As Colorado College approaches its 50th year of women’s collegiate sports, few athletes embody athletic excellence like senior cross country and track runner Alison Mueller-Hickler ‘26. Last spring, her 10K finish earned her 10th place at the NCAA DIII Track and Field Nationals, which qualified her for a spot on the DIII All-American second team.
She started her final cross country season with a second-place finish at the UCCS Rust Buster on Sept. 6, where she broke the 1999 school record with a time of 17:34 in the 5K.
In the past, the team treated the race as more of a tempo run, but this year the coaches said they could push to win.
“Obviously, my goal was to go out there and see what I could do,” she said. “I got off the line and was with my teammates when my coach came up to me and was like, ‘Did you know you just broke the school record?’”
Originally from Katy, Texas, Mueller-Hickler is an environmental science major and history minor, as well as a third-year Residential Advisor. Outside of athletics, she is involved with CC’s Office of Sustainability, the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and the environmental sciences hiring committee.
This is her fourth year contributing to State of the Rockies, where she serves on the creative team of the Anthropogenic magazine. She has researched dark skies and light pollution and spent this past summer working for Colorado Springs Public Utilities.
Despite her current success, Mueller-Hickler was not always a runner. She cycled through horseback riding, soccer, ballet, tap dance, jazz dance, and swimming before starting cross country in seventh grade, partially because she wanted to get better at swimming. After her freshman year of high school, she prioritized running and quit swimming entirely.
“The rest is history,” she said with a smile.
Colorado College was on her radar early on in her college search.
“My sister came up to me and said, ‘Alison, I think I have the perfect school for you. It’s called Colorado College and I think you should really look into it,’ and so I have my sister to thank for that one.”
After emailing cross country coach Alex Nichols, Mueller-Hickler visited campus and went on a run with some of the girls on the team.
“Within the first three miles of the run, I loved it and I knew I was going to go here, and we hadn’t even gone on the tour yet,” said Mueller-Hickler. “I told my dad we didn’t even need to go on the real tour, I want to go here, this is the place for me.”
Unlike other coaches who may focus on maximizing immediate success, Mueller-Hickler describes the coaches at CC as prioritizing their athletes’ holistic and mental health, thereby preventing burnout. Mueller-Hickler said Nichols was the only coach she talked to that made her feel like he really wanted her on the team and saw her potential for growth.
“The thing that made the difference for me was that Alex believes in long-term growth as an athlete,” she said. “Alex is more longevity-based, where your best year should be senior year.”
Mueller-Hickler said she is proud of the team culture this year and that as a team captain, she feels a responsibility to improve the program for the future.
She noted the close relationship between the men’s and women’s cross-country teams, a relationship that was strengthened by intermixed practices and meets.
“I think of us as one team. For official purposes, we are two teams, but we run together, we do everything together, they’re like my family,” said Mueller-Hickler. “I get emotional talking about it, but we make these jokes on the women’s team that we’re going to get old and live on a cul-de-sac together. These are the people I want to grow old with.”
In the spring of 2024, the women’s track team won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) title for the first time in program history. Mueller-Hickler recalls everyone, men’s and women’s teams alike, jumping around and crying.
“Some of our biggest supporters on campus are our men’s team,” she said. “They really pull out all the stops, they support us in every way they can, and we try to do the same thing.”
Mueller-Hickler’s favorite team tradition is the women’s pre-race routine, where runners do ‘glam time’ to wear glitter and makeup for the race. Her staple is blue mascara, which she wears for every race.
“I race better when I think of my team,” she said. “When we wear glitter, we’re all unified.”
The team does a preview run of the course the day before a meet to get the lay of the land and shake off pre-race nerves by joking around. After the race finishes, the team partakes in a new tradition started just last year: a gratitude circle.
“We are a competitive and elite team, but at heart we are all doing this because we enjoy it,” Alison said.
Her favorite cross-country memories are the ones made on travel trips. Mueller-Hickler recalls the national course at Terre Haute last year as a highlight. The team didn’t put pressure on the event but won the DIII meet, placing third overall against all competition, including DI teams. The following week, the women’s team was ranked No. 1 in DIII.
This year, Mueller-Hickler is looking to step outside of her comfort zone, starting by auditioning for dance workshop. She also wants to build off the momentum of her All-American honors for track.
“The goal is to go out there and have fun every race, but also the end goal is to be All-American in cross country,” said Mueller-Hickler. “I’ve come really close, so to make it happen this year would be a great way to end my college cross country career.”
Mostly though, she wants the team to keep exceeding expectations. “Counting Colorado College out of anything is a big mistake,” she said. “You should never, ever count CCXC out, because the moment you do, we’ll just come out there and surprise everyone.”
The team will have its only home meet of the season this Saturday, Sept. 27 at Monument Valley Park. The men’s race begins at 9 a.m.; the women’s race begins at 10 a.m.