Billy Nelson

Height:
5-6
Weight:
null
Class:
Senior
Hometown:
Bakersfield, Calif.
High School:
Taft Union

BILLY NELSON

Distance

Senior/Junior, 3L/2L

Bakersfield, Calif. (Taft Union)

PERSONAL BESTS

Indoor:

3,000-Meter: 8:06.24 (2006)

5,000-Meter: 13:46.80 (2006)

Outdoor:

1,500-Meter: 3:52.93 (2007)

Steeplechase: 8:33.33 (2007)

5,000-Meter: 13.58.91 (2003)

BIG 12 SCORING

2003 (I) 5,000-Meter, 3rd (14:15.93)

2003 (I) 3,000-Meter, 8th (8.20.90)

2003 (O) 5,000-Meter, 3rd (14.19.55)

2005 (I) 5,000-Meter, 8^th (14:22.13)

2005 (O) Steeplechase, 3^rd (8:53.01

2006 (I) 3,000-Meter, 4^th (8:06.24)

2006 (I) 5,000-Meter, 1^st (13:54.70)

2007 (O) Steeplechase, 1^st (8:47.89)

NCAA MIDWEST REGION CHAMPIONSHIP SCORING

2003 5,000-Meter Run, 4^th (14:21.56)

2005 Steeplechase, 2^nd (8:47.27)

2007 Steeplechase, 2^nd (8:51.46)

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SCORING

2003 (O) 5,000-Meter, 7^th (13:58.91)

2005 (I) 5,000 Meters, 8^th (14:22.13)

2005 (O) Steeplechase, 3^rd (8:53.01)

2007 (O) Steeplechase, 4^th (8:33.33)

HONORS

2003 Outdoor 5,000-Meter All-American

2005 Indoor 5,000-Meter All-American

2005 Outdoor Steeplechase All-American

2007 Outdoor Steeplechase All-American

2008 OUTLOOK: Billy is the defending Big 12 Steeplechase Champion and certainly hopes to repeat in that event this year as well as advancing to the NCAA finals and possibly the Olympic Trials.

2007: Nelson concentrated on the steeplechase during the outdoor season, but also ran a few other events. He started the outdoor season by placing third at the Potts Invite in the 3k (8:54.27). He also ran the 5k at the Stanford Invite in 14:02.61, 23^rd overall. Nelson clocked a personal record of 3:52.93 in the 1,500 at the Stanford Invite. Nelson’s first race in the steeplechase came at Mt. Sac. He recorded a then-pr and regional qualifying mark of 8:40.88 and placed second overall. Nelson won the Big 12 title in 8:47.89. At regionals, he recorded a time of 8:51.46 to finish second. Nelson earned his second All-American honor in the event that June when he placed fourth overall. He ran a pr of 8:33.33, which is the third best mark in school history and made him the second fastest male in the event. Nelson went on to compete at the USATF Championships and placed 15^th (8:42.23) in the prelims.

2006: Nelson ran the 3,000-meters at the Big 12 Indoor Championship at 8:06.24 to claim fourth place behind teammate Brent Vaughn. The time was also a pr for Nelson. In the 5k during the indoor season, he was one of three Buffs to finish under 13:49 for the first time in school history. Nelson recorded an automatic qualifying time or 13:46.80 at the Husky Invite and placed fifth. He earned his first Big 12 title in the 5k with a time of 13:54.70. Nelson took 10^th at the NCAA’s (14:13.84). Nelson did not compete in the outdoor season.

2005: Nelson competed in the 3,000 and 5,000-meter runs during the indoor season. He ran an 8:21.86 time in the Big 12 Indoor 3k race to place 16^th and a 14:22.13 5k to finish eighth. Nelson had a solid run in the outdoor season, making both regional qualifying marks in the Steeplechase and the 5k race. His ninth-place finish at the Cardinal Invitational with a time of 8:46.36 was a personal record and a regional qualifying time. At the Mt. SAC Relays, Nelson once again met the regional qualifying mark for the 5k race with a 14:09.41 finish for eighth-place.

2004: During the indoor campaign he only ran one race due to his injury, as he placed fourth at the Adidas Classic in the 3k run with a time of 8:09.87. His lone outdoor 5k race came at the Mt. SAC Relays when he clocked a 14:07.53 to earn 22^nd overall; that mark earned him a regional qualifying time.

2003: During the indoor season, Nelson ran the team’s second best 3,000-meter time ? an eighth place finish at the Big 12 Championships (8:20.90) and the squad’s third best time in the 5,000-meter ? a third place finish (14:15.93). Outdoors, Nelson won the 1,500-meter at the CU Twilight meet (4:00.04). Securing a seventh-place finish (13:58.91) in the 5k for All-American status at the NCAA Championship Finals he set a PERSONAL record for the event. Following that race, he captured his second USATF individual title when he won the 5k at the USA Championships.

CROSS COUNTRY: Nelson was a 2002, ’03, ’05 and ?06 All-Big 12, ’03, ’05 and ?06 All-Mountain Region and two-time All-American as a freshman and sophomore. He won the 2002 U.S. Junior National title and finished 26^th a month later at the world championships in Lusianne, Switzerland. He redshirted the 2004 season with an iliotibial band injury. In 2005 Nelson was back on track, finishing in the top ten in four out of five of his races. He raced to first place overall at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships, eighth place at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, sixth place at the Pre-National Invitational and ninth place at the Big 12 Championship. At the NCAA Championships he finished fourth on the team and 76^th overall. Nelson was named the Mountain Region Male Athlete of the Year with his first-place finish. Nelson wrapped up his senior year by helping CU to its second national championship in three year and his first since he was injured in 2004 when the Buffs won their last title. Nelson placed 56^th overall, but passed 10-15 harriers in the last 1,000-meters to help CU past the defending champ Wisconsin. Nelson led the Buffs for the second straight season at the Mountain Regional, taking eighth overall. He also placed sixth at Big 12’s.

HIGH SCHOOL: Nelson graduated with school records in the 3,200-meter (8:54), the mile (4:15) and the 3,000-meter (9:35). Taft was the South Sequoia League cross country champions his sophomore through senior seasons. He was an All-South Sequoia League performer his freshman through senior seasons and an All-Area pick his sophomore through senior year. His prep career culminated in his winning the Division IV California State Championship as a senior. That same season, he finished third at the FootLocker Regional meet before a ninth-place finish at Nationals. Following his prep campaign he finished third, and earned a bid on the national team, at the U.S. Winter World Cross Country Championships decided in Vancouver, Wash. hat March he finished 33rd (the second American) in the 8k men’s junior race at the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland.

ACADEMICS: Nelson is a history major at Colorado.

PERSONAL: William Andrew Nelson was born Sept. 11, 1984 in Bakersfield, Calif. He is the son of William and Amy Nelson of Gypsum, Colo., and Rhonda and Bill Blythe of Taft, Calif. He has an older sister, Danielle, a younger brother, Colt, runs for Western State and a younger sister, Hailee. Nelson and his fianc?, Alisa Crane, had a baby girl, Arabella, on August 7, 2007.