BU Terrier: A school record goes down

David Marthy's school record and IC4A qualifier in the 1,000-meter run was remarkable in several ways. He ran the time in the fourth section, winning the section by a lot. Why was he in Section 4? Ask his coach? Oh wait. That would be ME! OK. Here’s why. I seeded David at 2:28. Wow, you’re thinking, that’s pretty smart and accurate seeding. The problem is, most coaches (myself included), tend to seed much more aggressively (which is a nice way of saying that we lie about our athletes’ predicted performances). As a result of this honest and accurate seeding, David had to do the bulk of the work on his own in this race. The last lap of the race, he was hammering away as hard as he could, one man against the clock. His competition in the fourth section was nowhere in sight. As a result, David earned this record fair and square, and it was probably more difficult than had he been in there with other athletes who were actually running 2:28 or faster, in each of the three faster sections. But such is life, and David made the best of the situation; we admire and expect such an effort from all our athletes.

His record knocks Marist alum Bryan Quinn from the record books in that event, which makes the mark a bittersweet moment. Quinn was part of a real glory era of Marist track, one in which many records were set, and he was part of many of those marks. Quinn was part of the middle distance crew that paved the way for our program to get exposed to the Millrose Games (when it was a really big deal at Madison Square Garden, as opposed to just another big-deal meet at the Armory). Quinn’s career arc was quite unique. He and Mike Bamberger were record-setting runners at Northport High School under their coach, Marist alum Tim Dearie. Bambi came to Marist, while Quinn chose a big-time, Big East school. He decided he was not happy there and he transferred here after his freshman year. That decision was not only mutually beneficial on and off the track. It also forged a lifetime of memories and friendships that we all cherish to this day.

Quinn was very possessive of his 1,000-meter record for a while. But age and perspective have softened his view and further hardened his loyalty to Marist Running. There was a time when he would be tracking the path of our athletes, and sending me texts like, “You’re not gonna drop Vess down to the 1,000, are you?” after Adam Vess was ripping it up in the mile a few years’ back. Then, when Marthy came along, he saw the writing on the wall. Before this season started, I told him our goal was to get Marthy into ICs in the 1,000 and go after the record. This was not an attempt to break Bryan’s record for the sake of breaking the record; it was more a case of the five-lap race being a great distance for David, based on his strong ability in the 1,200-meter DMR leg. Quinn gave his blessing before the season, saying it was time for a new era of Foxes to make their mark. After David’s record-setting run yesterday, Quinn texted me the following: “Wow. Awesome. Good for him, good for you. Great for the program. Foxes! Extend my sincere congrats.”

Thanks to guys like Bryan Quinn, school-record marks are much harder to come by. The bar has been raised high by previous generations, and our athletes continue their never-ending quest to raise the bar even higher.