Freeman Named SCIAC Runner of The Year
By Ezekiel Pfeifer
Sports Associate

Unlike many running phenoms, Pomona-Pitzer cross-country runner Crosby Freeman ’06 has not been racing around since he was a toddler. Instead, he was forced into the sport, but, luckily for the Sagehens, he found he was good at it.

“I played football my freshman year of high school as a guard and an outside-linebacker,” recalls Freeman. “When it came time to sign the permission slip for football my sophomore year, my parents didn’t want anything to do with it. So, I was forced to find a different fall sport. Many of my relatives are runners, so after a lot of persuading I went out for cross country the fall of my sophomore year. It turned out that I wasn’t too bad at it, and ran cross-country through senior year.”

Recently, Freeman was named SCIAC runner of the year, as a result of his top finish in the SCIAC conference championships and his consistently outstanding performance for the Hens. Thanks to his self-motivating nature and, according to head cross-country coach Pat Mulcahy, “easily coachable attitude,” Freeman has taken his interest in running from little more than second choice to football to a level higher than that of anyone in the SCIAC.

Even though Freeman has been gradually improving since his high school days, he was an impressive runner at that level as well. The best time he ran at Piedmont High School, in his home town of the same name in California, was 15:50, a top-notch time for high school men’s 5K. So far at P-P, Freeman’s best 8K time is 25:26, less than a minute off his winning time in the SCIAC championships, which he ran in 26:17.

When asked why he likes cross-country, Freeman noted a variety of reasons, ranging from the feeling of running to the pride he takes in participating in the sport. “Cross country is raw. It takes guts to go out and run like we do. People say that runners are sissies, but I’d like to see a lot of the people who say that go out and run with us. Lacing up the shoes, stepping out the door, and grinding out a few miles may not seem like much to a distance runner, but it is a chasm of disbelief that the uninitiated may never bridge and challenging oneself to a competition where the body is pushed to the limits of endurance over prolonged periods of time boggles the imagination, staggers the intellect, and begs any coherent response from the non-runner.”

Freeman is only a junior at Pomona, and thus has another year with the Sagehen cross-country team. With P-P’s top finish in the SCIAC team championships this year, the team hopes to improve next year when Freeman, with standouts Will Leer ’07 and Sean McCarron ’07 will hopefully carry the team to another championship.

Freeman commented on the team’s first place finish at the SCIAC’s final meet, saying, “Winning SCIAC was something we had been focused on as a team since January. Runner of the year was always in the back of my mind, but I really wanted to go out and dethrone CMS since they’re so bad at sports. I broke my leg back in March and missed almost the entire track season except for two races at the beginning. The majority of my summer was dedicated to physical therapy and rehab, so it was great to rebound from such an injury and win SCIAC.”

Freeman has long-term goals for his running career. He hopes to someday run in marathons and triathlons which he thinks “would be awesome.” In addition, he is excited about P-P’s chances this year to make the NCAA Division III national meet.

“We’re hoping to qualify for Nationals as a team and I’d also like to qualify individually,” said Freeman. “I went to Nationals last fall and placed 31st for All-American honors. It was great.”

Meanwhile, Freeman and the rest of the cross-country team is focusing on the NCAA West Regional meet this weekend, which will be held in Portland, Oregon , so most Sagehen cross-country fans will have to attend only in spirit.