It was a long, tiring and fun weekend down at Rider.
The final team results were predictable and not to our liking, but they do not accurately reflect the fine effort of our athletes. Such is life.
I will do my best to post complete results, splits and other comments in the next few days. As always, the end of the semester is a busy time with tidying up a lot of loose ends.
The big highlight today on the men's side was a wonderful school record by freshman Jesse Aprile in the 200-meter dash. Jesse nabbed the last scoring spot (6th) in a very competitive field and ran 22.78 seconds. This eclipsed the shared school record of 22.82, first set by Mike McCarthy way back in 2000 and then equaled by Brian DeMarco in 2007. It is worth noting, for those not in the know, that DeMarco was perhaps the greatest long sprinter in school history.
While he did not get the school record, kudos to intermediate hurdler Mike Clifford. Cliff proved his 56.39 mark from Yale last Sunday was no fluke. He ran 56.36 on Sunday at MAACs, just missing a scoring spot and just missing the SR of 56.33. We are very proud of his effort.
The men's 4x100 relay team blazed around the track in 43.40 seconds, just a few ticks off the SR of 43.33.
Lastly, the men's 4x400 team of Phil Krupka (51.4), Chris Vanzetta (50.5), Connor Dodge (51.2) and Chris Coscio (50.8) got fourth in a season-best time of 3:24.28. Calling this a "season best" does not do it justice, as it was more than 5 seconds faster than any 4x400 run this year. Talk about saving the best for last ...
The men's 5k was the usual slugfest, with our guys gamely surging and racing with gusto. Whatever the outcome, we go at it and race hard. Great to see my boy Duggan busting up the pack with a ridiculously bold mid-race surge, for which he paid dearly. Such is life.
Fifth-year senior Conor Shelley saved the best for last, medaling with a third-place time of 14:59.93. Yes. This is the same Conor Shelley who, a few years ago indoors at BU, had the audacity to run 15:00.00 for 5,000 meters. Well, Conor mustered that extra .07 on Sunday, somehow. Of course, he has broken 15:00 a few times in between, but it's great to see our old pal still has a flair for the dramatic. One more race, bro.
On the women's side, it was so thrilling to see senior Jillian Corley finish in a blaze of glory in the 5,000, running a strong fifth in 18:35.17. Great job, Jill! We will miss you.
Again, more details to follow ... when I can this week ... be patient ...
No comments:
Post a Comment