MAAC Championships: Bell laps

Last night was the Senior Awards Banquet at Christo's in Poughkeepsie. It's a wonderful affair for our graduating seniors and for their families. It also signals, for me each year, the beginning of a procession of goodbyes that culminates with Commencement in a few weeks. As one parent aptly noted last night at Christo's, it can be challenging to deal with these emotions each and every year. We get quite attached to the young men and young women that inhabit our lives on a nearly daily basis for the better part of four years. And so, we started to say goodbye on Monday night.

An interesting subset of this goodbye equation consists of the athletes who stay on for a fifth year of competition, usually as graduate students who banked seasons with redshirts or medical hardships. We view these fifth-years as "bonus time," an extra special treat for us to have them around for another whole year. In many cases, especially recently, our fifth-years have made a lasting impact and impression on even the youngest members of the team, which continues to extend the bond and the web between generations of Running Red Foxes.

However, unlike traditional seniors, our fifth-years do not have the benefit of the procession of goodbyes. They had that last year. For them, the plug is pulled abruptly, and it usually happens at the end of the MAAC meet. Sometimes, this realization hits hard. For many of these athletes, the last meet culminates close to a decade of nonstop participation in the sport. Sure, running is a lifetime pursuit, and many of our alums continue to chase it after graduation. But they will never, ever, be a part of a track team like this again. It pains me to write these words, but it is part of the yearly cycle of the life of a track program.

This year, the MAAC meet was the end of the "bonus time" for Billy Posch and Jackie Gamboli. Posch ran the 5k at MAACs. Fittingly, Jackie closed out her career by anchoring the 4x400 relay, the last event on the track. With baton in hand, she got one final bell lap. No procession of goodbyes this year, my friends. It's over, and we will miss you guys on the bus and in the van, and every day, as much as you too will miss the journey.