Nelson accounted for a 5K time that would have won her a gold medal had she done it at the 2010 NEC Outdoor Championships. Competing nearly 3,000 miles away from Jersey Shore-based Monmouth, which will host the 2011 NEC title meet, Nelson completed the 5,000-meter run in 17:38.90 at UCLA’s Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational. The former Shore Conference high school standout at Barnegat currently occupies third place on the NEC performance list. She is the first distance runner to win the NEC Women’s Track Athlete of the Week award this season, following a pair of hurdlers (LIU’s Jessie Gaines & Monmouth’s Laura Williams).