Our weary bus travelers are almost home

Just got word from one of our trusty team captains that the bus bringing the group home from Florida is about a half hour away. We look forward to having them back among us soon.

Should the NYC Marathon be held on Sunday?

I am running the NYC Marathon on Sunday. I am not particularly proud of this statement, for a few reasons: 1. My training has been hampered by a nagging injury that won't go away; as a result, the race may not go too well; 2. Far more importantly, the effects of this monster storm, Sandy, has had on the city and surrounding areas makes you wonder whether a celebratory, life-affirming event like the marathon should be held, while thousands of people are picking up the pieces of their lives.

The last time I was in this situation was in September of 2001, right after 9/11. The Dutchess County Classic was scheduled for five days after 9/11. There was much debate over whether that event should have been held. I ran the now-defunct marathon on that Sunday, Sept. 16. We sang the National Anthem on the starting line, and I cried. I wrote a column in the next day's newspaper explaining the pros and cons of running that race. One of my best friends from college, a FDNY member, gave me his blessing to run the race. That's all I needed.

Here we are again. Should this race be held? I dunno. Canceling a race of this magnitude has so many other ramifications. But it still feels weird thinking about running through a city that was absolutely devastated by this natural disaster. The argument for running it is that it will show the world how resilient NYC is, and that life does go on. But the argument against running it states that the civil servants -- police, fire, etc. -- would be much better served working on getting Breezy Point and the Rockaways and the Battery, and all the other areas that were destroyed, back up and running.

Should we run? Ultimately, these decisions will be made by the powerful people in charge. My gut feeling is, they will find a way to get it done, and they will do it right. We'll see ...

Whither the Marist Track Store? Not enough orders!

Remember my post from earlier this month about the Marist Track Store? Well, I was just informed by my friends at Anaconda Sports, the ones who set up the store, that there have only been five (5!) orders so far. In order for the orders to be placed, there needs to be a minimum of $1,000 in purchases. We are several hundred dollars short of this minimum. If the minimum is not reached, all previous orders will be CANCELED.

From the folks that I have spoken to, there seemed to be tremendous interest in this store. Perhaps there are many last-minute shoppers out there? The store closes on Sunday. If you were considering an order, please place it NOW so the store will be a success. Understand that we as a program benefit very modestly from this; it is NOT a fundraiser, but rather an opportunity for family and friends to proudly support and "rep" the program. So please refer to the previous post and place an order if you are interested. Or spread the word. Thank you for your support.

Update on Sandy-stranded runners: Northbound on a bus!

Cue up the theme from Smokey and the Bandit: Our remaining team members are coming home! A northbound bus -- that's right, BUS -- departed Disney with our travel party and the travel party from our friends at St. Peter's University. If all goes well, they should be arriving back in Poughkeepsie sometime later in the day on Wednesday. It will be a long ride, but it's the best option, given the extreme circumstances. We look forward to having them back with us soon.

Update on Sandy-stranded runners

As I type this on my dining room table, we have candles burning. The power is still on, but it has been flickering on and off for hours. It is highly likely that we will lose power, which means we will lose Internet, which means this may be the last post from me for awhile. It's raining and the wind is whipping, but it's not that bad. Yet. Apparently, the worst is yet to come. And what of our Marist XC family members down in Disney? No news is good news. From all accounts, they are having a blast down there. Most importantly, they are SAFE and sound down there.

When will they be home? GOOD QUESTION. Administrators at Marist are working hard on a solution on how to get them back to us in Poughkeepsie. Flying back to the Northeast will be a complicated process, to say the least. Hundreds of flights have been canceled. Our group is a party of 26 -- not exactly the easiest to reschedule. There exists the possibility that our group may be bussed back north. No cancellations to worry about there, just mind-numbing hours along the eastern seaboard. But before that decision is made, we all want to make sure that the path north is safe. In order to insure that, we will have to see how this massive storm plays out over the next 12 hours or so. No sense getting them on the road if the mid-Atlantic states are still paralyzed by this storm.

From a weather geek's standpoint, this storm is an absolute dream. The barometric pressure readings are at historic lows -- meteorologists and weather geeks alike are gawking at the 940 millibar reading! But not to make light of this serious situation. The storm surge is such that we could have epic flooding of the Hudson River as far north as here in Poughkeepsie. The combination of this perfect storm, high tides and a full moon (you can't make this stuff up) will make for some serious over-the-bankful flooding.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. Better press send now before the power goes out.

Wrapping up MAACs: Championship history

While more than half of our team still remains in Disney, I figured this would be a good time to put a wrap on the MAAC Championships by including a recap of our history at the meet since our program joined the conference back in 1997. You'll notice that on the men's side, this was our highest second-place point total in history -- not a surprise, considering how tight the race for second was this year. We will savor this one and be proud of our runner-up streak, as it gets more and more difficult with each passing year. On the women's side, this was a pretty standard-issue second-place finish in terms of points. Could we have run better? Yes. Could we have challenged Iona this year, even with a perfect race? Not a chance.

So again, a job well done by our athletes. Onward to our remaining championship meets -- NCAA Regionals and IC4A/ECAC ...

MAAC Championships history, men
1997: 6th place, 149 points (VCP)
1998: 2nd place, 70 points (VCP
1999: 3rd place, 102 points (VCP)
2000: 4th place, 91 points (Disney)
2001: 3rd place, 69 points (VCP)
2002: 4th place, 91 points (VCP)
2003: 2nd place, 60 points (VCP)
2004: 3rd place, 77 points (Disney)
2005: 2nd place, 73 points (VCP)
2006: 2nd place, 52 points* (VCP)
2007: 2nd place, 61 points (VCP)
2008: 2nd place, 55 points (Disney)
2009: 2nd place, 57 points (VCP)
2010: 2nd place, 53 points (Hammonasset)
2011: 2nd place, 66 points (VCP)

2012: 2nd place, 80 points (Disney)
MAAC Championships history, women
1997: 4th place, 103 points (VCP)
1998: 1st place, 39 points* (VCP)
1999: 1st place (tie), 41 points (VCP)
2000: 1st place, 42 points (Disney)
2001: 3rd place, 93 points (VCP)
2002: 5th place, 114 points (VCP)
2003: 5th place (tie) 102 points (VCP)
2004: 1st place, 40 points (Disney)
2005: 3rd place, 83 points (VCP)
2006: 2nd place, 87 points (VCP)
2007: 4th place, 115 points (VCP)
2008: 3rd place, 78 points (Disney)
2009: 2nd place, 56 points (VCP)
2010: 4th place, 106 points (Hammonasset)
2011: 2nd place, 60 points (VCP)

2012: 2nd place, 65 points (Disney)
*lowest championship point total in school history
bold = MAAC Champions

Bracing for Sandy

The big storm is almost here. Based in the forecasts I am hearing and reading for Poughkeepsie, it will be bad. But I think it will be MUCH WORSE to the south and east of us. Specifically: Jersey Shore, New York City, Long Island. Since many people that we know and love live in those areas, we are hoping for the best-case scenario of minimal damage.

In terms of our team's cross country training for this week ... it seems the primary impact will be on what potentially would have been a Tuesday workout. It is virtually certain that will not happen -- unless you happen to be in Disney and Florida still! Today's distance run will probably be limited to campus loops for safety reasons. Tuesday looks bad, but we'll see. By Wednesday, things should be back to normal, pending storm damage. We will take it day-to-day.

Marist has canceled classes for Monday; my guess is Tuesday will be canceled as well. We'll take this thing hour by hour, day by day. We hope to have our Florida-based team back with us soon. And we stress to everyone to be safe out there.

MAAC meet in photos

Thanks to Kathy Gould for emailing me the Disney-based team photo above, with Mickey Mouse posing with the team after the race. To the left is Marist Running alum Tommy Lipari, proudly sporting his Mickey ears and his Marist Track gear. Special kudos for Tommy to be at our meet -- especially since he could have easily been at the Big East meet at Van Cortlandt Park to watch his sister Emily WINNING the Big East race as a member of the Villanova team. Great to have him, and the other loyal alums, with us down there. 

Hurricane Sandy: Hangin' with Mickey for a few more days

You never want to get an urgent knock on your door in the hotel room at around 1:45 a.m. But there was the rapping on my Disney door, waking me from a sound sleep while ESPN droned in the background. It was team captain Ken Walshak, with the news that the team's second flight on Sunday had already been canceled. What to do? What to do? After a few wee hour texts and phone calls to athletic administrators, it was determined that the party of 25 might be stuck in Disney for a few more days. We tried our best, but to no avail; no way we could get such a big party back in the Northeast, with flights canceled and airports in a tizzy up and down the coast.

Sure enough, with this storm of the century -- Hurricane Sandy -- taking aim at the entire East Coast, there was no way around it. The second flight out of Orlando being canceled means that a big part of our team is stranded in Disney until further notice. The earlier flight, the one that I was on with 9 team members, went off on schedule and landed on schedule in LaGuardia. And so I am home, feeling bad that Coach Chuck and the remaining athletes have been left behind.

Of course, news that the guys' 14-mile long run was followed up by a warm Jacuzzi, and news also that the team was cruising around Epcot on a sunny afternoon looking for a place to eat, eases the pain. But still ... but still ... this is not a great situation. Our men and our women are in good hands with Chuck. They will be fine. And chances are, they will not miss too much class time with the likelihood that many classes will be canceled with this monster storm approaching.

I don't like the fact that our team is splintered, and that group's return to Poughkeepsie is being delayed for who knows how long. But it cannot be helped; what can we do? Just hope and pray this monster storm does not do too much damage around these parts -- or any parts. Especially for all our friends and family down on Long Island -- but everywhere else, too -- be safe and stay away from danger as much as possible.

MAAC Championships: Men's results

MAAC Championships

Saturday, October 27, 2012

ESPN Wide World of Sports, Disney World

Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Men’s team scores

1-Iona 16, 2-Marist 80, 3-Rider 83, 4-Canisius 94, 5-Fairfield 111, 6-Siena 180, 7-Manhattan 195, 8-Niagara 266, 9-St. Peter’s 283, 10-Loyola 285

Men’s individual results, 8,000-meter course

10-Arquimedes DelaCruz 24:57.92 *All-MAAC

12-Ken Walshak 25:11.78 *All-MAAC

20-Ryan Colabella 25:35.79

23-Joel Moss 25:40.33

30-Nick Salek 25:57.30

31-Patrick Rynkowski 26:00.78

34-Justin Tampellini 26:08.55

38-Johnny Lee 26:19.28

42-Mike Keegan 26:25.67

44-Ryan Scrudato 26:28.39

54-Charlie Ropes 26:39.34

61-Mike Nicoletti 26:44.11

63-Billy Hild 26:47.86

65-Mark Valentino 26:51.37

71-Billy Posch 26:55.19

73-Ty Gamble 26:58.80

77-Chris Reynolds 27:05.04

106-Ian Dorset 28:45.92

MAAC Championships: Women's results

MAAC Championships

Saturday, October 27, 2012

ESPN Wide World of Sports, Disney World

Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Women’s team scores

1-Iona 26, 2-Marist 65, 3-Rider 83, 4-Loyola 95, 5-Fairfield 129, 6-Canisius 160, 7-Niagara 201, 8-Manhattan 207, 9-Siena 233, 10-St. Peter’s 303

Women’s individual results, 6,000-meter course

7-Michelle Gaye 21:54.64 *All-MAAC

9-Kristen Traub 22:03.82 *All-MAAC

12-Katie Messina 22:23.17 *All-MAAC

16-Erin Thompson 22:37.94

21-Rebecca Denise 22:55.95

28-Nicki Nesi 23:09.93

30-Christine Coughlin 23:13.37

34-Erin O’Reilly 23:25.69

42-Rachel Bremer 23:47.59

55-Brianna Freestone 24:14.41

58-Jackie Gamboli 24:21.88

59-Brianne Vess 24:24.73

75-Kelley Gould 24:57.47

80-Mariella Bilello 25:09.35

81-Annie Gould 25:13.47

98-Tara Nuccitelli 26:07.26

MAAC Championships at Disney: Second-place is a charm

Just got back to the hotel room from a very competitive and very emotional MAAC Cross Country Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports. Both of our teams got second-place finishes behind Iona College. In both cases and in both races, we are extremely proud of the result.

--On the men's side, this represents the program's eighth consecutive second-place finish to Iona, who has been nationally ranked in each of those seasons. This Iona team could be the best one ever. I've said it before, I'll say it again: Finishing second to Iona is an honor and we feel very proud of it. This year, it was all the more gratifying considering how stiff the competition for second-place was. As you'll see later when I post the results here, Rider nearly finished ahead of us, Canisius was nipping at our heels and Fairfield continues to impress with there up-and-coming ways led by my good pal John Sagnelli. What earned us the coveted runner-up spot? Some gutsy running over the last mile (several folks told me that at 4 miles we were losing badly in the race for second) and the depth of our 5-6-7 men, whose displacement made the difference. All-MAAC runners were senior Quimes DelaCruz and junior Ken Walshak. Quimes becomes only the third runner in school history to earn All-MAAC (top-15) honors for four consecutive years -- the others were Girma Segni and Will Griffin.

--On the women's side, there was much chatter about how vulnerable Iona was going to be. To be honest, we got caught up in the chatter and felt we could make them sweat a bit. The truth of the matter is, we needed to run a perfect race and they needed to run a flawed race. Neither scenario happened. We ran very well -- I am extremely proud of the effort of our ladies -- and Iona clearly ran their best race of the year. They are not national caliber, but their top several runners are as good and as strong as most teams in our region. If we ran a perfect race today, we still would not have finished ahead of the Gaels. So there is absolutely no disappointment in this finish, just lots of pride. And, as is the case on the men's side, the teams vying for second place are getting better and better with each passing meet and with each passing year. So holding them off and being runner-up to Iona is something of which to be very proud.

Last point, for now: It meant so much to me, personally, to share this emotional and hard-fought meet with our extremely loyal alumni, friends and family who took the effort to make the trip down here to support us. Any time I was so stressed out that I wanted to gag, simply chatting with you all or seeing you all calmed me down, even for a few seconds. In addition, the support and encouragement from Marist Athletic Director Tim Murray and from Father Richard LaMorte is something that we will remember for a long time.

For now, please go to www.maacsports.comwww.maacsports.com to check on the results from today. I am off to enjoy Disney for a few hours. I will post results and other info here on the blog at some point later.

MAAC cheerleaders, with facial hair, at altitude

Those of you closely affiliated with our XC program are aware of the time-worn tradition of the "MAAC mustache," the cheesy facial hairs of which you can see up close and personal down here at Disney -- on the men's team, of course. Above, please find a photo of loyal Marist Running Alums Vess and Walsh, from Flagstaff. Apparently, the thin air has gotten to their heads! Here is a note that Walsh sent with the photo:

Pete: Attached please find a good luck photo of myself and Vess for the men and women competing at MAACs tomorrow. I tried quite hard to have the mustache show up, but alas, the webcam wasn't cooperating. I assure you, for the first time in my 10 year connection to Marist XC, I have a mustache and it looks terrible. Terribly awesome terrible. Anyway, the last time I ran a MAAC XC meet was the '05 season, and it's been a year or two for Vess as well. Either way, we both are very excited and rooting hard for both the men's and the women's team. 

Thanks, men; and please feel free to shave at any time after the meet has concluded. I will do the same.

Greetings from Disney

Everybody's talking about "Frankenstorm," this huge mess of a Tropical Storm called Sandy that is apparently going to pummel us pretty good back early next week. For now, we are at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, after a busy but smooth day of traveling with two parties. In an amazing stroke of luck and timing, I was able to have dinner with two Marist Administrators last night, and it was great catching up with them while they are down here. The rest of the team enjoyed dinner here at Coronado Springs and a relaxing night in the area.

This morning, we will head over to ESPN/Disney's Wide World of Sports to run through the course that our women and men will race on Saturday morning. Although we are far away from home, we have strong support from family and alumni -- within seconds of checking in, we ran into a group of recent alums who are down here for the weekend! In terms of how the weather will affect us down here, it seems the main factor will be wind and not so much rain, and it appears today will be the worse of the two days weather-wise. OK, off to find some coffee ...

Dancin' with Sandy

Hmmm. Let's see. Monster storm brewing in the Caribbean and heading up the Atlantic seaboard. What a great time to head down to Florida! So. Yeah. We'll be experiencing every bit of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy -- this weekend in Florida, early next week back here in the Northeast.

OK. I'm overstating things for dramatic effect. Looks like down at Disney, the most we'll be dealing with are some windy conditions and maybe some spotty showers. But back here in the Northeast early next week? It could be a doozy of a storm/Nor'easter/etc. We'll take this one day at a time. Anyway, we are leaving soon for Florida; assuming there is wifi where we are staying, I'll be updating the blog from Disney with trip reports, results and other stuff. See you soon.

Following the MAAC XC meet at Disney

Because our MAAC meet is at Disney, obviously a lot of our family, alumni and friends will not be able to attend to support the Running Red Foxes. FYI, race times on Saturday are EARLY: 8 a.m. for the men; 8:45 a.m. for the women. This is good, as we can avoid the predictable Florida warm weather. For those that cannot make it, the MAAC announced last month that the championship would be broadcast later in the day (5 p.m., Saturday) on ESPN3 (Internet). Pretty cool. Here is an excerpt from the MAAC press release from about a month ago:


Edison, N.J. – The 2012 MAAC Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Saturday, October 27 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, will be televised on ESPN3.

The MAAC Cross Country Championships Recap Show, featuring start-to-finish coverage of both the men’s and women’s races along with key interviews with head coaches and student-athletes, can be seen on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN3.


“Cross country as a sport has always been a tough nut to crack as far as production is considered,” said Michael Colangelo, Producer Broadcast & Operations at ESPN Wide World of Sports. “It is much more than a race between point A to point B. The goal for ESPN3 is to capture not only the competition, but to tell the story of the athletes and coaches through pre- and post-race interviews.”



“It is really exciting having the MAAC Cross Country Championships live on ESPN3,” said Ricardo Santos, head coach of the Iona men’s and women’s cross country and track programs. “It shows a great commitment by the MAAC and Disney to promote our sport and student-athletes. I am sure that the alumni, fans, and families of the student-athletes that will not be able to attend will appreciate being able to see the championships.”

Of course, I will have my trusty laptop and will update the blog as frequently as possible. As a reminder, I do not yet have a smart phone and I am not on Twitter, so you'll just have to wait till I can update the blog from the hotel room. I have been getting harassed by some to join this decade in terms of electronics and communication, but I remain steadfast for now. Hey, at least I text. I know some coaches that still refuse to do that!

Nesi and Marthy: MAAC Runners of the Week

Freshmen David Marthy and Nicki Nesi earned MAAC Runner of the Week honors after their personal-best performances at the Central Connecticut State University Mini Meet -- aka, Mud Fest -- on Friday. Here is the link to the story.

Colleen Ryan runs well in first marathon

Congrats to Marist Running Alum Colleen Ryan (Class of 2009) for her strong race at the Columbus Marathon on Sunday. Coll was mostly a middle distance runner for us here, so for her to step up to the marathon distance is amazing. She completed the marathon in 4:01:59. She texted me yesterday to say that it was an even-split race, with her first half in 2:01. Great job!

Conor Shelley, Mike Nehr shine in 5k race

In the "better late than never" department ... congrats to Marist Running Alums Conor Shelley (Class of 2011) and Mike Nehr (Class of 2002) for their strong runs at the Oyster Festival 5K run on Long Island on Saturday, October 13. From what I am told, this is a challenging course with the first half basically uphill. Conor blitzed the field with a winning time of 15:16 (4:55 pace). Mike proved he still has the old wheels with his seventh place finish in 15:33 (5:01 pace). Check out the complete results here. Nice job, guys.

CCSU mudfest, in pictures

Thanks to seniors Rachel L and Schanz for sharing the following post-race photos from today. David "Mr. Triple Threat" Marthy is showing off the back of his mud-caked singlet in both team photos at the rain-soaked Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain. On the right is junior Nick Hughes' bare left foot, which worked overtime in the 5km, after his spiked shoe came off in the slop after he was tripped up early in the race. For those keeping score at home, Hughes did retrieve the lost spike during his cooldown. Hey. It's cross country.

CCSU Mini Meet: Men's results

David Marthy ran like a man possessed today, slicing through the mud and muck to be our lead runner. This will provide a nice transition for "Mr. Triple Threat" as he now transitions out of XC mode and prepares for the track seasons, where we have big goals for him individually and as a team. Another "highlight" was junior Nick Hughes losing one of his spikes about 400 meters into the race, running the remaining 4600 or so meters with one shoe on and one very muddy and soaked bare foot. Wait till you see THAT photo, if it came out ... here are the results. 
CCSU Mini Meet

Stanley Quarter Park, New Britain, CT

Friday, October 19, 2012

Men’s team results

1-Yale 26, 2-CCSU 86, 3-Hartford 95, 4-Boston University 105, 5-Providence 118, 6-New Hampshire 168, 7-Bryant 182, 8-Marist 211, 9-FDU 256, 10-Sacred Heart 272, 11-Eastern Connecticut 298, 12-Salve Regina 312

Men’s individual results, 5,000-meter course

30-David Marthy 16:20.61

48-Billy Posch 16:33.45

52-Kevin O’Sullivan 16:42.04

53-Isaiah Miller 16:43.82

59-Tommy Lappas 16:47.66

60-Mark Vuono 16:50.44

61-Will Schanz 16:54.15

68-Nick Hughes 17:07.60

73-Matt Panebianco 17:20.51

83-Patrick Deedy 17:47.69

90-Doug Ainscow 18:03.68

92-Dan Stanilewicz 18:08.44

96-Ricky Willi 18:10.23