Catalina Foothills senior, Harvey Nelson, had a breakout season during his final prep cross country season. Nelson ran a huge PR at the Arizona State Cross Country Championships in 15:25 for the fastest time of the day. A photo of Nelson (taken by his aunt Marilyn Aune) while running with a coyote at the Arizona State Meet reached national attention, ending up on the Miesplit National site where it was picked up by everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) including the "Today Show."
Nelson has the potentional to do great things on the track this spring!
How he picked the colleges he wanted to visited:
I started running as a freshman in high school. I had never considered
running in college until right before I began my senior cross country
season. At the beginning of the season I thought that I would probably
have to start in community college and work my way up.
When I started out my search I didn't really know what to expect
because at the time I started my process I didn't have any truly
impressive races. After winning the Northwest Showdown, I decided I
was good enough to start emailing college coaches. I initially sent
out to 15 different colleges. As my cross country season progressed
and I had more stand out times on my 5k and 3mile, coaches started to
show a lot of interest. The 3 races that the coaches were truly
impressed with were Desert Twilight, Mt. Sac and Arizona State
Championships. I narrowed it down to 4 different universities I knew I
could see my self attending and then proceeded to set up official
visits.
My first official visit, which was in November, was to Loyola
Marymount University. I took this visit the day after State
Championship and enjoyed the team, campus and coaches. I chose Loyola
because of its prestige in the science fields, as well as its
affiliation with the Catholic Church (this was a major factor in 3 of
my visits). After that I started to plan out my other visits for early
December and early January. However, 3 or 4 weeks ago I received a
call from Loyola saying that they needed an answer from me soon or
else I could lose an opportunity to run for their team. I wanted to
give all the teams a chance to sway me in their favor, so, I called
them and asked if I could get my visits rescheduled for an earlier
time. All of them were able to do so and I was able to get them all
stacked up into a week block. In that week block I started my visits
out with Northern Arizona University. I chose to visit NAU because the
cross country team and physical therapy program (which is the field I
want to get into) are incredible! The day after I came back from NAU I
headed to Villanova University. I chose Villanova because of its long
running history, unparalleled academics and its affiliation with the
Catholic Church. I really enjoyed Villanova; the team was extremely
outgoing, the coaches were welcoming and the campus was outright
gorgeous. After Villanova, I took a day to recover and then I went to
the University of Portland. I chose Portland because of the impressive
cross country program, its Catholic affiliation and its great
academics. The team and coaches were nice and the campus was quaint
and beautiful.
Choosing Northern Arizona University:
Once I finished all of my college visits, I took a few days to let it
all settle in. On Saturday, my parents and I, sat down and had a good
and long discussion about my visits and where I could see myself
running and going to college. In the end I realized NAU was the
perfect match for what I want and strive for. I chose them for a
couple of reasons that really stuck out to me. Right from the start of
my visit I felt like one of the guys on the team. They were all very
outgoing to me and the coaches were even comfortable enough to joke
around with me. Even though I didn't meet a lot of the upperclassmen,
I knew that to have such a good team, you have to gel well with
everyone on your team, so, I knew that they were going to be just as
friendly and cool as all of the guys I did meet. Another reason I
chose NAU was because of the beautiful campus and the ability to train
at such a high altitude. Being able to get out and run on a trail
every day and almost never step on a street is truly something
amazing. Coach Heins was very straight forward with me and has a great
training program that I believe will help me get to my maximum running
capability. As well as feeling comfortable with Coach Heins, assistant
Coach Iaun(Yolo), who I like very much, was very instrumental in
recruiting me. Lastly, NAU is close enough for me to visit my family
and allow them to watch more of my races in person.
The most difficult part of the recruiting process:
Like the majority of athletes who go through the recruiting process,
the hardest part for me was telling the coaches I wouldn't be running
for them next year. The coaches were very understanding though and
made it easier for me as they were supportive of my decision. The best
part of making my decision was knowing that I didn't have to stress
about making a decision any longer and I could just concentrate on
school and my last high school track season.
Looking forward to:
At NAU I am looking forward to really getting to know all of the guys
on the team and training with some of the top runners in the nation! I
know that these guys will push me to become the best I possibly can.
Also, I'm really excited to run with my friend Andy Trouard who
graduated from Salpointe last year. I cant wait to see us two Tucson
boys working hard to be a part of a national championship team. I am
looking forward to growing out my beard and becoming a true
lumberjack.
Congratulations to Harvey Nelson!