The hot Floridian sun beat down on hundreds of runners lined up ready to compete for the chance to represent their country on the world’s biggest stage. Nestled among these hundreds were three 5C alumni: Jesse Joseph HM ’17, Sara Passani CM ’15 and Maya Weigel PO ’17. The alums all ran track and cross country in Claremont and have now transitioned to competitive marathoning after ending their collegiate careers.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were held in Orlando, Florida. In order to even be considered for the U.S.’ gold-medal marathon team, the men and women competing needed to hit times of 2:18:00 and 2:37:00, respectively. This race occurs every Olympic cycle in February and selects the three fastest men and women who will represent the U.S. on the global stage.
According to Joseph, his journey to the Olympic trials has been a long road that started in Claremont.
“After I graduated, it was on my mind that at some point I would try to make the trials,” Joseph said.
In preparation, Joseph ran multiple marathons before finally making the qualifying time in the Eugene Marathon last April, where he placed third with a time of 2:16:49.
Passani had a similar story, explaining how she took her time transitioning from collegiate running before beginning to train for the Olympic marathon.
“I took a step away from competitive running for a few years as I settled into post grad life and was working an incredibly demanding job,” Passani said to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps distance’s Instagram in the days leading up to the race. “I knew for a few years that my goal was to qualify for the Olympic trials in the marathon and in my first marathon back from taking time away, I did just that.”
Passani came back to competitive running in a major way. On Dec. 8, 2022, Passani ran a time of 2:34:33 at the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento, qualifying her for this year’s Olympic Trials.
After her collegiate running career, Weigel joined the Peninsula Distance Club based in San Francisco. At the same race as Passani, Weigel qualified for the Olympic Trials at the CIM in December 2022 with a time of 2:34:25. According to Weigel, her club organized her training in preparation for the hot climate expected in Orlando.
She reflected on her accomplishment in the trials and what it would have meant to her seven years ago.
“In college I honestly never really thought I would race marathons or if I did, it would just be for fun,” Weigel said.
All three of the 5C runners finished the race despite the hot conditions. Joseph placed 75th in the men’s race with a time of 2:21:42, Passani placed 96th in the women’s race with a time of 2:46:52 and Weigel placed 20th, 45 places above her seed of 65, in the women’s race with a time of 2:32:16, her personal record.
The race went differently for the two female runners. According to Passani it did not go as she had planned but she was still proud of herself for finishing. Weigel, on the other hand, performed much better than she expected.
“I know I don’t want to run another [marathon] for a long time — it’s hard on the body — and I don’t think it’s healthy to do more than one or two a year,” Weigel said. “But eventually I would love to pick a fast course and really go for time!”
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