Trials Runs: Jesseman, Maguire, Egan Still Competing At Top Levels

Keely Maguire was feeling good and had been itching to go for a while in the Jacksonville Half Marathon last month in Florida.

She was on strict coach's orders to not leave the pace group too early. The goal, after all, was long range this race and the entire aim was to turn in a time that would qualify her for the Olympic Marathon Trials.

Maguire got to Mile 9 and checked again to make sure of the pace. And then she took off.

"I think I knew I had it then," said Maguire, sitting in UNH's track & field office. "And once I hit the track at the stadium, I definitely knew I had it. I've never been one of those people, but I just started crying. I had worked quite a few months towards that goal and it felt really satisfying."

Erica Jesseman, who works in special education at Falmouth High School in Maine, knows just how McGuire, who lives in Newmarket, feels.

She, too, qualified for the Trials and will compete along with Maguire and nearly 250 of the country's best women's marathoners in the 2016 Olympic marathon trials in Los Angeles on Saturday. For Jesseman, it will be her second run in the Trials. She also qualified in 2012.

The men's and women's marathon Trials will be televised on NBC beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Former teammates – Jesseman and Maguire led the Wildcats to a New England Outdoor Track & Field Championship in 2011 and had outstanding careers under coach Rob Hoppler – are taking another step as post-collegiate runners.

"Just to go there and be there with that caliber of athlete is unbelievable," Jesseman said. "It's a really cool experience. Keely is going to have an awesome time. I understand what Keely's going through. It's really overwhelming. . . . The Trials are what your goal is. Besides trying to qualify for the Olympics, that's what your goal is. Trying to qualifying for the trials is what most elite athletes are trying to get. I think that was probably the biggest highlight of my career, I remember being so excited."

Maguire is testing new waters in Los Angeles. Saturday's will be her first marathon. She qualified via her half marathon time of 1:13:48 in Jacksonville.

This will be Jesseman's eighth. Her best was a 2:38 she ran in the Hartford Marathon in 2013, a time that qualified her for the Trials.

She's hopes to beat that time Saturday.

"I feel like I'm in the best shape I've been in since 2013 and I think I'm in better shape than 2013," Jesseman said. "I'm going to shoot for a PR race. But you could be in the best shape ever and little things like hydrating or fuel could really make or break a race. Or getting enough sleep, or fuel. I know Hop says all the time it's the whole 24 hours a day thing, fueling, drinking, sleeping that's so important, especially with marathon training with how much you're beating up your body and the miles you're putting in."

Maguire isn't sure what to expect in her race over the 26.2-mile distance.

"I'm really going to try to just enjoy the experience, be happy I'm there," she said. "I'm obviously going to try and execute a good race plan, but I don't even really know what that is. It's going to be to finish the marathon and give it a good effort. I'm relying on coach Hoppler to tell me what time to go out at because I probably would go out too fast. A marathon is a big patience race and I'm not always the best at that."

Jesseman and Maguire, given their relative experience at the distance, will take different approaches to the race, Hoppler said.

Jesseman will likely be a little more aggressive early, Maguire a little more cautious.

"Keely could go out at a 2:38 to 2:40 pace and see how she feels and if she feels good pick it up in the second half," Hoppler said. "That's how she ran her best races in cross country. In the end, they could be pretty close to each other."

Maguire is mostly glad she set the goal of reaching the Trials. As late last summer approached, she wasn't sure where her running was headed.

"It was the end of August and essentially I was still on a team, but I kept getting injured and I wasn't running well," Maguire said. "I was either going to walk away or go for it correctly one more time. I kind of regrouped at the end of August with Hop and I got it together finally and started to do it correctly. For a while there, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get it together again."

Now Maguire, 25, and Jesseman, 27, are taking on LA.

The top three finishers will qualify for the Olympics and the time for the top finishers will be in the 2:25 range, Hoppler anticipates.

Former UNH runner Megan Hepp ran a 2:37:29 and finished 12^th in the 2008 Trials and the times have dropped since then.

Jesseman finished 88^th in 2:46:11 in the 2012 Trials.

"If either or both of them run well, top 30 is a realistic goal," Hoppler said.

In addition to Jesseman and Maguire, another of their 2011 teammates, Clare Egan, is competing in the World Cup in biathlon, the sport that involves cross country skiing and shooting. Egan, out of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, is racing this weekend in a Cup event in Presque Isle, Maine.

"Maybe she's not running any more, but obviously what she's doing in skiing and biathlon is fantastic and encouraging and inspirational," Maguire said. "It keeps you going when people you worked with are doing those things."

For Maguire and Jesseman, this weekend is about the Trials.

"This is the cream of the crop in marathoning," Hoppler said. "For me, one of goals for the program is to have student athletes still want to run after college and continue to improve and continue to compete if they choose. It's great to see alumni run and compete at such a high level."

Maguire, Jesseman and Egan raise the bar across the board.

"Qualifying for the Trials and obviously competing in World Cup events takes you from a local level athlete to a national level athlete," Hoppler said. "We like to think the program is starting to become national level and this is another indication of that. Having alums compete in these events shows the levels the program can take kids."

Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu

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