Sometimes in real life, stories have happy endings. Such was the case on Friday night for Mark Valentino, who capped a great five-year run in the Marist red-and-white with a coveted and elusive school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The previous owner of the school record (Quimes DelaCruz) was one of the greatest and most consistent performers in school history. Mark did this against all odds. He is taking four graduate school classes, and he is a full-time (leave replacement) middle school teacher. Not a student teacher. It's an actual, real-world JOB. In fact! He taught a half day on Friday before riding down with us to Princeton -- battling an upper respiratory infection as well. It's a safe bet to say that few if any IC4A competitors actually taught middle schoolers for the first four hours of their day. Mark ran tough and consistent, as you can see with his splits. He needed a 70-second last lap to get the school record, and he got it, with an emphatic fist pump at the finish line. For this and so many reasons, we are proud of Mark and we salute this happy ending. (
For those alert readers keeping score at home, Mark did finish 11th in his race as you see on the scoreboard but he was 12th overall as the winner of the first section ran faster). Nicely done!
IC4A Championships,
Day 1
Friday, May 13, 2016
Princeton University
3,000-meter steeplechase
12. Mark Valentino 9:05.01 *school record, old record 9:05.74
by Arquimedes DelaCruz in 2013
70, 2:22 (72), 3:33 (71), 4:46 (73), 6:00 (74), 7:13 (73),
8:25 (72), 9:05.01 (40.01)
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