MAAC Championships: Women's results

Another stellar day for our elite-level women's team. We have clearly established ourselves as an upper echelon team in the MAAC, once again withstanding the untimely injury to one of our undisputed leaders in Kristen Traub to forge a strong top-3 finish. One of the virtues of a great team is picking up after each other, and our ladies did that today as they have done all year. We are extremely proud of them, as we are of our two All-MAAC performers. Nicely done!

MAAC Cross Country Championships

Friday, October 31, 2014

Holmdel Park, Holmdel, NJ

Women’s team standings

1-Iona 20, 2-Quinnipiac 73, 3-Marist 93, 4-Monmouth 136, 5-Rider 151, 6-Canisius 156, 7-Siena 181, 8-Manhattan 207, 9-Fairfield 208, 10-Niagara 278, 11-St. Peter’s 365

Women’s individual results, 6km course

7-Michelle Gaye 21:38.50 *All-MAAC

14-Mara Schiffhauer 22:14.03 *All-MAAC

19-Janelle Solviletti 22:22.44

28-Christine Coughlin 22:50.60

29-Jenna Robinson 22:52.35

44-Nicki Nesi 23:13.76

62-Marissa Porter 23:49.25

73-Brianna Freestone 24:00.51

78-Brianne Vess 24:11.12

80-Kim Schwartz 24:14.85

82-Annie Gould 24:17.67

84-Olivia Lappas 24:20.82

88-Roxy Novo 24:30.54

94-Mariah Christian 24:46.99

97-Bryn Gorberg 24:51.27

98-Mariella Bilello 24:58.24

101-Bianca Luparello 25:12.15

104-Jaime Durso 25:20.31

113-Elsie Thompson 25:39.70

116-Jackie Bunce 25:47.77

120-Lizzy Peper 26:02.12

134-Shannon Gildea 27:18.72

135-Kerri-Anne Flynn 27:24.68

136-Allison Dellicarri 28:13.22

141-Kristi Licursi 29:20.12

MAAC Championships: Men's results

Here are today's results. As I stated previously, I am very proud of the effort out of the men this year in what was without a doubt the most competitive MAAC meet since we joined the league in 1997. We improved two places from last year's sixth-place finish. Most importantly, we ran with heart, determination and toughness. Also! Check out the improvements in Holmdel Park times from the September meet there. For a course that purportedly runs slow, our top-5/5-man average of 26:19.06 is something at which to marvel, as was our 1-through-5 spread of 39.36 seconds.

MAAC Cross Country Championships

Friday, October 31, 2014

Holmdel Park, Holmdel, NJ

Men’s team standings

1-Iona 15, 2-Canisius 66, 3-Quinnipiac 94, 4-Marist 113, 5-Rider 143, 6-Fairfield 144, 7-Monmouth 161, 8-Siena 212, 9-Manhattan 279, 10-Niagara 294, 11-St. Peter’s 365

Individual results, men’s 8km course (with September times from Holmdel)

20. Johnny Lee 25:58.74 (26:45.7)

21. Ken Walshak 26:03.83 (26:34.5)

26. Ryan Colabella 26:19.54 (27:37.1)

37. Mark Valentino 26:35.1 (27:26.9)

39. Pat Rynkowski 26:38.10 (27:28.1)

41. Spencer Johnson 26:39.62 (27:48.2)

50. Steven Morrison 26:55.19 (27:04.9)

66. Omar Perez 27:11.54 (28:30.0)

69. Saad Baig 27:14.17 (27:24.6)

71. Bryan Buttigieg 27:15.85 (28:13.2)

84. Jake Hensler 27:37.05 (30:07.3)

89. Stefan Morton 27:42.05 (28:33.6)

91. Joe Miller 27:47.01 (28:03.7)

93. Charlie Ropes 27:50.62 (28:21.7)

97. Mark Vuono 27:54.48 (28:41.5)

101. Brian Edsall 28:01.60 (28:37.0)

105. Dietrich Mosel 28:06.57

117. Steven Rizzo 28:32.84 (27:20.8)

121. James Ball 28:35.57 (30:36.0)

129. Will Duggan 28:52.51

131. Eddie White 28:58.46 (29:09.1)

139. Pat Hickey 29:19.88 (27:33.8)

145. Ricky Willi 30:17.33 (30:11.7)

149. Sami Ellougani 31:52.63

MAAC Championships: Coach of the Year

Upon our return to campus on Friday night, we proudly handed off the MAAC Women's XC Coach of the Year award to Chuck Williams. Chuck has ably guided our ladies this year, and we have more success in front of us. Nicely done!

MAAC Championships: First place in something ...

Once again, we led the league in MAAC All-Academic selections on both the men's and women's side. Nicely done!

MAAC Championships: Brothers in arms, part 2

It takes an extra special moment for me to be buddying it up with someone wearing MAAC rival clothes. But alas, there are always exceptions. Here I am with my Marist 1986 classmate, good friend, teammate and running brother Mike Murphy. Murph's daughter, Kayla, runs for the Purple Eagles of Niagara. Murph and I ran many miles together, and we were known to share a few Adult Beverages at times as well, back in the mid-1980s at Marist. Thanks to Walsh for taking the photo, and more importantly for being my caddie today as I nervously darted around the Holmdel course. Good luck to Walsh and other Marist Running Alums at NYC Marathon on Sunday.

MAAC Championships: Brothers in arms, part 1

Great to see Marist Running Alum, Class of 1999, Ned Kenyon in attendance at Holmdel. He made the trip all the way from Long Island to watch our team. Note his old-school, black Boathouse jacket. Ned recently got engaged, and his fiance was along with him. Thanks so much for their support!

MAAC Championships: Strong day for the program

On the bus home from Holmdel Park/Monmouth for today's MAAC XC Championships. I do not have immediate access to the results, so a quick summary:

--The women placed 3rd out of 11 teams and had excellent all-MAAC performances from Michelle Gaye and Mara Schiffhauer. Top to bottom, our women ran great as we continue what has been a truly blessed season.
--The men placed 4th out of 11 teams. Words cannot describe how proud I am of our men. The MAAC has never been more competitive, and the boys stepped up with their best collective effort of the year. Nicely done, men!
--Based on what I saw at the awards ceremony, I am pretty certain that we had the most number of MAAC All-Academic selections on both the men's and women's side as well, so that was great to see.

--Lastly, in one of my more confusing moments as coach, somehow our peers selected me as MAAC women's coach of the year. It's an honor to be recognized. Really, the award is a collective effort and belongs to Coach Chuck, our dedicated and talented ladies, and all the dedicated and talented ladies who came before the current team and set the table for the successful paradigm that is Marist women's running. It is a program effort and a validation to Chuck and to the ladies and to the heart and soul that is the Running Red Foxes.

We are pleased with today, but we also know that there is the month of November to navigate -- NCAA Regionals and IC4A/ECAC Championships. More updates, results and photos later when I get back and get settled.

MAAC preview video

Check out this link to an excellent preview video for the upcoming MAAC Championships. Thanks to Marist senior Steve Raum for spending the better part of his Friday last week with us to get to know the team and shoot video of our respective practices -- men at Farm Lane and women at the Vassar track. Hope to see you at Holmdel. Thanks to all alums and friends for their well-wishes from afar. We are hoping for strong efforts out of the men and the women tomorrow.

Nightly news

As has been noted previously, except for baseball and weather I rarely watch TV. So it was interesting to watch the Nightly News last night while visiting my brother in the nursing home where he lives in New Jersey. Two stories caught my attention:

1. This cat-call video thing that apparently has gone viral. Some young woman in NYC was secretly taped and recorded walking the streets. The whistles, hoots, and leading and inappropriate comments by sleazy men were numerous, sickening and really not all that surprising. I will address this topic in a moment.
2. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie calling out and yelling down a protester at a press conference, telling him to sit down and shut up. I loved this! I'm not into politics, and Lord knows Christie's politics have been highly questionable at times. But as a Jersey Guy at heart, I gotta love a fat, brash dude from Mendham (Christie) yelling at a rude protester. Classic. 

Now. Getting back to the cat call losers. There have been two occasions in recent weeks in which the protective father/coach in me has had to channel my inner Christie when our athletes have been the subject of such things.

1. One of our female distance runners was waiting at the stop light by the north entrance of Marist, to cross the street for her midday run. She was standing right in front of those "labor protesters" whose presence makes no sense to me. I happened to be in the van, waiting to turn left en route to an off-campus practice. Said "labor protesters" (who have nothing better to do but huddle around their phones and, apparently, stare at college students) were making obscene gestures and faces at our dedicated student-athlete. So, I did what I had to do. I rolled down the van window and, in my best Christie voice, yelled out: "Hey. Dude. Get a LIFE!" Oh man. You KNOW I wanted to say more. But alas ... I did not. Thankfully for all involved, the light changed and we went on with our day.
2. One of our female distance runners was cooling down after a workout at Bowdoin Park. She was running solo, near one of the pavilions by the ballfields. You know what's coming next. The derelicts that often hang out at Bowdoin acted like the cat callers on the NYC video. Stupid comments. Faces. LOSERS. Again. I wanted to do and say many things. Instead, I stared at them. I said nothing. I stared at them. I watched them as they walked to their car. As they walked to their car, I dramatically made note of their license plate, typing it into my phone. They yelled at me, "Hey, you got a PROBLEM!" I smiled, saying nothing and pretended to make a phone call while again staring at their license plate. They sped off into the sunny afternoon.

MAAC XC schedule update

Thanks to a very Loyal and Alert Blog Follower for telling me I had the race times for Friday reversed. I fixed them in the original post. But just in case, here is the updated schedule.
Men's 8km: 11 a.m.
Women's 6km: 12 noon

Remembering Reese: Always in the record books

Greg racing at UAlbany, I believe in the steeple. Note the old-school black uniform.

Note: This is the next in a series of posts in remembrance of Greg Salamone (Class of 2001), who passed away in October at the age of 35 after battling melanoma for eight months. 

The following is an e-mail I received from Marist Running Alum Justin Harris -- former school record holder in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, still on the current 4x800 indoor school record board, and one of the greatest competitors I ever coached. Jut is now an assistant track coach at Vassar College, and he has had great success post-collegiately as a professional triathlete. It is a wonderful tribute to Greg. Thanks for sharing it, Justin.  

Coach, 

I'm very sorry to hear about the passing of Greg. I don't believe I ever met him personally, which almost makes all the stories of him seem all the more heroic. The simple fact that he held the steeple record speaks volumes of the kind of person and athlete he was. The steeple is an odd event - we all know that. Any other event is a blend of two events. That is, there are often multiple qualities, no matter how polarizing, attribute to the success of the event. 

--400m - takes speed of the 100/200 and strength of the 800. 

--800 - takes speed of the 200/400 and strength of the 1500/3K.

--The steeple - you're either tough or you're not. 

It's that simple.

So, I don't have to know Greg to know he was tough as nails. I know you saw a lot of yourself in him - skinny, wiry, and a hard worker. And, I'm sure you were extremely proud of his 9:15 and other PRs. I specifically remember saying I wanted that record (at the time I had run 9:45) and you scoffing a bit. I was young and brash and now realize that many others said they were going to do it. I was very determined to get that record and prove to you that I was just as tough, if not tougher. I know the same thing happened with other guys and my 9:09. 

The fact that he was congratulatory of me breaking the record was a simple gesture that has resonated and inspired me. I wish people broke my record sooner - to me, that shows me that I inspired others to be better, to hold themselves to a higher standard, and to walk the walk. 

Anyway, this is not about me. This is about the serious loss to the Marist XCTF family. 

I hope you can find solace in the impact that Greg made on many of us that ran with him and even on those that came many years after him. It may say DelaCruz on that steeple record but, Greg is still there, and his stories will be told for many more years - keeping him in our own book of records.

Remembering Reese: Graduation day

Thanks to Chris "80" Smith (on the right) for posting this photo on Facebook from Commencement 2001, with teammate and friend Greg Salamone (on the left). The not-so-old (at the time) coach is in the middle. This post will serve as the first of many in the coming weeks that I will dub "Remembering Reese" -- tributes, funny stories and remembrances of Greg Salamone, who passed away two weeks ago today at 35 after battling melanoma. "Reese" comes from his nickname throughout college, which was alternated between "Reese" and "Reese's" for the silliest of reasons: When he came for his recruiting visit in the winter of 1997, he was wearing a "Reese's Pieces" T-shirt. Thus, the nickname.

The meaning of penultimate

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a creature of habit. Routines are my good friends. This does not mean I am averse to change or adaptability, in fact I have learned to embrace that as well. But there can be comfort in sameness. Or, perhaps, annoyances with sameness – as I tend to repeat the same tired lines and jokes year after year after year after year. And so it was refreshing and funny when Vess posted the following status (or whatever it’s called) on Facebook last week:

 

I live 2344 miles from Poughkeepsie, yet EVERY time I do a workout there is a crazy bearded man in the back of my head screaming "this is the penultimate" on my second-to-last interval. Congratulations Pete Colaizzo, you have permanently scarred me.

Somewhere along the line, more than 20 years ago I am certain, I started noting loudly the second-to-last (penultimate) interval of hard interval workouts – whether they be on the track or trail. This was not done just to show off a fancy vocabulary word – penultimate does, indeed, mean next-to-last. Rather, it was to focus on the fact that the second-to-last interval is always among the most difficult. Anyone can be a “workout hero” and blast out the final interval. Much like the third lap of a four-lap mile race, that penultimate interval takes a lot of digging deep. The finishing kick is important and often glamorous. But more often than not, that penultimate is the make-or-break – in a workout, in a race, in a lot of things, really.

So while I have “permanently scarred’’ Vess with my wild-eyed and loud vocabulary lesson, I hope to heck that he crushed that penultimate interval up in the thin air out there. Nicely done!

MAAC XC Championships information

The MAAC Cross Country Championships will be Friday at Holmdel Park in New Jersey. Race times are as follows.

Men's 8km: 11 a.m.
Women's 6km: 12 noon

In addition, Kathy Gould is organizing a team tailgate before, during and after the championship. Contact her at kathygould@optonline.net to coordinate and contribute. We hope to see you there.

Devil boxes on Long Island

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak in front of two classes at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, Long Island. The classes were taught by Dr. Greg Sand, formerly of Marist College. Dr. Sand was and still remains a great friend to the track and cross country program. He was our Faculty Mentor for the past several years. But really, he was more than that. Our athletes, particularly our men’s XC runners, connected with him and took him often for classes. He had sort of a cult following among our team, as well as athletes from other sports. He referred to our team as “tribal” and often liked to hang out with our “tribe” in the dining hall, at practices and at meets – especially near his family’s home on Long Island.

Anyway, I spoke in front of his Capstone course on Entrepreneurship – the big topic was whether Coach Pete is an entrepreneur – as well as his Sports Marketing class. A big hit for me was when he noted that several aspiring “entrepreneurs” were paying more attention to their iPhones than to the Esteemed Guest Speaker, at which time he demanded that everyone put away their Devil Boxes (his code phrase for their phones). Devil Boxes! Love it. Dr. Sand is nearing his 70th birthday and has had a fantastically successful career in business, higher education and several other arenas, and he has done it without the services of a cell phone. That’s right. He has NEVER owned a cell phone. The devil, I guess, is in the details!

The trip to Molloy was a fun one. It is a small, Catholic college undergoing great growth. Some of the buildings are old and outdated – thus the perceived need for growth and capital improvements. The faculty, staff and students are all immensely friendly, and the place has a warm vibe. This, basically, describes Marist College circa mid-1980s … when I was a student here! So it was a fun trip on an otherwise dreary Thursday.

Alumni racing XC

Today at a hilly Natirar Park in Peapack-Gladstone, NJ -- an incredibly beautiful area of the Garden State -- two Marist Running Alums ran the USTAF-NJ 8K XC Championships. Arquimedes DelaCruz, now sporting the black and yellow (black and yellow/black and yellow/black and yellow) of the Garden State Track Club and looking his he is having a grand time of it, placed 23rd in 27:41.15. Matt Walsh, representing Sneaker Factory, finished several strides back in 43rd place at 29:22.29. Walsh is on the comeback trail, and has put together some great training over the past month. Keep an eye on Walsh, as great things could be on the horizon for him as he approaches a milestone birthday (30) in the first half of 2015. Lastly, at the bottom of this post is a photo of Will Griffin and Quimes running stride for stride early on at Princeton last week. Glad to see our boys still spiking it up for XC after all these years.

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World Series: Serious rooting interests

The World Series began last night, with the San Francisco Giants trying to lay claim as the latest “dynasty” in the baseball with their third World Series title in five years. Pretty impressive if they can pull it off, and they had a great start last night. In the Marist Running world, their most ardent supporter through the years has been our marathoning buddy Luke Shane. In discussing the Giants last night with Luke, his biggest concern was balancing his sleep needs (Luke is racing the NYC Marathon next week) with his loyalty to his team. The Giants did him a huge favor by running out to a quick early lead, which Madison Bumgarner easily managed to hold in a 7-1 victory. So hopefully Luke was able to get to bed early with the knowledge that there would be no magic comebacks this time.

Their opponent, the Kansas City Royals, appeals to anyone who loves an underdog story. They had not been to the postseason in 29 years, and for most of that time have been at best mediocre and at most irrelevant. And yet, through it all, our good friend, Marist Sports Information Director Mike Ferraro, has been loyal to the Royals. This is a man who plans his vacations and days off around Royals’ games. He has been justly rewarded as KC had the best second-half of the season and had been on an epic postseason run until last night. It’s a long series, Mikey.  

So, who am I rooting for? Luke and Mike are among my two favorite people, so this is difficult as I do not want to upset either of them. Ultimately, I’m an American League guy so I’ll probably be pulling for KC. But really, I’d just like to see a long series, if only to prolong the baseball season, which I will miss when it is done. One interesting caveat I learned of yesterday afternoon: Mikey has a friendly agreement with our new men’s basketball coach at Marist, Mike Maker, who apparently is a big Giants’ fan. If the Giants win, Mikey F will shave his face clean. He is currently sporting a hockey-esque “playoff beard” in support of the Royals. But! He has not been completely clean shaven (he usually sports a fashionably trimmed goatee) since the Clinton Administration. So this should be interesting.

Above and beyond ...

Today was a gloomy, damp and chilly autumn day, a day in which both XC teams needed to get a good quality practice in, as we prepare for our upcoming championships. The men's practice at 11 a.m. was our usual Tuesday tempo workout at Vassar Farm. The women's practice at 2 p.m. called for hill repeats at Bowdoin Park.

A few women had to do the Bowdoin hills early, and the footing was suspect due to fallen leaves, branches and wet roots. Alerted to this by the early workout athletes, Coach Chuck came to the rescue. He went home, got his powerful leaf blower, and forged a wide and clear path for the women in their workout. A stroke of genius! The last thing we need is a late-season injury in practice, and the leaf-blowing saved the day.

Hard to believe, but it was 20 (!) years ago at this time that Coach Emeritus Phil Kelly and I were similarly manicuring the back trails at Bowdoin in preparation for the Northeast Conference XC Championships. And of course, no one on this planet has done more manicuring or work on the Bowdoin trails that Coach Horton. Today, a little leaf blowing went a long way.

We are always stressing to our athletes to do the "little things" -- getting good sleep, proper nutrition, etc. But sometimes, coaches can do the "little things" as well to help their athletes, and Chuck certainly did that today. Nicely done!

Sarah Domermuth: Stellar marathon debut and BQ!

Congrats to Marist Running Alum Sarah Domermuth (pictured above in that snazzy MART singlet) for her stellar marathon debut Sunday at the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, Mass. Sarah finished in 3:22:09.7, a Boston Marathon qualifier. And she did it with a fancy negative-split effort -- first 13.1 in 1:43:48 and second 13.1 in 1:38:21.7. Nicely done!

Thanks to her good friend and teammate Lisa D'Aniello for sharing this photo and this result. And belated congrats to Lisa on lowering her 5k PR to 18:52 earlier this month in upstate Colonie. Lisa used a similar negative-split/positive-result formula with the following mile splits: 6:17, 6:09, 5:55. Great job!