VANCOUVER, Wash. -- For the third time in her distance running career for the Bruins, Madison Nelson added an All-American honor to her resume' at today's NAIA Cross Country Championship. The championship was held under sunny skies and mild temperatures at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver, Washington. Nelson improved four places from her All-Amercian run last year, finishing in 27th position among 331 athletes. The top forty finishers are named to the All-American team.
Nelson started methodically, as is her trademark, crossing the one-kilometer mark in 68th place. She proceeded to pick off runners at each subsequent kilometer mark, moving to 42nd, 40th, 31st, 29th, and finally 27th in the final kilometer, clocking 22:22.4 for the 3-loop, 6-kilometer course. Addy Wiley of Huntington was the individual champion, running 21:04.2, while the No. 1-ranked team, College of Idaho, confirmed that ranking with the team championship.
Head Coach Craig Christians: "Just another stellar performance by Madison today. I think there was some doubt in her mind after struggling with a foot injury over the last couple of weeks, but when it's time to line up and go, she answers the bell. She continues to focus on the NAIA marathon championship in a couple of weeks, and that fact makes her performance today even more impressive."
Nelson heads to Sacramento in two weeks for a run at the first NAIA Marathon Classic being held in conjunction with the established California International Marathon on December 3. There, she will contest the full 26.2-mile run against 34 other NAIA women.
