‘I think he’s without a doubt the best we’ve ever seen’
Chris Wilson might one day land a job as a police officer.
Imagine Wilson, considered by many to be the top boys’ sprinter ever from the state of Montana, in pursuit of a suspect on foot.
Perhaps pursuit is the wrong word.
For not many up-to-no-good pedestrians would have a prayer pulling away from him.
“I sure hope not,” Wilson said, laughing.
Wilson, 26, is currently living in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, working as an asset protection specialist and trying to make headway on a career in law enforcement.
“I’m on the way to being married,” he said. “I also have a son on the way as well.”
Plans, Wilson said, are already in motion.
“I’ll try to send him back to CMR is what I’ll do,” said Wilson, the 2009 graduate from CMR.
AFTER beginning his college career on the football field as a defensive back at Montana State, Wilson transitioned to the track following his sophomore campaign.
The rust was non-existent, ending his time with the Bobcats with several individual Big Sky titles while also knocking off many school records.
“That was probably one of the best experiences I’ve had, being at Montana State, being in Bozeman,” he said. “I can’t think of a better experience than being in that environment and being around that coaching staff as well, football and track.”
It was eight years ago when Wilson, then a superstar senior at C.M. Russell High, arrived in Kalispell for the state track meet as the reigning state champion in the 100-meter dash.
That weekend he turned in one of the most impressive displays in Montana history.
“I’ll always remember that,” he said. “That has a special place in my heart, definitely.”
It’s on that May weekend that Wilson’s wheels had everyone else looking like they had on bowling shoes.
“That was a pretty emotional day,” he said. “I knew that it was my last day wearing the green and gold.”
That added adrenaline eight years ago aided in Wilson setting all-class records in the 100 (10.67) and 200 (21.06) that still stand today.
WILSON follows the football and track programs at Russell rather closely and last season became intrigued with a certain sophomore who, Wilson was told, might have some of the same stuff he had back in the day.
Before he knew it, Wilson was one of Damien Nelson’s biggest supporters.
“He’s a Rustler,” Wilson said. “And he’s on the path to knocking those records down. That’s awesome for me. I take more pride in that (than my records), the fact that we have another guy in green and gold getting ready to step up and do the same thing if not better.”
What made Wilson better than everyone else wasn’t just his athletic ability.
Russell head track and field coach Mike Henneberg marveled at Wilson’s determination in the weight room.
More than anything, Henneberg said Wilson was defined by his competitiveness.
“During practice he was just very committed to doing what he needed to do to continually improve,” Henneberg said. “And if you look at his times over the course of his career, he did. He improved most weeks. Just impressive because you don’t see the 10.4s, 10.5s, 10.6-type male sprinters around here very often.”
Henneberg paused.
“Yeah,” he said. “I think he’s without a doubt the best that we’ve seen, but there’s always another guy knocking at the door.”
Henneberg remembers Wilson darting down the Kalispell track in the 100 despite a headwind. In the 200, Wilson demolished the field and beat the second-place finisher by nearly an entire second.
“The 200 is the one that will always stick with me because it was such a dominant performance,” Henneberg said. “I don’t know that anyone had ever seen a 21.06. That was probably the most impressive thing that I’ve seen from a sprinter in state competition.”
WILSON, who was clocked at 10.48 seconds at the divisional meet as a senior, took to social media to congratulate Nelson after he captured the state title a year ago in Missoula, where the then-sophomore crossed the finish line in 11.26 seconds.
“I immediately started following him and tried to reach out to him,” Wilson said. “Just to give him some encouragement because it seems to me that he’s an outstanding athlete.”
You see, Wilson is one to pay it forward.
“I know that I had guys do that to me when I was there,” he said. “Some older guys reached out to me, so I just figured that I’d return the favor, let him know I’m watching and I’m rooting for him.”
Nelson is often met with a barrage of messages on social media after a successful race.
A few stick out more than others.
“I look at what everyone’s tweeting,” Nelson said. “And when his message pops up, I at least respond and acknowledge that he reached out to me. I do notice it.”
After Nelson zoomed to 10.71 earlier this season, Wilson was there to tell him job well done.
“Save that 10.5 for the state meet and take home that record and the gold! Good job so far!” the tweet read.
When Nelson posted videos of several races earlier this season on Twitter, Wilson responded:
“Looks familiar, you’re owning it. Keep it up!”
“Thanks, I will!!!” Nelson wrote back.
Those words just help fuel Nelson’s confidence, he said.
“It means a lot seeing someone who graduated and who has done it before reach out to someone like me in this case telling me to go beat his record,” Nelson said.
NELSON is seeking back-to-back titles in the 100 this weekend at the state meet in Butte and, possibly, his first crown in the 200. The sensational junior’s 10.71 is best in the state this season among all athletes and .04 seconds off the state record Wilson registered eight years ago.
Nine years ago, when Wilson was a junior, he was “running a lot of 10.8s, 10.9s.”
He won the gold medal as a junior in 10.82 seconds.
“He’s faster than me when it comes to age,” Wilson said.
Whether it’s this weekend or next season at the state meet in Great Falls, there’s a good chance Nelson challenges that 10.67 number.
“I don’t really think about it as much,” Nelson said. “When it comes down to the finals, I’m just going to run my time and whatever I get, whatever I come out with, I’m going to be happy. I’m not too worried about it.”
Nelson said he is confident with where he currently stands, a few days removed from running 10.94 and 10.87 in the preliminaries and finals, respectively, of the divisional meet. He went home a winner in both the 100 and 200, the latter of which he tallied a personal record of 22.10 seconds.
“With the times I’m getting, I’m pretty proud of them,” he said. “I’m just going to let it go and put it all out there when it comes down to Friday and Saturday.”
WILSON SAID he takes pride in the records he holds, takes pride in onlookers looking at him as the greatest boys’ sprinter in Treasure State history. But if it does indeed happen, if Nelson does supplant him in the record books, his mind will be at ease knowing that he will have handed the baton off to a fellow Rustler.
“Obviously, you want to hold it as long as you can, but these days athletics are getting more competitive and there’s better training,” Wilson said. “And so for me to see a guy who’s getting ready to break it, I think that’s awesome.
“The fact that he’s from CMR and he’s being coached by my old coach, I think that’s awesome for coach Henneberg to have that under his belt. He’s got two of the fastest guys to ever run in the state. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment for coach Henneberg himself and the rest of the CMR staff.”
He and Nelson have never met, but Wilson would like to change that if the record does fall.
For now, Wilson will follow and encourage Damien Nelson from afar, just like he’s done for the better part of a year.
“I would definitely tell him that I know what it feels like to have that pressure on his back,” Wilson said. “To me, track is an individual sport, but it’s also about the team. And the number one thing is to bring home the gold. Records are made to be broken, but no one’s going to care if you break the record and take second place. The one piece of advice from me would be to focus on winning that state championship, get himself a double gold two years in a row, set the pace for next season and just keep the momentum going.”