Please forgive my bleary-eyed brain as I type this after driving the maroon van through a heavy rain and bizarre fog (warm-ish January temperatures, combined with snow melting), after Friday afternoon and evening's Gotham Cup at the Armory, hosted by our pal Nick McDonough from NYU. A few bizarre, surreal thoughts at this bizarre, surreal time of morning for me:
1. The Armory was hot. I mean: HOT. I had my usual three layers of clothing on, but quickly stripped down to a dri-fit long-sleeve shirt, and I was sweating the entire night. Felt like I had a fever. And I was just sitting and standing around, yelling encouragement and splits. Try racing long distances in those conditions! Not good at all. The shorter-distance races and events benefit from such steamy conditions. But the longer half of the equation really suffers.
2. In a very unusual twist, we did not enter any (not even ONE) athlete in the men's 5,000-meter run, which was held early in the meet. Instead, at that time while men from other teams were circling the track 25 times, we were focusing our attention on the long jump and hurdle events. Such irony was not lost on other coaches who have known us and our program for a long time. Hey, it is what it is, and we are proud of the hard work of our "infield" athletes -- dash, hurdles, jumps -- in our never-ending, Sisyphean quest to become a well-rounded program.
In terms of highlights from the meet, the top one was our IC4A qualifying DMR of 10:17.37 on the men's side. Sophomore David Marthy set the tone on the 1,200-meter leg, leading wire to wire and running 3:05.4. Nicely done, especially for this early. The relay team placed third overall, edged out by St. Joseph's and Stony Brook.
Additionally on the men's side, freshman hurdler Alex Cunningham ran a strong and clean race in the preliminary round (8.41 seconds, a personal-best) and qualified for the final. The final race didn't go as well, but we were pleased with the initial effort. In the 3,000-meter run, Ken Walshak (8:34.25) and Billy Hild (9:04.36) notched PR times, a good way to start the season. On the women's side, senior captain Katie Messina was the top finisher with a second-place in the 5,000-meter run, and our DMR got third place.
It was great to see loyal Marist Running Alums Matt Walsh (back home from Flagstaff, but heading back West soon) and Conor Shelley. Conor, running for NYAC, ran the 3,000 in 8:46.86.
I'm probably forgetting something else as the clock inches toward 2 a.m. We will post complete results and splits at some point later today (Saturday, that is).
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