Determination helps Natali Engle become a Friends sprinting standout
Natali Engle was once told she wouldn’t run again, at least not competitively.
She was a junior at Eisenhower High and had been informed she had a herniated disc at the L5 level in her back. The physical therapist didn’t blink when he delivered the career-ending news.
That bothered Engle, how matter-of-factly she was told her dream was over.
“And that was the last time I was ever in his office,” Engle said. “I don’t think anyone should ever be told they can’t do something that they are determined to do. I knew how hard I was willing to work. I just needed someone to believe in me.”
Engle wrapped up her sophomore season of track at Friends University last week. She is now a four-time NAIA All-American. She owns every Friends women’s sprinting record. She was the KCAC Women’s Athlete of the Year and recently named the NAIA South Central Region Women’s Athlete of the Year.
No one saw this coming, not even Engle herself.
But it’s rather simple to explain how all of this came to be if you listen to her tell it.
“My faith,” Engle said. “That’s how.”
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To understand why faith works for Engle, you must first understand who she is.
It begins on the track, where Engle first discovered her passion for racing in the seventh grade. She began as a softball player and was so fast around the bases that her father, Dan, is still convinced she could have been a quality ballplayer. But once she had her first taste of a race, she was addicted.
No matter how her day has gone, Engle knows she could always look forward to putting on her spikes and escaping to her own universe on the track.
“It’s like a release for me,” she said. “Some people paint. Some people cook. Some people read. I just go run.”
Track is a large part of her life, but it’s not her entire life and that’s an important distinction to Engle. While she strives for success on the track, she does not allow it to define her.
She is a devout Christian, raised in the church by her parents, Dan and Penni. Religion is what she feels makes her whole. She considers herself a Christian first, a runner second.
“She knows she has been given a gift,” Penni said. “She is such a Godly person and she wants to use that to help other people.”
Compassion has always come naturally. Engle has volunteered for years and is studying to become a physical therapist so she can help others. Whenever a friend or teammate is in need, she is usually there with a plan of action.
She doesn’t just preach it, either. Her actions back up her beliefs.
Stephanie Bush, Engle’s track coach at Eisenhower, will never forget the league meet during Engle’s senior season. It was the 1600-meter relay and Engle was in a dead heat with the Maize South anchor on the final lap when their legs tangled and the Maize South runner tumbled to the track.
Instead of coasting to victory, Engle stopped and helped her competitor to her feet. She wound up taking second – losing to the girl she helped.
“I mean, really, who does that?” Bush said. “Natali Engle, that’s who.”
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It was the fifth meet of Engle’s first season in high school when her parents first realized their daughter had a future on the track.
Not much was expected when she took the baton for the final leg of the 1600-meter relay, her sixth race in Buhler that day. She was behind by 30 meters and no one would have blamed her if she coasted to the finish.
But Engle kept gaining and the closer she came, the louder the crowd roared. By the time she reached the finish, she was bounding forward for a come-from-behind win.
“It was that night when I told her, ‘Girl, you’ve got the heart of a lion,’ ” Dan, her father, said. “That was the first time I’ve ever heard other people cheering for my daughter. That was really special.”
Engle qualified for state in all four of her events that debut season. She had a better sophomore season, taking three state medals.
When her junior season began, Engle had hopes of winning a state championship and becoming one of the top sprinters in Kansas. Then in her third meet, she crossed the finish line and felt a shooting pain in her back.
“She always gives me a thumbs up in the crowd after her races,” Penni said. “But that time she looked up at me and shook her head no. That’s when I knew it was serious.”
An MRI revealed a herniated disc. Her ability to compete in her favorite activity was in jeopardy.
“I remember her coming to me and saying, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go to college if I can’t run,’ ” Penni recalled.
But Engle’s work in physical therapy, three times a week, made a senior return possible. She even made it back to state in all four of her events and came away with three medals.
But her times didn’t get better and her Division I dream fizzled out. But she had a believer. Cole Davis, Friends’ women’s coach, invested time in her like a prized recruit.
“I’ll never forget the first time I watched her run,” Davis said. “She just had this incredible form. It looked like she was gliding across the track when other girls would be struggling.
“When you see somebody with great technique like that you think, ‘OK, they just need to work.’ They need workouts. They need tough workouts. They need to have people around them that can push them every single day and they’re going to get a lot better.”
When no one else did, Davis believed – and that faith meant everything to Engle.
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Engle remembers questioning God’s plan when her first season at Friends was ended by a sinus infection so severe that it would require two separate surgeries to fix.
The ordeal once again sidelined Engle and prevented her from lifting weights. Her parents questioned if the stress of track was too much for Engle’s body, asking her if she would consider quitting to focus on her academic career.
“When she’s passionate about something, then she’s pretty motivated,” Penni said. “When she said this is what I want to do, then we stood behind her and supported her. She’s pretty strong-willed when she makes up her mind on something.”
Engle believed in herself in a time when no one thought she could come back faster. She spent countless hours that summer doing speed workouts, honing her technique and sharpening different phases of her sprints.
She didn’t realize how far her dedication carried her until she returned to practice later that summer. Before long, Engle was running faster in workouts – at multiple repetitions with short breaks – than she was during races as a freshman.
“I was amazed every time that I watched her run,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘How is this girl going to get any faster?’ Then you see the times she’s putting into workouts and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, she’s going to run some fast times.’ ”
During the last indoor season, Engle broke the school record in the 200 (24.80 seconds) and 400 (56.64) and was the anchor on the 1600 relay (3:57.08) that set a school record. She qualified for nationals in four events, ran in three, and was fourth in the 400 while missing out on another All-America honor by one spot.
Engle followed with an even more impressive outdoor season. She once again shattered school records – 100 (11.73), 200 (24.24), and 400 (56.82) and again on the 400 relay (46.69) and 1600 relay (3:52.48). She qualified for nationals in all five events and became an All-American in the 100, 200, and 400 relay.
“When all of the events were going on, it was really tiring,” Engle said. “But when I was standing up there on that award stand, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was so grateful and humbled to be there. I know I worked for it, but it still didn’t seem real to me.”
Davis had to come up with new ways to push Engle in practice. He doesn’t want her running at the front of the pack every day, so he’ll sometimes have her run 200-meter repetitions with the men’s team or stagger the women’s sprinters so Engle will be chasing instead of leading.
Six months ago, Engle had never broken 12 seconds in the 100, or 25 seconds in the 200, or 59 seconds in the 400. Now she’s consistently running 11.7, 24.2, and 56-flat.
“I think she is one of the best overall sprinters that the state has seen in a long time when you look at what she has done from the 100-meter dash all the way up to the 400,” Davis said. “Most girls specialize in the 1 and the 2 or the 2 and the 4. You just don’t see someone who can run an 11.7 in the 100 and then a 56-flat in the 400.”
Her parents think she can be a national champion in an event if she pares down her list of events. Natali has resisted the idea.
“She doesn’t want to give up the relays because she wants to be there to help her team,” Penni said. “She would rather help her teammates than focus on being a national champion.”
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Engle doesn’t know why she injured her back or why she ended up at Friends or why she had the surgeries.
But she believes it is all part of God’s plan for her. She now understands that although she didn’t recognize it at the time, all of those events, which seemed like obstacles at the time, were leading her to where she is now: a four-time All-American.
“I’m so excited to see what God has in store for me next,” Engle said. “This isn’t the end for me. I’m going to train and keep working hard to come back even better next year. There’s a bigger picture and a bigger plan for me. I’m just happy to be a part of it.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Determination helps Natali Engle become a Friends sprinting standout."