We have to manage the variables we have control over and then let the outcome be the outcome. It’s hard for me to say we’re defending anything. We lost a bunch of people. If we had everyone back I’d say we were defending this championship. But it’s not the same team, it’s the same uniform but not the same team."

The team is the common theme. If the team can take care of itself and not worry about individual accolades, then the outcomes will be even greater than they hoped.

“Coach Drenth does a good job of reminding us that it’s about the team and not what we can do ourselves," Wiersma said. "It’s a really cool thing to have the momentum from that national championship to carry forward now. Just implement that mentality we’ve learned from some of the older girls who were on that team and help the younger girls experience the (National Championship) again.”

Though the Spartans lost three of their top seven runners in Otwell, O'Connor and Sara Kroll, they have a host of returners and newcomers looking to make their mark.

“We’ve seen a lot of talent especially from the younger girls," Schulist said. "A lot of girls have stepped up. It’s motivation to work hard; a lot of the girls are feeding off the momentum of last year."

The team opens their season on Sept. 4 at the Jeff Drenth Memorial Race in Mount Pleasant and come into the year ranked third in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Bu when Drenth touched upon what the attention and ranking means to him, he laughed it off.

“It’s meaningless,” Drenth confessed while cracking a smile. “It’s nice to get the attention. We need to get the team whole, and if we’re healthy at the end there’s no reason to think we can’t be in that top five group.”