It was certainly a memorable day at the regionals on Saturday. So many things made this a day that this old coach will recall for a long time. Here’s a random list of post-weekend thoughts from a record-breaking day for the Running Red Foxes …
--Entering the meet, our men’s team was ranked 14th in the region. Although I believed we were better than that, I also felt it was a fair ranking in that all the teams in front of us – not to mention a few behind us and even a couple that were unranked – are extremely solid programs.
In my humble opinion, the region was the deepest it had ever been. As always, the Ivy League teams were strong. This was one of those years where I felt every Ivy League team could have finished ahead of us, even if we were at our best. Add to that the fact that there were three America East schools that were ranked ahead of us, not to mention the usual front-running suspects with the national rankings, and it was getting very crowded up there trying to nudge our way back into the top 10. Realistically, we could have run our very best race and finished no higher than 12th.
Of course, things happen – to us, to all teams. It is the nature of the pressure-cooker race that is NCAA Regionals. I cannot analyze other teams' performances because I do not have enough information on them. In our case, our tough-luck, top-flight runner – Adam Vess – DNFed despite giving it a valiant effort. He blacked out on the course, but fortunately did no major damage to his body (we hope).
It’s how your team reacts to these difficulties that makes it worth it, and our varsity men really answered the call.
--For four years (2005 through 2008), we always discussed the potent 1-2 punch of Girma Segni and David Raucci. Quietly and steadily, the 1-2 punch of juniors Matt Flint and Will Griffin have done what I thought could not be repeated so soon in my coaching tenure. And, they have done it with toughness and consistency that is so appreciated. Today was no different.
--At one point, relatively early in the race, I was freaking out because I could not see Will (after the mile) and could not see Flint (around 4km). I wasn’t the only one that missed Flint, which of course led to a panic attack on my part. It was crowded out there, and they were plugging away with the best runners in our region. A couple of frantic cell calls to Tommy Lipari, who told me they were both running great, calmed my nerves.
--Sophomore Quimes DelaCruz inexplicably went out like a bat out of hell. He was in the top 10 early in the race, and I was convinced our boy Q had lost his mind once and for all. I could hear his crazed voice in my head. He was probably thinking: “Das right, das right, I’m the Greatest and I’m gonna show the world I’m the Greatest.” Oh boy. He did fade a bit, but he recovered late in the race and passed many runners from 8km to 10km – as instructed. He might be nuts, but he does listen, Most of the time, anyway.
--Ken Walshak ran his usual solid race that we have come to expect of him. He is a freshman, but Kenny runs with the tenacity, toughness and consistency of upperclassmen like Will and Flint. And he does not scare on a big stage like this.
--Senior Nick Webster made the day. He ran tough and smart early, and he had an eye-popping kick. This was clearly his finest hour as a collegiate cross country runner. It is particularly gratifying for me, because Web was our alternate for the past two regional meets – at best, a difficult proposition (Side note: Freshman Nick Hughes filled this role today in a classy manner; his time will come). Being the Fine Citizen of our program for four years, Web never complained about his fate and always supported the team. For him to nail this race perfectly and fill that crucial 5th scoring spot for us is something I will never forget.
--While senior captain Timmy Keegan did not score, he went out hard, raced tough and really pushed our team to perform well. I fully expect Tim to finish his XC career with a flourish on a course (VCP) that he has had plenty of success on during his great four-year run.
--The team support was phenomenal. I was so glad to see about a dozen of our guys make the long road trip on Saturday morning to support the varsity men. I vaguely remember body-slamming Ryan Scrudato and Joel Moss (and maybe others?) in excitement toward the end of the meet.
--Freshman Billy Hild boldly predicted a ninth-place finish by our men before the race. While I felt that anything was possible, that was certainly a pie-in-the-sky goal. I told Billy if our men did that, I would kiss him on the cheek for his great faith in our team. We were pretty close to his pre-race prediction, but thankfully I did not have to smooch his prickly, unshaven face.
--The family support was great, as usual. It is never taken for granted. Thank you all!
A quick note on the women’s race: From my perspective, I felt our ladies competed well and visually to me seemed to compete better than at MAACs. Kiersten Anderson went out very hard and hung tough for a strong placement. According to my calculations, she was the ninth freshman in the field – very excellent! The rest of our scoring ladies finished in a tight pack and ran reasonably well – but our region is very deep, and those places piled up quickly in front of us.
The XC season wraps up next Saturday at the IC4A/ECAC meet. We hope to see many family, friends and alumni there. More on that early next week.
NCAA Northeast Regional
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Hammonasset State Park, Madison, CT
Men’s team standings:
1-Syracuse 56, 2-Iona 63, 3-Providence 113, 4-Dartmouth 138, 5-Columbia 146, 6-Cornell 232, 7-Boston U 239, 8-Brown 240, 9-U Mass 264, 10-Marist 288, 11-Yale 304, 12-Harvard 327, 13-U Albany 357, 14-Binghamton 397, 15-Northeastern 399, 16-Central Connecticut 403, 17-Buffalo 459, 18-Army 478, 19-Boston College 487, 20-Stony Brook 510, 21-Maine 596, 22-Fordham 617, 23-Vermont 649, 24-Connecticut 659, 25-Colgate 662, 26-Hartford 748, 27-Sacred Heart 754, 28-Wagner 770, 29-New Hampshire 778, 30-Manhattan 788, 31-Niagara 832, 32-Hofstra 873, 33-Fairfield 941, 34-Quinnipiac 1032, 35-Siena 1046
Marist finishers
10,000 meters
30. Matt Flint 30:52.7
38. Will Griffin 31:04.9
61. Arquimedes DelaCruz 31:29.5
72. Ken Walshak 31:42.8
87. Nick Webster 31:56.6
128. Tim Keegan 32:38.3
DNF – Adam Vess
Women’s team standings
1-Syracuse 78, 2-Stony Brook 83, 3-Providence 87, 4-Boston College 92, 5-Columbia 206, 6-Cornell 209, 7-Brown 226, 8-Dartmouth 271, 9-New Hampshire 273, 10-Boston U 315, 11-Yale 323, 12-Iona 332, 13-Connecticut 353, 14-Harvard 389, 15-Colgate 394, 16-Maine 395, 17-Army 480, 18-Vermont 482, 19-U Mass 493, 20-Quinnipiac 536, 21-Holy Cross 613, 22-Rhode Island 700, 23-Marist 712, 24-Northeastern 729, 25-Binghamton 753, 26-Buffalo 754, 27-Central Connecticut 854, 28-St. John’s 860, 29-Fordham 870, 30-Sacred Heart 900, 31-Niagara 901, 32-Fairfield 923, 33-Manhattan 952, 34-Hofstra 1011, 35-Siena 1078
Marist finishers
6,000 meters
52-Kiersten Anderson 21:29.6
153-Briana Crowe 23:01.7
162-Katie Messina 23:08.2
176-Erin O’Reilly 23:18.4
177-Kathryn Sheehan 23:20.5
184-Jillian Corley 23:39.8
DNF – Julie Hudak
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