Nightingale among the elite in Missouri cross country

Source: The Star

Susan Pfannmuller | Special to The Star

Last weekend, Samantha Nightingale of Blue Springs South won the Greg Wilson Classic with a time of 15 minutes, 10 seconds.

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Blue Springs South sophomore Samantha Nightingale enjoyed a successful cross-country season last year.

She performed well at the KC Metro Championships as well as the Suburban Big 7 conference, where the likes of Liberty senior Megan Yohe — The Star’s girls cross-country Runner of the Year — and Lee’s Summit North senior Taylor Hynes competed. Then, Nightingale topped her freshman season with a fourth-place finish at the Missouri Class 4 state meet behind Emily Sisson of Parkway Central, Yohe and Hynes.

Not bad for a rookie. And yet, not enough for Nightingale.

So on Saturday, when she laced up her spikes for the season-opening Greg Wilson Classic, whose host was St. Thomas Aquinas, Nightingale wanted to make a statement.

“No matter what you do in the past, the future is what you should look forward to,” Nightingale said. “I just wanted to get out there and prove that last year was not just a lucky year for me. I wanted to make people know that I am here again, and I’m going to run strong just like I did last year.”

Nightingale talks like a runner on a mission, and she backed up her words at the Greg Wilson Classic, winning the 4,000-kilometer race in 15 minutes, 10 seconds. She defeated 82 runners, including Hynes and the Kansas 5A state runner-up, Ashley Washburn of Aquinas.

Despite her success as a freshman, Nightingale won only the Grandview Invitational, which is small potatoes when compared with the KC Metro and the prestigious Rim Rock Farm Classic. After such a high-profile sophomore debut, Blue Springs South coach Ryan Unruh thinks Nightingale has joined the elite.

“I think it puts her in the same sentence as Megan Yohe and Taylor Hynes and the girls from St. Louis and the girls from Lee’s Summit West,” Unruh said. “She hasn’t raced any of those girls for a while, but she’s right in that state-title contender group.”

In a sport that’s often viewed as individualistic, Nightingale credits some of her success to the improvement of her Jaguar teammates. Last season, she was the face of the program, but the team has developed enough to finish fifth at the Greg Wilson with three of Nightingale’s teammates placing in the top 40.

“I am not Blue Springs South cross country. There is a team behind me,” Nightingale said. “I’m not running by myself anymore … so I’m feeling more in place than out of place, like I did last year.”

And so far, that place is at the top.

“I haven’t felt like this since last cross-country season. I felt relieved, like I can do anything,” Nightingale said. “Like nothing’s going to stop me.”

submitted by CANDACE BUCKNER - 2009-09-10 23:08:01