Men's Track & Field | 3/5/2019 10:18:00 AM

Brookings, S.D. - Blistering cold did nothing to stop Emily Kearney from setting a blistering pace to win two national championships over the weekend in Brookings, South Dakota. Playing host to the NAIA National Indoor Track & Field Championships, South Dakota University put their Sanford-Jackrabbit Athletic Complex's 300M indoor track facility on display. The event saw almost 1000 athletes from 58 colleges around the country converge, of which five were runners from SCAD Atlanta. Qualifying from the men was Dax Willette in the 5000M, the event he won at the Appalachian Athletic Conference a couple of weeks earlier. From the women's team four runners qualified - Emily Kearney, Madeline Mullen, Sandra Pflughoft and Katie Clarke.

Races opened on Thursday afternoon with the preliminaries for the 5000M event. With the first our finishers in each of the two heats automatically going into the finals, the remaining four places would go to the next four fastest times in either heat. The dynamic creates a lot of strategy, with the first heat tending to run slower as the racers jockey for placing. The second heat, knowing the minimum mark to meet is usually a more brisk affair, as the athletes chase a specific time. In the first women's heat, Emily Kearney took the track as the strong favorite. Kearney had set the national mark in the NAIA for the event, having the fastest qualifying time by more than a minute over her next closest competitor. Emily showed great control, letting the group set the pace for most of the race before pulling away for an easy victory. In the second heat was Senior Madeline Mullen, a four year starter on the SCAD Women's Cross Country team. Despite fighting hard, Madeline couldn't keep up with the front runners and missed qualifying for the finals. Dax Willette raced the first heat on the men's side, and pushed his way to a PR of 15:14.02 only to miss out on the finals by less than 4 seconds.

With the 3000M and mile going straight to a final, the SCAD team had Friday to recover before a busy day of racing on Saturday. The women's Mile was first, with Freshman Sandra Pflughoft the sole SCAD racer in the event. After a standout Freshman cross country season in which she earned All-American status in the Fall, Pflughoft looked to add to her accolades in this race. The race was led by the national defending cross country champion, Anna Shields, who ultimately posted a blazing 4:37.63 to take first. The SCAD Freshman eked out a podium finish in 5:21.92 to finish eight - high enough to earn All-American honors for the second time this year as well as earn SCAD their first team point of the meet.

The 3000M women's final was next, and it was in many ways a SCAD affair. The Bees had no less than three runners in the race - Kearney once again coming in with the fastest posted time in the nation. Kearney quickly distanced herself from the field as she pushed for a meet record, leaving the rest of the runners to chase after second place. Sandra Pflughoft and Katie Clarke hung with the pack for some time, before Pflughoft was struck with a cramp and dropped off the pace. Emily Kearney claimed her first national championship of the day with a 9:30.42 - a fraction of a second off the meet record. Clarke held on to finish in 7th place with a time of 10:26.83 and earn both All American status and another 2 points for SCAD in the team standings.

This left just one race to be contested for SCAD, as Emily Kearney attempted the double with the 5000M women's final. With less than an hour of rest between the two races, Kearney did not set her usual blistering pace in the early stages. Near the front of the pack, Emily conserved energy as she sat on the shoulder of her competitors. As time passed, the field began to thin as some of the early pace leaders dropped off to leave a small handful in the lead. With several laps to go, Kearney picked her speed up and slowly began to draw even that small group into a state of shambles as people struggled to keep up. Pulling away, Kearney finished in a comfortable 17:27.18 to claim another national title.

Despite their small numbers, the women's team scored 23 points to place 10th out of the 58 competing women's field. Kearney's efforts earned her a joint Most Valuable Performer award. With the meet marking the end of the indoor track & field season, the SCAD runners will turn their attention to outdoor track which will begin in a couple of weeks.