Nist leads BK to second place, berth at cross country nationals

EAGLE - Diminutive Bishop Kelly High sophomore Emily Nist was a giant Saturday in less-than-ideal conditions at Eagle Island State Park.

The two-time 4A girls cross country state champion established a course record to win the 5-kilometer Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) Northwest Regional and led her team to a second-place finish, automatically qualifying the Knights for nationals Dec. 5 in Portland.

Jesuit (Portland), ranked sixth nationally, won with 106 points ahead of Bishop Kelly's 126. The Knights, who have won eight 4A state titles since 2001, are the first Idaho team to qualify for NXN nationals from the regional meet. The top two teams earn automatic berths, while third- and fourth-place teams are eligible for at-large berths.

"I don't know what to say, I am speechless," Bishop Kelly coach Tom Shanahan said. "We're going to fly the Idaho flag at nationals and we're going to give it all we've got."

In the wind and cold, Nist trailed Oregon 6A champion AnnaMarie Maag (Jesuit) through most of Saturday's race, but made a bold move to take the lead with about 1 mile remaining.

"I wanted to take the risk and go to see if she would come with me," Nist said. "I knew if she didn't come with me, I had to go harder to keep the gap."

From there, Nist continued to add distance to her lead and finished in 17 minutes, 57.4 seconds - breaking the course record of 17:58.6 established last year by Alyssa Andrews (Gig Harbor, Wash.). Maag was second in 18:08.5.

"The one thing I have told Emily to do is, 'When you make a move, make sure you make it stick.' She made it stick," Shanahan said. "When she sets her mind to something, she is going to go get it. She doesn't care who's in the way."

Earlier this season, Maag topped elite fields at Nike Pre-Nationals (Portland) and at the Sunfair Invitational (Yakima, Wash.) before winning Oregon's largest classification at state.

"When I was running shoulder-to-shoulder with AnnaMarie, it was a big boost," Nist said. "Just being able to compete at her level was amazing. I was so happy crossing that finish line first. I didn't know I had it in me."

While Nist was pleased with her individual performance, she admitted the victory felt better knowing it helped her team snag a ticket to nationals.

Nist will be joined at nationals by teammates Lara Tuthill (22nd), Ashlynn Curnow (26th), Rebecca Lassere (38th), Briana Tiffany (82nd), Camille Fery (97th) and Erin Gordon (114th).

Washington's Shadle Park (158 points) and Glacier Peak (188) finished third and fourth, while 5A state runner-up Mountain View (191) and 5A state champion Boise (221) rounded out the top six.

On the boys side, defending national champion North Central (Spokane) won its second consecutive title with 93 points and Ferris (Spokane) qualified for nationals in second with 104. Crater (Oregon) was third with 126 and Central Catholic (Portland) was fourth with 166.

North Central's Ben Johnston won the individual title in 15:29.6 and Lake City's Cody Helbling was Idaho's top runner in fourth (15:50.9).