The Pomona-Pitzer Men’s Cross-Country team gets the chance to race against all of its SCIAC competitors for the first time this season Saturday morning as the squad will travel to the SCIAC Multi-Duals at La Mirada Park.

For the Sagehens, Multi-Duals is the first of two SCIAC races over the next three weeks. The team’s results at Multi-Duals will contribute to its final placing at SCIAC Championships, which will take place at Prado Park in Chino, Oct. 31.

The team is ready and excited to finally face off against all of its SCIAC opponents. On Monday, Oct. 12 I sat down to breakfast with co-captains Brian Gillis PO ’10 and John Mering PO ’10 to assess their feelings about the upcoming races.

The camaraderie that has developed between Gillis and Mering over the past three years is palpable. When a bit of scrambled egg gets caught on Mering’s upper lip, Gillis is quick to get it for him with his napkin. Although this is the duo’s fourth year training for SCIAC competition, it is clear that this year the two are more prepared than ever.“I have only competed in one SCIAC race in the past three years,” Mering said in defense of his ambiguous feelings toward the races. That one race occurred Mering’s freshman year. During his sophomore and junior cross-country seasons, Mering missed both Multi-Duals and Championships due to injuries.

“But you’ve prepared well this year! Look at that nice sunburn you got on your scalp for the race,” Gillis said, as he rubbed the top of Mering’s freshly buzzed head that got a little too much sun during a geology field trip the past Sunday.

In addition to physically preparing for a race it is important, especially in a SCIAC race, to have clear goals and an effective race strategy.“In a SCIAC race you have to be much more aware of the individuals you are racing against and your placement among them throughout the course,” Gillis said. “For example, I know that in the first 100 meters at La Mirada I want to pull Kris Brown’s shorts down.”

Gillis formulated this early race strategy in response to Kris Brown CMC ’11’s tendency to get out quickly in races, and to some inappropriate contact that occurred between Gillis and Brown at the UC Riverside Invitational in September.

Mering also is going into Saturday’s race with a clear strategy of where to place himself amongst the other runners. “During the second mile I plan on braiding Kleinsasser [of Occidental]’s hair,” Mering said.

Both seniors have reason to go into Multi-Duals with aggressive racing tactics. Collectively, the two have beaten arguably the best runners they will face in SCIACS. At UC Riverside Mering beat Brown, last year’s 5K champion in track, and at the West Region Preview Meet Gillis took down Kleinsasser, last year’s cross-country champion.

Mering and Gillis are not the only runners on the team who hope to race well in the next few weeks. The younger Sagehens are also in great shape and said they have been inspired by the examples Mering and Gillis have set this season.

“I think all of us are really ready to race SCIAC schools,” said Paul Balmer PO ’12. “We haven’t raced CMS since Riverside, and we’ve improved a lot since then. We’ve run a lot of quality workouts, Brian and John look great, and we have all just gotten stronger in general. The outcome of the race last week—Brian finishing 2nd, beating Kleinsauce, pretty much owning all of SCIAC—has really made us ready.”

Coach Tony Boston also expressed excitement at the team’s preparation for SCIAC and regional competition.

“When athletes show up to the first practice with such an extensive training background, as our guys did, it allows the coach to design and administer a high level training program,” Boston said. “The type of training that we are currently doing is intended to place our running program on par with the top schools in the West Region, and by all accounts we are well on our way to achieving this objective.”

Boston attributed the team’s potential for success to the runners’ motivation and determination.

“The role of the coach and the structure of our training program are important factors to the success that we’ve had thus far,” Boston said. “However, these factors take a distant second and third place to the dogged determination that this group of runners has to excel.”

While all are rightfully hesitant to make a concrete prediction about the outcome of Saturday’s race, the optimism and determination of the Sagehens as they approach Multi-Duals is overwhelming.

As Balmer said, everyone on the team is ready to get out on Saturday and battle with the best runners in the conference.

“I’m really looking forward to looking around in the race at mile four and seeing the P-P Pack and some CMS guys we can roll on,” he said.