By: Joey Mullins
Samford Assistant AD for Communications
 
Two years ago, Samford distance runner Karisa Nelson, then a junior, became the school's first NCAA Division I national champion when she won the title in the indoor mile. Later this week, she will attempt to win a second championship at the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships at the Birmingham CrossPlex, Friday and Saturday.
 
Looking back on that incredible accomplishment, Nelson said she was confident entering the race, but was still nervous.
 
"I knew that I could win it, but I was also afraid that my calf would cramp and I would fall and not even finish the race," Nelson said. "I kind of have a bad thing where I have a losing speech and a victory speech, which is healthy in the fact that if I lose, I'm not going to get mad, but I probably shouldn't be preparing a losing speech. But what matters is the winning speech; I visualize winning more than losing."
 
Nelson won the race with a personal-best time of 4:31.24. Following the race, she said she has never felt anything like that before.
 
"It was incredible," Nelson said. "It's the most amazing feeling I've ever had in my life, hands down. There is nothing else like it, and it's way more amazing than you could ever imagine."
 
Nelson grew up in the small town of Brewton, Alabama, but she was born in California. She moved to Brewton with her family when she was four years old when her father, an emergency room doctor, began working at a local hospital.
 
Nelson started running at an early age, and she said she just always loved to run wherever she was going.
 
"I've always really liked running," Nelson said. "As a kid, I was always running everywhere. I know a lot of kids are like that, but I was a lot more than normal. I think the reason I started doing it is because my brother did it, and I thought it was cool that he did it. I liked it. I just like to go out there and race."
 
While track was her favorite sport, it was not the only sport she participated in while growing up.
 
"Growing up, I participated in almost everything," Nelson said. "When I was a little kid I did soccer, basketball, volleyball and tennis. I was a swimmer before I was a runner. I swam until I was 12 years old and then I became a runner. My first track meet was when I was 10, but I stopped swimming at 12 and then just focused on running. But, through my high school career, I always did volleyball and tennis."
 
Nelson said there were several reasons that track was her favorite sport to compete in, and the sport she chose to focus on the most.
 
"I liked it a lot because, I do love being part of a team, but I also like the individual aspect," Nelson said. "If I went out there and messed up it was on me, or if I went out there and did great it was on me too, at least for that one event. But I did like having the whole team around me as well. And, I was good at it too, honestly. It was my best sport, so I loved it. I didn't win as much in tennis or volleyball."
 
Nelson was a standout on the track at T.R. Miller High School. She holds school records in the 800 meters (2:18.27), 1600 meters (4:59.71), 1 mile (5:08.16) and 3200 meters (11:01.21).
 
When it came time to decide where to attend college, Nelson looked at a couple of different schools. She said, in addition to Samford, she also considered Lipscomb University. She said she chose Samford because she simply felt comfortable at the school and with its people.
 
"I think the community, and the school was just so beautiful," Nelson said. "If I have a hard day in class, I don't want to walk outside to some concrete jungle, I'd like to walk outside and see beautiful trees and the grass and flowers. But it was mainly the people, the people I came on a visit with, I liked them a lot. I just felt like I could form a solid relationship with the people I met, like (Head) Coach (Rod) Tiffin and (former assistant coach) Lori Strand, who isn't here anymore, but she was great too."
 
Nelson came to Samford in the fall of 2014. Like a lot of freshmen, she struggled with balancing her social life, school and being a college student-athlete.
 
"I was very happy to leave home, I was ready for the next step, but maturity-wise I was not ready for the next step," Nelson said. "I made some pretty poor decisions. I had a great time my freshman year, but my focus was not track and it was not school, it was my social life. Even though I had a lot of fun, I wasn't happy, my life wasn't balanced."
 
After her freshman season, Nelson said she knew she had to turn things around. She was able to refocus on track and her studies, and has become an outstanding athlete, as well as an outstanding student.
 
"I realized how unhappy I was and that I was letting my team down," Nelson said. "If you're not doing everything you can to be the best athlete you can, you're letting your coaches, your teammates and yourself down. I didn't want to do that anymore. I wanted to do what I was here to do."
 
After Nelson won her national championship at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, she competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 1,500 meters. She finished third in that race, earning All-America honors. She was also named the Southern Conference's Female Athlete of the Year that season.
 
The following year, Nelson suffered a broken foot, ending her season before it began. She was able to receive a medical redshirt from the NCAA, making her eligible for the 2019 season.
 
Nelson said, while it was difficult not being able to compete in 2018, it gave her more time to concentrate on other areas of her life.
 
"It was difficult, but I honestly think it was good for me, and I was still happy," Nelson said. "I couldn't run, but I still thoroughly enjoyed last year. It gave me a lot of time to explore other aspects of my life, like my faith and other relationships that I was trying to build. I'm not going to say I'm happy it happened, but a lot of good came from it."
 
Throughout her career, Nelson has helped lead her team to Southern Conference indoor championships in each season except for her freshman year. On Feb. 24, the team won its fourth-straight league indoor title. Nelson said she enjoyed it more than the previous years, because this was her final season.
 
"It was really great, because I knew it was my last year," Nelson said. "You know you don't really appreciate being a part of a team until you know you're not going to have it anymore. Before this year, I would be super nervous for conference, but now looking back, I wish I had just enjoyed being with my team."
 
Nelson will wrap up her indoor collegiate career this weekend at the NCAA Championships. She still has the outdoor season left, and she hopes to run professionally once her college career is over.
 
"That is my plan, and if I stay on this track, I should succeed in it," Nelson said. "But professional sports are kind of iffy. If you get into one bad car wreck, you're pretty much done. All of it depends on your health."
 
Following her athletic career, Nelson, who is a pre-med, biochemistry major, wants to follow her father's example and become a doctor.
 
"I want to be a doctor, because, you can only run fast for so long, it's really not that long," Nelson said. "I love running, but there are a lot of other things I want to do with my life as well. That's why I'm doing running before med school, because this is the only time I can do it, but I can make intellectual accomplishments for the rest of my life after this."
 
Nelson will run in the preliminaries of the indoor mile at the NCAA Championships Friday at 5:35 p.m. at the Birmingham CrossPlex. If she qualifies for the finals, she will compete again Saturday at 4:10 p.m. To follow the action live, click here: LIVE RESULTS.