And colleges have taken notice, as the Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s senior has committed to run both track and field and cross-country at Southwest Minnesota State University.

“I’ve always enjoyed running in high school, and I had some friends that took that next step, and they really liked it,” Christensen said. “They really encouraged me to take that next step with them and run with them, and they helped me go through the steps and told me what to do, and that’s what made me want to do it. And it’s fun to run. I enjoy doing it.”

Christensen runs the 400-meter and 800-meter races in track and field, as well as the corresponding relays. Christensen’s best time in the 400 is 53.25, and his best time in the 800 is 2:01.19. Christensen also has a personal-best time of 16:44.6 in cross-country. Those times were good enough to convince SMSU that he was a worthy addition to its program.

“I had some friends there,” Christensen said. “And the main thing is they have the programs I want to go for. They have [agriculture] business and agronomy. They’ve got a good program for that, and it’s close to home where I get to see my younger brothers and my family. If I want to come home and watch them play sports or need to help my dad or need to see my mom or something, I can be home in an hour. It’s close to home, I have my friends there, they’ve got the program I want to go for.”

File photo by Fritz Busch River Valley 4x400 relay runner Noah Christensen battles a Windom runner at the Section 2A Track and Field Championships at Mankato West High School this past Saturday.

Christensen said he got some insight into the program from his friends and from a campus visit.

“Before I committed, I went out and visited their coach, and he was really nice,” he said. “I had some friends there too that told me about it, so I kind of knew what to expect. But he was really nice and they have a good facility. Their whole campus is all indoors, so you don’t ever have to go outside, which is really nice.”

Christensen said it will be challenging to be a two-season athlete at the next level.

“I’m going to be extremely busy,” he said. “It has its pros and cons, obviously, but it will keep me out of trouble anyway … Time management with school and sports. I’m not going to have my parents there to help me with everything, so that’s going to be a learning curve, but I’m sure it’s going to be alright.”

He added that the level up in competition would be an adjustment in college.

“Right now, I’m one of the better athletes that I see,” he said. “But there, I’m probably not going to be one of the top athletes, so that will take some getting used to for sure.”

Christensen hopes to be All-Conference in both track and cross-country during his time at SMSU.

“Getting conference is a big thing out there,” he said. “If you make conference, I’m sure that’s going to be one of my goals for cross-country and track. And just getting good grades and completing my major and minor eventually.”

Christensen also hopes to continue to contribute on the relay teams with the Mustangs.

“Relays are fun,” he said. “It’s fun to go with your guys. My roommate next year at SMSU [Springfield’s Matthew Groebner] is actually on the relay teams with me [at River Valley], so we’re going to be rooming together next year, which will be fun to have somebody I know to talk to and room with. That will be really fun, to have some people you know, but then also have the opportunity to meet a lot of new people and make a lot of new friends.”

Christensen and the River Valley 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams will run in the state meet preliminary rounds on Tuesday. Christensen hopes to place in the top nine with the 4×400 team to advance to the finals.

“The 4×800 I don’t really know where we stand, but it will be fun to go against some good teams,” he said.