In the running
SLIPPERY ROCK— Lacey Cochran has been there before.
Brad Mueller? It's a different story for him.
The Freeport and Mars graduates arrived on the Slippery Rock University track scene from different backgrounds, but they have reached the same destination.
Both will be competing for The Rock at the NCAADivision IIIndoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at Minnesota State University.
Cochran, a junior, transferred to SRUfrom Bowling Green after her freshman season. She reached Division IIindoor nationals last year as part of The Rock's 1,600-meter relay team and reached outdoor nationals in the 400 and 1,600 relay last spring.
She is headed to indoor nationals this weekend in the 400, seeded 16th out of 17 runners with a qualifying time of 57.59 seconds.
"It's always great to win, but that's not really our intent during indoor season,"SRUtrack coach John Papa said. "We gear everything toward the outdoor PSACseason.
"We know we're going to be significantly better in May than we are now, so for Lacey to be doing this well this early is a great sign."
Cochran never has placed in a national meet. SRU is on spring break now and the bulk of the track team was in San Diego, Calif., for a few days before flying to Minnesota this morning.
"We've been getting training in out here,"Cochran said. "I think I can move up a little bit (from 17th). I'm a lot stronger this year."
The added strength is new to Cochran's game. She's always had the speed, winning a state title in the 400 meters with Freeport and was a four-time WPIALchampion in that event.
"We do a lot more lifting here than we did at Bowling Green,"Cochran said. "It was a welcomed change. It's definitely helped me a lot."Mueller is a graduate student at The Rock after graduating from Boston College in 2007. He played cornerback for the Eagles football team, but never ran track there.Mueller was a defensive back and special teams player for The Rock's 9-2 football team last fall."I talked to Brad last summer about running with us,"Papa said. "He had been away from the track and wasn't sure. After Christmas break, he came to us and wanted to give it a go."We weren't sure if he was in track shape, so we figured he'd just train with us during the indoor season and wouldn't actually compete until outdoor."That all changed when Mueller impressed the coaches during practice."We decided to put him in a home meet and he broke the (55 meters) school record,"Papa said.Mueller then competed on a 60-meter track at Kent State and broke the school record again. In his third meet, the PSACindoor competition, he broke the record for a third time, running a time of 6.79.Mueller is seeded sixth entering the national competition."I feel like I've got a shot,"he said. "You always run faster when there's somebody alongside pushing you. The competition is going to help me."I'm pretty much going into this blind. It (the competition) is a bunch of names and numbers to me. Some of them have run on better tracks than me."Papa said Mueller likely will break the school record again."I'm sure he'll run his fastest race yet. We'll have to see if it's enough," the coach said.Unfazed by his sudden success, Mueller admits he almost expected it."I've always been a fast runner and I've been in speed training the past few summers getting ready for football," he said. "I've always been in shape."Also representing The Rock at the indoor championships this weekend are Jennifer Hansen in the pole vault, Whitney Henderson in the women's high jump and Pat Reagan in the men's 5,000 meters.Hansen and Hendershot have the second-best qualifying marks in their respective events. Reagan is seeded 13th in the 5,000.
