Class of 2010

Yesterday afternoon, I had a nice lunch with our graduating senior men -- as well as Conor Shelley, who is part of the class but will be returning for a fifth year to complete his studies and his remaining track eligibility.

It was great getting together with them in an informal setting one last time before all the (literal) pomp and circumstance of the next few days of graduation. This blog is devoted mostly to the pursuit of excellence in running and track, but these guys are also students and fine people, and I’m equally as proud of what they accomplish off the track as on it.

Recent graduates have become coaches and teachers (great!), gone off to grad school (fantastic), entered law school (wow!) and medical school (wow wow!), among other noble pursuits. It amazes me that these guys who, just months and years previously were the goofballs wrestling each other in the McCann Lobby before going out for their daily mileage, are now really making a difference in the world – or at least, will be in a few years. Good stuff.

Anyway, after paying homage to the Great Girma in the past few posts, allow me to brag about the current crop of graduates, who will be sitting through tomorrow’s scintillating ceremonies on the campus green. As a note of full disclosure, part of this post was plagiarized from my own Senior Awards Banquet speech (can you plagiarize yourself?). Here we go, in alphabetical order …

Colin Frederickson: C-Fred graduates as one of the best long sprinters we have ever had, and he was a two-time MAAC All-Academic team member. He is going to pursue his MPA at Marist and may very well use his remaining track eligibility for us next winter and spring. We are hoping for that and counting on that!

Matt Janczyk: Matt was a 9-time MAAC All-Academic team member in his rigorous course of study in the biomedical sciences. However, he is not pursuing the sciences as his career. Rather, he is taking the bold and noble path of pursuing the Roman Catholic priesthood with the Dominican order. To say I am awed and proud of Captain Janzo would be a gross understatement; I look forward to our continued friendship in the coming years.

Colin Johnson: Colin was a 7-time MAAC All-Academic team member as a communication major. He will be leaving for Shanghai later this summer, where he will teach English for a year. He vows to keep running over there, and may set the record for the furthest distance traveled to represent the Marist Alumni Racing Team.

Alex Lombardozzi: Sorry, LomBRO. Cannot brag about your being a member of MAAC All-Academic. Or, as Lombi said during lunch yesterday: “So, Pete, are you surprised I am graduating?” Based on his early academic performance, the answer would have to be a resounding YES. But Lombi has tidied things up nicely, and he secured a job in my old stomping grounds – Parsippany, NJ – starting on Monday! Gotta start paying off those college loans, right bro? Nicely done.

Greg Masto: Masto was a nine-time MAAC All-Academic team member as communication major concentrating in gaming studies. He too begins work on Monday at his new job in the Albany area, where he is from. Mast-Bro will be working at Vicarious Visions, which I believe produces the game Guitar Hero. Masto worked there last summer and he will be a perfect fit for them. Many thanks to Gregory for his off-track assistance in terms of the Asics shoe orders, as well as bailing out our family computer issues from time to time. You are a Computer Hero at our house! His selflessness in track will not be forgotten, as he entered in and scored in MAAC high jump competitions.

David Raucci: The long and winding Marist career of our favorite Barefoot Boy comes to an end on Saturday. David will spend the next year with Next Generation Academy (NGA). The way David explained NGA to me, the curriculum includes "leadership training and learning through experiences, fundraising, workshops, service projects, and perhaps the coolest thing about it, planning a trip to a foreign country where you can do service work there and experience a different culture." Basically, it's doing good things for others in some foreign land. After that, David said he wants to refocus his efforts on his road racing career. And then eventually, maybe, use his history degree to become a teacher.

One final note about Conor: It will be great to have him around for 2010-2011. Aside from the obvious contributions he might make in track provided he is healthy and training hard, his leadership skills will be an added element to our large team.

A note on the graduating ladies: Chuck did their speech at the banquet, so I cannot plagiarize that. We had three women and the awards ceremony: Brittany Burns, Holly Burns and Justine Colabraro. Britt is graduating but will be returning for her fifth year of track eligibility as a graduate student (awesome!). Justine is heading off to physical therapy school and I believe Holly will be heading off to medical school either next year or the year after.

So there you have it, the graduating class of 2010. Each year, saying goodbye is tinged with sadness. But mostly, there is pride about the fine men and women we are sending off into the world.