BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The rolling hills and blustery winds did nothing to slow the Bruin's Madison Nelson as she rolled to an NSAA championship victory today at the Platteview Golf Course. She was the first Bruin individual NSAA champion in any distance running event. Bellevue was hosting the meet for the first time and the challenging course enabled Nelson to jump to a lead early and she never looked back, finishing with a convincing 25 second victory margin. Her time of 19:58.4, just seconds from her season-best, was a remarkable time considering the hills and wind.
Nelson's performance capped a very satisfying day for the Bruin women as they had their highest team finish in program history. The Bruins placed fourth and were just two points from third place Dakota State getting nipped 81-83. Dickinson State won a close team battle over the women from Viterbo with a narrow 40 to 46 point win (team score is the sum of the first five finisher places). Dickinson State will represent the NSAA at the NAIA Cross Country Championship on November 19 in Fort Vancouver, Washington.
Lorelei Hayden was just outside of the top ten all-Conference team as she came across in 11th, running 21:37.2. Next across the line were Sarah Felten and Caroline Feig going 21 and 22 in times of 22:51.5 and 22:54.4 respectively. The final of the five Bruin scorers was Ali Hobbs, 31st in 23:58.1 while Olivia Russo, completing her first 5K of the season, came home in 24:39.6, good for 34th in the 46 runner field.
Russo was recognized as the Bruin's women's Champion of Character.
Head Coach Craig Christians; "I'm so proud of this team for literally making it to the finish line. There is not a single one of them who has not struggled with injury this season but they stepped up to the line and gave it everything. I hope they are all proud of their efforts. Madison's win was a surprise to me. We had talked earlier in the week and I advised her to back off a bit at the start and see how the rest of the field was going to react to the hilly course. Not heeding a single word of her coach's advice, she went to the front and the race was hers which was a bit of a change in character for her as she likes to start a bit further back and pick people off. I teased her about not listening but I had a feeling her strength could be the difference on this course and she beat runners who had beaten her at previous races. Lorelei had doubts about running today but in her usual fashion, she gave it what she had and almost came away with an all-Conference award. Sarah and Caroline ran near each other over the entire course and competed hard right up to the finish line. Ali didn't run at all last year due to injury and it was so good to see her out there again. Coming back hasn't been easy but I believe that better days are ahead for her. Olivia has been another one who has had to overcome injuries but she had her mind made up to complete this race and she did it. There are good things ahead for our women's program and we will get there with continued consistency."
It is now off to Fort Vancouver, Wash., where Madison Nelson will represent the Bruins at the NAIA National Cross Country Championship on November 19. She joins 2019 qualifier Lorena Ramirez as the only other Bruin to advance to the championship.
