LACEY, Wash - The Northwest Nazarene women's cross country team placed second this Saturday at the Ken Garland Classic hosted by Saint Martin's University.
Senior Kalen Belton placed second individually in the meet, running the 6k in 23:29. She was followed closely by teammate Julia LaMar, who came in 3rd at 23:30.
Here is an inside look at Kalen Belton's second place run in Lacey, Wash.:
"Before the race, everyone was really chill. They were excited to run in the forest and have a change of scenery — that was one of the most fun things about it. The weather was beautiful.
"Everyone started out fast, especially in the front. The starting line was in a lumpy field with lots of gopher holes, so it was a little interesting. Julia and I were behind a pack of ten for at least the first mile and a half.
"Then, we went into the trees. The path was pretty narrow for a half mile so we couldn't really pass people. When we popped out into a big field, [Associate Head Cross Country Coach Ben Gall] yelled that it was time to start making some moves.
"Julia and I made most of our moves in those next two miles. We started picking off girls, slowly making our way to the front of that group of ten. There was one girl from Saint Martin's who started out fast from the start and was leading the race by about ten seconds. We worked each other and eventually started gaining on the girl in first place.
"The coaches said, 'it's time to start putting your eyes on her.' They would let us know how much we were gaining on her each time we passed them. They'd say, 'she's only seven seconds ahead,' and 'okay, you're only five seconds away from her!' That was super helpful to motivate us.
"We went back into the trees for one final small loop. The girl in first place started dying out and we caught up to her. Another girl from Southern Idaho took off with us.
"Once we rounded the track, Julia and I passed the Saint Martin's girl and we were gunning to the finish. I could hear footfalls and the people cheering for the girls behind us, so they were really close. We had to have a pretty hefty kick to keep ahead of them."
"This race was really fun because of the great scenery and aggressive competition. It's definitely something more like what we'll see at conference.
"For the team, it was a lot of the girls' first 6k, so each individual was able to take something away from the race to use when they run their next 6k. Either it was starting too fast, starting too conservative, or timing the kick right.
"There were a lot of good connection points between all of the girls throughout the race. They 'packed up' really well and that was key to passing people."
Sophomore Emily McMahon was the third runner for the Nighthawks, coming in at 25:09, closely followed by Jordan Woods at 25:12. Sage Earnest rounded out the scoring five at 25:20.
Head Coach Danny Bowman was pleased with the ladies' performance. "We have a month left before we are at the conference championship. It is great to see our team coming together."
He also wanted to thank the Nighthawk fans for showing up to cheer on the team in Lacey — a close to eight-hour drive from Nampa.
The Nighthawks are back at it on October 9th for the Bill Roe Classic in Bellingham, Wash.
