About the Frame Sisters: Rio Frame competed on the MSUB women's cross country and track and field teams from 2013-2017, and completed her bachelor's degree in English in the spring of 2017. During her career, Rio was a six-time academic all-GNAC selection, an academic all-region pick, and was twice named the MSUB Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year. Rio is currently attending law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. This first-person piece is written from Rio's perspective, and focuses on the post-MSUB life of herself and her older sister Nocona, who competed as a Yellowjacket from 2013-15. Nocona is the MSUB record holder in the 6k with a time of 20:58, and is currently the assistant cross country coach at Laurel High School and a teacher at Elder Grove School.
 
MSUB SPORTS – Welcome to the monologue of the Frame sisters, written by a Frame sister.
 
I jumped up and down in the bleachers screaming as loud as I could as my older sister rounded the last bend of the MT state championship mile race in 2007. There was my hero and best friend sprinting her heart out. No one thought this Eastern Montana freshman girl, wearing heavy trainers instead of racing spikes, stood a chance to be champion, but there she was picking person after person off as she raced closer to the finish line.
 
I don't remember actually seeing her cross the finish line, but I did see my parents – who barely spoke to each other –high five and I knew my sister had won. There are some moments in your life that you will remember forever and for me this is one of them. That is the moment I knew my older sister could do anything if she could be a state champion AND get my parents to high five in the same day. She has continued to prove me right as she excelled in all aspects of her life as an athlete, student, dog mom, and now teacher.
 
During her time at Montana State University Billings Nocona proved again she was a fierce competitor. She is the current individual record holder at MSUB for three different events: the indoor mile (5:04), the outdoor 1,500 meters (4:35), and cross country's 6,000 kilometer race (20:58). Further, she was awarded all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference honors and academic all-GNAC honors.
 
Along with those individual records, she is part of the distance medley relay record holding team, a feat that I am also part of. I have had some special moments at MSUB, but two in particular stand out to me. One, racing on this DMR team with my sister; two, when the headlines for an MSUB sports article read 'Frame Sisters Finish 1, 2.'
 
After being told she was not good enough to continue to run with her original institution, Nocona had to decide what she wanted to do with her life. Her options were to continue school in North Dakota without running, or transfer. At that time, I was also in the process of choosing what I was going to do post high school. I remember her calling me one night crying. Now if you know anything about my sister she was not a crier at this point in her life, so I knew this was serious. I could feel her grief through the phone and wanted to do anything I could to ease it. However, she did something unexpected. She asked my permission to look into MSUB. She remembered my hesitation in joining cross country my freshman year of high school because I did not want to compete with my all-star senior sister. But this was different. I had let go of my childish fear of being compared to my sister, and realize that I wanted nothing more than to compete with and against her.
 
A couple months later, Dave Coppock, then head coach of the MSUB track and cross-country teams, reaffirmed my feeling that MSUB was for me. I was competing at my state track meet, at which Coppock had come to watch. He approached my family to congratulate me on my performance and took one look at Nocona on her crutches after having surgery, told her to come talk to him, and he would love to give her a spot on the team. MSUB gave Nocona back her running career and helped me continue mine.
 
I feel especially lucky with all that MSUB has given me. I was able to graduate from MSUB and get into a good law school. I was able to intern with the athletics media department under Evan O'Kelly, and now I am interning in the compliance department under Bekah Gasner. MSUB, especially, the athletics department, has always been more than happy to help me in anything that I need, like an internship during the summer to help me decide on my career path after law school. Further, former assistant coach Trent Hooper has also been a big blessing in both Nocona and my lives. Without MSUB, we would have never been able to connect with someone who has helped both of us in our running careers and specifically for me, my professional career.
 
Enough about me though, let's talk about Nocona's more recent achievements which come set in her llama-decorated classroom at Elder Grove Middle School. There, I got to see her teach this past year. I could never picture my weird, crazy sister commanding a classroom, but command it she did. She ruled her classroom with an heir of respect for her students and a no-nonsense attitude. As I sat there observing her from behind her desk, I realized her students loved her. They wanted her approval and to be around her, and to learn from her. The same charisma and courage Nocona brought as a captain to her teams throughout her running career, she displayed in her classroom. History and social studies may be not be everyone's favorite subject, but it makes it a little better when every class is started with a joke, to which Nocona laughed to herself about for the first five minutes of the class I attended.
 
Nocona was also the first head coach of the Elder Grove boys and girls cross-country team, helping start the program from scratch. With the help of Elder Grove's Athletic Director and her assistant coaches, Nocona was able to navigate all the nitty gritty details of starting a new athletics program smoothly and build lasting connections with her teams. She has helped build the program from about 16 runners in its initial year to over 30 by the third year of its existence.
 
At the time of Nocona's first year running the cross-country program, I was a senior at MSUB. Nocona had told me about how at her previous college, her team had joined a Big Sister/Big Brother program. I always loved the idea of the MSUB team meeting with younger members of the community. I broached the subject of having MSUB's cross country team meet Nocona's team, who enthusiastically approved of the idea, as did Coppock.
 
Unfortunately, when the two teams met up for a practice together, I was unable to attend. However, talking to Nocona about it I knew it was a success. "Seeing the kids with my old teammates was really inspirational. It made me feel like a proud mother with all my kids," she told me as she laughed at the memory. On a more serious note, Nocona said, "I feel like there is a stereotype that cross country isn't cool, especially for male runners. But my runners being able to interact and connect with college athletes, I think went a long way to showing the young runners that running can take you places and there are people who are really good at it and cool at the same time. I remember one instance involving Isaiah Girard. He ran with one kid and they talked about Minecraft the whole time. That kid really wanted to have the chance to run with Isaiah again." Girard, a senior-to-be, is a former cross country runner and the reigning GNAC outdoor track and field high jump champion.
 
I have never actually seen Nocona coach, but when I was in high school, I tore my ACL and was cleared with no restrictions to running the first week of my senior year of cross country leaving me a very short window to get back into top shape. Nocona was there the whole way. At my state meet she knew I was in pain, that I wanted to quit and give up on myself, but she wouldn't let me. She ran along side of me for about half a mile telling me through her tears that I was strong enough, that I could do it, and that I would do it. I think I finished that race almost as much as for her as I did for myself. I was an all-state athlete because she told me I would be. I imagine that is what it is like to see her coach. Her passion and support fueling her team to push beyond their comfort zones to success.
 
Our mother also joined the MSUB family, working in the Student Health Services department from 2017 until this summer. I talk to my mom on the phone weekly to vent about the pressures of school or to get her advice on how to cook something. In those conversations she's also telling me about how when people find out she's our mother they only have good things to say. Imagine my relief when I hear that, so thanks to everyone who thinks Nocona and I were okay people during our time at MSUB and a special thanks to those who tell our mom that even if they don't think it's true.
 
These days, Nocona and I have to celebrate our successes with each other over the phone due to my relocation to Spokane, Washington, to attend Gonzaga University School of Law. I remember I was sitting in the Gonzaga law library desperately trying to prepare myself for the onslaught of tests for my finals week when Nocona called me. "Hello?" I whispered, conscience of my frustrated peers surrounding me.
 
"I got the Laurel coaching job! And we are probably buying a house!" exploded Nocona over the phone. Still whispering, I congratulated her and tried to avoid the glares pointed at me. "Why are you whispering? What's wrong?" Nocona asked me, obviously concerned at my lack of enthusiasm.
 
I explained my current position of being hunched over my computer surrounded by about a billion books trying to teach myself a semester's worth of education law. In her normal supportive fashion, Nocona understood the pressure I was under and just knew I was extremely excited for her even though I could not fully express it at that particular moment.

However, upon my return home this summer to the Billings area, I learned more about Nocona's decision to leave the Elder Grove cross country team to pursue her longtime goal of coaching high school. I, as a native

Glendive runner, was shocked the first time I saw my sister in a Laurel Locomotive shirt. Laurel and Glendive were always fierce competitors in cross country during our time as high school runners. But listening to her talk about her goals for this new team, I knew Laurel was lucky to have her. She gushed about how running had helped her figure out who she was by giving her a place to belong growing up; how she wanted to provide her athletes with that same feeling by giving them an avenue to relieve stress or somewhere to fit in.
 
In a conversation with our mother, mom told me, "I was so impressed by the way Nocona conducted herself around her runners. She really wants to instill the love she has for running in her athletes and it shows." I laughed, still imagining Nocona going crazy like she was when I would run races.
 
Nocona once told me, "Running feels like it has been a part of me since I was young and I can't imagine dropping it altogether or a piece of my life would be missing." I have to agree with her on that. I felt slightly lost my first year of law school after having practice almost every day for the previous 10 years. Therefore, my second year of school, after getting the hang of the mass amounts expected from my professors, I decided to reach out to the cross country coach at the high school I passed on my way home every day. I was welcomed with open arms as a volunteer coach for the girls cross country team. My experience with those girls reminded me of the intense lifelong bonds you can make with your teammates and how my life will never be fully complete without running. I am also happy to report, that group of hardworking girls qualified for state for the first time in 25 years.
 
Speaking of lifelong bonds, Nocona created one of those with another impressive former MSUB cross country and track runner, 2014 outdoor GNAC 1,500 meter champion, Chase Robinson. After a couple years of dating Nocona and one dog later, Chase asked me to help pick out a ring for Nocona. I guess he figured I knew what style Nocona liked since she had been sending me ring pictures for the past year. I was kind of hoping Nocona would marry her longtime crush Dennis Quaid, even though there is an age difference, but I suppose Chase is a good second choice. So I went shopping with him and helped deceive Nocona until he popped the question. While I moved to Folsom, California, for a summer at a law firm after my graduation in 2017, Nocona prepared to marry her best friend.
 
I was named the maid of honor for the wedding. Along with me, former MSUB runner Taylor Condon and best friend to both Nocona and I, was a bridesmaid. A favor she is repaying in her upcoming nuptials to former MSUB track hurdler, Landon Polkow. As the day of the wedding finally arrived, I watched from the bridal suite –  my aunt's camper – as the guests started flowing into the venue. Many of them were former teammates from Nocona and Chase's collective time at MSUB. Not only did MSUB provide a place for all of us to continue to participate in a sport we loved, it gave us lifelong friends to share our future successes and celebrations with. 

This particular celebration involved me hardly being able to see through my happy tears as I listened to Chase tell Nocona he loved her more than Christmas. Which coming from the man who has a countdown for Christmas all year long and within the first week of meeting him he purchased a onesie specifically for Christmas, I knew he was going to be better for Nocona than Dennis Quaid ever could have been.
 

Two years later their wedding day is still one of the happiest and most memorable days for me and now since I currently reside in the Robinson household, we all get to go on family runs together, much slower than what we use to do though. Maybe soon one Robinson will be pushing a baby stroller and the other will be being dragged by their dog on their runs.
 
But for now, instead of parents, you could say the Robinsons are a superhero couple. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but to me being a middle school teacher and a firefighter, you definitely have to want to help others constantly and put others' needs in front of yours daily. Not only does Nocona cater to the kids in need of education, but the people in need of refinished furniture! Back in January when Nocona made the trek to Spokane to visit me to attend a mac and cheese festival (my favorite food), we picked out an old TV stand for my living room. My previous arrangement included my TV precariously balanced on the top of a shelf too small to actually safely hold it. Nocona had discussed plans of starting a small business of refinishing furniture, so I became her first customer and guinea pig.
 
People might assume the garage is the man cave, but the Robinsons' garage is full of old furniture waiting to be refinished, all the plans for their futures floating around in Nocona's head. The garage is definitely her domain and possibly the location of her new business. One day as I sat in my chosen seat, a soft lawn chair, to observe Nocona sand, paint, and sing to whatever song was playing, I wonder where she learned to use some of the tools she's been operating and where I was when she was learning it. Probably in the law library.
 
Along with all the old furniture ready for facelift, kayaks, snowshoes, fishing poles, and lots of Star Wars memorabilia line the walls of the garage denoting the couple's devotion to long movie series and outdoor adventures. I guess they figured after spending months hidden inside my apartment or the school studying, I needed an outdoor adventure because the day after I arrived back home from school, they packed me back into the car and headed to Livingston to hike with their dogs. My theory is since they no longer get the experience after competition or a long run where you feel like utter trash but so accomplished and impressed with yourself at the same time, they like to climb steep mountains instead for hours on end until their legs are shaking and they are both "hangry." Well, maybe that was just me trekking up the hill wishing for a plate of fries and a milkshake, my legs screaming at me to stop torturing them. 

It is possible though, that it's their resilience that propels them up those mountains and out on runs. Resilience is not something everyone has, but Nocona sure does. She was not able to do full runs with the team when she first started practicing with MSUB due to her previous foot surgery. However, she never backed down from a challenge. One day, our team decided we were going to run up airport hill right next to campus for the beginning of our run, which for those of you that aren't familiar with it, it is about a mile uphill. It's not the easiest thing to do when you are in shape, but for someone just starting to run again it was brutal. When we reached the top, Nocona was bent over heaving, not able to talk, sucking wind like a fish out of water. One teammate even leaned over to me to ask if she was okay and whether we should help her. I was slightly concerned, but I knew Nocona understood her physical limits. "I'm just going to turn around now," Nocona gasped in our general direction about a minute later. If Nocona wouldn't have been resilient, I doubt we would have seen her back at practice the next day ready for the next challenge.
 
This is a skill she has also translated into her classroom. "I need to be able to bounce back from a bombed lesson plan and come up with a better, more creative approach to teaching," she told me. Creativity is not something she lacks in the classroom though. The day I went school with her, the students were creating a list of what they would bring into their tombs. She told me more of the actual historical significance, but I was so excited to participate in the lesson myself, I forget the details. The five things I chose to bring to the afterlife were Nocona, my cat, chap stick, a frying pan, and a blanket. I would have loved to do something like this when I was in history class.
 
 
Now, I wouldn't feel right blabbing on and on about mine and Nocona's life during and after running without mentioning our father. My father traveled all over the place to watch us run. He put hundreds of thousands of miles on his truck, sat in countless uncomfortable bleachers, and ran all over courses just to watch us compete for 2-25 minutes. He, like me, felt a little lost after I finished competing. With Nocona's career ending, he still had me to follow around, but after I was done, it was also the end for him.
 
What was he going to do every weekend? What does a free weekend even look or feel like? I know the end of my running career was a huge adjustment for me, but it was just as big for him. I like to think he was the traveling dad for a lot of our teammates throughout the years. Most of the time I wouldn't even know he was there until a teammate would come up and say "Hey, I heard your dad cheering for me!" Or I would hear his booming voice across the track cheering for someone competing. He took the time to learn everyone's names so he could cheer for anyone on our team. He now spends his weekends fixing up our family cabin at the lake or one of his latest projects.
 
I asked Nocona what advice she would give senior athletes, runners specifically. She said to cherish every moment and work hard because you won't get this opportunity again. I would also say let your parents and family in on every moment of your athletic career too; these moments are as fleeting for them as for you. I know Nocona and I would not have had the opportunities we have had without the help of our parents, family, the friends turned into family, and MSUB.