In Memorium - The Stanford Invitational, both track and cross-country, is a benchmark event for high school runners throughout California and the West. I remember back in September, 2007 the Bishton twins, Nadya and Nastia, traveled from Mountain Ridge High School, Glendale, Arizona to Stanford. They went 1-2 in the 5K, followed by the likes of Laurynne Chetelat, Jacque Taylor, and Deborah Maier! Seniors in that year, they were “showcasing their wares” in a matter of speaking, looking for potential schools to attend as NCAA Freshmen.
What made the Bishton twins unique, besides being twins, was the fact they were born in Russia, and seeing the photos floating around on Dystat and the other sites, one was taken aback by the beauty of both daughters and their mother Viktoria Bishton.
Months later the deals were made, Nastia to Arizona State University, Nadya to Wisconsin. Nadya only stayed a year. She would come back to California, transferring to San Jose State.
This weekend, on Saturday, marks four years that have passed since Nadya’s death. It was a tragedy for the family and the running community. Her sister stopped running within the year at Arizona State. Finding Nastia’s picture on her Arizona State Athletics bio site brought back a wealth of memories of both the girls, running at Arcadia, the FootLocker, Mt SAC, and everywhere else they competed, never too far away from each other in a race.
I met Nadya and her coach once, at the FootLocker down in San Diego. I was teasing her a little about the Hollywood sunglasses she was going to run in. But I told her Megan O’Reilly did very well in hers and it was OK. I also reminded her to put them up in her hair for the interviews after the race. You can’t hide eyes like that!