Arkansas sophomore Paityn Noe has put together a standout season, highlighted by her seventh place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship and then a 5000m personal best of 15:23.41 at Boston University's Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. She also claimed the South Central Region Cross Country title with a time of 18:55, leading Arkansas’ women's team to an auto-qualifier for NCAAs.

During our chat, Paityn reflects on overcoming a winter injury to finish ninth in the 10,000m at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship as a true freshman – a performance that set the stage for her breakout success this fall.

Paityn also shares her approach to the sport, her mindset towards competing, how she’s been able to find consistency with her training, and what her goals are looking ahead to 2025. She also shares her love for baking and some of her advice for aspiring high school and college athletes.

The following has been edited lightly for length and clarity.

Jasmine Fehr: How are you feeling now that you’ve had a chance to reflect on your seventh place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championship and 15:23 5K personal best from Boston?

Paityn Noe: I'm feeling pretty good! Going into this cross country season, I really wanted to do well. I started my freshman year well, but the end wasn't as good. This year, I was really focusing on being healthy and consistent all the way through. I knew if I could do that, then I'd be able to have some good performances. I was super happy with how it ended up.

Having the opportunity to go to Boston was really fun and I knew it was going to be a fast race. Just getting in there, running with all the girls, and running a fast time is exactly what I was looking for. Now I’m ready to have a short break and then get into the rest of the indoor season.

Was it always a part of the plan to go to Boston to race a 5K after NCAAs?

I think it was in the middle of the season that we decided on it. I didn't go to Boston last year – I couldn't have gone because I was injured after cross country. I had so much FOMO when I was looking at all the results from last year. Going into this year, I always had it in the back of my mind that I would go to Boston as long as everything went well.

You took a massive leap forward this season. What do you attribute your improvement to?

I would say it's just consistency and staying healthy that helped me the most – and not having a lot of setbacks like last year. I was able to recover from those and had a pretty good outdoor season, but I know it definitely could have been better if I had stayed healthy the entire year.

It's just being able to put in all the blocks of training. With the increase in training, it’s about being able to recover well and fuel well so that my body is ready to keep going and not experience any injuries.

What sort of things have you done to prevent injuries and finally have that consistency?

People are always talking about recovery in terms of rolling out, stretching, and lifting. I think all those are super important – but for me, the thing that I found the most important is making sure that I’m eating enough.

As runners and college students, we’re walking around campus all day and having the stress of school. Then obviously we have our training that we're doing on top of that. It's super important to make sure you're getting enough fuel so that your body can keep doing what it's doing and not start to break down.

Figuring out exactly what my body needs and how to properly fuel has helped me reach a new level because I constantly have enough energy and my body is strong enough to keep performing at the level that I want it to.

What does a typical week of training look like for you?

Usually we have two hard workouts a week. This past year has been Mondays and Thursdays for our workout days and then the rest of the days are easy runs with a long run on Saturday. Nothing too fancy, but being able to do that consistently and stacking those weeks on each other is what's really important.

What sort of mindset do you have in terms of training and competing?

Going into my freshman year of college, every race felt like I was going in as the underdog. I didn't really have a lot of pressure on myself. I was just going in and racing – and whatever happened, I was proud of it. I think that was why I was able to be successful my freshman year.

Coming into this year, I knew I could have better outcomes. So I kind of had more pressure, but at the same time, I tried to think of each race as just another race.

At the end of the day, this is something that I choose to do and love to do. That's why every time I start a race, I'm like, ‘Hey, this is fun!’ I'm learning how to be really excited with the race dynamics and just going out there and being able to compete. Especially in cross country, when you see a girl make a move, you're like, ‘I have to cover that.’

I’m going into every race looking at it as a fun opportunity and not putting too much pressure on myself. I know I’m going to do my best – and maybe my best on that day isn't great, but I'm still going to give 100% of the effort that I have on that day and that's all I can ask for.

How do you manage that increase in pressure and expectations from the outside world?

I have a pretty good support system around me that is always encouraging me. I never really feel like I have a lot of pressure on myself. I think most of the pressure actually comes from myself wanting to do well. I'm fortunate with that.

My coaches – no matter what – are always encouraging me and my parents are always proud of me. I think that makes it a lot easier to manage the pressure and not have it be overwhelming.

During your high school recruiting process, what made you decide on Arkansas?

I decided on Arkansas mostly because they had a lot of past success and it's seen as a big distance program. That was really enticing. The girls who were there at the time when I was coming in, I just knew that was a team where I was going to show up and be pushed. I might not be the best, which I didn't want to be because I wanted to be able to develop and grow, and that's exactly what happened.

I was able to come in and file in behind the girls and they could drag me along for workouts. I think that really contributed to my success. I was able to run these faster times, but it was easier because I had this team of girls around me that were able to push me.

Outside of running, what do you like to do in your free time?

I like cooking and baking. That's obviously something that goes well with running because you bake it and then you can eat it – and you need to eat a lot as a runner. It goes hand in hand.

What’s your favorite thing to bake?

I’ll make anything! If I’m prepping something, it’ll be muffins or something like that. It's easy to take and go. But I'm going home for Christmas and I'm going to make cinnamon rolls the morning of Christmas. It’s just the perfect morning: you wake up, open presents, and have cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I'm looking forward to that. Then maybe I'll make some other desserts for Christmas parties.

What are your parting words of advice to high school runners or even other college runners who look up to you?

Don't take everything too seriously. I think I've been able to find the balance of wanting to succeed and commit to running, but at the same time go to meets and enjoy hanging out with my teammates and racing.

I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. I think that's key to long term success: being able to find that balance and not make it your whole life. At the end of the day, running will end. I don't know what will happen in the future. I could not be running next year for some reason. Something could happen. So it's really important to make sure you can find a balance in your life that’s sustainable.

On top of that, one of the important things for running is just making sure that you're fueling your body enough. I feel like a lot of runners fall short of their needs and it's super important for not only fueling your body now, but also if you want to have a long career.