Team tailgate at MAAC Championships on Sunday at Rider

The MAAC Outdoor Championships will be Saturday and Sunday at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. A team tailgate is being planned for Sunday at the meet. Judy Gorberg, mother of freshman distance runner Bryn Gorberg, is organizing the spread. She can be reached at jagorberg@gmail.com. We appreciate the loyalty and support of our parents, family and friends, and we look forward to seeing everyone at either Vassar on Friday night or MAACs on Saturday and Sunday.

Meb sighting, part 2

My son Joey (far right) was in Kingston on Saturday for the Tiger Relays track meet with his FDR team. While cooling down from their races, he and his teammates were able to pose with none other than reigning Boston Marathon champion Meb Keflezighi! From left are FDR freshman Nick Lambert, Meb, FDR sophomore Joe Hues and freshman Joey.

Meb sighting, part 1

Congratulations to Marist Director of Admission (and excellent runner) Kent Rinehart for rubbing elbows with Boston Marathon winner Meg Keflezighi in Kingston on Sunday. Meb was the guest of honor at the road races there. Kent ran a personal-best time in the half marathon and won his age group, which got him the glad hand from Meb. According to Kent's Facebook post, he ran 1:34:23 (7:11), earned the age-group plaque and noted that he beat Meb's time from Boston by more than a half-hour. Oh. Wait. Meb ran a full marathon! Great job to Kent, who is getting faster with age -- quite a neat trick.

An old friend visits a very old lady (and me too)

In the midst of perhaps the busiest stretch of track in the entire three-season cycle, it was great to squeeze in a few hours with our old friend Bob Sweeney, back in New York for a few days over the weekend. Bob now lives near Boulder, CO, where he enjoys living and training at altitude with his family. When he wants some serious altitude, he heads up to Leadville. Anyway, Bob was an old Marist teammate and a loyal training partner as a post-graduate, not to mention a great friend. He was in the area to run the Sybil Ludington 50-kilometer race in Carmel, one of our all-time favorites. Bob proved he is still on top of his game at age 46, finishing second overall in 3:31:06, an average of 6:49 per mile on a course that has more than 2,000 feet of climbing. His marathon split (remember, this is a 31-mile race) was sub-3:00. Sybil the race is a hilly but scenic road loop. Sybil the person was a Revolutionary War heroine; go ahead, look her up if you've never heard of her.

The photo above was from a backyard bonfire on Saturday night. Bob remains very interested in our program and follows our results here at blog central. We hadn't caught up in person since he moved West several years ago, so it was time well spent.

A visit from Officer Conklin

What a pleasant surprise, upon arrival at Yale on Sunday morning, to see former Marist sprinter Dan Conklin in the parking lot. Conklin is now a police officer in New Haven, as you can see above. Much like when he was an athlete for us, Conklin was under-dressed for the elements and his old coach was over-dressed on the chilly morning. It was great to see Conklin, although I must admit a bit of sadness that he did not come through with his offer for free coffee later in the day. I am sure there was much Police Activity that he had to attend to. But no worries. Our reigning marathon hero, Kara Lightowler, delivered with a small black coffee from Dunkin later in the day. As always, it is wonderful to see the loyalty of our Marist Running Alums, who keep coming back to watch us compete.

Yale Springtime Invitational: Men's results

As hinted at in previous post, the wind was persistent all day, but it was laughably intense during the 5km and 4x800 relays. Quinnipiac's team tent blew over and nearly onto the sprint straightaway. The American Flag atop the stadium was almost ripped clean from the pole. And it was chilly. Rain started spitting from the sky as we walked from the track to the bus and van for the ride home. Ah, spring in the Northeast ...

Yale Springtime Invitational

Sunday, April 27, 2014

New Haven, CT

Men’s results

200-meter dash

13. Matt Edwards 23.21

18. Tim Johnson 23.46

24. Alex Cunningham 23.72

400-meter dash

3. Matt Edwards 51.27

9. Tim Johnson 52.86

13. Connor Dodge 54.19

17. Ty Gamble 55.36

800-meter run

7. Nate Lungarini 1:59.30

9. Kyle Heubner 1:59.43

10. Nestor Taylor 1:59.60

12. Kyle Hannafin 2:00.46

20. Bryan Buttigieg 2:02.86

1,500-meter run

15. Pat Rynkowski 4:14.82

64, 2:11 (67), 3:20 (69), 4:14.82 (71.82)

18. Stefan Morton 4:18.53

69, 2:15 (66), 3:25 (70), 4:18.53 (70.53)

28. Charlie Ropes 4:24.46

69, 2:17 (68), 3:31 (74), 4:24.46 (71.46)

29. Mark Vuono 4:25.21

69, 2:17 (68), 3:31 (74), 4:25.46 (73.46)

5,000-meter run

2. Saad Baig 15:19.22

72, 2:26 (74), 3:38 (72), 4:53 (75)

6:06 (76), 7:21 (75), 8:36 (75), 9:52 (76)

11:07 (75), 12:23 (76), 13:38 (75), 14:49 (71)

15:19.22 (30.22)

11. Billy Posch 15:48.83

69, 2:25 (76), 3:38 (73), 4:52 (74)

6:06 (74), 7:21 (75), 8:36 (75), 9:56 (80)

11:13 (77), 12:32 (79), 13:52 (80), 15:12 (80)

15:48.83 (36.83)

15. Spencer Johnson 16:06.52

74, 2:28 (74), 3:43 (75), 5:00 (77)

6:17 (77), 7:34 (77), 8:53 (79), 10:13 (80)

11:32 (79), 12:52 (80), 14:14 (82), 15:29 (74)

16:06.52 (37.52)

16. Omar Perez 16:07.85

74, 2:28 (74), 3:44 (76), 5:01 (77)

6:18 (77), 7:37 (79), 8:53 (76), 10:13 (80)

11:32 (79), 12:52 (80), 14:12 (80), 15:29 (77)

16:07.85 (38.85)

19. Nick Salamone 16:15.69

74, 2:28 (74), 3:45 (77), 5:01 (76)

6:18 (77), 7:37 (79), 8:57 (80), 10:15 (78)

11:35 (80), 12:59 (84), 14:20 (81), 15:40 (80)

16:15.69 (35.69)

21. Doug Ainscow 16:27.79

75, 2:30 (75), 3:48 (78), 5:04 (76)

6:24 (80), 7:43 (79), 9:02 (79), 10:24 (82)

11:44 (80), 13:03 (79), 14:25 (82), 15:47 (82)

16:27.79 (40.79)

22. Brian Edsall 16:38.40

75, 2:29 (74), 3:46 (77), 5:01 (75)

6:18 (77), 7:37 (79), 8:57 (80), 10:19 (82)

11:41 (82), 13:05 (84), 14:30 (85), 15:56 (86)

16:38.40 (42.40)

23. Eddie White 16:59.21

75, 2:32 (77), 3:51 (79), 5:14 (83)

6:35 (81), 7:59 (84), 9:23 (84), 10:49 (86)

12:15 (86), 13:42 (87), 15:05 (83), 16:26 (81)

16:59.21 (33.21)

110-meter hurdles

6. Alex Cunningham 15.77

400-meter relay

4. Marist (Tim Johnson, Tyler Schwarz, Jesse Aprile, Alex Cunningham) 44.66

3,200-meter relay

2. Marist A (Zach Berzal 2:00.9, Nestor Taylor 2:03.4, Kyle Heubner 2:10.5, Nate Lungarini 2:05.6) 8:20.44

4. Marist B (Kyle Hannafin 2:04.3, Bryan Buttigieg 2:10.0, Stefan Morton 2:06.0, Ty Gamble 2:14.5) 8:35.30

Long jump

9. Andrew Rokoszak 5.88 meters (19 feet, 3.5 inches)

Yale Springtime Invitational: Women's results

Windy and chilly conditions persisted throughout the day, but got especially difficult toward the end of the meet.

Yale Springtime Invitational

Sunday, April 27, 2014

New Haven, CT

Women’s results

100-meter dash

5. Danielle Asaro 12.69

12. Alexia Santiago 13.85

200-meter dash

10. Danielle Asaro 26.32

400-meter dash

14. Olivia Jaquith 1:04.17

800-meter run

11. Jackie Gamboli 2:22.35

14. Molly Weeks 2:24.18

17. Christine Coughlin 2:24.99

28. Olivia Lappas 2:32.07

33. Kim Schwartz 2:34.81

35. Catherine Ferreri 2:36.30

42. Lauren Traina 2:47.14

1,500-meter run

3. Janelle Solviletti 4:48.40

73, 2:31 (78), 3:50 (79), 4:48.40 (78.40)

9. Nicki Nesi 4:54.80

74, 2:34 (80), 3:55 (81), 4:54.80 (79.80)

18. Erin Thompson 5:05.17

79, 2:36 (77), 3:59 (83), 5:05.17 (87.15)

24. Brianne Vess 5:07.54

79, 2:44 (85), 4:08 (84), 5:07.54 (81.54)

25. Annie Gould 5:07.57

78, 2:41 (83), 4:05 (84), 5:07.57 (84.57)

29. Bryn Gorberg 5:09.96

79, 2:40 (81), 4:03 (83), 5:09.96 (88.96)

43. Jaime Durso 5:33.81

83, 2:56 (93), 4:28 (92), 5:33.81 (88.81)

44. Jackie Bunce 5:34.85

84, 2:54 (90), 4:28 (94), 5:34.85 (89.85)

47. Alli Dellicarri 5:38.58

84, 2:57 (93), 4:31 (94), 5:38.58 (90.58)

51. Kristi Licursi 5:51.20

85, 3:00 (95), 4:40 (100), 5:51.20 (104.20)

100-meter hurdles

7. Meaghan Gillespie 17.37

9. Alex McCahill 17.80

400-meter hurdles

6. Courtney Cartwright 1:12.59

7. Meaghan Gillespie 1:12.91

9. Alex McCahill 1:13.47

400-meter relay

5. Marist (Ashley Haynes, Danielle Asaro, Nicole Scicolone, Molly Weeks) 50.85

3,200-meter relay

2. Marist (Janelle Solviletti 2:26.0, Bryn Gorberg 2:34.4, Christine Coughlin 2:32.8, Jackie Gamboli 2:27.2) 10:00.88

Long jump

8. Nicole Scicolone 4.82 meters (15 feet, 9.75 inches)

Yale meet: Final time schedule for Sunday

Track events

11:00AM        400m Relay W (2 sections)

11:05AM        400m Relay M (1 sections)

11:10AM        3000m Steeplechase M (1 section)

11:25AM        3000m Steeplechase W (1 section)

11:40AM        1500m W (5 sections)

12:10PM         1500m M (4 sections)

12:30PM         110h   M (2 sections)

12:40PM         100h W (2 sections)

12:50PM         400m W (5 sections)

1:00PM           400m M (5 sections)

1:10PM           100m W (3 sections)

1:15PM           100m M (8 sections)

1:30PM           800m W (8 sections)

1:55PM           800m M (6 sections)

2:15PM           400h W (2 sections)

2:25PM           400h M (2 sections)

2:35PM           200m W (6 sections)

2:50PM           200m M (9 sections)

3:10PM           5000m W (1 section)

3:30PM           5000m M (2 sections)

4:00PM           1600m Relay W (1 section)

4:05PM           1600m Relay M (1 section)

4:10PM           3200m Relay W (1 section)

4:20PM           3200m Relay M (1 section) 

Field events

11:00AM Long jump followed by triple jump