At Bingham, Natalie Swain was known for having big finishes. 

During the Covid-19 year of 2020, the then-sophomore finished 12th out of 132 runners at the 6A state cross-country finals. In 2021, Swain crossed the tape in 8th, running the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes, 12 seconds—a time that was a personal-best. 

But 2022 didn’t seem like it came as easy for Swain. Then a senior at Bingham, she didn’t run at the Region 3 Championships or the 6A Divisionals. 

Swain finished well behind the leaders at the 2022 6A state finals in 28th place. But, the Bingham Miner kept persevering through her senior year. In November of that year, a 5th place finish at the NXN [Nike] Southwest Region Championships in Phoenix set a state record and helped her earn a scholarship to Utah State University. 

That never-give-up drive Swain showed as an underclassman athlete translated into the classroom at Bingham as well, as she was named to the National Honor Society for her senior year. 

Now a freshman at the Logan, Utah campus who is barely into her first month there, Natalie Swain is still leaving her opponents in the dust, and is thriving as a student-athlete for the school’s cross-country team. 

Swain was recently named a Mountain West Conference Cross Country Freshman Of The Week after she had a third-place finish at the Dona Reeder Sagebrush Invitational, crossing the tape in a time of 18 minutes, 33 seconds. 

It helped the Aggies secure a first-place finish overall at the event that was hosted by Utah State University. 

Swain and her teammates then took to the road for the Virginia Invitational on Sept. 23. The Bingham alum finished in 139th place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in a time of 18 minutes and one second. That also helped the Utah State University women finish 18th overall at that event.  

Swain’s season will continue through the rest of the fall and end with the Mountain West Conference Championships in Boise on Oct. 27 where Swain and her 9th-ranked teammates in the region hope to qualify for berths at the NCAA Mountain Regionals as a team and individually. 

The regionals in Lubbock, Texas on Nov. 10 will then determine who advances to the NCAA Championships, which will be held back in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Nov. 18.  λ