Kelly Naumann’s performance in hurdle drills during the fall cross-country season was enough to convince her coach, Andrea Grove-McDonough, that she had the talent to be a collegiate steepler.

Naumann had experience competing in hurdle events in middle school, which taught her about form, but she didn’t have any exposure to the steeplechase before arriving at Iowa State.

Without any prior experience in the event, Naumann turned to online videos of athletes running the steeplechase, but found the opposite of what she was looking for.

“Everyone sees the steeple fails on the internet,” she said. “They don’t see the good ones. I’ve been trying to look up videos for steeple all year, and the only ones you can find are when people fall in the last water pit.”

Naumann said she wasn’t really going for a time in the event at the Jim Duncan Invitational on April 15 and was more just trying to get her first 3,000-meter steeplechase under her belt.

“I picked it up a lot after the first three laps, and then I was starting to get into a rhythm and my coach told me that I needed to run a certain time to run under 11 minutes,” Naumann said. “He was just trying to motivate me because I was under an 11-minute pace already.”

Coming off the last water jump, Naumann said she had bad footing, which caused her to slip, and when she tried to catch herself, she came down on her heel instead of her spike.

“My front leg slipped forward, and then my back leg,” Naumann said. “I caught myself with my knee, and I basically crumpled into a sit. I had to get up and start and do the last hurdle and finish. It was more of just an ‘oh, man, this would happen to me’ moment than anything else.

“I just thought it was funny that my first steeple — everyone worried, my parents were all worried about, ‘oh, you’re going to hurt yourself in the steeple’ — and then I would fall.”

While Naumann’s first experience in a 3,000-meter steeplechase didn’t go exactly as planned and she may find a video of herself the next time she searches for steeplechase videos online, she still displayed a lot of potential.

Despite slipping, Naumann was able to finish first in the event with a final time of 10:57.51.

“Kelly definitely has a bright future in the event,” said ISU volunteer assistant coach Matt Valeriani. “She was on her way to a great time and then slipped over the last water barrier, but she’s definitely going to help us later in the season in that event.”

The next step for Naumann is the 3,000-meter steeplechase Saturday at the Drake Relays, where she hopes to break 10:35 and reach a regionals mark.

Naumann is becoming more comfortable in the event now after getting a feel for what it’s like to run in a race that is crowded and has five barriers.

“I think I’ve picked it up really well,” she said. “I think [with] how in shape I am, and if I can get the water jump down and since I have pretty good hurdle form, I think it will translate into a good steeplechase.”

Despite only competing in one 2,000-meter steeplechase at the beginning of the outdoor season and one 3,000-meter steeplechase, Naumann said the event is now her favorite.

“It’s a different type of hurt, and I haven’t really mastered it yet because of the fall and because at Jim Duncan it was the three Iowa State girls kind of having to do it all by ourselves and it was more like a practice than it was a full race,” Naumann said. “I haven’t really hit that wall yet in the steeplechase, so that’s kind of exciting. I really like it so far.”