By Megan Sanders, April 28, 2026
Cal Poly Pomona first-year track and field athlete Clara Mackison is setting new boundaries by competing in both javelin and the 1500-meters this season.
According to head track and field coach at CPP Chris Bradford, Mackison was adamant about signing to the team as both a thrower and runner. He said she was already on the team’s radar for throwing, and her running times were close to the recruiting standard, so they were happy to welcome her to the team.
“Wow, we’ve got to get her here,” Bradford said. “I’ve never in my 20-something years here ever had an athlete do javelin and distance as a double.”
This combination isn’t new to Mackison, as she competed in running events and javelin during her four years as a varsity athlete at Olympia High School.
In high school, Mackison was interested in running thanks to her background in playing community soccer up until seventh grade. Her coach made every kid throw javelin, and that’s when she discovered she had potential in throwing and fell in love from there.
Mackison made her 1500-meter debut for CPP March 13 at the Ben Brown Invitational where she ran a time of 5:16.31. Since then, she has run a personal best of 5:12.64 at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational April 11.
Mackison has also been consistent in javelin so far this season, by opening the season with a personal best of 39.28-meters Feb. 2 at the Rossi Relays and then having several marks in the 38-meter range. Most recently, she threw 38.12-meters at the Mt. SAC Relays April 16.
According to associate head coach Wes Ashford, who coaches distance and javelin, both of Mackison’s events can be taxing on the body, Mackison will compete in javelin for some meets and race the 1500-meters in others to split up the two events. He added she needs to showcase consistency to ensure her body stays healthy all four years.
“Being able to do more than one event is a big influence on the team in general,” Ashford said. “Seeing somebody that can excel in two different event areas definitely helps the team dynamic and helps the team see the bigger picture.”
According to Mackison, some of the biggest differences in training at CPP verses at her high school in Washington have been the mileage, throwing drills and the weather.
“Coming here we worked a lot on proper form, the strategies and breaking down what I had previously learned, because a lot of it was bad habits,” Mackison said. “Just working on the individual parts of the throw rather than just how far it can go.”
Her unusual practice schedule consists of two days of heavy lifting in the weight room, three days of throw training and running long runs and workouts with the distance team five days a week.
Mackison said she has nearly doubled her mileage since joining the CPP team and having to practice in warmer weather compared to her hometown in Washington has taken some time to get used to, but overall, she is happy to be part of this team.
Due to clearance issues, Mackison was unable to compete for the Broncos this past cross-country season but said she plans on coming back and racing during the fall semester and hopefully continue both track and field and cross country for the remainder of her college career.
Also, some of the individual goals Mackison has set for herself this season include placing at conference for javelin with a throw past the 40-meter mark and qualifying for conference in the 1500-meters and seeing how much she can set a personal best by.
“I’ve never trained at anywhere close to like what we’re training now, so I’m just excited to see how far I can push myself,” Mackison said.
Feature image courtesy of CPP Athletics
