Crashing my dad’s bike the evening before heading home to Claremont, I may or may not—in the brief, but somehow suspended, slowed, moment before hitting the pavement just outside The Starry Plough on Shattuck Avenue in South Berkeley—have thought fleetingly of the upcoming track and field season. It may have crossed my mind: its many meets and many more training runs; its failures and, I hope, successes; its van rides and at times difficult per diem spending choices; its sights, sounds, smells, and struggles. It’s impossible to say, really, at this point. But regardless, since that night I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on the upcoming Pomona-Pitzer men’s track and field season.

In 2010, the Sagehens placed fourth at the SCIAC Championships, losing to CMS, Redlands, and La Verne, but beating Cal Lu, Occidental, Whittier, and Caltech. Although CMS and Redlands were far out in front (scoring 175 and 118 points respectively), P-P likely would have defeated host La Verne if not for a pair of questionable disqualifications of P-P athletes (both returning scorers) in the 1,500 and 100 for checking in late.

Meet management aside, the Sagehens scored a total of 68.5 points in the 19 events that make up a collegiate track and field meet. The scoring came almost entirely from the 11 track events, however, with only 5.5 points earned from field events. Of the remaining 63 points, 27 came from distance events, 20 from middle-distance events, 12 from hurdles, and 4 from relays.

Just under half of the Sagehens’ points at last year’s SCIAC Championships came from athletes who are returning this season. Losses of national-qualifying athletes John Mering PO ’10 (1,500-meter) and Brian Gillis PO ’10 (3,000-meter steeplechase) certainly hurt, but a number of returning athletes, as well as freshmen, are poised to fill the void and help the program achieve its first top-three finish since 2006—before any current athlete arrived at Pomona or Pitzer.

Leading the way, a trio of proven junior athletes will undoubtedly form the core of the team’s scorers, all having won SCIAC titles as freshmen and having scored in at least two different events in the last two years.

Anders Crabo PO ’12 is the two-time defending SCIAC champion in the steeplechase and an All-American (7th) in the event as well. High school teammate Colin Flynn PZ ’12 had somewhat of an off year in 2010, but he hopes to outdo his impressive freshman year—in which he won the 1,500 and placed second in the 800—with a double victory at SCIACs and qualifying mark for nationals. Finally, Jack Lewis PO ’12 is the two-time defending SCIAC champion in the 110 hurdles, and has also scored in the 100, 200, and 4x100 at the championship meet.

These three athletes alone have the potential to score in the range of 60 points themselves, but they will need some significant support in order to boost the team to a higher finish. The ’Hens will be looking for a pair of experienced 400 runners to make the jump to conference scorers. At least a couple of runners will try to build off their success in cross country last fall to score in the middle distance and distance events—a traditionally strong area for the team. Finally, the Sagehens need to accumulate as many points as possible in the jumps and pole vault.

Although SCIACs—to be hosted by Pomona-Pitzer at the newly resurfaced Strehle track on Apr. 29 and 30—remains the primary focus of the season, the top athletes’ seasons culminate with the Division-III National Championship on May 26 through 28 in Delaware, Ohio. In order to qualify for the meet, athletes must achieve either automatic or, depending on nationwide performances, provisional qualifying times or marks during the season. This means that an athlete can qualify for nationals despite a sub-par performance at SCIACs. In other words, every single meet presents runners, throwers, jumpers, and vaulters with the opportunity to earn their ticket to nationals.

The first such opportunity came last weekend at the Pomona-Pitzer All-Comers Meet. The meet served mostly as a tune-up for the conference meets and larger invitational meets to come, but provided athletes with an opportunity to gauge their current fitness levels and set specific training and racing goals for the rest of the season.

Leading the way for the ’Hens was a trio of distance runners—Crabo, Flynn, and Charlie Enscoe PO ’11—each covering the distance of the seven-and-a-half lap 3,000 meter race in under nine minutes (8:56, 8:53, and 8:53 respectively). Although the “flat” 3,000 is not an NCAA event, the performances certainly suggest good things for the runners as they begin to focus on their primary events—Flynn the 1,500, Crabo and Enscoe the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

In the sprints, Ryan Meyer PO ’12 led the way with strong early season marks in the 200 (23.00) and the 400 (51.42). While neither time was a personal best, both were faster than his season openers of a year ago. 400-meter specialist Zak Feldman PO ’11 was close behind in the 200 (23.49), also improving on his time from this meet last season.

The Sagehens’ next race will be at Occidental Saturday, March 5. Their next home meet will be the annual Pomona-Pitzer Track and Field Invitational—held each spring since 1987—on April 9. The meet brings together collegiate, open, and professional athletes from near and far, and is one of Southern California’s most competitive track meets each year.

With SCIACs still nine weeks off and nationals 13 away, the athletes of the Pomona-Pitzer men’s track and field team are in the full swing of training, excited for each competition but always thinking, at some level at least, of these pressure-filled late-season races that are the focus of the spring.

The track season, though, is a process—a process that requires intensity but also patience. To get carried away thinking only of the finish is to forget how to get there in (the) first place. And so the team progresses one afternoon, one morning, one meet, one week, and one month at a time, and as these days and meets accumulate, the Sagehens will draw closer and closer to accomplishing something special in the 2011 track and field season.