Tomorrow, the Pomona-Pitzer Women’s Track and Field team will compete in its first SCIAC race of the season at Caltech in Pasadena. Rather than competing in a SCIAC Invitational, SCIAC Multi-Duals and SCIAC Championships, this season each team will compete in two four-way meets and then the SCIAC championships. The Sagehens boast a talented squad with strong competitors filling all of the events for Saturday’s competition.

The Sagehens will compete in 19 total events, including three sprinting events, two relays, four distance events, two hurdle events, three jumping events, four throwing events and the pole vault. It is this variety that makes a track team so unique. Athletes compete in completely different events, allowing team members to marvel at the talent of their teammates.

Sprinters, such as Elena Brandford PO ’10, think of running around the track more than once as “daunting,” while distance runners can’t imagine how sprinters fly down the backstretch so quickly. Thrower Ellie Chestnut admitted to being baffled by the high jump, “That event is so far beyond me. I can’t imagine ever being able to jump over something that is taller than me.” And everyone finds the feats of a pole-vaulter to be amazing.

Even in the basic distinctions between sprinters and distance runners there remain a variety of types of runners and events. In SCIAC competitions sprinters will compete in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter events with two sprint relays—the 4 x 100 meter and 4 x 400 meter. Heidi Leonard PO ’12 said the 200-meter is her favorite race to compete in because “it’s still a full out sprint, but also a minor test of endurance.”

Many consider the 400-meter to be the most taxing sprinting event. Even 2009 SCIAC champion Claire McGroder PO ’10 claims she did not always like competing in the event. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve definitely started to enjoy the 400. It’s my hardest event for sure, but there’s also some strategy to it,” she said.

Between the sprints and the daunting 5K, steeplechase and 10K races lay the mid-distance races. The 1500 is typically run by those with a distance background, but in the 800 sprinters can also be successful competitors. Elena Brandford PO ’10, who competes in the 400, 800 and high jump, said the 800-meter race is her favorite because “it gives you more time to think than in the 400, so you actually get to have some strategy and I think it makes the race much more exciting.”

Anja Hughes-Stinson PI ’11, a distance runner who runs both the 800 and 1500, finds 1500 meters to be “the perfect race distance.”

Of the distance races, many team members most admire the steeple-chase. In past years, few Sagehen runners have participated in the event due not only to the courage it takes to endure a 3-kilometer race with five barriers per lap, but also because of the strain it puts on the body. Both Rose Haag PO ’10 and Zoe Meyers PO ’10 gave the race a shot last season. Haag set the school record in the event, while Meyers fell victim to the steeple and had go into early retirement due to a foot injury.

It’s often difficult to predict who will be able to steeple well, but Haag explained why Coach Kirk Reynolds had chosen her and Meyers for the grueling race. “People say steeplers are likely to be strong runners who either are ‘batteries,’ like Zoe, and keep going no matter what at the same pace, or runners who are good at changing gears. I’m closer to the latter,” Haag said.

While there is often a stigma for the participants in throwing events, Heidi Leonard PO ’12 noted that these preconceptions do not necessarily apply to the Pomona-Pitzer squad. “There is the stereotype of people who do throwing events as being really large and beastly. While sometimes this is true, our team has throwing girls that are tiny and graceful,” Leonard said.

Thrower Ellie Chestnut PO ’10 added, “I guess I’m a little small for a thrower, but throwers don’t have to be big to throw far.”

Pole vaulting is an event admired by all. Who, after all, would be crazy enough to launch themselves in the air, upside down, with a pole? “The pole vault takes a level of technique that seems pretty far beyond most other events,” Haag said, while Chestnut added that “you need incredible strength and coordination for the event.”

Across the entire spectrum of events, this year’s Sagehen team is primed to make a run in SCIAC.