At first glance, Zoe Nelson might not catch a fan’s eye. The soft-spoken, 5-foot-1 distance runner sports no eye-catching shoes or flashy hairdo.
Track fans saw a snapshot of Nelson in the 3,000 meters at the Pepsi Invitational. She ran smoothly, appearing innocuous within a pack of runners. Hanging near the front for much of the race, Nelson fell back and finished in third place behind teammate Sarah Pearson and winner Becky Guyette of Boise State.
Though Nelson didn’t win that Saturday afternoon in April, she gave fans an idea of what’s to come. Another opportunity to run comes Friday night when Nelson is set to compete in the 1,500 in the Oregon Twilight.
When Nelson agreed to join the Ducks, it marked another in a long list of touted prep athletes to make the move to Hayward Field. She arrived as one of Montana’s most decorated runners with a flair for national success.
But with success came attention from media and the public – some even asked for autographs.
“It’s been different than high school – having a little more anonymity,” she said.
Much of Nelson’s success has come in cross country, where she claimed a national championship in 2002 and was a three-time top-10 national finisher.
Oregon distance runners use the sport as a training base, coach Vin Lananna said. Nelson helped Oregon to third at the Pacific-10 Conference Championships and to a fourth-place finish at the NCAA West Regional Championship.
“That’s where she’s had the most success and we are hoping to be able to continue that,” Lananna said.
Nelson went from cross country in the fall and eased into the indoor season in January. She began the outdoor season in March.
“It’s nice to have the competition to keep feeling sharp and ready for outdoor,” Nelson said.
Success has come in spurts, including third place in the 3,000 meters at the Pepsi Invitational in 9:56.18 and 20th in the 1,500 at the Oregon Invitational in 4:33.23.
Nelson said she was satisfied but not thrilled with her performance in the Pepsi Invitational.
“It wasn’t my best, but it was the best I could have done on that day, so it was OK,” she said.
Nelson, in her short time here, has gained a deeper appreciation for training partners who push her, a contrast from Montana, where challenges were rare. The location of herhometown of Kalispell, Mont., and trainingregimen in the altitude kept Nelson from making regular appearances on the national track circuit.
“It ended up more racing myself than racing for personal improvement,” Nelson said.
According to the Missoula Missoulian, Nelson was only the third high school athlete to be eligible for the Foot Locker National Championships in all four years of high school. Nelson possessed an average victory margin of more than one minute and broke almost every course record in western Montana. She never lost a race in four years on Kalispell’s Flathead High cross country team.
The Missoulian reports Nelson started running at age 13. She made the move from soccer, which her mother coached, to running in Kalispell’s annual Bankwest Summit Classic. Nelson came in seventh overall, first among women, in the 5-kilometer race in a time of 18:54.
Nelson did more than enough to catch ex-Oregon coach Marnie Mason’s attention. Nelson’s other prospects, Northern Arizona and Duke, were too far away from home. Nelson was familiar with Oregon because her parents, Brooke and Bill Nelson, attended the University during the Prefontaine era, and she has an aunt who lives in Eugene.
“I had always thought about coming here,” Nelson said.
When Mason left in the summer, Nelson briefly doubted her choice to join the Ducks.
“I was questioning it for a while, just ’cause I didn’t know if it would be a good idea to go somewhere I didn’t know who the coach would be, but it definitely worked out,” Nelson said.
Ice and snow in Montana gave way to rain in Eugene. The orange and black of the Flathead Bravettes changed to Oregon’s green and yellow.
Already, Nelson has achieved the 5,000 regional qualifying time and seeks the 10,000 qualifying mark by season’s end. Nelson reached the 5,000 time of 16:52.00 in her season debut in the event in March’s Stanford Invitational. Nelson and teammate Pearson ran close together with times only .04 seconds and one place apart in finishing 25th (16:50.60) and 26th (16:50.64), respectively.
In the not-too-distant future are the 2008 Olympic Trials in Eugene, close enough to be noticeable and far enough to adequately prepare for a 10,000 appearance.
“It’s a couple years off, but hopefully I will be at a place in my training where that will be tangible.”

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