Zoe Nelson earns All-Pac-10 honors

The Daily Inter Lake

Flathead High School alumna Zoe Nelson earned All-Pacific-10 Conference second team cross country honors Saturday at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships in Stanford, Calif.

Nelson, a University of Oregon sophomore and 2005 Flathead graduate, took 14th place in the six-kilometer race with a time of 21 minutes, 11.71 seconds. The top seven finishers earned first team all-conference honors and the next seven comprised the second team.

The Duck women placed fourth as a team with Nelson leading them for the first time this fall and third time in her career. She has finished second on the team several times.

"I got out a little slower than I had hoped," Nelson said. "But I was able to move back up a little the first mile to get back with Bria (Wetsch) and Nicole (Blood), and I knew that Dana (Buchanan) and Sarah (Pearson) were close by most of the race too.

"Beforehand, the coaches didn't give us as any specific instructions after the first kilometer and that worked out well because I was able to adjust as the race unfolded. My race pace was pretty even and the race went by pretty fast. It didn't feel like a 6K, even though it was, and I didn't struggle at any point physically."

Other Ducks finishing in the top 30 were senior Buchanan (19th, 21:22.26), junior Pearson (20th, 21:25.4) and freshmen Wetsch (22nd, 21:28.25) and Blood (28th, 21:42.79).

Stanford's Arianna Lamble won the race, followed by teammates Kathleen Trotter, Amanda Trotter and Teresa McWalters. The Cardinal won the team championship with 22 points, followed by Arizona State (51), Washington (96), Oregon (103), UCLA (121), Washington State (156), Arizona (206), Oregon State (217), California (260) and Southern California (323).

"It was really exciting, we were happy with it," Nelson said. "We just kind of didn't know what to expect going into it."

According to Nelson, that uncertainty was because Oregon is a very young team, which means the Ducks should be even stronger in the future.

Nelson doesn't know whether her time was a personal best because courses vary so greatly, but she said it was her best collegiate race, especially since she hasn't run many six-kilometer races.

"Yeah, I think it is the strongest I felt," Nelson said. "I always felt it was similar enough to a 5K that I don't tend to think of it as a totally different race."

The race was a personal and team highlight for Nelson at Oregon, but she and her teammates aren't celebrating.

"It's hard to get too super excited because you know you can't just be celebrating this race right now because we have a more important race in two weeks and we hope to qualify for nationals with that," Nelson said.

Nelson and the Ducks contend for NCAA Championships invitations Nov. 11 at the NCAA West Regional Championships at Blue Lake Park in Portland, Ore. There are nine regional meets across the nation with the top two team finishers qualifying for the NCAA finals on Nov. 20 at Indiana State University. The top four individuals who aren't on a qualifying team advance as well, in addition to several at-large selections.

Garnering all-conference recognition wasn't a preseason goal for Nelson.

"I usually just try to set goals as contributing to the team and I like to do a good job of contributing to the team and, definitely, I think we have a team goal of competing in nationals," Nelson said.

Nelson enjoyed a stellar cross country and track career with the Bravettes and won the Foot Locker National Cross Country Championships national title as a sophomore. She also earned valedictorian honors with a 4.0 grade point average.

But collegiate cross country is a whole new world.

"I think volume and intensity definitely increase in college, but it's never to what you can't handle and the coaches only give you what you can handle, but they definitely push you more," Nelson said.

Nelson is studying biology and said she's being pushed harder academically than ever before. Still, she prefers her grueling athletic training "because I tend to find running more enjoyable than sitting around doing homework."

Eugene, Ore., is about 700 miles from Kalispell, but Nelson sees her family often. She said her parents come to "quite a few" of her races and were at Stanford last weekend. She will have several family members supporting her in Portland, including her brother, sister and nephews. Nelson also has an aunt in Eugene.

"It definitely helps to know they're there and everyone's there supporting me," Nelson said. "It's definitely nice."