Point Park sending four national qualifiers to inaugural NAIA Marathon Classic Dec. 3
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The track and field season is a marathon, not a sprint. Four Point Park University team members are taking that to heart.
Point Park is sending four national qualifiers to the inaugural NAIA Marathon Classic to be held this weekend in Sacramento, Calif. The first-ever NAIA event is being conducted as part of the California International Marathon on Sunday, Dec. 3.
Jannik Windelband, a junior, along with sophomores Joshua Gosselin, John Dyar and Gabe Ebersole are Point Park's NAIA marathon national qualifiers. Up to four individuals per team per school were able to qualify. They will run the full 26.2 miles of the marathon with each of Point Park's entries doing that for the first time in their running careers.
A total of 100 entries were open for the NAIA Marathon. This year's qualifying field consists of 65 men and 35 women from schools across the country.
In order to qualify, entrants had to log at least 12 consecutive weeks with 40 miles per week. That spanned from the start of the cross country season until Nov. 5.
Entrants also had to complete at least two runs of at least two hours in length before the deadline. The two-hour runs were tracked and timed with electronic devices acquired by the schools.
Based off the two-hour timed runs, rankings were established. The rankings were based on the average time per mile over the two hours. The Top 50 averages for each gender were guaranteed a spot. Since less women qualified, more men were taken to fill out the 100 spots.
Windelband, a junior from Rechberghausen, Germany, leads the Point Park qualifiers ranking 12th in the nation going into the marathon. He posted an average of 6:05 per mile in his two timed runs.
Gosselin, a sophomore from Wales, Maine, is ranked 19th with an average of 6:12. Dyar, a sophomore from Denham, La., is ranked 26th nationally at 6:17 per mile while Ebersole, a sophomore from Altoona, Pa., is 40th at 6:29 per mile.
The top three finishers for each team will make up the team score for that school. Similar to cross country, the school with the lowest score will be the NAIA Marathon champion. Team awards will be presented to the top three teams.
Individual awards will also be up for grabs with the top eight overall finishers making the All-NAIA Marathon Team.
The NAIA marathon used to be held as part of the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. But that was discontinued in recent years in favor of the stand-alone event to be held for the first time this weekend.
More information about the California International Marathon