You have to look hard when scanning the list of collegiate athletes participating in the NCAA Indoor Track Championships, but AU is there.
For many schools, sending athletes to the championships is merely part of the routine, something expected. But other schools, instead of large contingents of competitors, send one or two of their very best students to these races, where they proudly represent their school and are happy to run, toss or jump with names like Drake, Radford or Tennessee-Chattanooga emblazoned across their chests.
So between the hordes of students from schools like Illinois, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Florida, you'll see two student-athletes from AU. Junior Keira Carlstrom and senior Sean Duffy are the lone students with the chance to make the trek out to Arkansas to race. With Carlstrom already in, and Duffy needing to improve his time slightly to make the top 16 and qualify (he currently sits 24th), they will wade into a sea of students from huge public universities and do their very best to prove the maxim "quality over quantity" correct.
Although they don't come from major conferences, Duffy and Carlstrom are two of the best runners in the Patriot League.
Carlstrom won her second straight Patriot League Outstanding Female Track Performer for the Patriot League Championship meet held two weeks ago in Bethlehem, Pa. She won both the mile and the 3,000-meter. Besides her individual accomplishments, she also helped lead the women's 4x800 relay and the distance medley.
Duffy won the men's mile and the 3,000-meter run as well, and assisted in AU's 4x800 meter relay victory. Despite a smaller team than many of the other colleges at the meet, AU still placed well, with the women placing fifth and the men third. While many of their teammates train for the outdoor season, Duffy and Carlstrom are getting ready to face national competition.
The NCAA is nothing new to the pair. Two years ago, Duffy was part of a distance medley team that finished in eighth place and became all-Americans, and Carlstrom went the last two years to the cross-country championships.
"It was awesome. We put a lot of hard work in and that was our reward" Duffy said. When it came to running against bigger schools, Duffy wasn't intimidated. "I never really thought about it," he said. "We have the big-time coach in Coach [Matt] Centrowitz - he has been everywhere in the running world, and he always has us prepared to compete against anyone."
Calstrom said running against prominent competition gives her an advantage. "If anything," she said, "[those schools] have more pressure. They have to try to get team points and do this and that - and all I have to do is take care of myself."
But like everyone else at the race, no matter where they go to school, Duffy is looking to win. "I am stronger now than ever before, so I am more ready to go out there and compete for a national championship" he said.
When the two, one would hope, journey to Fayetteville, Ark., for the national championship, Duffy will be looking to compete in the 3,000 meter, while Carlstrom is already in for the same event for women. They both hope to make all-American, meaning they finished in the top eight in their race. For Duffy, if he makes it to the championship this year, it will mean more to him as a senior then as a sophomore, when he last made the trip.
"It was fun to go as a relay sophomore year and get all-American," Duffy said. "Now it is time for me to do well as an individual and garner my first all-American as an individual."
Carlstrom feels the same way. "Before it was a bonus, it was exciting just to make it," she said. "Now it's exciting because the goal wasn't just getting here, it's about showing up and racing." If Duffy improves his time this weekend so that he's able to get into the NCAAs and join Carlstrom, they can make their all-American dreams reality.
