With his wife, Barbara, and past Northwest runners on hand, Stan Nelson was memorialized Sept. 12 in House Springs during the cross country invitational that bears his name.
This was the first time the Lions hosted the Stan Nelson Invitational since his death in July. Barbara received a statue of a likeness of Nelson before the boys and girls races.
“We take a lot of pride in hosting a really good meet,” Northwest boys head coach Ken Campbell said. “I got nothing but compliments from other coaches all day. I didn’t want to overdo or underdo the tribute, but Coach Nelson’s wife is excited about the memorial. And it’s always better when your team runs well, and I think we did.”
Northwest senior Rose Nicholls and sophomore Jacob Judge knew Nelson and said the Lions were honored to carry on his legacy.
“Unfortunately he passed away over the summer, so we’re trying to dedicate the season to him. Get better in his memory,” said Judge, who finished a team-best 19th with a time of 17:28.8 on the 3.1-mile (5K) course.
A three-time Class 5 state qualifier, Nicholls finished second in 19:36.1. A two-time Class 3 state champion, St. Charles West senior Brianna Krueger led the field the entire race and won in 19:30.
“We definitely wanted to win for (Nelson),” Nicholls said. “He’s a nice guy. He cheered me on at my meets. I’ve always heard about what he means to the (program).”
“I’ve known Rose since she was little,” Campbell said. “I coached her older sister, Rebecca. To see her do what she’s doing is exciting. I’m proud of her. I’ve had her in class throughout high school. She puts a lot of pressure on herself to be the best, and it’s exciting watching it come to fruition.”
The Nicholls’ sister, Rubie, was fourth in the middle school race.
Every November, the top 30 runners win a state medal at Gans Creek in Columbia. Last year, Nicholls was 38th in 19:35.8, which was 15 seconds behind the final medalist. Krueger’s state-winning time last year was 18:15.1. Nicholls and Krueger were the only two girls to finish under 20:00.
“Anytime there was a hill, I tried to get closer to her,” Nicholls said. “Any curve she took wide, I took it as close as I could. My goal was to stay with her for two miles, but she took off on me. It was too late to go get her.”
Nicholls said she makes it a habit to take turns as tightly as possible.
“I don’t like to run more distance,” she said. “I like to run the least amount as possible.”
The top five Northwest girls finishers were Nicholls, sophomore Chloe Vandaveer (fourth, 20:08.87), sophomore Marlena Watkins (11th, 20:52.18), junior Kateri Brown (51st, 24:07.59) and junior Isabella Sundell (56th, 24:27.74).
Kirkwood had three of the top 10 runners and won the girls meet with 83 points. Francis Howell, a Class 5 school from the Gateway Athletic Conference, was second with 89 points. Ladue (third, 92) and Northwest (fourth, 102) were the other top four teams.
Seckman sophomore Harper Goddard was 12th in 20:55.74, and Fox sophomore Sienna Harger was 39th in 22:33.35 as the top runners for their teams.
The Northwest boys finished fourth with 177 points. Lee’s Summit won with 43, and was followed by Parkway West (second, 63) and Kirkwood (third, 76). Parkway South junior William Leary won the race in 15.54.49.
After Judge, junior Jeremiah Brown was the next Lion to cross in 22nd in 17:35.80. Senior Max Thomas-Perkins was 33rd in 18:02.04, and sophomores Levi Isaacs (53rd, 18:45.67) and Jacob Sinclair (60th, 18:59.21) were Northwest’s scoring runners.
“The real killer was the mud,” Judge said. “I tried to take the least muddy route possible and stay on clear parts of the course. It requires a lot of concentration. I like the flatness and speed of it. There’s a lot of turns, but they’re not as sharp as they could be.”
“Jacob’s still figuring things out a little. He’s really good,” Campbell said. “Is he running a perfect race? I don’t know. He made up for his start and finished in the top 20. He’s just a sophomore, and I have to remind myself of that. If we ran this race a month from now, he’s in the top five.
“Jeremiah has had some health issues and he had a solid race he can feel good about. I have a group of sophomores who really put in the miles. (Isaacs and Sinclair) their time drop from last year is outstanding.”
A Class 2 state qualifier last year, St. Pius X sophomore Noah Statzel was 24th at Stan Nelson in 17:36.05.