On Saturday night, Lauren Penney will be away from her teammates.

After setting a personal and school record in the 3,000-meter race at the Husky Classic in Seattle last month, Penney became the only Syracuse athlete to qualify for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

While Penney has participated at nationals before, this weekend will be her first time competing in the 3,000-meter at the NCAA Championships. Her event kicks off at 8:40 p.m. on Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Complex in Arkansas.

After not running cross-country in the fall, Penney has trained hard throughout the season to better her chance in the 3,000-meter on the track. Now, she is excited to be racing as one of the 16 best 3,000-meter runners in the country.

“There is a really competitive field this year,” Penney said. “A lot of the girls in the race have qualified in many events, so it’s going to be really exciting to put myself in the race with them.”

While Penney admits she is anxious for this weekend, the graduate student is going to rely on her experience and routine to keep her focused.

On Saturday, as usual, Penney will get out of bed and jog for about 10 minutes to wake her legs. She’ll eat pancakes and eggs for her normal race-day morning meal.

After breakfast, she will sit in the hotel and do homework before lunch. Then, she likes to get out of the room and explore the surrounding area. At about 5 p.m., she’ll grab another snack for dinner. After a quick shower, she’ll pack her bag and head to the track.

While waiting all day for the event can be mentally challenging for athletes, Penney actually prefers racing at night.

“At night, I feel I am more awake and loose,” Penney said. “I have been around for walks and don’t like to think about the race until a couple hours before anyways.”

Head coach Chris Fox will travel with Penney to Fayetteville. Like Penney, he preferred to race at night back when he was competing, citing similar reasons as Penney.

“You get a little nervous sitting around all day,” Fox said, “but I think it’s a lot better feeling to run at 7 o’clock at night than at 11 in the morning.”

Last season, Penney roomed with sophomore Jessie Petersen on road trips. As a freshman, Petersen picked Penney as someone she wanted to run like and learn from. From tagging along with her at meets, Petersen was able to observe and learn.

“I think she has a really good balance with everything,” Petersen said. “She doesn’t take one thing too seriously or one thing too lightly, and we always had fun together.”

In a race as short as the 3,000-meter, feeling and timing is everything. Penney, who also runs the mile indoor and the 5K outdoor, finds this event to be the right combination of the two.

“I really like a lot of the speed stuff of a mile, but I don’t have the 800-person speed to kick in at the end of the mile,” Penney said. “But the 3K is that middle ground where I can do both speed and distance.”

The race itself will be difficult to predict because a lot of the runners in Penney’s race will compete in other events the night before. Whether the race goes out really slow and comes out to a kick at the end, or goes out fast from the gun, Penney knows it will be competitive.

Once again, she will rely on her experience to lead her to the finish line.

“It took me a while to be confident and feel I belonged in the races I got myself to,” Penney said. “Now, I like to run the race that’s given to me.”

Published on March 7, 2013 at 1:07 am

Contact Bryan: bwrubin@syr.edu