Will Griffin ran his heart out on Thursday night at the NCAA Regionals. The final result was a bit disappointing for Will. But the effort was one to make us all proud. Very proud, in fact.
The race started under a steady drizzle and breezy and cool conditions. In all, not bad for a 10k on the track. Cooler than normal is always a perk for May 26.
Anyway, the pre-race concerns of a slow and tactical race were totally unfounded. Tells you how smart I am!
The field blitzed out to a fast pace and Will followed suit. Will had several 70-second laps in the early going – quite peppy – and was still sitting in between 25th and 30th place.
A little before the 5km, the big chase pack that Will was in ratcheted up the pace even more, and that was a bit much for Will. However, he worked in a smaller pack for the rest of the race.
And although the splits slowed somewhat, if you were there and watching the race, you would have seen Will racing really hard and tough. He did not look like he was “dying” out there, because he wasn’t. The 10km at this level is a race of attrition, and Will held his own from start to finish.
It was great to have our old pal Sean Hopkins there to cheer on Will for the whole race. In fact, we spent some serious quality time with Hopkins, who is a volunteer assistant coach with the West Virginia women’s team. It was also great to have the support of Sacred Heart coach (and Marist alum) Christian Morrison, who came out in the rain to watch Will run. That meant a lot.
Will also had administrative support from our Assistant AD and SWA Liz Donohue, who is on the NCAA Track Committee. Liz was thrilled to have one of her own at an NCAA meet after three years of serving on the NCAA Track Committee.
One last note: As the preliminary (and NOT ACCURATE) results were flashed on the board (and apparently on the Internet), Will was initially listed as the 11th-place finisher in 29:15. This got many Marist Running followers VERY EXCITED and word spread quickly (and erroneously) that Will had qualified for the national final in a 30-second PR. While this would have been a dream come true for us, it was not to be.
From my perspective, though, it was so thrilling and gratifying to know that so many of you out there cared enough to follow the results on a Thursday night and to send me very excited texts about it. Even after the truth was revealed, several texters had the 100-percent accurate sentiment when they said, “that’s OK, we’re still proud.”
Amen.
NCAA East Regional at Indiana University
10,000-meter run
Will Griffin, 30:25.55
33rd out of 48 runners
71, 2:22 (71), 3:33 (71), 4:43 (70)
5:56 (73), 7:06 (70), 8:18 (72), 9:30 (72)
10:41 (71), 11:51 (70), 13:04 (73), 14:16 (72)
15:29 (73), 16:42 (73), 17:56 (74), 19:11 (75)
20:29 (78), 21:45 (76), 23:01 (76), 24:16 (75)
25:31 (75), 26:47 (76), 28:02 (75), 29:15 (73)
30:25.55 (70.55)
5km split: 14:55
1600-meter splits: 4:43, 4:47, 4:46, 4:55, 5:05, 4:59
Final overall results
1 Sam Chelanga SR Liberty 29:00.94Q
2 Shadrack Kipchirchir SO Western Kentucky 29:08.64Q
3 Ciaran O'Lionaird SR Florida State 29:09.75Q
4 Michael Fout SO Florida State 29:09.89Q
5 Tito Medrano SO Syracuse 29:10.01Q
6 Nate Edelman SR Cornell 29:10.11Q
7 Leonard Korir SR Iona 29:10.58Q
8 Matt Llano SR Richmond 29:11.06Q
9 Michael Eaton SR Louisville 29:14.14Q
10 Bo Waggoner SR Duke 29:14.65Q
11 Alexander Soderberg JR Iona 29:18.45Q
12 Jon Grey SR William and Mary 29:25.03Q
13 Paul Katam FR UNC-Greensboro 29:28.57
14 Zachary Mayhew SO Indiana 29:32.73
15 Adam Henken JR North Carolina St. 29:34.86
16 Jeff Martinez SO Binghamton 29:35.58
17 Seth Proctor JR Florida State 29:36.02
18 Drew Hart SR Cornell 29:41.83
19 Brendan Martin JR Columbia 29:43.76
20 David Rooney SO McNeese State 29:48.02
21 Wesley Rickman SO Florida State 29:49.45
22 Keith Capecci SR Villanova 29:51.43
23 Kevin McDonnell JR St. Joseph's (Pa.) 29:54.69
24 Ethan Shaw JR Dartmouth 29:55.07
25 Alex McGrath SO William and Mary 29:55.60
26 Zack Jones SR Oakland 30:01.56
27 Justin Roeder SR Butler 30:07.84
28 Patrick Grosskopf SR Michigan State 30:10.45
29 Tommy Kauffmann SR Xavier (Ohio) 30:15.86
30 Ben Massam SR William and Mary 30:16.83
31 Dan Jackson SR Notre Dame 30:20.95
32 Bobby Aprill JR Michigan 30:21.43
33 William Griffin SO Marist 30:25.55
34 TC Lumbar JR Georgetown 30:27.44
35 Michael Spooner SR Tennessee 30:30.87
36 Christopher Foley FR Virginia 30:37.16
37 Mike Murphy SO Columbia 30:42.57
38 Tom Boardman SR Butler 30:46.01
39 Neal Darmody JR High Point 30:57.43
40 Brett Richardson JR Georgia 31:03.03
41 Jarrett LeBlanc JR McNeese State 31:07.40
42 Mike Stolar JR Duquesne 31:15.73
43 Sean Keefe SO Syracuse 31:24.62
44 Chris Bodary SO Tennessee 31:33.80
-- D.J. McMillan SR Georgia Tech DNF
-- Josh Brewer JR Duke DNF
-- Josh Hardin FR William and Mary DNF
-- Kyle Kling JR Coastal Carolina DNF
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