Unlikely favorite

That Nikki Codd is going to the starting line at the State 4A track championships in Pasco this weekend as a favorite in the 800 meters and a contender in the 1,600 meters seems, well, odd in hindsight.

Running, let alone racing, was never something she aspired to do until her mother made her turn out for cross country entering her freshman year at Mead to get her involved at school.

Two years of that and she was ready to chuck it to twirl flags for the color guard.

Now, as her senior year winds down and the pressure mounts, she reveals the oddest thing of all.

“Mostly I like the competition,” Codd said. “I don’t like to run, I like to race. It’s a stress reliever. It used to be the other way, I’d get so nervous.”

There is probably a lot of truth to that.

A promising sprinter and average distance runner, Codd’s sophomore season of track ended prematurely when she dove toward a teammate to salvage a bad exchange in an 800 relay in a meaningless Greater Spokane League meet.

It was probably a good thing she broke her collarbone two weeks before the postseason, though it hardly appeared that way at the time to the third-ranked GSL 400 runner.

“I have no idea why I wanted to do color guard,” Codd said, “but after the track injury, when I didn’t get to finish the season, I decided I was going to do whatever I can (to do something in track).

“I’m glad I did.”

Goodbye, color guard; hello, cross country.

After building a strong base in cross country, Codd became one of the top 400 runners in the state, only to give that up to run the 800 and relays in the postseason.

“I decided to train hard and I guess it kind of accumulated,” she said. “The mix of speed and endurance from cross country, putting that together makes a good 800.”

She finished second in the 800 and at a summer meet ran 2 minutes, 10.40 seconds, the third fastest by a Spokane runner behind former state champions Missy Blackshire (Ferris, 1996, 97) and Becca Noble (2005).

An even stronger cross country season – she finished 17th at state – propelled her into her final track season, where once again after establishing herself as a premier 400 runner, she has decided to focus on an 800-1,600 double. She is, however, anchoring a 1,600 relay team that should hook up with Shadle Park for one last memorable showdown at state.

“I’ll run the 1,500 and 800 in college (at Northern Arizona),” Codd said. “I don’t run 52s (in the 400) like they do in college.”

Mead coach Dori Robertson always suspected Codd would run longer racers.

“Freshman year, they’re all going to be sprinters,” Robertson said. “I let them discover their events on their own.

“In GSL meets it’s easy. I can put her in the 200, and probably the 100, or I can put her in the 2-mile. Whatever we need. I know other coaches were always worried about where we’re going to run her.”

The only time Robertson strong-armed Codd was when she announced her color guard intentions.

“She will do anything I tell her,” Robertson said. “She’s the most coachable kid. It’s not hard to convince her she’ll be good, but it’s hard to get her to that confidence level. She’s really good about trusting me.”

Maybe too much.

Last spring Robertson received a late-night phone call because Codd didn’t want to give up a vial of blood when she was being checked for an infection, because her coach had told the team not to give blood during the season.

Robertson’s other favorite Codd stories aren’t about running. They’re about her being the last to leave because she cleans up after a meet, or how she popped out of bed at 7:45 Sunday morning to fill in for an absent volunteer at Bloomsday 45 minutes later. Or how she can run but seems to stumble over anything and everything when she walks.

Codd, with a perpetual smile except when charging down the homestretch, doesn’t dispute that bit of clumsiness.

“I thought I was not athletic,” she said. “In soccer I chased the ball, but I didn’t know what to do with it. I’m too short for basketball and I have no eye-hand coordination. In softball I liked running around the bases. I was OK at tennis.”

It was just a matter of time until she figured it out, thanks to her mom.

“I hated it, I hated running,” Codd said of her first cross country practices. “A couple of weeks later I loved it. I don’t necessarily love the running, but I love the team atmosphere.”

Maybe color guard wouldn’t have been such a bad idea.