ORDER GAME PHOTOS

Skyline High School senior Nelah Roberts and Rocky Mountain senior Landon Heemeyer ended their high school cross country careers with finishes that resulted in All-American honors and the Coeur d'Alene boys placed 11th on Saturday at Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland. Coeur d'Alene was the first Idaho boys team to ever qualify for NXN.

Roberts moved up eight spots from last year, finishing 16th in 17:56.1 on Saturday while Heemeyer placed 14th in 15:30 in his first NXN appearance. Runners who placed in the top 21 garnered All-American honors at the meet, which drew teams and individuals from nine regional qualiying meets across the U.S. Saturday's boys race had 201 finishers and the girls race had 204 finishers. The top five individual finishers and top two teams from regional meets automatically qualify for NXN. In addition, five individual girls, five individual boys, four boys teams and four girls teams earned national at-large bids this year. NXN began as Nike Team Nationals in 2004 before becoming Nike Cross Nationals in 2008 and expanding its qualifiers to include individuals.

On race day, every participating team and runner was announced prior to the start of the meet.

"Race day, that whole day was awesome," Coeur d'Alene senior Lachlan May said Tuesday by phone. "Getting announced as a team at the finish line and getting to compete on a national stage, it was awesome."

Roberts was tied for 10th place 1k into the race, 16th at 2k, 18th at 3k and 21st at 4k before passing people in the final kilometer for 16th place. She joins Mountain View's Lexy Halladay (16th place in 18:00.3, 2016) and Twin Falls' Mattalyn Geddes (ninth place in 17:28.3, 2018) as Idaho's best finishers in the NXN girls race.

Roberts said it was luck of the draw which box assignments runners were given at the starting line, and she and the four other Northwest girls individual qualifiers were assigned a box along one of the drier sections of the starting line. The boys race took place before the girls, so the course had already been torn up.

Roberts said her biggest priority Saturday was getting off to a good start, especially having been at NXN before and knowing everyone would be jostling for position and trying to avoid the mud. 

"I did start out pretty fast," Roberts said Sunday by phone. "In terms of conditions of the course, that was definitely like the roughest I've raced on for sure. I started out 15th and I held that pace. I fluctuated a bit slowing down then picked off a few girls at the end. I really wanted to get All-American, which was huge."

NXN is notorious for rain on race day, but recent rain in Portland turned a portion of the course at Glendoveer Golf Course into a pond. Runners previewed the course the Friday before the race and were given special thick spikes better suited for mud, which some runners opted to tape to their shoes.

"I ended up taking five or six steps and I was just slogging," Roberts said of running through the water.

May, who finished 97th in 16:21.4, said the water in that section of the course was between a foot and a foot and a half deep.

"Hitting that puddle was crazy because you got splashed a ton," May said. "I have never ran in a race like that. Every step, it felt like a half stride."

"Honestly, that was probably one of, if not the hardest courses I've ever ran," Coeur d'Alene senior Jacob King said Wednesday by phone. "Every step, you'd sink."

May and King, who placed 77th in 16:08.7, said Coeur d'Alene planned to start the race slower than in previous meets and then start moving up during the second mile and close out strong in the third mile. The plan didn't quite pan out on race day, which May and King chalked up to having never been to NXN before.

"We got out basically in last place, so we went out way too conservative," May said. "It ended up being a bit of a struggle coming back up, weaving through the pack."

"It didn't go as well as we'd hoped," King said Wednesday by phone. "I was going to lead our team with Max (Cervi-Skinner) and Lachlan. The three of us were gonna run together. Coach wanted me specificallyto be the pacesetter. We started out where our coach wanted us to. When it came down to it, it proved to be a lot harder than we thought it was. We started out in last place. It was just kind of an innocent flaw. Anyone who placed well at that race for the most part was in the front pack from the beginning."

Max Cervi-Skinner placed 63rd in 16:02.2, Mitchell Rietze placed 124th in 16:31.7, Wyatt Carr placed 126th in 16:32.5 , Zack Cervi-Skinner placed 152nd in 16:51.9 and Kyle Rohlinger placed 169th in 17:10 for Coeur d'Alene, which placed 11th as a team with 269 points, six points behind eighth place. Coeur d'Alene was also the top placing Northwest boys team. King said their parents and club coach Emry Carr traveled to Portland to watch them compete. 

"I can't complain," King said. "With senior year and everything, I'm just happy to be there. I was blessed to be there." 

NXN runners get to spend two days before the meet exploring the Nike campus in Beaverton, Ore., which includes the Michael Johnson track that is surrounded by trees, and meeting professional Nike runners. Karissa Schweizer, Cooper Teare, Woody Kincaid and Grant Fisher were among the professional runners in attendance this year.

"It was awesome," May said. "Everybody there was super nice. It was a once in a lifetime experience." 

"I thought everything about it was just incredible," King added. "It was a chance I'll never get to experience again. It was surreal."

Runners are also provided plenty of free Nike gear, and this year's NXN participants were allowed to keep as much Nike gear as they wanted thanks to new federal and state rules about NIL (name, image, likeness) deals for high school athletes. Roberts had to select which items to keep at last year's meet. This year, she brought home a backpack, warm ups, her Northwest uniform, a sports bra, socks, spikes, arm sleeves and trainers. She added that Nike allowed the runners to choose their trainers this year, whereas last year's trainers were the same for everyone.

"I got the Invincibles," she said. "I chose the pink and purple ones."

May and King also brought back several items.

"Nike gave us our jerseys and shorts, arm sleeves, socks, the special edition spikes, a full warm up suit, the NXN backpack and a Gatorade water bottle and then they also gave us Nike trainers," King said. "It was more than we deserved. I'm so grateful for it."

There was also a surprise waiting for each runner after the race.

"When we came back to our hotel rooms, there was a pair of Nike Dunks that Cooper Teare had signed a card and left for each one of us," King said.

With hundreds of qualifying runners from around the U.S., NXN allows runners to meet and run against athletes they have never met before. King said that was his favorite part of the weekend.

"Cross country runners are awesome people," King said. "I got to connect with Nelah Roberts and Landon Heemeyer. I remember on one of the bus rides to Nike headquarters, I sat next to an individual from the Northeast region. We talked a long time about running. For us as a team, it was cool to have each other. We got to meet other teams."

"We got to meet a ton of people," May added. "The Crater (Ore.) and Franklin (Ore.) boys are awesome. We did a cool down with them after the race." 

Roberts had the unique experience of qualifying for NXN for a second year in a row with four Northwest girls who also qualified last year: Logan Hofstee (Washington), Anna Callahan (Washington), Emily Wisniewski (Oregon) and Keira Saavedra (Oregon qualifier this year with her team, Forest Park). 

Saturday was a good day overall for the Northwest as Wisniewski made the podium with a third-place finish in 17:37.4, Hofstee was ninth in 17:45, Callahan was 11th in 17:48.6 and first-year NXN qualifier (and first-year cross country runner) Chloe Huyler of Oregon was 32nd in 18:25.1.

"It was so special," Roberts said. "We were all so much more comfortable with each other. The fact that our personalities can mesh so well, that's kind of rare as well."

Heemeyer, a BYU signee and three-time Idaho state cross country medalist who placed ninth at last year's Champs Sports (now again called Footlocker) Nationals in San Diego, was 16th at 1k, 22nd at 2k and fourth at 4k before finishing in 14th in Saturday's race. He was the second Northwest boy to finish--Bozeman (Mont.) senior Nathan Neil was third in 15:18.6--and his finish was the best by an Idaho boy at NXN since Thunder Ridge's Stetson Moss (11th place in 15:13.1, 2018). Idaho's 5A boys individual state cross country runner-up this season whose career personal best 5k of 14:38.79 is No. 2 all time in Idaho, Heemeyer qualified for NXN this year upon placing second in 15:05 at Nike Cross Northwest Regionals on Nov. 11 at Eagle Island State Park. Attempts to schedule an interview with Heemeyer for this story were unsuccessful.

Colorado swept the girls team podium with Air Force Academy winning with 61 points, Niwot placing second with 72 points and Denver placing third with 163. Niwot sophomore Addy Ritzenhein, daughter of back-to-back Footlocker Nationals champion and three-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein, won the girls race in 17:10.4. Air Force Academy is the second girls team from west of Minnesota to win NXN.

Utah also made history with its first NXN boys team title and a 1-2 podium as Herriman won with 83 points and rival American Fork was second with 100 points. Carroll (Texas) was third with 138 points. Utah also claimed the boys individual title as Olympus senior and Wake Forest commit JoJo Jourdan, winner of the Bob Firman Invitational elite race in September at Eagle Island State Park, won in 15:16.5.

Roberts plans to take a significant amount of time off from running as she has been training and competing since the summer. She qualified for NXN this year by placing fourth in 17:19.3 at Nike Cross Northwest Regionals on Nov. 11 at Eagle Island State Park. May and King said the Coeur d'Alene boys are taking at least one week off before resuming training for indoor track meets.

Roberts concludes her high school career having qualified for three national cross country meets in consecutive years (she placed 25th at Eastbay/Footlocker Nationals in 2021 and 24th at NXN last year) and as Idaho's first four-time girls individual cross country state champion, winning the 4A state girls race four years in a row. The first eastern Idaho girl to qualify for a national cross country meet, her personal best of 17:18.1 from this season's 4A state meet is not only the fastest 5k time by an Idaho girl this season, but an all-time eastern Idaho best girls 5k and No. 6 all-time on record in Idaho for a girl for the 5k. 

Her parents, younger brother, older sister, brother-in-law and uncle traveled to Portland to watch her compete, as did Skyline head coach Sean Schmidt, Schmidt's wife Shannon and Skyline assistant coach Gray Augustus.

While she said Saturday was an emotional day for her family as her high school cross country career ended, she believes her experience from national meets and preparing for those meets with her coaches is good preparation for collegiate running. She signs with BYU on Jan. 3. She made visits to BYU, Utah State, Oklahoma State and Tennessee this fall. 

"It gives me confidence for college to hopefully make that traveling team and compete in any condition, like a muddy course or sunny California," Roberts said.

With NXN over, King and May reflected on the history Coeur d'Alene made this season. In addition to becoming the first Idaho boys Nike Cross Northwest Regionals team champion and NXN qualifier, Coeur d'Alene won its first 5A state title since 2011, won the Battle for the 509 in Spokane, won the Mountain West Classic in Missoula, became the first Idaho boys team to win the Nike Hole in the Wall Invitational in Arlington, Wash., and received a No. 9 U.S. ranking from DyeStat. Last season, Coeur d'Alene placed third at the Idaho 5A state meet and had no seniors among its seven runners at state.

"It means the world to me that we were able to not only represent everybody in Idaho, but specifically north Idaho too," King said. "It was all so special. I'm so blessed to live in Idaho, and even more blessed to get to go to NXN for Idaho." 

"It means a lot," May added. "I love my team. It was my last cross country season and I couldn't imagine doing it with anyone else."

May and King also said they are looking forward to seeing cross country continue its progress in Idaho with more opportunities on the national stage.

"I think it's finally catching on," May said. "It's only gonna be up from here. I'm really excited to see where it goes in the next 10 years. I'm gonna be coming back next year to watch my team and see how they do."

"I'm really excited to see where cross country goes in Idaho," King added. "It has been on the rise. I know a lot of the younger kids in middle school and elementary school who run for the club teams in the area, they're fast. It's kinda cool to see how our school records will probably be broken by them."