Indoor track begins! Fastrack Season Opener time schedule

The long indoor track season starts on Saturday afternoon/evening at Ocean Breeze, as our good pal Nick McDonough hosts the Fastrack Season Opener. Here is the time schedule.

Fastrack Season Opener

Ocean Breeze

December 1, 2018

Time schedule and order of events

Women, then men

4:00 p.m.: 60-meter hurdle trials

4:17 p.m.: Mile run

4:47 p.m.: 60 hurdle final (men, then women)

4:55 p.m.: 60 dash final

5:29 p.m.: 400 dash

6:03 p.m.: 500 dash

6:30 p.m.: 800 run

6:58 p.m.: 1,000 run

7:15 p.m.: 200 dash

7:50 p.m.: 3,000 run

8:32 p.m.: 4x800 relay

8:51 p.m.: 4x400 relay

9:50 p.m.: 5,000 run

Turkey day leftovers

Thanks to Hayley Collins' mom for sending this starting line photo from Manchester. You can see Hayley in the second row, tucked behind the pro runners and squinting in the sun. Don't be fooled. It wasn't warm. Also: The identity of the DOG in the previous post (Smithtown Turkey Trot) has been ascertained. Her name is Ella and this pup's proud owners are Mark Valentino and his fiancee. Neat!

Turkey Trot results and photos

Here are some results and photos collected over the past day from Thanksgiving races: 

--At the Manchester Road Race (4.748 miles), sophomore Hayley Collins placed 13^th in the women’s field and 114^th overall in 27:42 (5:50 pace).

--At the Smithtown Kickers 5K Turkey Trot, current sophomore Christopher Tibbetts was first overall (16:37) and Marist Running alum Mark Valentino was sixth overall (17:59). See photo of the two of them, along with an unidentified dog.

--At the Massapequa Turkey Trot 5K (see photos above), current team members James Moehringer (15:58), Matthew Ronan (16:06) and Brendan Zeng (16:13) went second, third and fourth overall. Marist Running alum Bryan (Gregg) Buttigieg hopped off a redeye from Seattle, went out too hard with the boys and settled in for an 18:45. 

--At the Garden City (Long Island) Turkey Trot 5-miler, Marist Running alum Dietrich Mosel was fifth overall (26:35) and current freshman Aidan Sweeney was 10^th overall (28:24)

One finish line, another starting line

The beauty and the curse of our sport is that, other than summer, we do not have much of an “off season,” as other sports do. So with the conclusion of cross country at the IC4A/ECAC meet last Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park comes the start of our indoor track season. Our first meet is next Saturday, December 1, at Ocean Breeze, hosted by our good friend Nick McDonough. So this brief Thanksgiving week break is nice, but we get right back to work on Monday for the beginning of the track season, which features two December meets – Fastrack at Ocean Breeze on Dec. 1 and the Yale Season Opener on Dec. 8. Yes, we have a several weeks’ break around the holidays, but then the season resumes in earnest in January, and continues more or less unabated until the end of the outdoor track season in mid to late May. Thanks to Dawn Collins, mom of sophomore Hayley Collins, for sharing this photo of our pack on men charging toward the finish line at Vanny – the final finish line of cross country, followed closely by the first starting line of indoor track.

Running through some holiday thoughts

The holiday season is a great time to be with family, celebrate gratitude and toast all that is good in life. As the song says, it’s the “most wonderful time of the year.” But unlike the endless stream of holiday music on radio station 92.1 locally, and unlike the endless good cheer at places like Disney and elsewhere, and unlike the unrelenting marketing of happiness this time of year, life isn’t so straightforward and simple. Deep down, we all know this. As a result, the holidays can be complicated times as well as good times. How was your Thanksgiving? Such a simple question, requiring a smile and a positive response, which you almost exclusively give and receive – as well you should. But again, the holidays can actually be a stressful time filled with various other emotions besides good will and cheer. We live in complicated, divisive times, and everyone wants to tell you their opinion of it – usually on social media, but at holiday gatherings it might actually be front and center, in person. That can lead to very awkward or even downright nasty discussions with well-meaning family and friends.

For my wife Heidi and I, holidays like Thanksgiving can be bittersweet as well celebratory. We are both the youngest in our families, and we have dealt with natural loss of loved ones over the past several years. Traditions that we have known for so long have ended and we struggle to create new ones. Predictably, our children are very resilient and adapt with ease that doesn’t come as naturally to us in middle age. We are working on new traditions, all the while mourning ones that have run their course.

Thanksgiving is the biggest day of the year in terms of participation in road races; fortunately, that’s a tradition that has always been easy locally, with numerous local Turkey Tro races. I was able to join my early morning running pals for the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club’s Turkey Trot 5-miler out at Arlington High School on a bitterly cold morning. Those hills on Cramer Road haven’t gotten any easier through the years. Like the holidays, the hills are always there, waiting for us. And like any old runner, we have to learn to adapt to them as we get older.

ECAC Championships results: 2nd place!

ECAC Championships

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Team standings

1-Temple 23, 2. Marist 99, 3-Stony Brook 135, 4. George Mason 141, 5-Siena 151, 6-Fordham 170, 7-St. Joseph’s 197, 8-Central Connecticut 215, 9. James Madison 226, 10. Rider 238, 11. St. Francis PA 262, 12. Holy Cross 262, 13. Monmouth 367, 14. Sacred Heart 399, 15. Colgate 419, 16. Maryland Eastern Shore 502, 17. Canisius 537, 18. NJIT 538

Individual results, 3.06-mile course

11. Maria Smith 17:20

18. Shea Bohan 17:31

21. Gianna Tedeschi 17:34

25. Hayley Collins 17:41

30. Denise Grohn 17:46

45. Emily Burns 18:04

49. Gianna Mastromatteo 18:08

53. Rebecca Walters 18:14

56. Jordan Casey 18:17

59. Kerry Gaye 18:23

153 finishers

Coaches Association results

14. Talia Cutrone 19:16

22. Kayla Sexton 19:25

29. Jess Howe 19:44

35. Hannah Albert 20:00

44. Ashley Wallace 20:24

64. Katie Miale 20:56

82 finishers

IC4A Championships results

IC4A Championships

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Team standings

1-Stony Brook 25, 2. Temple 72, 3. Northeastern 114, 4. George Mason 147, 5-. St. Joseph’s 150, 6. Siena 160, 7. Monmouth 175, 8. Rutgers 235, 9. Marist 250, 10. St. Francis PA 252, 11. Rider 321, 12. Central Connecticut 333, 13. Fordham 373, 14. NJIT 379, 15. Holy Cross 413, 16. Canisius 482, 17. Colgate 508, 18. Sacred Heart 527

Men’s individual results, 4.73 (??) mile course

45. Michael Kennedy 23:59

47. James Draney 24:04

48. Palmer Weimann 24:06

62. James Moehringer 24:17

63. Christopher Rivas 24:18

64. Riley Hughes 24:18

72. Elias Platanias 24:32

84. Dan Hillman 24:42

89. Alex Hogue 24:53

115. Conor Stack 25:28

157 finishers

Coaches Association results

7. Eamonn Beers 24:53

9. Connor Levins 24:57

16. Matthew Ronan 25:13

20. Graham Strzelecki 25:25

29. Brendan Zeng 25:40

31. Aidan Sweeney 25:46

33. Patrick Kutch 25:53

41. Connor Fitzpatrick 26:13

63. Marc Bakia 27:39

66 finishers

ECAC/IC4A Championships: Happy recap

It was a special end to a special season for our program. Our women’s team notched its top finish in school history in the championships – second place! -- with the top runners earning All-East medals in the process. The men had an incredibly tight 1-through-6 compression of 19 seconds and parlayed that into a ninth-place finish in a competitive field. Because of the terrible weather that plagued the Northeast on Friday, the courses were altered. Neither course included the Back Hills and the men’s course omitted Cemetery Hill as well. The men’s course, in particular, was very short of the usual 5 miles – one runner had 4.73 miles on his watch; we’ll go with that. However you add it up, it was well shy of the correct course in terms of terrain and distance. No matter. It was a great day at Vanny, capping a great season for our women’s and men’s cross country teams. Thanks to Martha Weimann for providing sooooo many photos (including this one of our special senior class). Very cool.

IC4A Championships: Time in a bottle

Thanks to Joanne and Ray Beers for sharing these amazing pair of photos, the first from 2008 when a youthful Eamonn Beers ran his first race at Van Cortlandt Park as part of the Infant Jesus Track Club. The second one, obviously, is from today, as senior Eamonn Beers of the Marist men’s XC team concluded his cross country career with a strong race … at Van Cortlandt Park. So neat!

Women's photos: ECAC Championships

Men's photos: IC4A Championships

Men's photos: Coaches Association race

Women's photos: Coaches Association race

Men's XC team dinner: Bringing it home

For the first time in many years, our men's XC team dinner was held at our house in Hyde Park. It's challenging getting this many guys at the house but we were able to squeeze everyone in and have a good dinner and meeting in preparation for tomorrow's XC finale.

Snow kidding? It's still XC season!

Well, well, well. Apparently, winter was in a rush in getting here. The recently completed storm dumped about a foot of snow here in the mid-Hudson Valley, forcing the unprecedented cancellation of the Federation high school XC Championship, which was to be held on Saturday at Bowdoin Park. With the amount of snow that fell on already saturated ground, there was no way that course could have held anything resembling a championship running event in those conditions. For our team, the ECAC/IC4A Championships will plow on (pun intended) as planned on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, which promises to be a bit messy tomorrow for sure. Much like the rest of the season, in which seemingly every meet has been contested in challenging conditions, we'll simply spike up and go.

Ending at the beginning

mid-November: cold and windy

mid-August: hot

As has been our custom on and off for many years, our men's XC team had its final hard workout of the season at the same venue as the first hard workout of the season -- Mills Mansion in Staatsburg, for the "Mills Hills" workout. Instead of the usual 3 sets (first day of preseason), today we did 2 sets. Each set consists of five hills on the Great Lawn of the mansion grounds. The juxtaposition of the three-month difference is startling. On the first day of preseason, almost exactly three months ago, it was warm and humid and the men ran shirtless. Today, it was cold and blustery and no one even thought about running shirtless as the temperature was in the mid-30s and the "real feel" was much colder than that, with a stiff wind blowing uphill off the Hudson River. The mood was light and fun. Workout groups were divvied up based on class -- group 1 = seniors; group 2 = juniors; group 3 = sophomores; group 4 = freshmen. The ground was soggy toward the bottom of the hill and crusty/frozen toward the top of the hill. Our long three-month journey that is cross country is coming to an end, where it began back in the summer.

One more time: ECAC/IC4A Championships

Our final meet of the cross country season is Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, where we will be racing in the ECAC (women) and IC4A (men) Championships. This meet is steeped in tradition – it’s the 110^th annual IC4A Championships! It’s also steeped in the tradition of our program. Many other cross country teams conclude their season at the NCAA Regionals, or bring a partial or “developmental” squad to this meet. Not us! This is a championship meet, and we treat it as such. It’s also a celebration of our season, and a celebration of our seniors, who will be racing XC for the final time. For them, it represents the end of a journey of eight or more years in most cases. While we still have many months of track ahead of us, the unique team aspect of cross country is difficult to replicate in track. And so this day is memorable, fun, bittersweet, all rolled into one. Many alums make the effort to come to Vanny to watch our teams race. Again, it’s a celebration of everything our program is about – past, present and future. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate (as I type this it's raining AGAIN and my front and back yards are under water).

Another tradition is a great parents/family tailgate, and once again senior Palmer Weimann's mom, Martha, will be organizing it. Contact her at whctgirl@gmail.com or by cell/text at 860 803 8198.

Below are the race times and schedules. Past runners and coaches will note that new this year is one championship race – no longer the differentiation between University and Championship divisions. This is a welcome change and should make all the races better and more competitive. There are now four races instead of six. Here's the schedule.

10 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Coaches’ Association race, 5 miles

10:45 a.m.: Women’s ECAC Coaches’ Association race, 5km

11:15 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Championship race, 5 miles

12 noon: Women’s ECAC Championship race, 5km

Hope to see you there.

NCAA Regionals: Final thoughts

Before we move on to our final championship meet of the cross country season – ECAC/IC4A on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park – and then onto the long grind of track seasons (indoor and outdoor), here are some final thoughts on the snow and mud and muck in Buffalo for the NCAA Northeast Regional.

As noted, our women’s team racing to 11^th place for the second consecutive year is a big deal to us and really validates the hard work of our athletes and the consistently high level we have reached within the program. It’s a testament to the women who put in the work – every day, every week, every month, every season. They are relentless warriors, and it is an honor to be associated with them. The conditions affect every athlete and every team in different ways; for us, it seems to bring out the best in our unit. And that’s great.

On the men’s side, we can say similar things. While our goal was to finish anywhere between 15^th and 20^th place, in analyzing our 21^st-place finish you’ll note that we finished ahead of numerous teams that were ranked ahead of us and/or finished ahead of us all fall. In some cases, we outdistanced these teams by a wide margin, and our men did it in a progressive fashion by constantly improving their team standing as the race unfolded. So while we were hoping for slightly better, we know that on this day our men did what they tend to do here: Grinded it out and overachieved.

Mostly, what I’ll remember from this is the sheer enormity of effort. At the end of the race, we had athletes covered in mud, sweat, tears and a little blood. They were shivering cold, despite the intensity of their racing. A few of them couldn’t feel their extremities. They all finished – strong, hard, proud – and they all “left it out there” (one of those well-worn coaching clichés that I don’t even like, but actually fits here), and to summarize, they made us proud. It was, to paraphrase the T-shirts, a great day to be a Running Red Fox.

Signs of the times: Part 2

We work in a construction zone, as we eagerly anticipate the new McCann Center in late 2019 or early 2020. Magically, this signage appeared outside the entrance to McCann over the past few days – an alert blog follower surmised that perhaps we wanted to explain to basketball fans what was going on in the area, and I think that makes sense. Anyway, these architect renderings have us even more excited for what’s to come, as the renovated McCann Center looks to be magnificent. In the meantime, we’ll work around the construction zone and noises and continue to Be Better every day.