Zoe 8th again in Foot Locker finals

The Daily Inter Lake

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - It probably won't sink in for Flathead cross country coach Paul Jorgensen until next fall.

That's when he'll really get it.

Zoe Nelson will be off at Eugene, Ore., running for the Oregon Ducks. She'll no longer don the orange and black of the Flathead Bravettes cross country team.

"It hasn't hit me yet. But it probably will next year when the girls toe the line. I'm sure we'll miss her then. We could pretty much bank on first place with her," Jorgensen said Saturday.

"You can't replace a Zoe Nelson, probably the top female distance runner ever out of Montana."

Jorgensen was calling from San Diego where he had just watched as Nelson, a Flathead High senior, finished eighth in the 2004 Foot Locker Cross Country Championships National Finals.

It was her fourth Foot Locker and her third top 10 finish in three years. She was eighth a year ago and won the event as a sophomore.

The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships is comprised of four regional 5K races, which took place across the country. The top eight in each race advanced to Saturday's finals.

Nelson's time was 18:09.

The winning time, by junior Aislinn Ryan of Bellvale, N.Y., was 17:31.

Ironically, Nelson's winning time two years ago was 17:30.

"I feel good about it. My goal was to be in the top 10, so I'm happy with how I did," Nelson said.

"I'm okay with it.

"I'm obviously pretty proud of her," Jorgensen said.

"I don't think there's anybody more consistent than she is. Her time was slower, but her place was pretty much where it was last year.

"I think she was somewhat satisfied," the coach said.

"She did the best she could on this particular day.

"But a runner is never totally satisfied. She's so competitive and competitors don't like losing."

On Saturday, Nelson just "didn't have it."

She was fifth at the half-mile mark.

"And then (the lead pack) just started pulling away and I really didn't have it to go with them," she said.

"I didn't feel very fresh today. My legs were kind of dead today."

"She just didn't quite have the get up and go to push and finish any higher," Jorgensen said.

"A couple of kids passed her at the end," he added. "These are the top 40 runners in the country. You have a bad day … some of those girls did have a bad time."

Nelson beat two regional champions Saturday - south champ Jennifer Barringer was 10th and midwest winner Nicole Blood was 21st. Last year's national champion, Katelyn Kaltenbach, was coming off an injury and finished 15th.

"I think I overall had a really good high school career," Nelson said.

Of course, winning the championship as a sophomore was the highlight, she said.

"But it's all been fun. I have a few friends here that I've known before and some people I've met here this time that are pretty fun."

On Saturday evening - after some time in the hotel hot tub - Nelson planned to attend the banquet, awards ceremony and dance.

"I'm excited," she said. "I don't know if we're going to be able to sleep at all."

One relationship she's been able to cultivate is with Olympic distance runner Suzy Favor-Hamilton.

They've developed an e-mail friendship.

"That's really cool. You always think of them as like so famous. Then you meet them and they're really normal," she said.

Nelson is hoping the Foot Locker experience will continue to be a benefit.

"It's nice to have the consistency. I've been here four times. I hope it'll continue at college. I think it helps having national competition like this," she said.

"It takes a pretty good runner to do that," Jorgensen said of her continued appearance at nationals.

"I think it takes a toughness. I sometimes refer to it as the 'warrior spirit.'

"That's when you get in there and you compete to your best every single time. She always gives it her best shot. A lot of our kids could learn from that. Any kid could learn from that."