Summing up the weekend

A few random notes from the weekend:

1. We have been blessed with pretty good weather this entire XC season. Sure, it was a little wet at Paul Short -- but it's ALWAYS a little wet (or a lot) at Paul Short.
2. All other meets have featured near perfect conditions. It was a bit breezy at Albany yesterday -- but it's ALWAYS a bit breezy (or more than a bit) at Albany.
3. Speaking of "always" and "Albany" ... As a coach and an athlete, UAlbany has been a home away from home for me for more than 30 years. Going to Albany for meet is almost like a home meet. Other than West Point, there is no other "away" meet venue as close. We are very friendly with the coaching staff at Albany, and it's nice that they recognize our longstanding commitment to their home meets. Head coach Roberto Vives gave us a shout-out as he was announcing the meet over the PA on Saturday. It was their 50th annual XC invitational, and I would venture to guess that I have been there as an athlete or coach for at least 30 of them. Neat. Not to mention many track meets over the years, especially the early years of our coaching career.
4. Our results at Princeton compare favorably to the past several years. Without boring you with numbers, on the women's side if we were to have a 2014 Marist team vs. 2016 Marist team dual meet, our 2016 lead runner time beats our 2014 lead runner time. And, our 2016 team puts five runners in front of our 2014 team's #2 runner. And that 2014 team was pretty good. And that's pretty neat. Similarly, on the men's side, 2016 team puts five in front of 2014 #2. Pretty much the same deal.
5. Our men at Albany ran well when you consider that 11 of our best runners were 190 miles to the south. Our top-5 average was 26:12.4. Some years and some meets, that's our TEAM. Now, it's just a part of our team. And the majority of our Albany racers were young and returning athletes. So! This bodes well for the future.

So ... what's next as we head into Championship Season? A trip to Disney for the MAAC Championships. It's always a mixed feeling going down to see Mickey Mouse -- memorable and fun for our athletes but a bummer that we cannot travel with our entire squad.

After MAACs, we wrap up our championship season with two Van Cortlandt Park meets -- NCAA Regionals and IC4A/ECAC in November.

In the meantime? We get to enjoy a taste of some Indian Summer this week as daytime highs are going to push 80 degrees a few days. OK!