Nelson earns national honor
Keeping up with area athletes competing in college.
Western Nelson (Burroughs High, 2009) Cal State San Marcos men’s cross-country: The former Indians standout earned All-America honors and helped the Cougars to a second-place finish at the 2011 National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics National Championships on Nov. 19.
The Cougars came into the race at Fort Vancouver, Wash. as the No. 8 team, but finished the season at No. 2 after the runner-up finish. San Marcos returned to the podium for the first time since a fourth-place place finish in 2003.
The nearly freezing temperatures at the start of the 8-kilometer race didn’t stop the Cougars runners, who placed second with 188 points behind top-ranked Oklahoma Christian (93).
Leading the way for San Marcos was Danny Lyon, who missed most of the season with an injury. Lyon ran the 8K race in 24 minutes 33 seconds, earning All-American honors with his 17th-place finish.
Right up there with Lyon was Nelson (24:46), a sophomore. With his 24th-place finish Nelson — a former Leader Male Athlete of the Year — secured his second straight All-American award. Lyon, a junior, and Nelson are only the second and third runners in Cougars history to receive multiple All-American awards in men’s cross-country.
Cody Carlson (Burbank High, 2008) University of Redlands men’s soccer: The former Pacific League Player of the Year finished his career with the Bulldogs by being named the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
Capping off a successful SCIAC career, Carlson, a forward, collected his first player-of-the-year award, while notching his third consecutive all-conference selection.
A two-time captain of the squad, Carlson played an instrumental role in helping pace Redlands and leading the SCIAC in almost every offensive category.
Individually, he ranked among the top three in conference with 19 points and eight goals. The striker also put together an impressive performance on Oct. 15 when he recorded a hat trick in the second half against Whittier College.
The Bulldogs saw their season come to an end with a loss to Calvin College in an overtime shootout during the sectional semifinal of the NCAA Championships.
After playing to a 1-1 tie through regulation, the teams battled it out in two 10-minute overtime periods. With the match declared a tie, the Knights finally advanced to the elite eight with a 5-3 result in the penalty-kick shootout.
The Bulldogs (20-3-2) recorded the program’s fourth 20-win season while going undefeated in SCIAC competition.
Mallory Gutierrez (Burroughs High, 2010) Pasadena City College women’s soccer: The sophomore forward led the way for a Lancers team that included four area athletes.
Also on Pasadena’s roster was Brittany Austin (Burbank), Hallie White (Burroughs) and Leila Farazdaghi (Burbank).
Gutierrez paced the team in goals with 12 for a total of 24 points. White had two goals and four assists for eight points.
The Lancers went 7-9-5 and 4-7-3 in the South Coast Conference.