Arguably Colorado's top two freshman runners of 2009, Kailie Hartman and Heather Bates battle for places late in the NXN-Southwest Regional race. Photo by Alan Versaw.
It's widely known that Colorado is sending two teams to Saturday's Nike Cross Nationals event in Portland, Oregon. What isn't so widely known is that Colorado is also sending four girls as individuals to compete in the event.
The individuals qualified on the basis of being among the top five indviduals at the NXN-SW race who were not members of qualifying teams.
Below is a brief profile of each of Colorado's four individual qualifiers:
Eleanor Fulton, Junior, Highlands Ranch
This will be a return trip to Nike Cross Nationals for Eleanor Fulton. Fulton returns to NXN as last year's third-place individual and the second-highest entry among returning competitors. Fulton's 17:45 at NXN-SW is also her current season-best time. She finished second at the 5A state meet with a time of 18:18. Numerous accolades dot the running resume of Eleanor Fulton, including finishing sixth in the 2000 Meter Steeplechase in the World Youth Games this past summer.
Kailie Hartman, Freshman, Loveland
Until the state meet earlier this month, Kailie Hartman's name didn't gather much recognition in cross country circles in Colorado. She'd had a respectable freshman season, but had escaped serious statewide notice. Being the top freshman finisher at both state and the NXN-SW meet has a way of changing the patterns of name recognition, however. Hartman's 18:32 at state was a season-best time until she ran 18:24 at NXN-SW.
Heather Bates, Freshman, Pine Creek
Heather Bates made a name for herself this fall by turning back the competition in numerous large-school meets in the Colorado Springs area. All season long, she was the #1 runner on a surprisingly strong Pine Creek team that finished third in the 5A state meet. She followed up her sixth-place finish in the 5A state meet with a seventh at NXN-SW in a personal best time of 18:25.
Becky Schmitt, Senior, Thompson Valley
The thought of what his team might have been like last year had Becky Schmitt run cross country as a junior has probably crossed Coach Norton's mind more than once. But, Schmitt definitely made an impact this year in her return to cross country. The season started slowly for her, but ended with a crescendo as she pushed Allie Parks to the very end in the 4A girls race and then came back two weeks later to claim 10th place at NXN-SW.
Note: Schmitt was not initially among those slated to advance to Portland and is still not listed as such on some sites. The opportunity came her way, however, when Jessica Tonn and Sarah Fakler of Arizona opted to vacate their slots to pursue other opportunities. Schmitt's record of recent performances suggests she will be a very capable representative in Portland, and this will be the second year in a row Thompson Valley has had an individual competing at NXN. Laura Tremblay represented the Eagles at NXN last December.