Every year, hundreds of collegiate runners don their school's colors. They practice and compete every day, working stride for stride against their own personal bests as much as other runners. At the end of a season, those hundreds are pared down to a dozen selections chosen to compete in the NCAA Championships against others deemed as the best of the best.
Hundreds of runners are whittled down to dozens in the blink of an eye. Needless to say, the percentage chosen isn't very high. But for Boston College, junior Paige Duca is someone who falls exactly into that selection when she competes this weekend as one of 16 runners in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships.