Winters takes first at Nike Regionals

Burlington athletes Kellen Winters and Howard McNiven competed in the Nike Northwest Regional Championships Nov. 16 in Boise, Idaho. They joined runners from Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. 

Winters ran in the Middle School Boys 3K race and placed first among the 204 other athletes with a time of 9:41.1. “I knew this race would still be really competitive, with a lot of runners from the surrounding states,” he said. “The big difference was the distance being a 3K instead of the 4K we ran at Nationals, so it felt more like the races I’m used to in our regular cross-country season. 

“That made me feel a little more comfortable since I already know how to pace myself and when to push harder for this distance.” 

Winters stayed with the top three runners for the first half of the race but at a crucial part of the course, he knew he could take over. “When we came to the big hill, I felt comfortable passing the lead runner because of all the hills we ran during practice with Mr. Olson,” he said. “From there, I was able to lead the rest of the race.” 

McNiven ran in the Boys Rising Stars 5K and finished with one of his season best times of 17:21.3. That time placed him sixth in his heat of 278 runners, and overall, 17th out of 675 runners. McNiven caps off a successful high school cross country career with three regional individual championships, two individual third place finishes at state, one individual state championship and two team state championships. He approached this race like any other. “It was definitely more competitive, but I didn’t really change my training approach,” he said. When asked what motivated him this season, McNiven said, “I ran with the possibility of running in college in mind.”