Great to see my good friend and coaching compadre of 17 years, Phil Kelly, get honored by the MAAC and by our teams at the awards banquet on Sunday at Rider. Well-deserved, and it was a great way to end his career.
In the "nice guys finish last" category: This was our best MAAC meet, as a team, in a long, long time. We scored in every event in which we were entered with one exception (and in that one exception, the guys ran tremendous!). There were highlights everywhere; I'll try to summarize them here:
-- Max Carow getting it done in the pole vault. School record, third-place medal. After a spring in which he battled illness and no place to practice. Max at MAACs: He got it done!
-- The Thrower Guys -- James and Dan -- scoring in the discus. James PRed. Again, great job on minimal practice.
-- Shaun Kippins scoring in both jumps and the 4x1, despite an ankle and heel that were ready to explode and finally did at the end of the TJ. Thanks for sacrificing in your final college meet, Kips!
-- Mike Cocca having perhaps the finest sprinting day in Marist Track history, scoring in the 100 and 200 in PR times and near school records, and anchoring a medal-winning 4x100 relay. Nice job, captain.
-- Colin Johnson (he of 4:59 and 2:13 high school PRs) breaking 2:00 in the 800 and winning the second section. Phenomenal season, my friend.
-- Nick Webster with perhaps the single most impressive performance of the meet: 9:23 in the steeple, 16-second PR, third-place medal, an EASY Jr National qualifier and closing in on IC4As. Something to shoot for next spring. We're heading for Columbus, Webs!
-- Tim Keegan with a stunning distance double, getting a hard-earned 6th in the 10k in a PR of 31:20 -- hanging with the Iona pack through a blazing 15:22 first 5k and hanging tough over the second half. Then, on tired legs, scoring another hard-earned point in the 5k on Sunday. Great season!
-- Dumb and Dumber (Vess and Shelley) were smart and smarter -- and tough and tougher -- in the 1500. In a typically tactical race, they kept their cool and kicked with a frenzy (59 seconds for Vess, 61 for Conor) and got two scoring spots (3rd and 5th) in a very competitive race.
-- Girma getting a hard-earned, tactical third place in the 5k, closing the last 800m in 2:08! Thanks to Rolek for doing the dirty work by breaking up the jogging, and sacrificing his own race in the process.
-- Ricky (Greg Masto, high jump) and John Keenan (400 IH) having some fun in "off" events and scoring points. Greg, if you can high jump 5-9 the day after a tough steeple, maybe we can get you up to 6-0 fresh next year! Why not?
-- Countless other PRs among the non-scorers -- Emerel lopping more than 1 minute off his 10k comes to mind, but there were others as well.
Did I forget someone? Probably, and if so I am sorry. You guys should be proud of your efforts and it is an honor to say that I coach you all.
Lastly, thanks to the seniors for all their efforts through the years. You clearly enjoyed your final road trip with the team, and I've enjoyed every minute with you boys.
Check back for meet splits in a while, when I come up for air.
While the majority of the season is finished, we still have a lot of spring left in us:
-- A few guys chasing some PRs on Saturday at Icahn
-- Vess, Rolek and Girma at IC4As on 5.16 in Princeton
-- A school-record three (3!) Jr National qualifiers, in Columbus, Ohio, 6.20-6.22.
The road never ends, my friends ...
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