Student-Athlete of the Week: Eva Klingbeil

In September 2020, Niwot distance runner Eva Klingbeil was on the cusp of a breakout season when she suffered an injury that ended her racing year prematurely. For the first time since joining the varsity as a freshman, she would be on the sidelines for the Class 4A regional and state championships, instead of helping Niwot win the titles. That was "really hard," Klingbeil acknowledged, so she was determined not to let history repeat itself during her senior season.

"I definitely have gotten a lot better about injury prevention because as long as I'm not injured, I tend to do really well," she said. "I've just been doing a lot more recovery, a lot more rolling out and stretching."

Those efforts have been rewarded with Klingbeil's most successful season yet. In four varsity races this season, she has placed in the top five, and she was eighth overall at the Nike Desert Twilight Festival in Arizona, where she ran a personal best 5K time of 17 minutes, 19.10 seconds.

Currently, her time of 17:25.80 at the Longs Peak League championships on Oct. 13 is sixth fastest in Colorado across all classes. According to Niwot cross country coach Kelly Christensen, Klingbeil will definitely surprise people at the upcoming Class 4A state championships.

"It's totally a redemption year for her," he said following the recent Region 3 championships, where Klingbeil was runner-up. "If she was healthy and never had to deal with everything last year, everyone would know who she is. And this is exactly what we thought she would be. So we're fortunate that she was healthy this year."

Klingbeil will have a strong supporting cast at state in her Niwot teammates, and the Cougars once again favored to claim the Class 4A state title. As a freshman, Klingbeil was a member of the 2018 team that won Niwot's first championship, an experience that changed her outlook on the sport.

"It really got me more passionate about running," she said. Klingbeil finished 61st overall at state that year, with a time of 20:36.70. "It gave me an incentive to work harder...it's almost addictive to push myself to be the best I can be, or just see how far I can go, and every time I get a PR it's really satisfying to see myself getting better."

That said, she has been a proponent of Christensen's "less is more" approach to competing this season. Niwot's top varsity runners appeared in a limited number of races in 2021, a strategy to prevent injury and stress.

"I like how we don't race every weekend, because I feel like if we did, then we would get burned out. I think it's really nice how Coach has us only do a couple of races, and focus more on important races like state."

Like her coach, Klingbeil has high expectations for the upcoming championships, but she also has the experience to realize them. This will be her third appearance at Norris Penrose, where the competitive field and challenging terrain can catch newcomers off guard. She said she also has something she didn't necessarily have in her first two postseason races.

"I have a lot more confidence than I've had in other seasons because I've been putting in so much work. I feel like I'm a lot more confident in my abilities.... I'm just focusing on not being stressed and getting a lot of rest. I already know that I have what it takes, and I just needed to trust myself. I just need to go into the race confident and trust that I can perform."

When she is not running, Klingbeil takes AP and IB classes at Niwot, with a focus on visual art. She both draws and paints, and would like to have a career in animation some day. She is also an active member of the local 4-H club, where she raises award-winning chickens.

Klingbeil hopes to run in college, and is currently considering both the CU-Boulder and the University of Oregon.