One of our track guys, a long sprinter named CUESTA (his first name is Alex, but no one -- not even his mother! -- calls him that; he's just Cuesta; yes. his mother calls him Cuesta!) apparently is a big fan of this blog. Huge fan. Checks it every day. In class, even!
He gave me a hard time about not having many recent posts. Dude. We are in between seasons. I'll get cranking in due time -- today, in fact, as this is my second post! So anyway, I told Cuesta yesterday that I would do a post for him to satiate his need to read a post on this fancy blog.
There. How's that, Cuesta?
Oh, and a note to his professors: If he is reading this blog instead of paying attention to you in class: You have my permission to scold him, maybe even dock him a half-letter grade on class participation. He should NOT be reading this blog in class! Just like he should not be texting in class!
From all reports, Cuesta's in great shape. He's not hurt (that's BIG) and he's training hard and tough. That's good. He showed some real flashes of good stuff last spring, and we're hoping to start off a great junior year with a strong performance at Yale.
Speaking of which ... oh yeah, our first indoor track meet is Saturday! At Yale. But I guess you might have figured that out already. I will post the schedule here soon. And when I do, I'm sure Cuesta will be the first to read it!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Cross country comparisons
Sorry, have not been in blog mode of late. Just saw Keenan's and Jut's comments regarding xc course comparisons. Here are my two cents:
Regarding Sunken Meadow: Keenan makes some fair points. I am not familiar with the course too much, other than when we used to go down there for the season-opening Stony Brook meets. My last recollections from those meets was that the course was a mess. There were drainage issues and it just wasn't that good. Based on Footlockers being there, obviously it has been tidied up.
Look. I am biased toward Bowdoin. The course has been the same since Coach Horton and friends created it 20-plus years ago. It has never been in better shape than it is now. It is a very tough, very fair course. And again, it HASN'T CHANGED. To me, that is key. Has Sunken Meadow changed? I think maybe it has. Again, nothing against Sunken Meadow. It's a great course. But Bowdoin is reaching near legendary status at this point. I really think it is. And it is well deserved.
Regarding the twins' time at Bowdoin: Jut, those guys were CRUISING. They were NOT running all out; at least, that is how it appeared to me, and to legendary track announcer Ian Brooks, who was on hand to emcee the Nike meet (that was cool!). And why would they? They just needed to advance to Nats, where they will be facing pretty stiff competition. Could they have broken the Bowdoin record (which, Keenan my friend, is held by a fancy LI runner named Millieon? am I right?)? I would say most probably yes. That record is 15:39, for those keeping score at home ...
But don't read much into the fact that they ran a lot slower at Bowdoin than Holmdel. I do think Holmdel is not as tough as Bowdoin (oh boy, Curt is gonna come after me on this one, and maybe Emerel!), but I do not think you can just their times on face value. That's just my opinion.
Having said that: As good as those twins are, even all out I could not see them cracking 15:00 at Bowdoin. No way. No how. Based on that statement, Bowdoin is tougher than Holmdel. Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow? I will not form an opinion on that since I do not know enough about the current SM layout.
OK? OK.
Regarding Sunken Meadow: Keenan makes some fair points. I am not familiar with the course too much, other than when we used to go down there for the season-opening Stony Brook meets. My last recollections from those meets was that the course was a mess. There were drainage issues and it just wasn't that good. Based on Footlockers being there, obviously it has been tidied up.
Look. I am biased toward Bowdoin. The course has been the same since Coach Horton and friends created it 20-plus years ago. It has never been in better shape than it is now. It is a very tough, very fair course. And again, it HASN'T CHANGED. To me, that is key. Has Sunken Meadow changed? I think maybe it has. Again, nothing against Sunken Meadow. It's a great course. But Bowdoin is reaching near legendary status at this point. I really think it is. And it is well deserved.
Regarding the twins' time at Bowdoin: Jut, those guys were CRUISING. They were NOT running all out; at least, that is how it appeared to me, and to legendary track announcer Ian Brooks, who was on hand to emcee the Nike meet (that was cool!). And why would they? They just needed to advance to Nats, where they will be facing pretty stiff competition. Could they have broken the Bowdoin record (which, Keenan my friend, is held by a fancy LI runner named Millieon? am I right?)? I would say most probably yes. That record is 15:39, for those keeping score at home ...
But don't read much into the fact that they ran a lot slower at Bowdoin than Holmdel. I do think Holmdel is not as tough as Bowdoin (oh boy, Curt is gonna come after me on this one, and maybe Emerel!), but I do not think you can just their times on face value. That's just my opinion.
Having said that: As good as those twins are, even all out I could not see them cracking 15:00 at Bowdoin. No way. No how. Based on that statement, Bowdoin is tougher than Holmdel. Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow? I will not form an opinion on that since I do not know enough about the current SM layout.
OK? OK.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
NXN at Bowdoin Park
My son Joey and I spent the better part of the day down at Bowdoin Park for the Nike Cross Country Regional races for the Northeast and New York Regions. Wow! What a day!
Bowdoin is our home course, and what a great course it is. Today, the folks at Nike really dressed it up even more.
And I must take this opportunity to give a major (huge!) shout-out to longtime Arlington High School coach Terry Horton, now our assistant coach at Marist College, who more or less crafted and sculpted this Bowdoin course from scratch more than 20 years ago, to what it is today. He did this primarily with his own two hands, his trusty pickup truck and his even more trusty father, who helped do the heavy work for years and years on this course. Terry's contributions to the Bowdoin course cannot be overstated.
This year, the course was trashed after about a dozen races at the Coaches and Officials meet in a downpour in late October. Joey and I ran the course the next day during a Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club race. It was a mud pit, seemingly beyond repair.
Today, driving down the park road (thanks to Pete Sanfilippo for giving me VIP parking!), the course looked amazing. It was all mulched and in prime running condition. Nike had the course lined from start to finish. Really classy. When I talked to Terry the day before the race via cell, he was (as usual) down at Bowdoin putting the finishing touches on his baby. He told me: "You aren't gonna recognize this place."
He was right! Imagine being a volunteer groundskeeper at your local Little League field, and then having that field being transformed into Yankee Stadium overnight. That's how Terry must have felt. But as he accurately pointed out, this can be done with a Nike crew of 30 or so folks, as opposed to the one-man volunteer band that he is each and every autumn.
Oh, and one more thing, as an FYI for those interested in map minutia: Everyone says Bowdoin is in Wappingers Falls, and that is its mailing address. But technically, Bowdoin is located in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Not that anyone cares, but I'm kind of a maps/borders freak.
Anyway ... the races were excellent. The runners were among the best high schoolers in the country. It was sunny and windy. But for Nov. 28, you couldn't find better conditions or a better venue. A truly memorable day.
We did a lot of Marist networking down there today. Several runners and their families said there were going to drive up the road to Marist and check out the campus. Nice. Very nice.
Lastly, there has always been this debate about which courses are tougher. Holmdel in New Jersey. Wickham in Connecticut. Bowdoin in New York.
The best New York runners have known all about Bowdoin. Now, entrants in the Northeast Race can reach their own conclusions. No matter what they think, they should know that they saw Bowdoin at its absolute, glorious best today at the NXN meet.
Bowdoin is our home course, and what a great course it is. Today, the folks at Nike really dressed it up even more.
And I must take this opportunity to give a major (huge!) shout-out to longtime Arlington High School coach Terry Horton, now our assistant coach at Marist College, who more or less crafted and sculpted this Bowdoin course from scratch more than 20 years ago, to what it is today. He did this primarily with his own two hands, his trusty pickup truck and his even more trusty father, who helped do the heavy work for years and years on this course. Terry's contributions to the Bowdoin course cannot be overstated.
This year, the course was trashed after about a dozen races at the Coaches and Officials meet in a downpour in late October. Joey and I ran the course the next day during a Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club race. It was a mud pit, seemingly beyond repair.
Today, driving down the park road (thanks to Pete Sanfilippo for giving me VIP parking!), the course looked amazing. It was all mulched and in prime running condition. Nike had the course lined from start to finish. Really classy. When I talked to Terry the day before the race via cell, he was (as usual) down at Bowdoin putting the finishing touches on his baby. He told me: "You aren't gonna recognize this place."
He was right! Imagine being a volunteer groundskeeper at your local Little League field, and then having that field being transformed into Yankee Stadium overnight. That's how Terry must have felt. But as he accurately pointed out, this can be done with a Nike crew of 30 or so folks, as opposed to the one-man volunteer band that he is each and every autumn.
Oh, and one more thing, as an FYI for those interested in map minutia: Everyone says Bowdoin is in Wappingers Falls, and that is its mailing address. But technically, Bowdoin is located in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Not that anyone cares, but I'm kind of a maps/borders freak.
Anyway ... the races were excellent. The runners were among the best high schoolers in the country. It was sunny and windy. But for Nov. 28, you couldn't find better conditions or a better venue. A truly memorable day.
We did a lot of Marist networking down there today. Several runners and their families said there were going to drive up the road to Marist and check out the campus. Nice. Very nice.
Lastly, there has always been this debate about which courses are tougher. Holmdel in New Jersey. Wickham in Connecticut. Bowdoin in New York.
The best New York runners have known all about Bowdoin. Now, entrants in the Northeast Race can reach their own conclusions. No matter what they think, they should know that they saw Bowdoin at its absolute, glorious best today at the NXN meet.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Philly results from today
A pair of Running Red Foxes did well down in Philly today.
In the half marathon, Mike Rolek (class of 08) blitzed the half marathon in 1:09:52. He was eighth overall out of 7,188 finishers. Rolek checked in Sunday morning. He was not pleased and was hoping for better. A blazing 15:00 for 3 miles was a bit too aggressive to start. But Mike had been under the weather for a few weeks leading up to the race. Bad combo. Still, a solid performance and a sub-1:10 for 13.1 miles. Nicely done. BRO.
In the full marathon, current team sophomore Luke Shane ran a personal-best time of 3:08:17 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Luke was 396th overall out of 7,464 finishers and he was seventh in the 15-19 age group. He improved on his PR by a full 15 minutes. Like Rolek, he was hoping for slightly faster but still achieved his goal of a Boston qualifier. Nicely done!
Unfortunately for Luke, the 2010 Boston Marathon closed out a few weeks before Philly, so he'll have to wait till 2011 to run the famous race. Memo to Luke: Your young. You have many more Bostons in front of you, pal.
In the half marathon, Mike Rolek (class of 08) blitzed the half marathon in 1:09:52. He was eighth overall out of 7,188 finishers. Rolek checked in Sunday morning. He was not pleased and was hoping for better. A blazing 15:00 for 3 miles was a bit too aggressive to start. But Mike had been under the weather for a few weeks leading up to the race. Bad combo. Still, a solid performance and a sub-1:10 for 13.1 miles. Nicely done. BRO.
In the full marathon, current team sophomore Luke Shane ran a personal-best time of 3:08:17 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Luke was 396th overall out of 7,464 finishers and he was seventh in the 15-19 age group. He improved on his PR by a full 15 minutes. Like Rolek, he was hoping for slightly faster but still achieved his goal of a Boston qualifier. Nicely done!
Unfortunately for Luke, the 2010 Boston Marathon closed out a few weeks before Philly, so he'll have to wait till 2011 to run the famous race. Memo to Luke: Your young. You have many more Bostons in front of you, pal.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Women's ECAC results, some commentary
Team standings, ECAC University Division
1. Marist 85, 2. Albany 119, 3. Towson 137, 4. Binghamton 147, 5. Sacred Heart 188, 6. UNH 199, 7. Loyola 206, 8. Rider 208, 9. Monmouth 217, 10. Fordham 233, 11. George Mason 297, 12. Mansfield 342, 13. Holy Cross 342, 14. Seton Hall 378, 15. Fairfield 384, 16. Colgate 389, 17. VCU 408, 18. St. John’s 411, 19. Hofstra 512, 20. Siena 513
Marist individual results (5,000 meters)
5- Addie DiFrancesco 17:51.8 *school record, 5km cross country; **ECAC All-East
7-Brittany Burns 18:12.5 *ECAC All-East
15-Kathryn Sheehan 18:38.2 *ECAC All-East
28-Erin O’Reilly 18:59.8
33-Katie Messina 19:09.0
37-Julie Hudak 19:14.1
40-Sarah Parsloe 19:18.0
83-Jillian Corley 19:57.4
86-Kara Lightowler 19:59.2
94-Kelley Hanifin 20:01.9
99-Briana Crowe 20:05.3
108-Sarah Keating 20:15.4
Coaches Association Race (5,000 meters)
3-Laura Lindsley 19:50.0
7-Alyson O’Brien 20:05.3
11-Rebecca Denise 20:26.4
12-Dayna McLaughlin 20:35.1
13-Katie Topalian 20:35.4
15-Dana Boscarino 20:45.1
16-Colleen Smith 20:48.7
20-Kim Bartlett 21:00.1
23-Kelley Gould 21:09.7
25-Shannon Farrell 21:21.0
29-Rachel Lichtenwalner 21:32.9
30-Rachel Bremer 21:35.1
Commentary on team standings: Obviously, it does not get any better than this. We had the strongest 4-5-6-7 runners in the field, and that was that. Coach Chuck set three goals for the season-ending championships, and this enabled us to achieve them all. Nicely done!
Commentary on individual performances: Great job by Addie with a record-breaking time! Great way for Brit to go out as a graduating senior. Kathryn and Katie weren't feeling 100 percent, but they did their jobs superbly. Erin O'Reilly capped off a remarkable freshman season. Julie Hudak had a great bounce-back race and was a great leader for this team! Sarah Parsloe saved her best for last, wow! As far as the rest of the team, there were several strong performances and almost universally excellent times on a course that was not as easy as it appeared; certainly less challenging than the MAAC 6km, but not the pancake-flat/fast road race of Albany.
Again, it's not often days like this come along, and we should all enjoy it for what it is, and what it was.
Lastly, it was great for Phil to be there to witness this. His legacy and lineage still remain with this team, and he is still very much a part of our family. Thanks for riding in the van with me, it made the trips both ways seem very quick indeed.
Coming tomorrow: Updates from the Philly Marathon (Luke Shane) and Philly Half Marathon (Rolek).
Thanks as always for reading.
1. Marist 85, 2. Albany 119, 3. Towson 137, 4. Binghamton 147, 5. Sacred Heart 188, 6. UNH 199, 7. Loyola 206, 8. Rider 208, 9. Monmouth 217, 10. Fordham 233, 11. George Mason 297, 12. Mansfield 342, 13. Holy Cross 342, 14. Seton Hall 378, 15. Fairfield 384, 16. Colgate 389, 17. VCU 408, 18. St. John’s 411, 19. Hofstra 512, 20. Siena 513
Marist individual results (5,000 meters)
5- Addie DiFrancesco 17:51.8 *school record, 5km cross country; **ECAC All-East
7-Brittany Burns 18:12.5 *ECAC All-East
15-Kathryn Sheehan 18:38.2 *ECAC All-East
28-Erin O’Reilly 18:59.8
33-Katie Messina 19:09.0
37-Julie Hudak 19:14.1
40-Sarah Parsloe 19:18.0
83-Jillian Corley 19:57.4
86-Kara Lightowler 19:59.2
94-Kelley Hanifin 20:01.9
99-Briana Crowe 20:05.3
108-Sarah Keating 20:15.4
Coaches Association Race (5,000 meters)
3-Laura Lindsley 19:50.0
7-Alyson O’Brien 20:05.3
11-Rebecca Denise 20:26.4
12-Dayna McLaughlin 20:35.1
13-Katie Topalian 20:35.4
15-Dana Boscarino 20:45.1
16-Colleen Smith 20:48.7
20-Kim Bartlett 21:00.1
23-Kelley Gould 21:09.7
25-Shannon Farrell 21:21.0
29-Rachel Lichtenwalner 21:32.9
30-Rachel Bremer 21:35.1
Commentary on team standings: Obviously, it does not get any better than this. We had the strongest 4-5-6-7 runners in the field, and that was that. Coach Chuck set three goals for the season-ending championships, and this enabled us to achieve them all. Nicely done!
Commentary on individual performances: Great job by Addie with a record-breaking time! Great way for Brit to go out as a graduating senior. Kathryn and Katie weren't feeling 100 percent, but they did their jobs superbly. Erin O'Reilly capped off a remarkable freshman season. Julie Hudak had a great bounce-back race and was a great leader for this team! Sarah Parsloe saved her best for last, wow! As far as the rest of the team, there were several strong performances and almost universally excellent times on a course that was not as easy as it appeared; certainly less challenging than the MAAC 6km, but not the pancake-flat/fast road race of Albany.
Again, it's not often days like this come along, and we should all enjoy it for what it is, and what it was.
Lastly, it was great for Phil to be there to witness this. His legacy and lineage still remain with this team, and he is still very much a part of our family. Thanks for riding in the van with me, it made the trips both ways seem very quick indeed.
Coming tomorrow: Updates from the Philly Marathon (Luke Shane) and Philly Half Marathon (Rolek).
Thanks as always for reading.
Men's IC4A results, some commentary
OK, the kids are settled and I have a little bit of computer time, so here goes ...
Men's team standings, IC4A Championship Division
1. Duke 41, 2. William and Mary 67, 3. George Mason 113, 4. LaSalle 130, 5. Columbia 150, 6. Marist 153, 7. Syracuse 193, 8. Princeton 213, 9. Delaware 230, 10. UMass 240, 11. St. Joseph’s 242, 12. Duquesne 318, 13. Harvard 320
Marist Individual results (5-mile course)
12-Matt Flint 25:48.5 *IC4A All-East
23-Will Griffin 26:07.7 *IC4A All-East
27-Curtis Jensen 26:12.6
39-Tim Keegan 26:26.2
52-Conor Shelley 26:35.1
71-Nick Webster 26:55.0
80-Zak Smetana 27:04.5
83-Tom Lipari 27:07.0
86-Sam McMullen 27:11.3
89-Sean Nestor 27:16.4
94-Pat Duggan 27:23.7
100-Matt Janczyk 27:36.7
Coaches Association race (5-mile course)
6-Mike Nicoletti 27:55.8
10-Billy Posch 28:04.8
11-Kyle Havard 28:07.6
16-Ryan Brown 28:40.7
20-Joel Moss 29:01.7
21-Colin Johnson 29:11.7
25-Michael Keegan 29;32.5
26-Ryan Fitzsimons 29:54.2
30-Greg Masto 30:25.8
33-Brendan Green 30:53.4
Notes on the team standings: Most of the teams in this race were not playing with a full deck, so to speak. That includes us, as we were sitting out Vess and Quimes, who are nursing injuries. We proved we could hang in this crowd, even without all our horses. Nicely done.
Notes on the course: This was still the "construction" VCP course, meaning the hills were condensed and thus making it tougher than the the "original" VCP course. However, this course was slightly shorter than the "construction" VCP course that was run at MAACs. What does this mean? Who knows. My guess it is what about 15-20 seconds SLOWER than the "original" VCP course. I will admit that the changing face of the VCP course is slightly annoying, given our meticulous school records at Vanny. But such is life. We can only run the race, and the course, that we are in. And today, we did that quite nicely.
Some notes on how our individuals ran, varsity: Flint proved to nail it pretty nicely at the end of the season; Will was still feeling the obvious effects of a serious flu illness; Curtis ran very strong and turned around what had been a 2-race slump of sorts; Zak and Duggan finished up strong, consistent seasons, their best ever in XC; same with Sam; Lipari had his best effort of the year; Keeg and Web ran well but definitely can do better, we will have to discuss and analyze things a little, but your value to our team is unquestioned; Nestor had a pretty typical freshman XC season, with some flashes of great things to come.
Some notes on how our individuals ran, JV: Obviously the times were faster; but in most cases, the effort and race was far superior to the MAAC meet. Among the big stars: Kyle Havard (huge!), Nicoletti, Posch, Brownie, Joel, Brendan; Meegan did fairly well in his first VCP; Fitz was not happy with how it went.
Some notes on our XC Seniors: Much like recent seniors, these men will be remembered as much for the tone they set OFF the xc course as the effort they put out ON the course. Future team successes will be rooted in all that you guys accomplished, both on and off the practice and race venues. It will never be forgotten by your old coach. Captain Conor, Captain Janzo, Masto, Colin: THANK YOU, MEN!
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.
Men's team standings, IC4A Championship Division
1. Duke 41, 2. William and Mary 67, 3. George Mason 113, 4. LaSalle 130, 5. Columbia 150, 6. Marist 153, 7. Syracuse 193, 8. Princeton 213, 9. Delaware 230, 10. UMass 240, 11. St. Joseph’s 242, 12. Duquesne 318, 13. Harvard 320
Marist Individual results (5-mile course)
12-Matt Flint 25:48.5 *IC4A All-East
23-Will Griffin 26:07.7 *IC4A All-East
27-Curtis Jensen 26:12.6
39-Tim Keegan 26:26.2
52-Conor Shelley 26:35.1
71-Nick Webster 26:55.0
80-Zak Smetana 27:04.5
83-Tom Lipari 27:07.0
86-Sam McMullen 27:11.3
89-Sean Nestor 27:16.4
94-Pat Duggan 27:23.7
100-Matt Janczyk 27:36.7
Coaches Association race (5-mile course)
6-Mike Nicoletti 27:55.8
10-Billy Posch 28:04.8
11-Kyle Havard 28:07.6
16-Ryan Brown 28:40.7
20-Joel Moss 29:01.7
21-Colin Johnson 29:11.7
25-Michael Keegan 29;32.5
26-Ryan Fitzsimons 29:54.2
30-Greg Masto 30:25.8
33-Brendan Green 30:53.4
Notes on the team standings: Most of the teams in this race were not playing with a full deck, so to speak. That includes us, as we were sitting out Vess and Quimes, who are nursing injuries. We proved we could hang in this crowd, even without all our horses. Nicely done.
Notes on the course: This was still the "construction" VCP course, meaning the hills were condensed and thus making it tougher than the the "original" VCP course. However, this course was slightly shorter than the "construction" VCP course that was run at MAACs. What does this mean? Who knows. My guess it is what about 15-20 seconds SLOWER than the "original" VCP course. I will admit that the changing face of the VCP course is slightly annoying, given our meticulous school records at Vanny. But such is life. We can only run the race, and the course, that we are in. And today, we did that quite nicely.
Some notes on how our individuals ran, varsity: Flint proved to nail it pretty nicely at the end of the season; Will was still feeling the obvious effects of a serious flu illness; Curtis ran very strong and turned around what had been a 2-race slump of sorts; Zak and Duggan finished up strong, consistent seasons, their best ever in XC; same with Sam; Lipari had his best effort of the year; Keeg and Web ran well but definitely can do better, we will have to discuss and analyze things a little, but your value to our team is unquestioned; Nestor had a pretty typical freshman XC season, with some flashes of great things to come.
Some notes on how our individuals ran, JV: Obviously the times were faster; but in most cases, the effort and race was far superior to the MAAC meet. Among the big stars: Kyle Havard (huge!), Nicoletti, Posch, Brownie, Joel, Brendan; Meegan did fairly well in his first VCP; Fitz was not happy with how it went.
Some notes on our XC Seniors: Much like recent seniors, these men will be remembered as much for the tone they set OFF the xc course as the effort they put out ON the course. Future team successes will be rooted in all that you guys accomplished, both on and off the practice and race venues. It will never be forgotten by your old coach. Captain Conor, Captain Janzo, Masto, Colin: THANK YOU, MEN!
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.
A "banner" day at VCP!
Big, breaking news!
Our women's team WON the ECAC University Division, today at Van Cortlandt Park.
Addie DiFrancesco set an all-time Marist xc 5km record and was 5th place overall. Brittany Burns and Kathryn Sheehan joined Addie as All-East finishers, all placing in the top 15.
Our 4-5-6-7 pack was the best in the race. Depth wins cross country races!
Congrats, ladies. And major kudos to Coach Chuck for putting together a great program. The future is bright.
Our men's varsity -- minus Vess and Quimes -- had a strong showing in the Championship Division. We were 6th of 13 in a competitive field. A positive end to a mostly strong season.
More results and details later on when I have time to type them up.
FYI: It was literally a "banner" day as the ECAC rewarded us with an "ECAC Champions" banner, which is now hanging proudly in Chuck's office.
Rock on.
Our women's team WON the ECAC University Division, today at Van Cortlandt Park.
Addie DiFrancesco set an all-time Marist xc 5km record and was 5th place overall. Brittany Burns and Kathryn Sheehan joined Addie as All-East finishers, all placing in the top 15.
Our 4-5-6-7 pack was the best in the race. Depth wins cross country races!
Congrats, ladies. And major kudos to Coach Chuck for putting together a great program. The future is bright.
Our men's varsity -- minus Vess and Quimes -- had a strong showing in the Championship Division. We were 6th of 13 in a competitive field. A positive end to a mostly strong season.
More results and details later on when I have time to type them up.
FYI: It was literally a "banner" day as the ECAC rewarded us with an "ECAC Champions" banner, which is now hanging proudly in Chuck's office.
Rock on.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
One more time for Ogden Hills
On Wednesday, a few men did a scaled back version of the opening season Ogden Hills workout. Fitz called it a "full circle" moment as we ended the season with the same workout as we began it.
It was a beautiful fall day, not nearly as cold as it seems based on how I was dressed. Also pictured are Captain Conor leading the charge up the hill, along with the Thug Patrol of Mr. Awesome, Flint and Will.
Thanks to Vess for taking the pictures and providing me with coffee.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
IC4A/ECAC information
Word on the street is that there will be strong alumni support at Vanny on Saturday. Hopefully that is the case! Here is the race schedule, for those keeping score at home:
9:30 a.m.: Combined JV races (men and women)
10:15 a.m.: Men's Championship Race
12:30 p.m.: Women's University Race
Who is racing what for the men, in no particular order ...
JV (10): Nicoletti, Brown, Posch, Masto, Moss, Colin J., Fitz, Green, Havard, Meegan
Varsity (12): Flint, Big Papa (Lipari), Will, Keegan, Conor, Web, Zak, Nestor, Janzo, Duggan, Sam, Curt (aka Mr. Awesome)
Not racing (7): Vess, Quimes, Holinko, Townsend, Panebianco, Schanz, Lombi
Racing, but at Philly in the marathon (1): Luke Shane (good luck!)
Hope to see you there ...
9:30 a.m.: Combined JV races (men and women)
10:15 a.m.: Men's Championship Race
12:30 p.m.: Women's University Race
Who is racing what for the men, in no particular order ...
JV (10): Nicoletti, Brown, Posch, Masto, Moss, Colin J., Fitz, Green, Havard, Meegan
Varsity (12): Flint, Big Papa (Lipari), Will, Keegan, Conor, Web, Zak, Nestor, Janzo, Duggan, Sam, Curt (aka Mr. Awesome)
Not racing (7): Vess, Quimes, Holinko, Townsend, Panebianco, Schanz, Lombi
Racing, but at Philly in the marathon (1): Luke Shane (good luck!)
Hope to see you there ...
Monday, November 16, 2009
Final thoughts, images on regionals
Before I wax philosophical about Saturday's meet once more, please take about 10 minutes from your busy lives to check out the tremendous videos put together by freshman women's team member Kelley Gould.
"Gouldilocks Productions" did an amazing job. It gave me chills watching these videos. Thanks, Kelley!
Men's video here.
Women's video here.
OK, some final takes on the meet ...
Women: Looking at the "big picture," this was another big step in the right direction for our program. We are on the verge of some big stuff here! It was a six-position jump from last year. However, the ladies are not satisfied, and that is great. It shows they care.
In analyzing the results, there are several areas in which we could have improved and thus could have been several places higher. But we can do that with every meet. We must again look at the "big picture" and realize that the program is headed in the right direction, with so much potential for growth in the coming months and years.
This is in large part due to the great work of Coach Chuck, and of course the hard work, dedication and toughness of the women's Running Red Foxes. It is a pleasure and honor to be closely associated with you all (hopefully, some of you read this fancy blog?).
Men: Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells was always fond of saying "you are what your record says you are." We believe as a team and as a program that we are much better than what we showed on Saturday. However, to say that we "should have" been higher up would be to disparage the excellent teams ahead of us that got it done. I won't do that.
A lot conspired to make Saturday's men's race a disaster for us. But we are prideful team and a prideful program. Our job is to get up off the mud, move on and finish with pride and power at IC4As.
Looking ahead: We have a lot to prove and a lot to run for at ECACs (women's university) and IC4As (men's championship). We will talk during the week about goals. There is one more race to run, and we must run it well.
"Gouldilocks Productions" did an amazing job. It gave me chills watching these videos. Thanks, Kelley!
Men's video here.
Women's video here.
OK, some final takes on the meet ...
Women: Looking at the "big picture," this was another big step in the right direction for our program. We are on the verge of some big stuff here! It was a six-position jump from last year. However, the ladies are not satisfied, and that is great. It shows they care.
In analyzing the results, there are several areas in which we could have improved and thus could have been several places higher. But we can do that with every meet. We must again look at the "big picture" and realize that the program is headed in the right direction, with so much potential for growth in the coming months and years.
This is in large part due to the great work of Coach Chuck, and of course the hard work, dedication and toughness of the women's Running Red Foxes. It is a pleasure and honor to be closely associated with you all (hopefully, some of you read this fancy blog?).
Men: Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells was always fond of saying "you are what your record says you are." We believe as a team and as a program that we are much better than what we showed on Saturday. However, to say that we "should have" been higher up would be to disparage the excellent teams ahead of us that got it done. I won't do that.
A lot conspired to make Saturday's men's race a disaster for us. But we are prideful team and a prideful program. Our job is to get up off the mud, move on and finish with pride and power at IC4As.
Looking ahead: We have a lot to prove and a lot to run for at ECACs (women's university) and IC4As (men's championship). We will talk during the week about goals. There is one more race to run, and we must run it well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
