Crystal Nelson Earns FloRunner of the Week

Crystal Nelson Earns FloRunner of the Week

Oct 21, 2014 by Taylor Dutch
Crystal Nelson Earns FloRunner of the Week


Crystal Nelson made a huge statement Friday at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational with a dominating win over Saucony Flo50 No. 4 Rachele Schulist and No. 1 Shelby Houlihan, running the third-fastest time ever run on the course and earning national athlete of the week honors by the USTFCCCA.

The junior broke the tape in 19:35, but let’s break down this stellar performance. Nelson was running with the leaders (Schulist, Houlihan, Liv Westfal, Katy Moen and Emma Bates) through 4k until she threw down a hard surge to pull away, closing in 4:55-mile pace over the last 2k and beating runner-up Schulist by four seconds.

The time was also 27 seconds faster than her performance a year ago at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course, and is four seconds off the course record set by Abbey D’Agostino in 2013.



Other FloRunner nominees:

Lincoln's pick: John Mascari
We called him a dark horse at the beginning of the season, and he sure is making that prediction look smart. After John Mascari finished 5th at Pre-Nats, the junior from Indiana State seems poised to place in the top-10 at NCAAs. If he runs as confidently as he did last weekend, the local hero will shine bright in Terre Haute.

Gordon's pick: Edward Jenkins
Eric Cheserek aka Edward Jenkins is my FloRunner of the Week after the Oregon duo continued to front run at Pre-Nats. Now you may ask why are they my FloRunners of the Week? Well let me answer that by asking you a question... Why hasn't my nominee ever won the overall FloRunner of Week! You're killin' me T-Dawg!

Meg's pick: Nick Symmonds 
Nick may have been absent from the track this season, but he's back. This time as a chewing gum connoisseur. He debuted Run Gum last week, a caffeine, taurine and B vitamin induced stimulant for runners looking for that extra kick. A chewing gum that can make you as fast as Nick Symmonds?! See ya later, coffee breath.

Joe’s pick: Betelhem Moges 
Having witnessed her 69:23 PR at the Olomouc Half in person in June, there was no doubt that Moges was ready to run well. But I didn’t expect her to win the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:28:35. The Ethiopian has now run 2:26:42 (Dubai) and won a race in her first two marathons, and exceeded my expectations. That’s a great start.

James' pick: Connor Callihan
My FloRunner of the week is Connor Callihan because he successfully completed an entire 5k. Oh wait, forgot to mention he snapped his tibia in 3 places as he approached the finish. Crossing the line in 22:31, Connor refused to drop out of the race as he crawled to the finish. His mom said, “He was in a lot of pain…”