Cross country: US graduate's back on track

Laura Nagel on her way to capturing the North Island crosscountry women's title in Taupo.

Hawke's Bay runner Laura Nagel celebrated her return from the United States by winning the North Island senior women's crosscountry title at the weekend.

In her first outing since completing her six-year stint in the States, Napier's Nagel, 24, went straight to the front from the start of the 5km race in Taupo and produced an effortless victory in ideal conditions. Nagel recorded a time of 17m 53s, North Harbour's Ashleigh Williams was second in 18m 11s and Whakatane's Jean Kozyniak, the 5000m bronze medallist from the March national athletics champs, was five seconds behind Williams.

The 2008 New Zealand 16 years girls' road champion, Nagel found racing crosscountry strange after a break of three years since her last race.

"The last time I raced crosscountry was the NCAA three years ago and we don't really do hills much in cross-country courses in the States and I thought this is going to be tough but I'm confident in how my training has been going with Ray Treacy still coaching me, which is amazing," Nagel said.

"I finished my scholarship at Providence College two years ago and then I went on to get my masters and I just got back two weeks ago. The athletics scholarship was definitely worth doing," she added.

Nagel will tackle next month's national crosscountry championship in Auckland.

Napier's Aniela Apperley finished second in the girls' 12 and under-2km race in Taupo with a time of 7m 49s. Clubmate Stella Marshall was ninth.

Napier's Ollie Marshall finished second in the boys' 14 and under-3km race in 10m 20s. Clubmate Mitchell Snell was fourth, six seconds behind Marshall.

Snell and Marshall consistently perform and provide each other with strong competition.

Napier's Steve Lindsay finished fourth in the masters men's 60-plus grade's 6km race while clubmate Claudia Layton was also fourth in her under-20 4km race in 17m 23s.

In his first attempt at the North Island champs, Napier's Lucas Duross was 10th in the senior men's 9km race in 30m 38s.

Regular rival and clubmate Kristian Day was 16 seconds behind in 11th place.

Auckland's Jono Jackson won the senior men's title in 28m 51s.

In the wake of these successes the Napier contingent should perform well at the Hawke's Bay/Gisborne champs in Gisborne on July 16.