Colorado Track XC Athlete of the Week: December 7

Holly Bent's sensational run at Nike Cross Nationals on Saturday was critical to Monarch's fifth-place finish. Photo by Tim Loreman.

Editorial Note: I am not in the habit of doing an athlete of the week feature beyond the scope of the regular season, but, as I looked over the results from Nike Cross Nationals, something jumped out at me. The front three for Monarch has been pretty steady this fall. In the biggest event of the season, however, a freshman stepped up and made a huge difference in Monarch's ultimate outcome, finishing as Monarch's second runner. That freshman was Holly Bent. In view of that accomplishment, I chatted briefly with Holly and Monarch coach Kent Rieder.

Monarch didn't qualify for NXN in conventional fashion. In the pressure cooker that is NXR-SW girls, Monarch finished third. That meant that Coach Rieder's crew had to wait a week for the results of all the Nike regionals to come in before they would know if they made it or not. There were positive indicators along the way--most importantly, perhaps, Monarch held steady in the rankings, but it was a week of waiting without knowing nevertheless.

And that kind of a week of waiting can try the souls of many a young athlete and many a coach.

Unlike two of her teammates, Holly Bent went to Portland not knowing really what to expect. Although teammates Claire Green and Kaitlyn Benner had made the trip before in 2010, maybe their stories just weren't convincing enough--or perhaps Holly just needed to witness it with her own eyes. She reported she was stunned by "how well we were treated there and how much work went into it. I never stopped having fun."

Like most freshmen on their first trip to NXN, there simply wasn't much in Holly's background that would compare with the experience.

As important as the experience is, however, nobody goes there just for the experience. Ultimately, it all comes down to the race. 22 of the best teams and a couple hundred of the best cross country runners in the nation. That can wreak a little havoc on the nerves--whether your nerves are young or old.

What it feels like on the inside and what it looks like on the outside can be two very different things, however, as evidenced by the strikingly different takes that Holly and Coach Rieder have on her state of composure in the moments leading up to the big race.

Coach Rieder saw Holly as something of a relief valve for the pressure on the team and a catalyst for the teams exceptional performance, "Holly always tells me how nervous she is before meets, but you would never know it by her demeanor. She is the one who is usually keeping everyone loose with jokes, funny statements, etc. Portland was no different, she said she was nervous, and understandably so at such a huge meet for a freshman, but she was her usual self, and I really think it helped everyone on the team."

Holly has a very different story to tell about those pre-race moments, reporting that she was "very very nervous, maybe like I was going to vomit, because I knew I was about to be in pain, and I really wanted to do well for the last race of the season with my team."

The driving force behind Holly's nerves?

"I wanted to place in the top 100 overall and wanted to run my hardest throughout the whole race."

Let's break that goal down a little. The top 100 is the half of the field at NXN. On the face of it, it sounds like a reasonable goal for a freshman who has been a midpacker on her own team most of the season. Or at least it sounds reasonable until you figure in that only 154 of the 199 contestants in the NXN race are members of teams. The other 45 are the top-tier individuals who qualified out of the nine regions. 

A vastly disproportionate number of the top 100 places in any given NXN year will be taken up by those 45 individuals. This year, 42 of those 45 would place in the top 100. And that casts Holly's goal of finishing in the top 100 in a far more intimidating light.

But it is invariably those who aspire to big things who achieve big things.

Initially, Holly had only a clue here and there that her race was going well, "I was not sure of my place or how I was doing, but my first mile time was very fast." Confirmation that things were on a great trajectory came soon enough, though, "When I caught up with Claire [Green] I knew I was definitely working as hard as I had hoped to."

Holly would eventually finish in 69th in her debut Nike Cross Nationals race, leaving her 31 places of margin on the goal she had made for herself. That finish would contribute a paltry 30 points to her team's score.

The strength of Monarch's team lies more in the pack rather than in the front runners, and Holly's 18:42, fitting a bit higher in the pack than it has the rest of the season, was a striking contribution to an outcome that saw Monarch finish fifth, edging in-state rival Fort Collins by a single point and Pennsylvania powerhouse Unionville (Kennett) by three points.

Every last scoring runner for Monarch can look at her placement and see the importance of every point in the eventual outcome, but it was Holly Bent who delivered in a way that absolutely nobody saw coming. In every big race, every team needs someone to rise well above the level of their previous performances if the final outcome is to be a happy one. On Saturday, Holly was the individual who found that new level.

And what a special way to end your first season of high school cross country!

What's ahead for Holly isn't perfectly clear yet. Once she catches up on all the classwork she missed on the trip to Portland, indoor soccer beckons. She has a decision to make come springtime. And she isn't sure yet what the outcome of that decision will be playing soccer or focusing on the 1600 in track.

I'm pretty sure I have a good idea of the decision that six other girls who wear Monarch black and gold are hoping for.

Congratulations, Holly, on your "special edition" recognition as the Colorado Track XC athlete of the week, and all the best as you wind down and take a little break from the rigors of the daily run!