Profile: Skyline’s Natalie Kessler is picking up the pace on the homestretch

Skyline’s Natalie Kessler is off and running on an impressive senior season. The senior runner has finished in the top 10 in six races this season and is picking up the pace in every race.

But before we get to the accolades, accomplishments and goals, let’s head over to the starting line and run the course with this talented Skyline runner.

“I don’t really have a game plan in my head,” she says, laughing. “I will have occasional thoughts like don’t let this person pass you or this is getting hard maybe I should just stop. But I don’t let my thoughts control my running.”

Kessler certainly doesn’t stop – no matter how hard it’s going. And things are going pretty well right now. Like her run at the SEC Jamboree, everything seems to be falling into place for the Skyline runner.

“I wasn’t feeling great before the race,” she said following that second-place finish at Pioneer HS on Sept. 28. “But once you start you get into a zone and a rhythm and you forget about all that and it gets easier to focus on the run.”

She seems to be finding that zone, just past the midway point of the season. “My season didn’t start out great but I’ve been able to turn it around the past few weeks,” she says. “I didn’t have the right mindset at the beginning.”

Kessler has discovered the right mindset and has been outstanding in her last three races. After finishing second at the SEC Jamboree 2 on Sept. 28 at Pioneer, the senior ran a PR time of 18 minutes, 23.1 seconds at the Shepherd Bluejay Invite where she placed seventh overall. She followed that up with a 25^th place finish at the competitive Portage Cross Country Invitational on Saturday.

As a junior, Kessler placed 89^th at the MHSAA State Finals with a time of 19:26.9. She qualified with a ninth-place finish (19:13.6) at Regionals. She also ran 17^th at the SEC Championships.

Her goals are certainly on pace with her talent.

“I want to run in college so right now I’m just trying to get better and also enjoy it more,” she says. “I’m still trying to develop a love for the sport.”

Natalie is the younger sister of Hobbs Kessler, the Skyline state champion who turned professional right after high school. While she admires her brother, she is still getting used to always having to talk about him.

“Sometimes I get annoyed with all the questions about him,” she says, with a younger sister sort of smile. “People always ask me about having a well-known brother. But I have learned some things from him. He wasn’t superfast his first two years of high school but he kept working at it. He showed me that you don’t have to start out fast but you can end fast if you work hard.”

Natalie, also the daughter of Skyline coaches Serena and Mike Kessler, didn’t start running until her freshman year of high school. “It took some time before I really liked it,” she says.

Kessler has always liked climbing and has competed in the sport for years. She competes all over the country in USA Climbing events and competitions.

“That used to be my main thing, but now it’s switching to running,” she says. “My family has always been involved in climbing. We even have a climbing gym in our backyard so I started doing that at a really young age.”

Kessler, an outstanding student, wants to run in college and has been looking at U-M, MSU and a few schools out west. She is interested in studying environmental science and ecology.

But for now Kessler is focused on climbing new heights in cross country. She is making the turn and heading to the finish line and is clearly on pace for a big finish.