In their first appearance on the national stage, junior Connor Rose and sophomore Jeff Marvel both had their eyes set on All−American honors in the 800−meter run this weekend at the Div. III NCAA Track and Field Championships. But despite strong performances from both, the pair came up short.
Marvel entered the meet seeded seventh with his season best of 1:52.72, while Rose, who is also a senior staff writer for the Daily, was in ninth with 153.04. Among 12 athletes, however, Rose finished 10th and Marvel in dead last on Capital University's track in Columbus, Ohio.
Rose ran in the first of two six−person preliminary heats on Friday evening. Unfortunately for him, this heat proved to be much slower than the second, with only three athletes qualifying for the finals, while five qualifying times came from the other heat. In a sprint to the finish, Rose crossed the line as fifth in his heat at 1:54.99, just 0.75 seconds behind the leader, University of St. Thomas junior Mike Hutton with 1:54.24. The race was tight until the end, with the all six runners finishing within one second of each other.
The heat went out slowly and all six runners stayed in a close pack. While others runners wasted energy jumping around looking for position, Rose hung onto the back end, waiting to make his move. The race picked up its intensity with 400 meters to go, but the pack still did not separate with a lap left.
"With 200 to go I thought I was in a great spot and I was really confident in my finishing speed," Rose said. "I thought I was going to go around everyone. Just because of my injury I found it too difficult to sprint. … It hurt too much and I couldn't use all my speed. Because of the nature of the heat it could have been just as likely that I could have gone right around everyone, but instead half a second makes a difference between qualifying and not."
Rose has fought off an Achilles injury all season, and sat out the beginning of the indoor season. Though it did not stop him from running the national qualifying time and breaking the 19−year−old school record — along with Marvel — it stood in his way of making the finals this weekend.
Marvel was up next on track. Having the advantage of knowing what time they each needed to qualify, the second heat went out hard and ran a much more consistent race than the first. Right in the center of the pack with a lap to go, Marvel just didn't have enough closing speed and fell back to last in his heat, finishing in 1:55.66. The front−runner clocked in at 1:52.87.
"It was a pretty steady−paced race until the last 200 meters when everyone started really kicking and trying to get a qualifying time," Marvel said. "There was really a tight pack and then a sprint to the finish. I thought I got out well and that I was in a good position with 150 left, but then I just ran out of gas at the end."
Despite failing to make Saturday's finals, neither athlete left Ohio disappointed with their season. Though coming home with All−American honors was the goal, being one of only 12 athletes competing at Nationals was enough of a victory for Marvel and Rose.
"Obviously it would have been great to make finals, but [if you look at] my race in isolation, I ran well, and that's technically my second−fastest time ever, even though it went out slow," Rose said. "It's nice to know that I have the strength to compete and try to qualify for finals at nationals. I just wasn't healthy enough to do it, which is frustrating, but I am not too worried about things that are out of my control."
"This was my first time at nationals, so I obviously I was happy to just be there, and I think I would have been happy with anything I did," Marvel said. "I'm still a sophomore, so I have plenty of time to go back to nationals and be able to do it again with more experience and maybe have a better result."
And the pair will come away from this weekend knowing what to expect and how to better prepare in future races of this scale.
"It was definitely a learning experience," Marvel said. "The whole procedure is different that any other meet I've been to, so it really helps to have seen that so I can be comfortable with that going into it next time. Just being there once will definitely take the pressure off for next time."
The top two finishers from each heat combined with the four next−best times for the finals of the race on Saturday. This proved to be a much faster race. The pack again remained tight, but an exciting sprint down the home stretch gave Amherst junior Ben Scheetz the title in a time of 1:51.26. Scheetz passed Wabash College junior Jake Waterman within the last five meters, beating him by just 0.06 seconds.
"At a lot of championship meets, the race gets out a little slower, but [the finals] got out at a decent pace," Marvel said. "It was really tight bunch for a lot of the race and then with two laps to go, it really started spreading out as people started kicking to the finish and then it came down to a sprint to the finish for a few guys, so it was a really exciting race to watch."
This weekend wrapped up the season for Marvel and Rose, but the pair will shift their sights to the outdoor season, which will kick off with the Snowflake Classic hosted by the Jumbos on April 2.
