The school year is over. Many students who stayed for commencement week are dusting rooms and moving furniture for hall cleaning, working at front desks all across campus or as C.H.A.s in one of the dorms student workers were forced to move into. However, for two Obies, their job is to run so they are in shape for nationals this week.

Over the past month, senior Barrie Newberger and sophomore Maddy Davis-Hayes have competed in numerous races so they could have a better chance to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Newberger qualified in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:37.39 and Davis-Hayes qualified in the 5000-meter run with a season-best time of 17:15.70.

Davis-Hayes achieved this mark at the Hillsdale Gina Relays on April 27, while Newberger did it at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships on May 4.

Newberger in particular was not so confident in her time and ran in two more races in hopes of recording a better time. Although there was not an improvement, she was pleasantly surprised to find out her time was good enough.

“I came home last Saturday from Chicago knowing I wasn’t going, but when Coach Appenheimer called me really early Sunday morning to tell me I actually was in the meet, it was a great surprise to wake up to,” said Newberger.

Coach Appenheimer was absolutely thrilled for both runners and has watched them improve over the last two years.

“I couldn’t be happier for these two women. They have worked so hard and have sacrificed so much to reach this level. They are so very deserving to be there,” said Appenheimer.

Qualifying for nationals is a fitting way to end such a prolific year for the two runners, especially after they were narrowly beat out of a place at the indoor track and field national championships in February. The two runners were members of the four-person distance-medley relay team that almost had a good enough time to go.

“Both Barrie and Maddy have made tremendous progress this year. If you look where they were last year at this time compared to now, few would have thought that they would be among the nation’s best,” said Appenheimer.

With all the hype out of the way, the two women have been running under Appenheimer’s supervision for the last few days — something that has been weird for Newberger, who is in the heart of senior commencement week.

“Preparing for this meet has been interesting. It’s hard knowing I need to spend time with friends and pack but also practice and mentally prepare for this race. I’m not even going to be here when my family comes in! But this is the ultimate goal, so it’s worth it,” said Newberger.

Newberger explains that Appenheimer has stressed the importance of nationals and that the event and commencement week are not even on the same level.

“Coach App has been reminding us that we deserve this chance, that we worked our tails off for it, and to remember that nationals is more important than many of the usual commencement week activities,” said Newberger.

By no means are the two runners content in just making it to such an honorary event. They have competed all year, winning a conference title in cross country and finishing first and second in conference in the 1500-meter run, with Davis-Hayes taking home the individual title. This attitude has been infectious from coach to player over the entire season.

“They also understand that just getting there isn’t enough. They want to represent themselves, their team and this college to the absolute best of their abilities,” said Appenheimer.

The meet began on Thursday and runs through Saturday.