Mehra makes most of last opportunity to reach championship

Stanford fifth-year senior qualifies for first individual track final, will compete with freshman teammate Aragon in 1,500 seeking first title for Cardinal

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Five years of sacrifice, setbacks and success came down to five determined strides for Rebecca Mehra at the NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championships.

Mehra, a fifth-year senior Stanford, surged past Oklahoma State senior Kaela Edwards in the last 15 meters of her 1,500-meter semifinal Thursday before executing a well-timed lean at the finish line to secure the 12th and final qualifying spot for Saturday's championship race by a 4:19.37 to 4:19.40 margin at Hayward Field.

During a career that has included a trip to the Division 1 cross country finals and multiple appearances on Stanford's distance medley relay at the indoor championship meet, but has also been slowed by several stress fractures, Mehra will finally have the opportunity to line up to compete for an individual track title.

"I'm just lucky to be here. To be honest, being injured sucks and no one talks about it and no one talks about the road back and the difficulties and obstacles that you have to overcome," Mehra said. "I guess I want to show my teammates and people who are watching that you can do it, you can come back and be as strong as ever and it will make you as tough as nails. You can come back and be there with the best in the country, running right along side, and feel like you belong. I feel so happy, I can't even put it into words what it means to be in this final."

Mehra, a Palos Verdes CA graduate, qualified for the Division 1 semifinals in 2014, but missed making the 1,500 final when Villanova's Angel Piccirillo edged her 4:21.27 to 4:21.43 for the final spot.

"I was here three years ago, excited to be at the NCAA meet and I was the first one out of the final and I remember that feeling clear as day on this track when I was in sixth place, fighting for fifth, couldn't find a spot and no one was coming back and that's where I finished," Mehra said. "This time, I felt like the flashbacks were happening again and I saw someone coming back to me and I'm like 'I've got to jump on it.' I thought if I put my foot on the accelerator just a little bit every 10 meters, I thought maybe I could catch her. I just feel really lucky to have had the opportunity and really lucky to have the opportunity to run in the final."

Midway through April, Mehra had yet to run an outdoor race for Stanford, still sidelined from her most recent injury suffered after running only four races in January during a limited indoor season.

Mehra finally made her season debut April 22 at the Cardinal Classic, clocking 4:21.14, but it was teammates Elise Cranny and Christina Aragon who were considered Stanford's most promising contenders to make the 1,500 final.

Aragon came through Thursday by running 4:19.08 in the same semifinal as Mehra, qualifying with her sister Danielle Aragon, a fifth-year senior for Notre Dame who ran 4:19.13.

Aragon and Mehra will be the 11th and 12th Cardinal female athletes to compete in the 1,500 championship, still seeking Stanford's first title in the event. It marks the first time since 2001 that two Stanford competitors are in the final, when Sally Glynn placed second and Ashley Couper took sixth.

"I'm very thankful she had a fifth year so she could show me what it means to be brave, strong and independent," Christina Aragon said. "It's really fun having a teammate with you at nationals. Having Rebecca there makes it feel just like practice. It gives me the confidence to go out and do what I have to do."

Cranny, who ran 4:11.46 the same day Mehra made her season debut at the Cardinal Classic, only clocked 4:33.60 in the NCAA West regionals and didn't advance among the 24 semifinalists.

While Aragon has continued to qualify easily throughout the postseason, Mehra has continued to do whatever is necessary to secure the final automatic berth to advance in each race.

"It's been fun to be the underdog. I've been the underdog in every single race and no one every expects me to slip on in and I've been fifth-fifth-fifth, the last one in, each round," Mehra said. "Every race I've had a chance to build upon my form and on my speed a little bit. Honestly this race played into what I've been practicing the last few weeks. Pac-12s was a lot like this, both races at regionals particularly the regional final was like this.

"When I felt it kind of slowing down, I thought it was in my wheelhouse. I've practiced this, I told myself I can do it and I was ready for anything. I thought it was going to be fast like the first heat, but I'm just excited it happened how it happened."

Fifty-six months after her first college cross country race and 15 months since her last appearance for Stanford at a Division 1 indoor track final, Mehra will complete the career triple crown of competing in national finals Saturday.

Her legacy in Palo Alto might not be mentioned with all the program's elite distance runners and past national champions, but her tenacity, toughness and qualities as a teammate and leader make her one of the most memorable student-athletes ever to represent Stanford.

"I've been very lucky to be surrounded by the people I've been around. They haven't given up on me, even after four or five different stress fractures, and there have been a lot of down days, so it really pays off when you have an up day," Mehra said. "We have women at home right now who are injured. If anything, I hope I can be empowering to the women who have had a tougher time to show them anything is possible."