Rookie from Green Bay 14th in Nike Cross Nationals

Dec. 6, 2010 9:33 a.m. 

Allison Woodward, a senior from Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay, extended her rookie cross-country season with a strong run to a 14th place finish in the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore.

The WIAA Div. 2 champion ran near the front for much of the race, competing with 200 of the country's top high school harriers. Rachel Johnson, of Texas, won the girls' race with a time of 18:18, a minute ahead of Woodward, who finished the 5K in 19:11.

"I started out tough and I came here to compete and try to hang in there the best I could," she said in a post-race interview. "Between, two and three was definitely one of the toughest courses I’ve run. That mud is a tough one.

"There were great competitors out there today. I gave it my all. This was one of the times where you come up a little bit short, but it’s only going to make me stronger and make me want to compete more."