The 5K at the Arizona AIA Cross Country State Championships last weekend featured a furry bandit.

A coyote jumped into the race at the 1.5-mile mark and ran alongside the race’s leader, Harvey Nelson, a senior at Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson. Trina Painter, cross country coach for Flagstaff High School, said the coyote ran alongside Nelson and another runner for about 50 meters before pulling off to return to the brush near the course.

“Everyone was thankful that nothing happened to anyone,” Painter said. “It was just so surreal.”

Karlene Nelson, Harvey Nelson’s mother, said she wasn’t near her son when the coyote joined in, but her sister Marylin Aune, who took the now-viral photograph (above), was there.

According to Karlene, Harvey didn’t realize the coyote was right next to him. Instead, he thought it was one of his competitors trying to pass him.

“It didn’t distract him,” she said. “He just kept running.”

Nelson held on to beat the coyote and the rest of the field, finishing first in 15:25.

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