Nelson ready for more

Rex Nelson’s feet are far from happy when running at Mt. San Antonio College.

The three-mile cross country course is brutal. Try competing on it with your toes touching the ground. Or keeping your stride with your shoulder caved into the dirt.

Twice in the last two years Nelson has lost his footing at the prestigious course in Walnut. The last time his left Nikes ripped with a half mile to go at the Mt. SAC Invitational in October. At least he was able to continue his pace, unlike last year, when Nelson tripped during the first half mile and was trampled over like someone during the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

When Nelson returns to Mt. SAC to compete with the Newport Harbor boys’ cross country team at the CIF Southern Section Division II preliminaries today, staying upright is the objective.

It’s funny to his teammates that Nelson even has a goal in this sport, but the senior is the top runner on the state’s No. 2-ranked team. Nelson, the self described crazy dude who’s the Sunset League champ? This is the same guy who admits that during street workouts he’s breaking from the pack — not to pick off runners, but oranges off trees to eat while running.

“Yes, that was him,” said Mike Puncel, the Sailors’ No. 2 runner, who couldn’t be more different than Nelson. “He’s come a long way.”

In a lot of ways to Puncel, Nelson ran the course in reverse before he fully committed to the sport as a junior.

Nelson would know the correct way. He’s an aspiring engineer, with the course mapped out in his head like a GPS device. The senior said he has a 4.3 grade-point average, he’s in the top 2% in his class, and he’s applied to MIT, Cal Tech, UCLA, UC Berkeley, some the best engineering schools in the world.

Puncel remembers Nelson coming out for cross country as a sophomore. Nelson said he showed up to run and then changed his mind. He quit two days before the team’s first meet. The decision stunned Coach Nowell Kay and the team.

“I told them I hated running long distance,” said Nelson, considering himself at the time more of an 800-meter runner in track and field than a three-mile runner on courses that always changed. “I would rather go to the beach and do something that would be cool.”

So Nelson went away to be hip. Kay stepped in during Nelson’s sophomore year in track. Instead of encouraging him to give cross country another shot, Kay offered something else.

“He guilt-tripped me,” Nelson said. “He said he didn’t think I could cut it in cross country. No one has ever told me I couldn’t do something.”

Just to prove Kay wrong, Nelson returned to cross country. None of his teammates took him serious during the summer workouts, where they spent up to six days a week running 50 miles. Sure Nelson came out, two or three times if he felt like pushing himself. Guess where he went. The beach, where else? The lackadaisical approach eventually caught up to Nelson.

“In the first race I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do? Am I going to get lost?’” Nelson said.

Nelson quickly learned to follow Nelson. Wherever Puncel went, Nelson trailed him like a detective. At first Nelson said he never figured he’d catch Nelson. The goal, other than showing Kay that cross country wasn’t too rigorous for him, was to beat Murphy Hitchcock every time.

“He was kind of strange,” Nelson said of Hitchcock. “He was kind of vulgar. He was supposed to be the No. 1 guy and I was the guy coming in second behind Puncel. I was only like three seconds behind him. That’s when I started to actually think, ‘Wow! I’m pretty good at this.’”

“I would just stay with Puncel and then I would out-kick him at the end because the guys know I’m quicker than everyone else. In track I’m known for my final 200-meter kick.”

That kick has been lethal for Newport Harbor, which is on course to advance to the CIF State championships for first time since 1998 if it advances to the section finals. The team is stellar with Nelson, Puncel, Jake Dawson, Hitchcock and Michael Taylor usually scoring one through five and Carlos Urquidez, Saul De La Rosa and Scott Figueroa battling for the next two spots.

All year long, the Sailors have finished strong, first place at the Sunset League finals, second in the Division I and II sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational, where they recorded the fourth fastest time (79 minutes, 45 seconds) by a Division II school, fourth in the sweepstakes race at the Orange County Championships, and first in the large schools division at the Clovis Invitational.

“They have done everything that I’ve asked them to do, including Rex,” said Kay, laughing. “Rex has committed himself to the sport and the results show that. He’s No. 4 on our outstanding performance list, which is 30 deep and the records go back to 1977. I’m just hoping he stays on his feet because last year at this event I expected him to be out in front of our guys after the first mile. I was waiting for him around the corner and he never showed up.

“I was thinking something bad happened to him and about a minute later he comes by all covered in dirt and looking in bad shape. That took the wind out of our whole team and we missed going to the section finals. This year will be different. The guys have been pretty much on a mission to get to state and win it.”

If the Sailors claim the state title for the first time since 1992, Nelson’s feet will be more than happy.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.