Running in the rain: Be Wetter

Sophomore distance runner Chris Rivas is the highest of the high mileage animals on our team. His days off from running come less frequently than federal holidays. He runs the longest long runs. He doubles more than anyone on the team. Rivas is from suburban Connecticut and goes to college here in Poughkeepsie. Keep that in mind. With all that running, presumably outside in the Northeast, it stands to reason there would be some rain in his running world. And yet … and yet … and yet … Chris Rivas refuses to run in the rain. Upwards of 80, 90 miles a week, in all conditions – heat, wind, cold, snow … he ran through a bout of bronchitis earlier this season – no day off, no abating on the doubles, virtually nothing stops him. Except rain. He won’t do it! This, of course, makes no sense. Ours is primarily an outdoor sport. Rivas does a lot of running. Just not in the rain.

Back during spring break, Rivas was visiting his brother in northern New England. The day’s training plan called for a segment run workout. The beauty of the segment run is it is very transferrable – a time-based workout that can be done anywhere. But, it’s long and hard. This was March. In northern New England. Yep, a cold, rainy day. Rivas reported in the post-run text that he did the entire workout – almost 12 miles -- on an indoor 200-meter track. No rain, no pain. Fast-forward to Sunday, the day after the MAAC meet; it was time for a long run, as is our custom. But it was raining. While his teammates slogged through the rather warm and rainy fall morning, onto the treadmill Rivas went, for 14 miles of belt-driven torture. I walked past him in the fitness center, caught his glance, and he gave me a vintage, New York Yankee-style thumbs down. Like most of us, he hates the treadmill; but he hates running in the rain even more.

This is why this morning’s text was so startlingly refreshing. The big rainstorm we got yesterday spilled over into this morning. Rivas got out early for his first run of the day, before morning classes. It was raining. In an amazing, breakthrough performance, Chris Rivas ran in the rain. Here’s the post-run photo to prove it. This is a skill set he does need to work on. Last time we checked, cross country and outdoor track races are run, well, OUTSIDE. Where sometimes, it actually RAINS. Treadmills don’t work on race day. Indoor tracks are fine – during the indoor track season. For today, Rivas’ Be Better shirt should more accurately read Be Wetter.

MAAC Championships: First place in something – again!

Yes, yes. Once again, our men’s and women’s cross country teams led the MAAC in the number of All-Academic Team selections – the women with 18 athletes qualifying and the men with 22 athletes qualifying. In order to be on the team, runners need to have been enrolled at their school at least two semesters and have earned a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.200 or better. We are proud of this accomplishment once again.

MAAC gift: Wireless speakers

After each MAAC Championship, the conference gives gifts to all participating athletes. For the XC meet, this year’s gift was a portable/wireless speaker for each runner. The men put the speaker to good use after their run on Monday while doing a core routine, syncing to Rizzo’s phone for some music of questionable taste (from an old coach’s perspective). I guess it was music to THEIR ears, anyway?  

Tino's solid marathon debut

Congratulations to Marist Running Alum Mark Valentino for a solid marathon debut on Sunday in the pouring rain on Long Island. Tino placed 10^th overall in the Suffolk County Marathon in 3:07:57.9 – not bad for a training plan that topped out with a 12-mile long run (not recommended!). Nicely done, Mark.

Instant success for Coach Melfi

Congratulations to Marist Running Alum and true icon of the program, Coach Mike Melfi, for leading his Mighty Oaks of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry cross country team to the Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (HVIAC) Championships titles (men and women!) at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome in Milton on a soggy Sunday yesterday. Mike won a Coach of the Year award as well. Very impressive in his first year on the job. We are very proud of Mike, a former school record holder, owner of the fastest 8km XC time in school history, and teammate of Coach Chuck back in the late 1990s. 

MAAC Championships: All-Rookie Team members

This is the second year that the conference has honored the top-5 freshmen in the race with All-Rookie Team honors, and we were honored to have four of our freshmen earn spots on that team. For the women, Hayley Collins (top, right) was the third freshman in the race, Maria Smith (top, center) was the fourth freshman and Gianna Tedeschi was the fifth freshman. For the men, James Draney was the second freshman in the race. We are proud of their present success, and eager for the future contributions.

MAAC Championships: Women's results (and history)

As has been the case through this fall XC season, our women continued to reach new milestones. The strong second-place finish was our highest placement since 2012 and our 12^th top-3 finish in school history. In addition, we had three All-MAAC performers and three (of the five) All-MAAC Rookie runners. It was a tough battle for second and our depth prevailed, as we edged out a Quinnipiac team that placed three runners in front of our first runner. That’s remarkable. Here is a quote from a rightfully proud Coach Chuck: “I am so proud of how well our girls prepared for this meet and then went out and executed the game plan to perfection. This performance was a total team effort and the depth of our team really carried us today. To also have three runners make the All-MAAC and All-Rookie teams is a tremendous honor. Now we will take this momentum into the NCAA Regional Meet and hope for another strong team finish.” 

MAAC Cross Country Championships

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Holmdel Park, Holmdel, NJ

Women’s team standings

1-Iona 33, 2-Marist 71, 3-Quinnipiac 78, 4-Manhattan 112, 5-Canisius 147, 6-Monmouth 156, 7-Siena 172, 8-Rider 214, 9-Fairfield 265, 10-Niagara 326, 11-St. Peter’s 357

Women’s individual results, 6km course

11-Alexandra Bartolotta 22:06.55 *All-MAAC

12-Hayley Collins 22:07.37 *All-MAAC, **All-MAAC Rookie

14-Maria Smith 22:21.93 *All-MAAC, **All-MAAC Rookie

16-Gianna Tedeschi 22:25.56 *All-MAAC Rookie

19-Jordan Casey 22:35.24

20-Mara Schiffhauer 22:38.78

21-Shea Bohan 22:42.94

26-Emily Burns 23:06.07

39-Denise Grohn 23:30.31

42-Jenna Robinson 23:39.00

48-Boushra Belkhir 23:49.59

49-Maddie Tooker 23:50.29

62-Kerry Gaye 24:08.50

66-Christine Gambell 24:17.35

67-Alyssa Lafave 24:18.69

70-Roxy Novo 24:25.21

78-Mariah Christian 24:37.27

102-Jess Howe 25:35.12

111-Hannah Albert 26:08.25

114-Talia Cutrone 26:11.93

115-Ashley Wallace 26:19.87

133-Shannon Gildea 27:47.33

143 finishers

Women’s meet history, year to year

1997: 4^th place, 103 points

1998: 1^st place, 39 points

1999: 1^st place (tie), 41 points

2000: 1^st place, 42 points

2001: 3^rd place, 93 points

2002: 5^th place, 114 points

2003: 4^th place (tie), 102 points

2004: 1^st place, 40 points

2005: 3^rd place, 83 points

2006: 2^nd place, 87 points

2007: 4^th place, 115 points

2008: 3^rd place, 78 points

2009: 2^nd place, 56 points

2010: 4^th place, 106 points

2011: 2^nd place, 60 points

2012: 2^nd place, 65 points

2013: 3^rd place, 109 points

2014: 3^rd place, 93 points

2015: 5^th place, 122 points

2016: 6^th place, 140 points

2017: 2^nd place, 71 points

MAAC Championships: Men's results (and history)

As you can see, the battle for second place in the MAAC was among five schools, tightly packed with not much separation. While we were not pleased with the final result, we know that our men left it all out there on the course. Senior captain Dietrich Mosel proved to be among the league's best, and freshman James Draney was #2 on the All Rookie Team. The end result was not the desired placement, but life doesn't always have happy endings. Thank you to all alumni, family, friends, etc., who supported our men today. 

MAAC Cross Country Championships

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Holmdel Park, Holmdel, NJ

Men’s team standings

1-Iona 15, 2-Manhattan 97, 3. Siena 109, 4. Canisius 113, 5. Marist 118, 6-Monmouth 124, 7-Rider 194, 8-Quinnipiac 194, 9-Fairfield 273, 10-Niagara 329, 11-St. Peter’s 355

Men’s individual results, 5-mile course

12. Dietrich Mosel 25:58.87 *All-MAAC

23. Mike Kennedy 26:51.94

26. Palmer Weimann 26:55.46

27. Chris Rivas 26:58.32

34. Alex Hogue 27:09.41

41. James Draney 27:20.66 *All-Rookie

52. Joe Miller 27:45.28

54. Eamonn Beers 27:48.04

56. Elias Platanias 27:50.50

63. Graham Strzelecki 28:09.50

71. Conor Stack 28:24.65

77. Steven Rizzo 28:29.57
80. Connor Fitzpatrick 28:37.27

82. Will Esposito 28:40.21

85. Riley Hughes 28:50.92 (lost shoe)

87. Will Duggan 28:54.23

91. Connor Levins 29:02.49

100. Matt Ronan 29:30.12

103. Dan Hillman 29:31.88

114. Connor St. Germain 30:08.31

121. Sami Ellougani 30:24.79

144 finishers

Men’s meet history, year to year

1997: 6^th place, 149 points

1998: 2^nd place, 70 points

1999: 3^rd place, 102 points

2000: 4^th place, 91 points

2001: 3^rd place, 69 points

2002: 4^th place, 91 points

2003: 2^nd place, 60 points

2004: 3^rd place, 77 points

2005: 2^nd place, 73 points

2006: 2^nd place, 52 points

2007: 2^nd place, 61 points

2008: 2^nd place, 55 points

2009: 2^nd place, 57 points

2010: 2^nd place, 53 points

2011: 2^nd place, 66 points

2012: 2^nd place, 80 points

2013: 6^th place, 151 points

2014: 4^th place, 113 points

2015: 2^nd place, 93 points

2016: 3^rd place, 104 points

2017: 5^th place, 118 points

MAAC Championships: Overview on an emotional day

Our women placed second and our men place fifth today at the MAAC Championships at Holmdel Park. For our women, it was our highest placement since 2012. For our men, it was an emotional dog fight with our rival schools, as the separation from 2nd place Manhattan to 6th place Monmouth was a tiny 27 points. Love this photo of our supporters waving a homemade flag on the course. Results and more photos to follow.

MAAC Championships: Halloween comes early

Spirit Week concluded with a Halloween theme at women's cross country practice. There were some very creative costumes and outfits, as you can see.

MAAC Championships: An inTENTS lapse in memory

We were all set. Two Marist buses (for championship meets, Marist graciously allows us two buses), rolling on down Route 9, crossing the Mid-Hudson Bridge, en route to Jersey. Wait! The old coach thought? Did we pack the two 10x10 tents that Darren so graciously offered us for this trip? Of course not! A quick call to Chuck on the other bus confirmed this. I forgot. So? When we got to our Highland food stop, we dumped off the men and turned around, back to the McCann Center, for the two tents and the humongous tarp. Bad that I forgot, but good that I remembered before we started rolling on down the road. A memory lapse that was not too intense after all. OK!

MAAC Championships at Holmdel

The MAAC Cross Country Championships are Saturday at Holmdel Park in New Jersey. Race times are as follows:

11 a.m. = women's 6km
12 noon = men's 8km

Hope to see you there.

Team spirit week: Retro baller day

Thursday was "Retro Baller" day at women's XC practice. Here is the pre-run team photo!

Team spirit week continues!

Today's theme was Team Class Day and as you can see, each class had its own theme (senior class photo with a perfectly placed prop outside by the vans, and the full team shot before departing for 2p practice at Vassar Farm). Thursday is Retro Baller Day ... hey, maybe for once my tube socks might be appropriate?

Women's practice: A team to "dye" for

Our women's team is in the midst of a "Theme Week" with today's theme being tie-dyed shirts. Here is a group shot as we were waiting out a rare "rain delay" -- thunder and lightning in the area, which forced us to shut down our planned workout until tomorrow. It was a crazy weather day.

Men's practice: Gimme shelter

If I were to caption this photo, the title would be "Sami should know better." This is a photo of part of our men's cross country team, at Vassar Farm, before a fartlek workout there on a breezy and rainy day. After exiting the vans, these men took shelter at the Farm, as you can see. Of course, I chided them for this absurdity, as they were about to embark on a more than hour-long workout in the pouring rain. Staying dry before it? What's the POINT! Now, every man in this photo is a freshman or a sophomore -- except for Sami (second from right). Sami is a senior captain. Sami should know better, or at least should KNOW that I would "throw shade" on the group or "put them on blast" -- good God, I'm hanging around with these punks too much, I'm starting to TALK like them! The workout went well, and they got plenty soaked and muddy. Hey. It's cross country season.

Spencer Johnson: Mum-A-Thon champion

Graduate student Spencer Johnson continued his excellent road racing as he prepares for indoor and outdoor track season. On Sunday, he won his hometown Mum-A-Thon 8-kilometer race in Bristol, CT, in 25:56, outdistancing the second-place finisher by 1 minute, 28 seconds. This was the 48^th annual race. Here is Spencer’s brief race report: The race was called the Mum-A-Thon for two reasons.  1. Bristol used to be one of the highest exporters of the mum flower (chrysanthemum) producing up to 80,000 mums, which is why we are called the Mum City. 2. It’s around Halloween time so they made it Halloween theme where kids could trick or treat, paint pumpkins, and awards went out for the best costume. The course had rolling hills and was an open road race so there were lots of cars so we had to be careful.  Overall, I was happy with the race!

Katie Miale: Link to official race results and splits

Here is a link to official results from Katie's excellent race yesterday ... fifth overall, 1:57:17, 9:26 per mile pace for 20km racewalk. Pretty neat.

Katie Miale: Huge 20km racewalk PR!

Congratulations to junior racewalker Katie Miale for her phenomenal performance this morning at 20 kilometers. Although official results have yet to be posted, I got all of her 2km splits (and some photos) from her mom, as well as her mile splits from Katie’s watch. Her time of 1:57:18 was a more than seven-minute improvement from her time of 2:04:39.91 last year in this race. She went out aggressively. Her 10km split of 56:50 was a personal-best time by more than a minute! She had a predictable and understandable fade in the last 10km, but she hung tough for a great time. When she texted me last night, saying her goal was 1:56, I admitted that I thought that was a too aggressive goal and recommended a slightly more cautious approach. She nearly got that pie in the sky goal, and her goal of making it to the USATF 20km championships is getting closer to reality. Katie deserves a ton of credit for her success. She does most of her training alone. She does not have any team members accompany her on her Tuesday and Friday walk workouts or her Sunday long walk workouts. This race is a validation of the great fitness level she has achieved, and provides great hope for her future at this distance and in this sport. Nicely done, Katie.

USATF 20km race (part of the USATF 30km racewalk championships)

Hauppauge, Long Island, 2km paved loop

20km final time: 1:57:18

2km splits:

11:15

22:46 (11:31)

34:12 (11:26)

45:34 (11:22)

56:50 (11:16)

1:08:36 (11:46)

1:20:39 (12:03)

1:32:44 (12:05)

1:45:12 (12:28)

1:57:18 (12:06)

First 10km: 56:50

Second 10km: 1:00:28

Mile splits:

8:52, 9:11, 9:14, 9:09, 9:14, 9:02, 9:17, 9:48, 9:33, 9:45, 10:08, 9:53

Spooktacular community service

Thanks to Kennedy for sharing this photo from last night at the Children's Home of Poughkeepsie Pumpkin Walk, where Joe Miller, Brian Henderson and Mike Kennedy helped run games that were set up in the gym, after walking through the pumpkin trail. You can see a smiling Henderson and Palmer, along with Joe ("Talked Back to the Teacher", which is plausible given his feisty nature) and Kennedy ("Didn't Do Homework", which is less believable given his stellar GPA). Nice for the men to make good use of their free time this weekend.

Brianna's half marathon

Congratulations to Marist Running Alum Brianna Freestone for completing Saturday’s Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon in 1:40:06, “under my goal time, a few minutes faster than I was hoping for,’’ she reported via text, and with her good friend and former Marist teammate Lizzy Peper cheering her on along the way.

More notes from a swim dad ...

I've mentioned it here before, but I revel in my role as "Swim Dad" -- to my daughter Natalie, a sophomore at FDR High School (results above erroneously refer to her as a freshman) and to my sixth-grade son James, who swims for the Hudson Valley Dolphins (as does Natalie). On Friday afternoon at the OCIAA Championships, Natalie had a breakthrough effort in the 50-yard freestyle and qualified for the Section 9 Championships. She dropped more than a second in the sprint event, and placed 10th out of more than 60 competitors in the race. She was already a member of a relay team that will be competing at the Section 9 meet, but it's neat that she's going as an individual as well. Why do I love being at swim meets? The same reason everyone else hates it: It's inside, and it's insanely hot and humid, and the meets drag on for hours. Basically, indoor track with the chlorine. Neat!

Notes from the Agway parking lot ...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but they will start ramping up as XC Championship Season begins with the MAAC Championships next Saturday at Holmdel Park in New Jersey. The teams are on a brief mid-semester break this weekend, although several team members stayed in town. Workouts for the men and women have been going well. With no classes on Friday, we had our athletes get up early for a workout before several of them scooted home for the weekend. We brought the men to New Paltz for a workout on the rail trail there. With the Park and Ride across from the Stewart's fenced up and closed, we had to park a few paces up Route 32 at the Agway. Don't worry. I was able to make a side trip to Stewart's for my coffee. The women stayed closer to home, with an outstanding workout at the FDR/Cator Loop in Hyde Park. The men had a lot of energy on the brilliant and cool morning as well. Onward we move to the three championships -- MAACs, NCAA Regionals, IC4A/ECAC.

A fruitful long run

Thanks to graduate assistant coach Nicki Nesi (left, with fellow "grandma" Annie Gould) for sharing these photos from an Ulster County apple orchard, where our women’s XC team ran to for their long run, then picked apples and bought apple cider doughnuts as a reward for their hard-earned efforts. Excellent coordination and planning by Coach Chuck, Erica and Nicki. Chuck drove one van over, rode his bike back to Marist at breakneck speeds, and drove another van back there. After the run, all the ladies returned to campus in the vans. I guess you could call it a fruitful run!

CYO volunteering: Do good, quietly

For the past several weeks, members of our men’s XC team have gone over to Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie to assist in the CYO cross country program. Following is a note from the Dutchess County CYO director after the last week of the program:

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please let your student-athletes know how appreciative I am of their time and efforts they gave to the CYO Cross Country program. Each week several Marist College Cross Country runners would show up at our practices and offer running tips, instructions, encouragement, smiles and laughter with our CYO participants. I am not sure if they realized the impact they have had on the young runners by sharing an hour of their busy schedules with us each week. The kids were very enthusiastic about running with the Marist runners. All of the Marist College student-athletes were respectful, encouraged the young runners during drills, willing participants during instructions and games. They were fantastic! These young men really represented the Marist College Cross Country team very well. It says a lot about this program. This partnership has been a great experience for everyone involved. I appreciate you for making the connection with the program and allowing the student-athletes to assist with practices each week. Hopefully we will see them in the spring! Best of luck to them as well as the team the remainder of the school year!

As I’ve noted here before, one of the core values of the Marist Brothers (who founded our college) is “do good quietly.” Our young men exemplify this in their actions. 

Girma in Detroit: Third place, 2:28:42!

Congrats to Marist Running Alum Girma Segni, who made a strong return to marathoning with a third-place finish at today’s Detroit Marathon in 2:28:42. Following are his splits from the official race results:

2.5 miles: 13:30 (5:24 pace)

5 miles: 27:13 (5:27 pace)

7 miles: 38:17 (5:29 pace)

10 miles: 54:30 (5:27 pace)

13.1 miles: 1:11:33 (5:28 pace)

15 miles: 1:21:22 (5:26 pace)

17.3 miles: 1:34:24 (5:28 pace)

20 miles: 1:50:06 (5:31 pace)

25 miles: 2:21:09 (5:39 pace)

26.2 miles: 2:28:42 (5:41 pace)

Girma texted me that it was windy and humid out there, and added this: “Not bad for an old man that hasn’t done a thing for the last 5 years.” Not sure that 32 classifies as old, but we are proud of him nonetheless. Next up for Girma? The NYC Marathon … in three weeks!

Princeton Invitational: Women's results!

Another historic day for our women! Best finish in school history! Top-5 runners in the top-50! And our 6th and 7th runners weren't far behind that. This special group of ladies continues to raise the bar higher and higher each week. There's only one word for that: Neat!

Of course! Coach Chuck can be far more eloquent and informative than the old man writing the blog, and here was his summary for GoredFoxes.com: “Today was our last race before championships begin, so our goal was to put forth a strong team effort to give us confidence moving forward. The girls responded by turning in our best team finish in school history and defeating some strong programs that had beaten us earlier this season. The great thing is despite how well we ran today as a team, we feel that we still haven’t turned in our best effort yet and that’s exciting moving forward.’’

Princeton Invitational

West Windsor Fields

Princeton, NJ

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Women’s team standings

1-Columbia 124, 2-Universite Laval 150, 3. Marist 150, 4. Lipscomb 154, 5. Maryland 157, 6. Temple 165, 7. La Salle 227, 8. Stony Brook 238, 9. Penn 238, 10. American 243, 11. McNeese State 250, 12. St. Joseph’s PA 256, 13. George Mason 267, 14. George Washington 336, 15. Monmouth 357, 16. Towson 411, 17. Princeton 451, 18. Hofstra 494, 19. Rider 530, 20. UMBC 567

Women’s individual results, 6,200-meter course

18. Maria Smith 22:05.2

27. Gianna Tedeschi 22:21.1

29. Mara Schiffhauer 22:23.6

33. Alexandra Bartolotta 22:28.3

43. Shea Bohan 22:37.4

51. Hayley Collins 22:48.4

58. Denise Grohn 23:00.2

75. Jordan Casey 23:11.7

87. Emily Burns 23:26.4

120. Christine Gambell 24:12.5

180 finishers

Princeton Invitational: Men's results

Here are today's results from a soggy and muggy morning at Princeton -- actually, pretty great XC weather. Our men did not get out well -- that's an understatement. The mile splits were much slower than they had to be. Part of the problem was our starting block was on the extreme end; our guys didn't get out and they got boxed in quickly. All worked through the pack well, but it was a lot of ground to make up. Senior captain Dietrich Mosel had a breakthrough effort with the fastest time in school history on the course and one of the fastest times for 8km in school history. And now we round the corner to championship season. Let's GO!

Princeton Invitational

West Windsor Fields

Princeton, NJ

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Men’s team standings

1-Princeton 44, 2. Guelph 98, 3. Stony Brook 114, 4. Universite Laval 132, 5. Temple 139, 6. American 172, 7. Penn 216, 8. McNeese State 229, 9. George Mason 248, 10. Lipscomb 269, 11. George Washington 283, 12. St. Joseph’s PA 285, 13. Harvard 324, 14. Monmouth 380, 15. LaSalle 380, 16. Marist 406, 17. UMBC 458, 18. Columbia 492, 19. Lehigh 583, 20. Rider 592, 21. Hofstra 663

Men’s individual results, 8,000-meter course

21. Dietrich Mosel 24:37.6

89. Palmer Weimann 25:28.8

101. Steven Rizzo 25:36.4

112. Christopher Rivas 25:39.9

131. Alexander Hogue 25:51.8

134. Riley Hughes 25:55.1

157. Joe Miller 26:11.2

177. Eamonn Beers 26:36.7

187. Steven Morrison 26:55.2

192. Mark Cappuccitti 27:01.9

205 finishers

Remembering Greg

Commencement, 2001 ...

The pain is still fresh, the reminders are in the wind and the hills at Van Cortlandt Park. Hard to fathom that our good friend, our former lead runner, our former school record holder, and our loyal alum Greg Salamone will have been gone from us for three years now. As we raced at Vanny on Friday, all I could think of was Greg. He owned the course. He loved the course, so much so that upon graduation he moved into the neighborhood (more or less, in Marble Hill, close to Vanny). He never missed a Vanny meet. Greg lived life the right way. It’s not fair that God wanted him back so soon, too soon. We miss him every day. We think about him every day. And we are certain, 100 percent, that his spirit lives among our XC team – the team he loved when he was here and followed after he graduated. You’re still running within us, and we’re still running for you. 

Metro Championships: Thoughts from the van

A few more thoughts on Mets XC meet, as I sit in a van near the Burger King along Broadway in Riverdale, poaching Internet from Optimum ...

--Great weather day, cool and breezy and sunny. Vintage autumn weather.
--Great to see four freshmen score for our men. The main reason we brought our freshmen here was to give them the feeling of scoring in a championship meet -- similar to what we did at Stony Brook. Mission accomplished.
--We were proud to be upper/middle of the pack in a meet in which we truly brought a partial squad on both sides. Shows our program's depth.
--Why am I sitting in a van in the Bronx on a Friday afternoon? Great question! I am awaiting a few of our men who are racing tomorrow at Princeton, who had an academic presentation in the city this afternoon. They are currently taking the subway uptown. Waaaay uptown. And then we're driving to Princeton.
--Thanks to CSG for sharing this group photo from today.

Metro Championships: Men's results

Metropolitan Championships

Friday, October 13, 2017

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Men’s team standings

1-Rutgers 39, 2-Manhattan 53, 3-Fordham 67, 4-Marist 140, 5-Seton Hall 147, 6-Columbia 174, 7-NJIT 176, 8-NYU 208, 9-NY Tech 267, 10-LIU Post 316, 11-St. Francis 333, 12-Iona and St. Peter’s INC

Men’s individual results, 5-mile race

18. Michael Kennedy 26:52.0

24. James Draney 27:12.2

29. James Moehringer 27:28.6

35. Graham Strzelecki 27:33.8

37. James Pratt 27:40.2

49. Conor Stack 28:03.4

54. Elias Platanias 28:19.5

59. Will Duggan 28:35.2

64. Matt Ronan 28:48.0

75. Brian Henderson 29:27.1

79. Connor St. Germain 29:42.5

95. Will O’Connell 32:07.1

111 finishers

Metro Championships: Women's results

Metropolitan Championships

Friday, October 13, 2017

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Women’s team standings

1-Manhattan 49, 2. Fordham 54, 3-Rutgers 83, 4-Iona 118, 5-Seton Hall 141, 6-St. John’s 151, 7-Marist 162, 8-NYU 218, 9-LIU Post 291, 10-LIU Brooklyn 309, 11-NJIT 313, 12-St. Francis 331, 13. NY Tech 378, 14-St. Peter’s 411

Women’s individual results, 5 kilometers

23. Jenna Robinson 19:37.7

26. Maddie Tooker 19:42.2

30. Mariah Christian 19:48.3

46. Kerry Gaye 20:26.6

48. Roxy Novo 20:29.2

61. Lauren Harris 21:04.3

67. Hannah Albert 21:29.7

72. Ashley Wallace 21:39.7

79. Talia Cutrone 21:59.6

97. Shannon Gildea 23:04.2

129 finishers

What's next: This weekend's meets

We are splitting the XC squads on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, we will be bringing the team to Van Cortlandt Park for the Metropolitan Championships (Mets). ON Saturday, we will be bringing the team to the Princeton Invitational. Here is the schedule, for those interested in attending.

Mets at VCP
Women's 5km at 1:30 p.m.
Men's 5 mile at 2 p.m.

Princeton Invitational at West Windsor Fields
Men's 8km at 9:30 a.m.
Women's 6km at 10:30 a.m.

Hope to see you out there somewhere ...

Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon

On an unusually warm and wet October morning, Marist Running Alum Bryn Gorberg and her dad, Joe Gorberg, ran in the Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon in Westchester County. Bryn said the rain was on and off the entire race, but it wasn’t too muddy because they were in the first wave of starters. Bryn was fourth in her age group (1:48:42) and Joe was second in his age group (1:43:10). Good stuff. Bryn emailed: “I’m pretty pleased with my race result considering it was an unusual 73 degrees and rained periodically throughout. I loved wearing the Marist Alumni jersey because spectators would cheer ‘Go Marist!’ Plus a majority of the Iona team was there, so it was great to get some cheers from a fellow MAAC team. Also, I met Adam Waterbury (Marist track alum, throwing record holder) because I was wearing the jersey! Overall great race day!’’