Lydens Finishes Second, Wins Runner of the Year; Brieger Recovers from Injury

There’s something great about spontaneity. The freedom to just get up and go. Take off. Let loose and blaze your own trail. It’s fun to just sort of fly by the seat of your pants, like some character out of an old adventure novel with nowhere to go in particular, and not really care (and that’s the beauty of it). But when it comes to racing and racing strategies, I’m not quite sure it’s always in your best interest to forego actual plans and still expect to win a race. I don’t imagine Huckleberry Finn would’ve fared so well had he been competing for a title.

This past weekend the Lady Hens competed on the soggy fields of Prado Park in Chino. It was a rather cold day for Southern California: a blustery 55 degrees. The “multi-layered sweatshirt look” was a common sight, and even a Snuggie-sporting fan was in attendance (although the culprit was hiding in the front seat of a Suburban). But last Saturday, the talk wasn’t dominated by sartorial commentary. It was the creative re-invention of the six-kilometer women’s championship course that stole the show.

Before the gun went off to signal the start of the race, the Pomona-Pitzer women’s cross-country team had a specific course in mind. Having had two weeks to go over the course map—sent as a PDF by Coach Alicia Freese PO ’10 for the runners’ viewing pleasure—and having visited the park for a workout during Fall Break, each of the girls was prepared for three loops, two of which would be repeated after a segment by the RV park. Meetings were scheduled to discuss racing strategies. Diagrams were posted on walls: “SURGE.” “TEMPO.” “LAST 1000 meters.” It was important for each runner to be confident in her race before she even set foot on the recently aerated grass.

But when the starter’s pistol finally sounded, fired by a man with a plastic bag covering his rattan hat, some runners had a different idea about where they might go in the 25 minutes they had to run. The race began at a rather slow pace—there were a few over-eager runners (myself included) who fancied the race would be a piece of cake and led the pack for the first loop. Ending at about 1,000 meters, the loop shifted into a slight dip in the course. Two of La Verne’s runners shot ahead, followed by a purple Whittier runner, two CMS girls, and Pomona-Pitzer’s own Annie Lydens PO ’13. Made up of an elite group of runners—all of whom had undoubtedly come to know one another’s faces over the course of the season—the lead pack kept a hard tempo for the second loop.

At the point where runners were expecting a brief respite between hard uphill running and sinking into the too-cushy grass, the lead runner opted for a little adventure and took a turn that altered the direction of the rest of the course. After the race, runners exclaimed things like, “She changed the course!” and “I was so confused…I thought we had another loop to run so I was pacing myself!” It seemed that the trailblazing might be cause for excuses, but for the top runners, the confusion was just another cross-country challenge.

It’s fun to mix things up, but sometimes it can be a little risky. You don’t really know how things are going to turn out, and while it can be for the better, there are other times when it won’t be, and you’re out of luck with a flat tire on the side of the interstate. But on Saturday, it seemed that for P-P runners Lydens and Kate Brieger PO ’11, fate was on their side. Brieger, in the last race of her college career, made a phenomenal comeback after suffering from Plantar Fasciitis all season. Pushing through with a strong finish, Brieger finished the six-kilometer race in 25.51, clocking her in as the fifth and final scoring runner on the Pomona-Pitzer team.

Lydens ran a great race, capping off her season with a second-place finish in 23:05. With that result, Lydens won the 2010 SCIAC Runner of the Year award, and she is set to participate in this year’s regional championship meet in Salem, Ore. Nov. 13.