Lady Knight Cross Country Fights until the Last Puddle

'It was a true test of cross country…' - Coach Shanahan

Commentary by Matt Walling

This past weekend has been one to remember for all seven of Bishop Kelly's varsity Cross Country girls. Coming off a crushing victory in the state 4A cross country meet the BK girls had one more mark to make -- the Nike Cross Country Nationals, known as "NXN".

A major national competition, the Nike Cross Nationals consist of eight qualifying regional meets which all lead to the National meet held in Portland. As it has been well known to the BK student body, our girls came out of nowhere on Nov. 14 at the Northwest regionals in Boise; which is what qualified them to represent BK and the state of Idaho for the first time in NXN meet history. senior.

Along with that big achievement, sophomore sensation Emily Nist won the girls individual title setting a course record time, thus, leading the team into Portland representing her school and state, ready to fight for a national title.

Unfortunately, their season ended on a bittersweet note. The girls finished 18 out of 22 teams, and individually, the leader of the Knights, Nist, placed 47, which has been quite a surprise to all those who know her and her ability. "We didn't have the race we expected to have, but we still ran tough and engaged in the fight,"said Nist.

Conditions at the meet were grueling, and the course was one like the team had never seen before. Twenty-two teams of boys ran through the course prior to the girls, making the wet, muddy path to run on even more of a mess. Head Coach Tom Shanahan commented that "most of the courses we ran all year long were dry, this course was like one we hadn't ever ran before, we arrived and it was so foggy out, nobody in the grandstands could even see what was going on."

Now that the results are in, and the races have been run, our Lady Knights made us proud. Shanahan said "It was a true test at cross country, we learned how high of a level of competition there is out there, but over all, the girls had an absolute blast, they had the time of their lives, and they will remember it forever…they carried the Idaho flag with distinction at the biggest cross country meet in the nation."

A national title is not what BK brought back; however, the girls brought back much more than a title, "I believe the most important thing we learned from our experience at nationals, was the importance of the easy day run, we came back with a new appreciation for hard work, there is no substitute for old fashion hard work", said Shanahan. As for the finish as a whole "the girls training had them peak at state, to peak that performance again a month later isn't easy…we were a little disappointed, but we know in our hearts we gave it all we've got, and we have got to be happy with that."

Congratulations BK girls, keep working hard and focusing on next year's awesome potential to be even better.