Nielson, Johnson represent Ags at NCAA meet
It is something that every athlete works for, that one moment in the season when they can be there to compete against the best of the best. Something that the athlete works for all season, sometimes even preparing for it years before it happens. The chance of a lifetime – a dream come true.
For senior Mike Nielson and freshman Ashley Johnson, that dream came true last weekend as they ran in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Iowa. Nielson finished 114th in the nation and Johnson finished 146th out of the nation’s top female runners.
Nielson, who ran spectacularly for just recovering from an illness that prevented him from running at the conference meet, did not do as well as he had hoped, but he isn’t complaining.
“I was really happy just to run,” he said. “I would have liked to have done better, but I am glad I got the opportunity to run.”
The first place runner from Colorado covered the course in 29 minutes, 14.1 seconds. Nielson came in a little over a minute behind him, finishing at 30:59.3, good for 114. The times show how the talent of each of the athletes competing was about equal.
“Mike, being a senior, is a little disappointed,” said USU cross country Head Coach Gregg Gensel. “He wanted to run a little better, but he ran as good as he could. He made it here so it was a big accomplishment.”
Nielson gave credit to coaches Gensel and Steve Reeder.
“I feel like the coaches prepared us really well for this meet and were an awesome support,” he said.
Johnson impressed everybody as she proved that, even though she is only a freshman, she was able to keep up with the top dogs. Johnson covered the course, despite the freezing temperatures, in 21:32.1, for 146th. She was only a little over two minutes behind the first place finisher from North Carolina who covered the course in 19:30.4. Out of all the freshman competing in the nationals meet, Johnson finished 15th.
“Ashley went as a freshman and just did amazing,” Nielson said of his teammate. “She was just awesome. There is tons of room for improvement there and lots of potential. She is a great runner.”
Coach Gensel’s comments were along the same lines.
“Ashley ran within a couple seconds of her time from the pre-nationals meet earlier this season, which was great. It was really cold, with a windchill below zero, but it was a great experience for both of them,” he said.
The season is now over for all of the cross country runners. Although it was a little bit of a roller-coaster ride at some times, most of the athletes felt that they did well this season. The team will now have a short break from running and then will begin preparing for the track season.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu