The 2014 Boston Marathon will carry historical significance.

Butler graduates Jay Larimore, Matt Cypher and Jennifer Bole will be part of it as all three have qualified for the April 21 event.

The tragic bombings at this year’s marathon have already created much anticipation for next year’s race.

“That part of it is huge,” Cypher, 36, said. “A large portion of the running community wants to stand up and show we don’t go for nonsense like that.

“We will stand and run together in huge numbers.”

Cypher, a 1995 Butler graduate, was a cross country teammate of Larimore’s with the Golden Tornado. Larimore, 38, graduated from Butler in 1994 and now lives in Denver, Colo. Cypher is a professor at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

“This will be the biggest marathon ever in terms of numbers,” Larimore said. “That will be a very emotional race. It will be special.”

Cypher and Larimore ran qualifying times for Boston at this year’s Pittsburgh Marathon. Bole, a Butler resident, fell seconds short of the women’s qualifying time at Pittsburgh.

Bole recently completed the Erie Marathon in three minutes and 31 seconds, beating the women’s qualifying cut-off by four minutes.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Bole, who’s only been running for three and a half years. “My goal was to run in the Boston Marathon before those bombings happened.

“Now it will be even more of an emotional day for me.”

Unlike lifelong runners Cypher and Larimore, Bole took up running later in life as a means of losing weight and getting in shape. She’s dropped well over 100 pounds since joining the sport and Larimore helped with her training regimen.

“We’re coming to Boston from different parts of the country, but hopefully the three of us can get together for lunch or something,” Larimore said. “I feel like we’re connected.”

All three are already training for the Boston Marathon.

Larimore does one long run each week and is practicing yoga as part of a stretching program. He plans to run the Las Vegas Half-Marathon in November.

Bole and Cypher plan to run the Buffalo Creek Half-Marathon Oct. 19. Cypher will run the Philadelphia Marathon in November.

“I’m into cross training right now, doing some cycling and I want to get into swimming,” Bole said. “I’m doing leg-lifting exercise, too, to strengthen that part of my body.

“My legs were hurting so badly at mile 23 in Erie. I felt like giving up. I prayed every mile for the strength to finish because I won’t quit.”

Cypher hired a running coach and has taken on a thoughtful, scientific approach to the sport.

“I made a bunch of mistakes training to do it myself and my Pittsburgh Marathon in 2009 was a disaster,” he said. “I’ve always run for fitness — for fear of losing my youth — but now that I’m doing it competitively again, I want to do it right.”

The 2009 and 2013 Pittsburgh Marathons are the only marathons Cypher has run. Bole has done the Pittsburgh Marathon and Erie this year while Larimore has done marathons in Phoenix, Denver and Pittsburgh.

“I’m sure I’ll do a few 5K’s and 10K’s between now and Boston,” Larimore said. “You have to be cautious, though. We want to get to Boston injury free.”