On Saturday, the men's track team will compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the last chance for athletes to qualify for Nationals. The meet brings together schools from all divisions.
Senior Colman Hatton hopes to qualify in the 5000-meter run. He will need to have another great performance to continue his season at nationals.
The distance medley relay (DMR) has posted a 10:02 and needs to knock off two seconds to qualify. Captain Thompson Ogilvie '10, running the 1600-meter leg, has no doubt in his team.
"We have the talent to put down a very fast time," he said. "The ECAC Championship has a lot of great teams running the event so it will be a fun race. If we all run our expected splits, we will be booking flights to the national championship."
Last week, the team competed at Open New Englands at Boston University among 34 other teams ranging all three divisions. Hatton had another fine race finishing fourth in 14:48 for the 5000-meter run.
Coach Slovenski thought he "ran a smart race, but the pace was not very fast. We're pleased with the place, but we were hoping for an NCAA qualifying time."
Hatton is hoping for a quicker pace next week, but as he says, championship meets can be unpredictable.
"The only thing you know going into a championship race is that you have to be ready for anything. Sometimes the pace is slow, sometimes it's fast, sometimes it gets physical, and sometimes it feels like you're all alone. Any way it falls, the best runners always come through with great races. We have a bunch of guys who excel in the championship atmosphere, and they all came through big last weekend."
First, Matt Hillard '12 placed fifth in the 1000-meters with a 2:30.27—a personal record by about five seconds.
"Matt Hillard is having a fantastic year as a runner," Slovenski said. "He's moved to the next level as both a cross-country runner and a track runner."
Ogilvie also set a personal record by three seconds in the mile, running 4:12.34.
"[He] followed a fast pace through the 1200," Slovenski said, "and then he made a great move over the final 400-meter to reach the NCAA qualifying time in the mile. He is No. 13 on the list right now, which means he's right on the bubble for being selected."
To finish off the DMR, Kyle Hebert '10 ran a season best in the 400 with a 49.8, breaking the infamous fifty second mark, and Brett Stein '12 ran a swift 1:55 in the 800 meters.
If all goes well, last week's impressive performances will carry over to this weekend, and the five men will break their respective NCAA provisional times. It is very much within reach, and soon each one may be holding that plane ticket to Indiana.