Fennville's Nidia Martinez on qualifying for state cross country: 'The job's not done'

FENNVILLE - The Fennville cross country team has sent several runners to the state finals over the years, nearly all of them with the last name Mendoza.

While there are more Mendozas on the Blackhawks this cross country season, the state finals will see a Fennville runner with a different name representing the Blackhawks this year as Nidia Martinez qualified for the Division 3 state finals as an individual.

"I think its a huge deal," Fennville coach Alex Best said. "When I look at the runner she was in middle school and even as a freshman, she was dedicated, but she found purpose. I really beleive that she has set the precedent for anyone else to pursue this goal. I also see it from a different perspective. Yes we have had three, now four consecutive state qualifiers, the first three being Mendozas, but each of them were their own person, too. I hope it opens doors for my kids to see that they don't need to fit a certain profile to be a state qualifier, or to be a runner in general."

For Martinez, the big moment came at last year's regionals. She didn't qualify for state, but her performance was good enough to know that a trip to state was a realistic possibility in the future.

"That sparked something in me. A week later, I went to support one of our teammates at Michigan International Speedway and that was the moment where I thought that I wanted to race there too. At one point in my winter training, I fell in love with the sport, realizing why I kept coming back each year," Martinez said. "My mindset has also helped me get where I am at. It took a lot of discipline to do what I was doing through the year. The early morning and late night runs did feel rough at times, but keeping my mindset positive truly helped."

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Martinez took 11th (21:19.20) at regionals to qualify as an individual.

"She was confident, she trusted the game plan, she was prepared. We talked since August about how, 'You have to be able to walk up to the line knowing you did everything you could to have the best possible outcom,'" Best said. "We discussed in the bigger meets she needs to get uncomfortable early and let her physical endurance, and her mental strength beat others. She ran it perfectly."

Martinez did everything she could physically and mentally to put her in position for a strong race.

"I think my endurance and racing mentality carried me well in the regionals race. My coach has always told me that those two factors will carry my body through the race along with my mentality. Even though it may be uncomfortable, I am stronger than I think I am. Regionals was one of the races that I truly felt my endurance carry me through and my mind telling me to keep racing those girls," Martinez said.

It also helped that her team finished sixth, the highest it has in a long time. While she was the only one to qualify, several teammates were close.

"There is never a boring day at practice for our team. I feel like we are all close to one another, even though we may struggle to admit it at times," she said. "It’s like we are a family. As for the atmosphere with our successes, we don’t just say the job is done after a good team outcome in a meet. We have to continue pushing ourselves and keep looking forward, which I think our team does a wonderful job at."

Now that family will be cheering Martinez on at the state finals.

"For the state meet, my goal is to just run. Run and have fun. It has been a big goal of mine to race there, and I know that it is a great opportunity for me to race a lot of other girls. It will be great to get another PR, but even if I do not, I want to be happy with my performance and know that I did everything I could to prepare for that moment," she said. "Like my coach said to me the day before regionals, I deserve every second of that race, and I believe it goes the same for the state meet. I’m going to run my race. The job is not done."

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Fennville's Nidia Martinez on qualifying for state cross country: 'The job's not done'