Wyoming Star Seems Poised For A Podium Finish At Nike Cross Nationals

By Marlowe Hereford for DyeStat

An article in the Rawlins Times from January ends with the sentence: “It’s only a matter of time until the world knows who Sydney Thorvaldson is.”

The 2019 cross country season has helped the Rawlins WY junior move closer to living out those prophetic words from her hometown newspaper. And that rise into the running public's awareness caught even more momentum Nov. 16 when she won her second consecutive NXR Northwest girls championship.

Her winning time of 16:50.6 shattered two benchmarks at once: The first was course and meet records of 17:13 set by Bozeman’s Camila Noe at the 2017 NXR Northwest meet. 

It was also believed to be the first sub-17 time by a girl on a 5k course on Idaho soil, ever.

Even after receiving her medal and completing paperwork for Nike Cross Nationals, Thorvaldson said reality hadn’t completely hit her.

“It's crazy,” Thorvaldson said. “I don't think it's sunk in yet. I'll have to go home and think about it a bit. It will take a while.”

Thorvaldson and Rawlins head coach Nancy Steinberg had discussed the potential for a fast time at NXR Northwest after she ran 17:32.7 to win her third consecutive 3A girls individual title at the Wyoming state meet Oct. 26 in Afton. Steinberg pointed out the elevation difference — Afton is at 6,240 feet, lower than Rawlins’ elevation of 6,769 feet. If Thorvaldson could run a time in the low 17s in Afton, Steinberg told her, she could better that in Boise (2,730 feet).

She made good on that prediction and then some. Thorvaldson blazed through the first mile at Eagle Island State Park in 5:01 with nearly a nine-second lead over Summit OR senior Fiona Max. She reached the second mile at 10:31.1 with a 24-second lead and the gap extended to nearly 25 seconds once she reached the 3.8k mark in 12:57.1. She ended with a 15-second victory margin and led the next three finishers — Max, Lincoln OR freshman Kate Peters and North Central WA junior Allie Janke under Noe’s record.    

Steinberg found it as difficult as Thorvaldson to put the win into words. The performance prompted chatter at NXR Northwest, particularly about the fact that her time occurred on a course regarded as one of the most challenging in Idaho. Also the venue for the annual Bob Firman Invitational every September, Eagle Island State Park has narrow looping turns, a steep hill and surfaces ranging from grass to dirt to sand. 

“This course has a little bit of everything,” Steinberg said of Eagle Island. “She’s even stronger this year than a year ago. Every time she races (this season) she's running 20, 30, 40 seconds faster than last year. It’s just amazing.”

Thorvaldson said she focused on stability work and core work during the three weeks from the Wyoming state meet to NXR, but did not increase her mileage. She acknowledged that even though this was her third time running at NXR Northwest, she had nerves as she waited for the starting gun. Those nerves were eased by belief in her preparation.

“I was so nervous, but I think it was good nerves,” Thorvaldson said. “I was confident about how training was going. I told myself, ‘This is gonna be a good race. If I perform my best, I should come out with a good time.’”

Steinberg was also confident in Thorvaldson’s training. The two went back to work the day after the Wyoming state meet, picking up where they left off before that race.

As for race day nerves, Steinberg said Thorvaldson does not get rattled.

“She doesn't let things break her,” Steinberg said. “I've seen kids over the years when somebody passes them, it rattles them. She doesn't tense up.”

Thorvaldson did not intend to tweak her training in the build-up to NXN. Having been twice before, she knows what has worked for her in the past. Staying healthy, however, is a higher priority this year. She was sick the week of NXN last year and at one point was uncertain if she would be able to go.

Her illness also took a toll on her mentally.

“She went to school all week, (and then it was) come home and go to bed,” Steinberg said. “Once we got there (to Portland) she kept saying, 'Those girls are so much faster.' It was like she lost her confidence.”

Despite her health not being at 100 percent last year, she placed 13th in 17:29.1 to receive All-America honors for the second consecutive year. She placed ninth in 17:58.7 as a freshman.

This year's field includes two-time defending champion Katelyn Tuohy of North Rockland NY, who is running as well as ever, and at-large entrant Marlee Starliper of Northern PA, who won the Foot Locker Northeast title Saturday. 

Thorvaldson could be near them.

While she is encouraged by how her times have improved this season, Thorvaldson does not have a goal time or finish in mind for NXN.

“We’ll just have to see,” Thorvaldson said.

NXN could provide an opportunity for Thorvaldson to match or surpass an accomplishment by another Wyoming great, 2017 Jackson graduate Anna Gibson. Thorvaldson, then an eighth grader, traveled 121 miles to watch Gibson compete at Wyoming’s 2017 outdoor track state meet.

Gibson closed her high school career with a personal best 5-kilometer cross country time of 17:31. Thorvaldson bettered that last year with her NXR Northwest win and has also run much faster than Gibson’s outdoor 3,200 personal best of 10:42.08. Thorvaldson ran 10:12.18 at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

Gibson’s fourth-place finish at NXN in 2016, however, remains the benchmark for Wyoming girls at the national meet.

Gibson, who began her collegiate career at Brown before transferring to Washington, has frequently come up in conversations about Thorvaldson in Wyoming. Two years ago, prior to Thorvaldson’s departure for Portland as part of Wyoming’s largest group of individual female NXN qualifiers ever, with Aubrey Frentheway and Mackenzie Marler, Steinberg said Thorvaldson was unlike any other freshman she had seen in her coaching career in Wyoming.

Now, Steinberg has new superlatives to describe Thorvaldson, including where she ranks among all-time greats from the nation’s least populated state.

“She's gotta be one of the best,” said Steinberg, who is in her 27th year of coaching at Rawlins and has worked with Thorvaldson since she was a sixth grader. “If she's not the best, she's gotta be up there.”

Thorvaldson has felt the support from her hometown and home state since she started running with her mother, Wendy, at age 8 and soon after began entering road races. She ran an age-division record 38:39 at the 2016 Bolder Boulder 10k in Colorado as a 13-year old, was the fourth-place female finisher at the 2016 Rock N’ Roll Denver half marathon in 1:21.21 and went undefeated through three years of middle school cross country.

Steinberg said Thorvaldson rarely takes a day off or trains indoors. She runs in every type of weather and creates her own courses that snake through the town of Rawlins (population 9,259).

Three years into her high school career, Thorvaldson said she hears her name at every meet she goes to in Wyoming and carries that support with her when she competes out of state.

“I love it,” Thorvaldson said. “I'm super-proud I'm from Wyoming. Coaches from other schools, they will will be like, 'We're cheering for you.' Wyoming is really small. It's like a community.”

Those out-of-state opportunities have not only allowed Thorvaldson to compete at the national level, but form friendships with runners from across the country. She said she loves going to larger meets like NXR because it is like a miniature reunion with out-of-state friends. This was true at NXR Northwest, as well, where she was able to meet up with fellow Nike Elite camper Fiona Max from their neighboring box assignments at the starting line, and again while waiting for awards with Borah ID junior Nathan Green, who also attended the camp. Once the three found each other, Green and Max lifted Thorvaldson off the ground and took a photo together.

Thorvaldson said she is grateful for those friendships as well as being able to share in an exciting time for high school cross country in the Northwest. The regional featured three nationally ranked boys teams and six nationally ranked girls teams.

“There's just so many talented runners here, and so many of them are so nice,” Thorvaldson said. “They're going for the same thing as you. Me and Fiona, were talking before the race...’Let's have a good race. Let's have fun.’ It's great to have such a powerful group of women from the same region supporting you.”