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By Travis Kaya '10
Photos of Sagehen legends line the halls of the Rains
Center, staring in sepia tones onto corridors bustling with
athletes making their way to the locker rooms. Beginning
with the 1893 men’s track team, the display carefully traces
the long legacy of Sagehen athletics, continuing on with
color pictures posted at semester’s end.
Turn a corner and two images, stapled next to each other and
labeled “recent headlines,” tell the latest story of Pomona-Pitzer
sports glory. Crosby Freeman ’06 and Will Leer ’07 have
already joined the pantheon of Sagehen greats.
Leer and Freeman both have broken school records—Leer in the
800 meters and Freeman in the 10,000 meters—and are on a
short list of Sagehen All-American cross-country athletes.
Their bond as teammates and friends also make them unique
among Sagehen record-holders, often spaced years apart.
“It’s been kind of a special time and we’ve been able to go
to nationals as a team because of those guys,” said Coach
Patrick Mulcahy ’66, who has coached the Pomona-Pitzer
cross-country team since 1969. “They will go down as the
best pair of distance runners in the history of the school.”
Leer and Freeman first met during Leer’s visit as a
“prospie” (prospective student), and the two runners
developed a friendship that has since propelled their
cross-country careers.
Coming from his home in Minnetonka, Minn., Leer arrived
in Claremont five years ago looking for a college that fit
him. It is customary for incoming recruits to meet with
Coach Mulcahy and the rest of the cross-country team before
making any final decisions. Leer, then a high school senior
and star athlete in his own right, liked the atmosphere of
the Pomona campus, with its dual emphasis on academics and
athletics, but was not immediately sure if he belonged among
Sagehen ranks.
Then came Crosby.
Freeman was already an established Pomona-Pitzer
cross-country star when Leer arrived. In his first season,
he was the No.2 freshman finisher at the NCAA Division III
Cross Country Championships and only one of three
All-American cross-country athletes in Sagehen history. The
“big man on campus” in the eyes of the prospective student,
Freeman took Leer under his wing, showing him the ins and
outs of Pomona campus life.
“His outlook towards college in general and running were so
in line with what my hopes were for coming to college,” Leer
recalled of his first meeting with Freeman. “I knew that
this was a great place—the kind of place for me.”
After spending a weekend with Freeman and the cross-country
team, Leer had made his decision.
Following his visit, the two communicated frequently during
the spring semester of Leer’s senior year in high school.
After Leer enrolled in the fall of 2003, the pair quickly
became training partners – through grueling, 16-mile
training runs – in a sport characterized by individual
motivation, and began to hang out outside of practices.
During the 2005-2006 season, the pair moved into a Lawry
Court suite, together with two other teammates.
“I was the No. 1 guy in my freshman year, and here comes
Will Leer who is really solid,” Freeman said. “We worked
together at practice, and spending so much time together, we
developed a friendship.”
Friendships off the field easily translated to strengthened
team camaraderie during practices and competition. During
the 2004 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (SCIAC) Cross Country Championships, Freeman
found himself in the lead, poised for the win. Leer hung
back, surveying the field and setting a slower pace for the
chase pack in an attempt to help his teammate steadily
increase his lead. With less than a half mile remaining in
the race, Freeman, a long-distance specialist, had secured
the win. With Leer’s help, Freeman went on to claim his
first individual SCIAC title.
As Leer developed as a cross-country athlete, however,
friendly competition began to develop. A track athlete for
the majority of his career, Leer’s extensive cross-country
training quickly allowed him to give Freeman a run for his
money.
The UC Riverside Invitational in October 2005, left Freeman,
then a senior, with his first ever loss to a fellow
teammate. Running alongside Leer in the lead pack for the
majority of the race, Freeman asserted himself and began to
push the pace over the final two kilometers. In the last
half mile, however, Freeman’s lead dwindled allowing an
anxious Leer to kick past. Crossing the finish line, a
disappointed Freeman placed fourth, just two seconds behind
Leer in third.
“Will is just a really motivated guy,” Freeman said. “He has
this way of transferring that intensity to the people around
him, and they are motivated by him.”
Following Freeman’s first loss to a Sagehen, the pair began
to train even harder, intent on winning any and all upcoming
events. Rather than dividing the two friends and training
partners, the competition propelled Leer and Freeman into
the Pomona record books as the runners went on to win a
combined total of 6 All-American honors over the course of
the 2006 season.
“Last fall was probably the best series of workouts that I
have ever had,” Leer said. “We made each other both really
strong.”
With Freeman now graduated and Leer about to, the two
teammates have maintained their friendship. During Leer’s
senior year at Pomona, Freeman often visited Claremont to
spend time with Leer and keep updated on the goings on of
the team. Leer also made frequent trips to the San Francisco
where Freeman now works as an AdWords Coordinator for Google
Inc.
Both have plans to continue running at the post-collegiate
level. In February, Freeman finished first in the San
Francisco Half-marathon, defeating more than 9,000
competitors from across the country. A current member of the
Aggies Running Club, a Northern California based long
distance running organization, Freeman also intends to enter
November’s Olympic Trials for the marathon -- held in
New York City -- with hopes of competing in the
2008 games in Beijing. Leer has Olympic aspirations of his
own, hoping to compete at the Olympic Trials for track and
field in Eugene, OR in June 2008.
“If either of us were to make the team we would be ecstatic
for that person,” Leer said. “If we made it together, it
would be the time of our lives.” |
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