Photo by: Kim Smith
'I Love Challenges!': The Nora Zubillaga Story
5/13/2026 2:23:00 PM | Track & Field, Cross Country, Front Row Features
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Nora Zubillaga has never backed down from a challenge.
That's why the Azpeitia, Spain native was willing to leave her home country —despite never having traveled out of Europe before— to cross the Atlantic Ocean and come join the Miami University track and field/cross country program.
In fact, it's part of why the RedHawk senior became a runner to begin with.
It's also why she chose to major in biochemistry despite the fact that her college studies are in her third language.
And, it's the reason that the Miami women's program record for fastest 1500m time in history is very much in jeopardy heading into this weekend's Mid-American Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Muncie, Ind.
But let's start at the beginning, shall we?
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Zubillaga grew up in the Basque Country region of Spain playing soccer, or 'football' as most of the world calls it.
"Even when I was three years old, I was always playing with a ball," she recounted. "I started playing for a club when I was eight, because you cannot start earlier where I live. They were like, 'Okay, you're fast, so you can be a winger or striker.' I played for the next nine years, first in my hometown and then I went on to a bigger club."
When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, Zubillaga's sport of choice got shut down for an extended period of time, with the government significantly limiting any team sports and only allowing individual ones. "My brother was doing track and field already," Zubillaga recalled. "When we were in quarantine, I was training with him, and we'd go for a run sometimes. He noticed that I was kind of good and talked to a middle-distance coach about training me.
"I didn't know anything about it…he lied to me! I showed up to the track one day with him and he said, 'I'm just going to leave you with this coach and this group. I don't want you to run alone, you know? So just go do something with them.'
"But they had a whole plan and entire workout going on! The coach told me, 'Try to go with one of my girls. She's really good; don't follow her.' But I'm really stubborn, so I figured, 'You know what? If they throw me in a workout, I'm going to try to go with her.' And I finished the entire workout with her!"
The rest is history.
Zubillaga, who freely admits she's always enjoyed running, began doing workouts with the track club team on days she didn't have soccer games or practices. And by the end of the year, she had not only qualified for, but medaled in the 800m race at the under-18 Spanish championships.
"I got third place…and I wish I knew then how hard it is. I didn't even appreciate it; now, I look back and I'm just dreaming about going back to the podium, which is actually one of my goals this year," Zubillaga explained.
When her track performances yielded the opportunity to pursue NCAA Division I opportunities in the United States, Zubillaga had a decision to make.
"I've always been really ambitious…and I couldn't see myself in the first team of my club, which played in the best division…I needed a change," Zubillaga said. "I still loved soccer, but was getting burnt out a little bit and felt stuck there. And running was going so well, I decided I should just take the risk and come to the U.S. and see how running goes…
"Miami felt like a place where I could see myself coming here and improving as an athlete and a person and everything. It just felt like the right choice."
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Fast forward a year or two, and when Zubillaga first started competing for the RedHawks, she noticed that she was consistently fading in races down the stretch as an underclassman. "I strictly did the 800m, but we realized my worst part of the 800 was always the last 200-300 meters," Zubillaga said. "I was doing fine, but I was always struggling to finish the races……I didn't PR from 2021 to 2024 in the 800, which was frustrating…so I talked to my coaches and said, 'I know I can do much better, but I think we need to change something because this is not working.
"'And if we don't change it, I'm not going to improve.'"Working with the RedHawk coaching staff, Zubillaga eventually began adjusting her training plan to do more mileage and longer runs in practice. The result was not only better performances in races, but ultimately, a change in specialization to begin focusing on longer-distance events like the 1500m and the mile.
Even though the approach of increasing (as opposed to decreasing) length might seem a bit counter-intuitive considering that Zubillaga's previous issues were toward the end of her races, the switch has paid off handsomely over the past year-plus for the senior runner. Zubillaga was among Miami's top three finishers at both the MAC Cross Country Championships and NCAA regionals last fall, took fifth in the mile at the MAC Indoor Championships in February, and moved into the top five in program history for both the indoor mile and outdoor 1500 in the space of two months.
"Her durability is a key factor to where she's having success right now," said Russ Peterson, Miami's director of cross country/track and field. "With her introduction to sport being [through] soccer…there's a high demand of coordination, endurance, physical strength, and speed there – all of which make for a more durable and well-rounded athlete…
"Nora is an exceptional person, athlete, competitor and teammate. She does a lot of things right…and she's a stronger athlete in the longer distances than we originally anticipated.
"Ultimately, I think she would have had success in any area, just given time."
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Zubillaga has not only excelled at Miami as an athlete, but also as a student. Despite navigating an arduous Biochemistry major, Zubillaga has been named Academic All-MAC across multiple seasons for each of the past three years. That's an impressive feat for anyone to accomplish, much less someone who grew up speaking Basque (primarily) and Spanish and is now immersed in her third language.
"I remember in high school when we first started studying biochemistry, I thought it was super-interesting," Zubillaga said. "I had already set my mind in Spain that, 'Okay, I want to study biochemistry. I know it's going to be hard, but I want to.' And when I decided to come here, I knew it was going to be even more challenging – trying to study biochemistry while doing track and field and doing it in your third language.
"But, you know, I love challenges! I was not going to change majors just because it's my third language. So, I was like, 'I can do this.'"
"Her durability academically is also a key factor," Peterson pointed out. "Her ability to handle stress and come out on the other side in a better way is the same thing she does in track with training and competitions and taking advantage of it.
"She competes well because she also takes tests well. She's able to present herself when she needs to in a stressful situation. Whether it's your exam and 'What do you know?', or when the gun goes off on the track, it's just trying to show the best version of me either academically or athletically.
"I'm proud of her, but I'm not surprised she's having that academic success," Peterson continued. "It's always parallel to the athletic success…
"She is the total package."
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Although Zubillaga's college career with the Red and White is winding down, she still has the chance to accomplish another goal or two at this weekend's MAC outdoor meet before turning her focus to the Spanish championships this summer. Not only is she hoping to earn points for the RedHawks in one or more races in Muncie, but Zubillaga also has a chance to try and break the Miami school record in the 1500. Her PR of 4:26.13 in that event is within a few seconds of the all-time mark (4:23.28), which was set in 2014.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but…I'm going to go for it," she said. "I want to score for the team again, get to the podium and try to place as high as I can. I really want to be competitive, and I know I belong there: That's one of my main goals."
However her final competitions as a RedHawk end up playing out, Zubillaga will look back at this chapter of her life as a success. Although there have been plenty of times that she's missed her homeland, its culture, her friends and family, and even the mountains, seas and beaches of the Spanish terrain, she doesn't regret taking the leap to venture 4,000 miles west and pursue her sport and studies at Miami University.
"What makes me most proud is the progression I've made," she said. "I've destroyed my PRs in all of the events, and it hasn't been easy. Freshman and sophomore year, I was stuck. That's why we had to take the risk and completely change the training method and everything…"It's been a journey…but I've always known that I could come to this point, and now it seems like everything's coming together...because of all the work and taking risks and having good communication with the coaches. That's what makes me proud."
"She's special," Peterson said. "Our program has been around for 50 years on the women's side, and she's staked a claim as one of the best in Miami history. But that's just on paper. She's a better student and a better person than even that, and I can't say enough good things about her…
"She's done it in every aspect of her life: She's contributed to our culture, to our record boards, to the academic side of things, and I know she's made an impact in her major on campus too.
"She's done it right, and we're going to miss her because of it."
Find more Front Row Features at MiamiRedHawks.com/FrontRowFeatures
Nora Zubillaga and the Miami University track and field teams will be in action May 14-16 at the MAC Outdoor Championships in Muncie, Ind. Click here to follow the live results from the meet.
Players Mentioned
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