Muir High Racer Is Going the Distance : Distance Runner at a School Known for Sprinters Qualifies for State Meet

It was hardly a vintage performance for distance runner Robert Nelson from Muir High of Pasadena in the 3,200 meters at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet last week.

With less than two laps remaining, Nelson was struggling in eighth place. Only a furious rush in the last 300 meters enabled him to pass Mike Nielson of Mater Dei near the finish line and grab the fifth and final qualifying position for the state meet that starts Friday at Cerritos College in Norwalk.

Not his best showing ever, but for Nelson and the Mustangs it was almost as good as a victory.

After all, Muir has never been regarded as a producer of distance runners. Over the years, the Mustangs have been known for outstanding sprinters such as Bernard Mathis, Anthony Miller, Ray Brown and Corey Ealy.

The last distance runner from Muir to qualify for the state meet was Jesse Gomez in 1966.

That made it easy for Coach Clyde Turner to put Nelson’s accomplishment in perspective.

“It’s not the place he took, it’s the qualifying,” Turner said. “He made history for our school. We just wanted him to get to the state (meet).”

As a senior, competing in the state meet will mark the end of a brilliant high school career for Nelson.

He will be leaving with all of the school’s distance records in the mile and up. At the CIF Southern Section 4-A Division finals two weeks ago, the 18-year-old established school records of 4:16.48 in the 1,600 and 9:11.01 in the 3,200.

In track, Nelson has always been somewhat of a trailblazer.

You see, Nelson is a full-blooded Navajo Indian and one of the few to be competing and succeeding in sports. “I don’t know how many are (competing), but I know there’s not a lot,” he said.

Nelson had never competed in track before joining the Muir cross-country team as a freshman.

“I wanted to compete in football but my brother (Billison Littleman) got me interested in cross-country,” he said. “So I decided to try it as a freshman.”

Nelson says he was kidded about his heritage by his teammates at first:

“The team kind of joked at me. They called me all these Indian names. But once I started improving, they started giving me a little more respect.”

Turner said he could see Nelson’s potential:

“As a ninth-grader, we knew he had a lot of ability. We felt that by the time he was a junior he’d be right there in the state meet challenging for first.”

It has taken Nelson a little longer than Turner expected to reach the state meet, but the coach attributes that to the fact that the Mustangs have not had much of distance program in the past.

“It’s twice as hard for Junior as it would be for someone else because of the distance (program),” Turner said. “He doesn’t really have a coach to train with him here. So he has to do a lot of the training himself. His success is really a credit to him.”

Nelson, nicknamed Junior by his family, said he does work with a distance coach, Nolan Smith, but not as much as he did last year. Smith was a volunteer coach, not part of the regular staff.

“I had (him) last year and he had problems with the coaches, so I didn’t get to train with him that much this year,” he said. “I wish I had him here to help me (on a regular basis).

“He still runs with me. We go to distance runs together. He just doesn’t watch me at meets.”

Nelson started to make an impact in the Southern Section last year when he reached the 4-A finals in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters. He won the Mack Robinson Award as the school’s top track athlete.

Turner said there has been a noticeable improvement in Nelson’s performance as a senior.

“Junior ran like a veteran this year,” he said. “He was more mature. He has been one of our team leaders and our team captain.”

The coach said Nelson has improved his sprint speed. “We’ve tried to work with him on his 800 and his speed, and if you saw him in that last 300 meters (at the Masters), it was like you shot him out of a cannon.”

He gave an indication of his development when he finished second in the Southern Section 4-A cross-country championships last November at Mt. San Antonio College. His time was the third fastest for all divisions.

“He was ranked third in the state,” Turner said. “So he likes the longer distances, preferably the 3,200.”

Although he qualified for both the 1,600 and 3,200 for the Masters Meet last week, Nelson decided against running the 1,600.

“I didn’t have that much time between the 1,600 and the two-mile,” he said. “The two-mile has been my best race.”

What he didn’t realize is that he would be suffering from a painful groin injury that nearly forced him out of the 3,200 meters and kept him near the back of the pack for three-quarters of the race.

“Around the fifth lap I thought about dropping out, but I couldn’t drop out. I didn’t want to make my coach disappointed.

“When my coach told me before the race it had been over 20 years since a distance guy (from Muir) made the state, that’s what got me motivated. That’s what I kept thinking about during the race. I didn’t want to end it here. I wanted it to keep going on.”

The question now is whether Nelson will be healthy for the state meet.

“Before Friday I’ll get it checked out,” he said. “I hope it isn’t a problem. I don’t want it to bother me for my next race.”

As long as Nelson is healthy, he said he is confident about his chances.

“I started out kind of slowly and worked my way up,” he said. “Now I’m starting to pick it up.”