Fastrack Last Chance: Men's 4x800 relay school record and IC4A qualifier!

More on the men’s 4x800 relay school record, IC4A qualifier and victory on Saturday night at Ocean Breeze …

To say this was an elusive school record would be an understatement. The record lasted on the books for 12 long years. During those 12 long years, we have had some of the greatest middle distance runners, distance runners, and relay runners, in school history walk in and out of our program, setting numerous other records above, below and around the indoor 4x800 relay. But never this elusive record. Why? Why did this record last so long? Was it JINXED?

There are no easy answers, but here’s one explanation: The indoor 4x800 relay is not offered at many of the meets that we have attended through the years, and to really get the record off the books, we would have needed to stack it on a given day and thus devote a meet to it. It usually never materialized. The DMR was the relay that was more worthy our focus through the years. And, oh yeah: Contrary to popular belief, that 4x800 indoor record was pretty good. Oh sure, our outdoor 4x800 exceeded the indoor mark on numerous occasions, but the indoor 4x800 was not a “weak” school record as some contended. It had staying power. Until Saturday night.  

Now. Onto the race. Keep in mind that our primary goal was an IC4A qualifying mark, and that standard is 7:53.00. We felt confident we could do that, and we were setting our sights on the school record, which admittedly I thought we could do with a nearly perfect relay. Away we went.

Stefan Morton led off. Stefan’s primary event indoors is the 3,000-meter run. He was racing his first 800 in a long time and we were banking on his miler speed and race toughness – remember, he brought home our IC4A qualifying DMR with a 4:14 split a few weeks ago in Boston. The leadoff leg is bruising and tough. Stefan proved up to the challenge. He faded slightly over the last lap, but handed off solidly in fourth place. We guessed right. We figured Stef would give us a race and we figured our true 800 men were game for a good chase after his leadoff leg.

Freshman Drew Burns chased, all right. He vaulted our team right back into the race with a truly clutch and money performance. He got out hard, and then maintained and closed on the field. He took us from fourth place with a slight gap on the lead teams, all the way back into the mix for the lead. He made the relay and set the table for the back end. Look at those splits. Look at those splits! Nicely done, Drew!

Nestor Taylor did what he does. He ran tough, hard, consistent. He kept us in the mix and in the race, exactly what we would want him to do as he prepared to hand off to Steven Morrison. His split time was slowed by a clunky handoff to Steven. But, as you see, we can certainly forgive Steven for the rocky start. Steven ran awesome. He ran tough, he ran hard and he ran for the win, with a gutsy anchor leg – everything you want an anchor leg to do, and more. He brought home the relay in truly spine-tingling fashion. The team won. The team qualified. The team set the school record. And Steven carried the team there on his back with a monster 1:53.1 split.

I have more thoughts on this memorable relay, but I will save it for the next post. I cannot access relay team photos from the bus, so I will upload them upon arrival home.

Fastrack Last Chance

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Men’s 3,200-meter relay

1-Marist (Stefan Morton 1:58.9, Drew Burns 1:55.1, Nestor Taylor 1:57.2, Steven Morrison 1:53.1) 7:44.69 *IC4A qualifier, school record, old record 7:45.62 by Justin Harris, Sean Prinz, Brian DeMarco, Mike Bamberger, 2004

Stefan Morton: 28, 57 (29), 1:27 (30), 1:58.9 (31.9)

Drew Burns: 26, 55 (29), 1:25 (30), 1:55.1 (30.1)

Nestor Taylor: 27, 56 (29), 1:26 (30), 1:57.2 (31.2)

Steven Morrison: 27, 55 (28), 1:24 (29), 1:53.1 (29.1)