As the track-and-field season draws to a close, the list of Sagehens who qualify for Nationals continues to grow. After last week’s competition, a total of seven Pomona-Pitzer Tracksters have hit Nationals qualifier marks. The marks make the athletes eligible to compete at NCAA Division III Nationals in Cleveland, Ohio in May.

Before the beginning of each track season, the NCAA decides on both a provisional and automatic qualifying mark for each track and field event. An automatic mark, as one might suspect, automatically qualifies an athlete to go to nationals. A provisional mark makes an athlete eligible to qualify for nationals. Only a certain amount of athletes will be taken for each event, so to qualify one must usually be well under the provisional mark.

For example, standout distance runner Alicia Freese PO’10 has automatically qualified for the 10,000 meter with a time of 35:13.41. The automatic time for the 10,000 meter race is 35:48. In addition to being well below the auto mark, 35:13.41 is a P-P record, a SCIAC record, the leading time in Division III and the twenty-third best time ever run for the 10K in Division III. Whew.

Freese’s mark in the 5,000 meter, which she expects to lower at the Occidental Invitational in May, only provisionally qualifies her for nationals. The automatic time for the 5,000 meter race is 16:55 and the provisional time is 17:35. In 2009, the slowest qualifying time to go to nationals for the women’s 5K was 17:17.06.

Both members of the steeple duo of Brian Gillis PO’10 and Anders Crabo PO’12 have provisional marks for the steeple-chase that will likely qualify them for nationals. Both improved their marks at the Mt. SAC Relays last week to bring them within seconds of the automatic mark of 9:07. Crabo ran 9:09.03 and Gillis hit 9:11.6. Both times would have got them to Nationals in 2009.

In the middle-distance races, John Mering PO’10 and Reiley Janson PI’10 have both dipped below the provisional marks. Mering ran 3:51.04 in the 1,500 at the Mt. SAC Relays last week and Janson covered two laps in a mere 1:52.33 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational.

Claire McGroder PO’10, the only Sagehen to go to Nationals in 2009, improved upon her provisional mark by running a blistering 56.95 in the 400-meter race at the SCIAC four-way meet last Saturday. At the same meet, Ellie Chestnut PO’10 became the lone field athlete to earn a qualifying mark. Chestnut threw 129-10 (feet) in the javelin to top the 127-11 provisional distance.

Although a Nationals mark is a goal for many track athletes, it does not become the sole motivator in the heat of competition.

“The mark is just the end result,” Alicia Freese PO ‘10 said. “I try to focus on the means through which to get to that end.”

In the middle of a race or throw, most athletes find it more motivating to focus on the competition around them. Focusing on the competition becomes the means through which they reach that Nationals mark.

“In a competitive 1,500 there are so many things to think about, so something like nationals often seems distant and unrelated,” John Mering PO ‘10 said. “When I run my best, I get in the zone and just think about beating everyone around me. The rest takes care of itself.”

Of course, a qualifying time can become a motivator to find that extra gear in the end of a race, especially when tenths of a second can determine whether a mark will be low enough to actually earn a trip to Ohio.

“The only time in the race that I thought about nationals was at the beginning of the bell lap, where I distinctly remember telling myself, ‘F—ing Ohio! GO!’” Mering said.

In Gillis’s Mt. SAC steeple-chase, thinking about his split times wasn’t even an option.

“Unfortunately, the clocks were not running during my race and I couldn’t really tell how fast we were going,” Gillis said.

The senior does wonder if he could have run a little faster if he had seen how close he was to that auto mark.

“I wonder if I might have been able to find a bit more motivation if I knew where I was in terms of qualifying,” Gillis said. “Maybe I could have pushed it a little harder in the last couple laps to get the time?”

It’s always easy to think you could run a little faster after the fact. Forget about that auto mark though—maybe if Gillis realized just how close he was to beating teammate Crabo’s time (who ran in an earlier race) he could have found that extra gear. Crabo and Gillis are the only pair to qualify for the same event and are currently leading Division III in the steeple-chase. Although Crabo currently holds first place and Gillis second, Gillis is confident he will be able to take the sophomore.

“According to a Letsrun prediction thread, I have been picked over Anders as the favorite for the win,” he said.

Luckily, we won’t have to wait until Nationals to see the first showdown between these two steeplers. Gillis and Crabo will join the rest of the Sagehens next weekend on Pomona’s Stehle track for SCIAC Championships. For those who can’t make it to Ohio, SCIAC offers a chance to see a slew of Nationally-ranked Sagehens and other talented athletes battle it out right here in Claremont.