Indoor track begins

This is a strange time in our cross country/track school year cycle. Cross country has ended. Track is about to begin (sort of) before we go on a holiday break, after which time track REALLY begins. This 2-3 week period between the Thanksgiving week break and the break between semesters is a bit unusual. We have two more weeks of classes (this week and next) and then finals week, and then the fall semester is completed. We have one meet scheduled for this month and it is Saturday at Boston University. The Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener will kick it all off. There will be restrictions. Masks will be required at all times except when competing. No spectators -- none, no parents, family, friends, not even non-competing athletes! -- will be allowed in the building. The Track and Tennis Center (TTC) will not be its usual jam-packed bustling building. But a new season dawns, and we are excited about it.  

Jenna Robinson: 3rd place at Upstate Classic Marathon!

Congrats to Marist Running Alums Jenna Robinson and Pat Rynkowski for strong races last weekend. Jenna placed third overall at the Upstate Classic Marathon, a two-loop course that runs right past her house in Guilderland! This was the race that many of us did last year. Jenna ran a smart, even-paced race and finished her marathon in 3:21:21. Pat shaved three minutes off his half-marathon personal best at the Philly half, placing 24^th in the 25-29 division in 1:15:59.

Special guests at VCP

 

Here at the intersection of gratitude (Thanksgiving) and the end of the cross country season, I share with you this photo from Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park. Mike Nehr (left) and Pat Driscoll (right), both proud members of the Class of 2002, stopped by the cheer on the current Foxes. It was 21 years ago at this meet that these two men (Nehr was lead runner/race winner, Driscoll the key 5th man) led those Running Red Foxes to the IC4A University Division Championship. Grateful that they are still integral parts of our Forever Foxes family. 

Eclipse

All that you touch

And all that you see

All that you taste

All you feel

These are the opening lyrics to the Pink Floyd song “Eclipse,” the finale of the classic, masterpiece Dark Side of the Moon album. I found myself humming this 3/4 time signature song a lot last week. In case you missed it, there was a lunar eclipse last week. If it weren’t for my buddy Dave O’s text the night before, I would have missed it!

And all that you love

And all that you hate

All you distrust

All you save

Dave said that the eclipse would peak at 4:03 a.m. Upon further research, I confirmed this and also noted that it would be “starting” at around 1 a.m. Hmmm. 4:03 a.m. I can DO that!

And all that you give

And all that you deal

And all that you buy

Beg, borrow or steal

For a variety of reasons – none of them particularly interesting or noteworthy – I have been getting up very early (and sleeping poorly) these past few months. So 4:03 a.m.? Right in my wheelhouse. I woke up in a start at around 3:40 a.m. that morning. Again, nothing unusual there. Went to the bathroom, went to brew my first cup of Tim Horton’s coffee, sat down to check my phone for late-night texts and emails. Looked at my watch. Hey, wait! That eclipse thing!

And all you create

And all you destroy

And all that you do

And all that you say

I put on my headlamp and headed downstairs and out the laundry room door onto the dark deck. Looked up to the west, toward the river. Above the woods-line, there it was! It looked like a big piece of tissue paper was covering the moon. A looked at my watch. 3:59 a.m. A few more minutes till the “peak” of it. My first instinct – hey, let’s face it, OUR first instinct – was to take out my phone and take a picture of this. I have a cheap Android with a bad camera. It was pitch black out, other than the amazing thing unfolding up in the sky. A picture was useless, a bad idea. So this post has no picture accompanying it. Just words.

And all that you eat

And everyone you meet

And all that you slight

And everyone you fight

A better idea? I shoved that phone back in my pocket and just stared up at the night sky. Watched that tissue paper slide across the moon. Looked at stars in the sky surrounding this miraculous lunar eclipse. Let the silence envelope me. Heard the crunch of the cold deck under my sneakers, a distant whine of a coyote deep in the woods. And just experienced this for a few minutes without distraction, before shuffling back inside to the warm house.

And all that is now

And all that is gone

And all that’s to come

And everything under the sun

ECAC/IC4A Championships: Final thoughts

It was a glorious late fall day, weather wise, at Van Cortlandt Park: Sunny and cool, not much of a breeze. A perfect way to end a much-needed, mostly normal cross country season. We had a wonderful, parent-run tailgate. We had fantastic alumni support. We had a strong finish for our women, with three graduate students (Hayley Collins, Gianna Mastromatteo, Talia Cutrone) representing 60 percent of our scoring pack for a trophy-spot (5^th-place) finish. We had our top four ladies (Hayley, Tori Mariano, Gianna, Hannah Belleville) earn All-East honors (given to the top-40 finishers). Mostly, as stated in a previous post, we had a SEASON. A year ago, we would have longed for even a fraction of this day. Today, we got all of it. Could we have done better (especially on the men’s side)? Yes, definitely, of course! But you know what? That’s the hallmark of most meets and most seasons. Some good performances, some longing for more and better performances. During the past three-plus months? No meets were canceled. No practices were disrupted by “pauses.” We had illnesses, we had injuries – several of which impacted our final outcome today, especially on the men’s side. Again, that’s called a “cross country season.” Stuff happens. Unlike last year. When nothing happened, nothing good at least. So today was a cause for celebration. The results folders on my coffee stand in my cluttered office remind me of the fine work (of our veteran-led women’s team) and of the work that still needs to be done (of our young men’s team), as we look forward to track. As we look forward to track!

ECAC Championships results

ECAC Championships

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY

Team standings

1-Columbia 59, 2-Siena 66, 3-Stony Brook 80, 4-Monmouth 119, 5-Marist 127, 6-Central Connecticut 148, 7-Rider 212, 8-Fordham 231, 9. St. Francis (PA) 263, 10-Seton Hall 272, 11-Colgate 282, 12-Sacred Heart 295, 13-Manhattan 334, 14-NJIT incomplete

Individual results, 5km course

10-Hayley Collins 18:35 *All-East

11-Tori Mariano 18:37 *All-East

21-Gianna Mastromatteo 19:03 *All-East

32-Hannah Belleville 19:15 *All-East

58-Talia Cutrone 19:58

61-Adele Alexander 20:04

69-Ellie Davis 20:18

80-Mary Dougherty 20:18

90-Anaiya Bobo 20:46

96-Raven Stanet 20:53

100-Sinead Heaney 21:08

108-Caitlin McCann 21:22

115-Alexa Mocko 21:46

120-Kayla Shapiro 21:55

123-Greta Stuckey 22:13

126-Madison Whited 22:21

139-Marissa Sciotto 24:05

140-Hunter von Ahn 24:19

143 finishers

IC4A Championships results

IC4A Championships

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY

Team standings

1-Columbia 36, 2-Monmouth 69, 3-Manhattan 78, 4-Stony Brook 91, 5-Siena 112, 6-Rider 168, 7-Marist 224, 8-Fordham 236, 9-Seton Hall 238, 10-Colgate 312, 11-St. Francis (PA) 316, 12-Sacred Heart 337, 13/14-CCSU and NJIT, incomplete

Individual results, 5-mile course

41-Christopher Paxis 26:43

51-Gabe Rodriguez 27:01

61-Matt Hartman 27:20

63-Jon Kittredge 27:21

65-Dylan Perkinson 27:22

80-John Ignacz 27:50

81-Jeremy Mbogo 27:51

87-Patrick Kutch 28:11

97-Jack Parsons 28:32

102-Brad Rynkowski 29:00

122-James Moehringer 30:26

133 finishers

IC4A/ECAC Championships: Updated race schedule

As per the previous post! For those planning on attending on Saturday? The race schedule has been updated and condensed to two (2!) championship races. Plan your arrival times accordingly now. The Open Races have been scrapped. There are now just two championship races (men = 11:15a; women = 12 noon). Hope to see you there. 

IC4A/ECAC Championships

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Race schedule

10a = IC4A (men’s) open race, 5 miles

10:45a = ECAC (women’s) open 5km race

11:15a = IC4A (men’s) championship race, 5 miles

12 noon = ECAC (women’s) championship 5km race 

Calling all alumni ...

We are entering the final week of our 2021 cross country season. Our final meet of the season, as always, is the IC4A/ECAC Championship races, next Saturday (November 20) at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The race schedule is listed below, for those interested in attending (and … we hope you are!). Our 2021 XC season has been … difficult to quantify. How about this? Our 2021 XC season has been … a season! In the waning weeks and months of 2021, that seemingly obvious statement is (to me, at least) profound. Our class of 2020 lost their final few months of collegiate training and racing when you-know-what happened in March of that year; our class of 2021 lost that end of their junior year, as well as pretty much the entirety of their three senior seasons. These gaping holes will never be filled for those athletes. The very fabric of practically anything related to the important function of our program (group training, team practice, organized racing, team meals, van rides, bus rides, just being together) became completely unhinged during those ensuing 18 months. I know you all know that; it bears repeating here, as we edge closer to the end of a mostly normal season in which all of the above things listed in the parentheses have resumed. And, we look forward to hopefully normal track seasons as well! Although uncertainty is always lurking around the corner (“when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door”).

Speaking of normalcy: The reason for this post is to rally and encourage loyal Forever Foxes alumni to come out to Vanny on Saturday to enjoy a late morning/early afternoon of cross country, to celebrate with us the completion of our first full season of competition after the shuttered or disjointed past four seasons (outdoor track 2020, all three seasons of 2020-2021). We want to stay in the moment, celebrate the moment and cautiously look forward to more races in more places as we cautiously set our sights on 2022. And we want to see all of you again, in the setting we know and love so well: Outside, at a cross country meet. Again, the schedule is below. No need to RSVP. Just show up and rejoin the fun. 

IC4A/ECAC Championships

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Race schedule

10a = IC4A (men’s) open race, 5 miles

10:45a = ECAC (women’s) open 5km race

11:15a = IC4A (men’s) championship race, 5 miles

12 noon = ECAC (women’s) championship 5km race

Congrats to our friends and peerless peers

As the cross country season continues into championship mode, we’d like to offer some hearty congrats to our friends and peers around the country for their great successes in the fall of 2021:

--Marist Running Alum Mike Melfi (Class of 1999) led the Mighty Oaks of SUNY-ESF to national championships on Friday. Both the men and women won the USCAA small school titles, and Mike won national coach of the year for both genders. Mike (and his assistant coach, Todd Halbig) have built a mighty program up there in Syracuse. Highly neat!

--Former assistant coach Erica Maker, now in her fourth year as head coach of her alma mater (St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN) led her team to its first MIAC (conference) title since 2010 and earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors. And her team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA D3 Championships next weekend. We knew what a great coach Erica was when she was here. She’s validating that out there. Nicely done, Erica and team!

--Our friends and neighbors across town at Vassar College earned their first at-large bid to the NCAA D3 Championships in men’s cross country. Congrats to head coach James McCowan and his Brewers for earning the bid to nationals.

Great stuff all around!

NCAA Regionals: Men's results

We are on a bus now, heading home from Boston in a heavy, driving rain. This is fine, as the worst of this weather held off for today’s races. The weather, while challenging, did not impede the performances. The men bounced back from a lackluster MAAC meet two weeks ago with a very respectable 21^st place out of 39 teams. Ramsey Little placed 60^th overall and was the first non-Iona finisher from the MAAC, a not insignificant accomplishment considering the talented runners in our league. We packed it in behind him, but the gap between Ramsey and the chase pack was larger than we would have liked. This was a promising effort for our men. We are eager to finish strong at IC4As and then carry some momentum into track season.

NCAA Northeast Regional

Friday, November 12, 2021

Franklin Park (Zoo), Boston

Men’s team standings

1-Syracuse 51, 2-Harvard 68, 3-Iona 77, 4-Providence 98, 5-Columbia 137, 6-UMass Lowell 155, 7-Cornell 188, 8-Dartmouth 206, 9-Stony Brook 215, 10-Yale 292, 11-Army West Point 312, 12-Boston University 392, 13-Northeastern 396, 14-Binghamton 418, 15-Buffalo 486, 16-Central Connecticut 490, 17-Manhattan 497, 18-Siena 537, 19-Rhode Island 574, 20-Maine 585, 21-Marist 637, 22-Canisius 655, 23-UMass Amherst 674, 24-Vermont 678, 25-Hofstra 683, 26-New Hampshire 693, 27-Fordham 697, 28-Boston College 699, 29-Quinnipiac 807, 30-Bryant 845, 31-LIU 849, 32-Hartford 974, 33-Holy Cross 984, 34-Colgate 999, 35-Fairfield 1,033, 36/37/38/39-Brown, Albany, Niagara, Sacred Heart

Men’s individual results, 10km course

60-Ramsey Little 31:59

138-Christopher Paxis 33:35

143-Brendan Dearie 33:41

152-Matthew Hartman 33:52

160-Gabriel Rodriguez 34:04

188-James Moehringer 34:45

190-John Ignacz 34:51

235 finishers

NCAA Regionals: Women's results

The women’s race at regionals this morning was run in almost completely dry conditions in terms of rain, but the course was slick in spots. Gianna Mastromatteo fell early in the race but was able to get up and finish. That fall cost her a lot of spots but again she battled well for the team. Tori Mariano had a very strong race, passing many runners over the course of the second half of the race and cracking the top 100 (77^th) along with Hayley Collins (95^th). This was a solid effort for our women (23^rd place out of 39 teams) and we now look forward to ECACs on Saturday. 

NCAA Northeast Regional

Friday, November 12, 2021

Franklin Park (Zoo), Boston

Women’s team standings

1-Harvard 71, 2-Syracuse 81, 3-Providence 108, 4-UConn 143, 5-Yale 160, 6-Iona 213, 7-UMass Lowell 222, 8-Boston College 230, 9-Columbia 233, 10-Cornell 300, 11-Dartmouth 304, 12-Boston University 325, 13-Stony Brook 352, 14-New Hampshire 386, 15-Quinnipiac 442, 16-Binghamton 451, 17-Northeastern 465, 18-Brown 473, 19-Army West Point 517, 20-Siena 536, 21-UMass Amherst 590, 22-Central Connecticut 602, 23-Marist 614, 24-Vermont 671, 25-LIU 718, 26-Albany 790, 27-Holy Cross 824, 28-Fordham 860, 29-Canisius 868, 30-Colgate 880, 31-Hofstra 918, 32-Fairfield 937, 33-Hartford 974, 34-Sacred Heart 1,013, 35-Bryant. 1,022, 36-Niagara 1,072, 37/38/39-Buffalo, Rhode Island, Maine INC

Women’s individual results, 6km course

77-Tori Mariano 22:12

95-Hayley Collins 22:31

135-Gianna Mastromatteo 23:01

139-Hannah Belleville 23:03

179-Adele Alexander 23:54

210-Talia Cutrone 24:28

234-Anaiya Bobo 25:29

250 finishers

NCAA Regionals today

 

The NCAA Northeast Regional race is today. Women's 6km at 11a and men's 10km at 12 noon, at Franklin Park in Boston. The weather forecast is calling for rain and wind at that time. Last night at our team dinner in Quincy, the guys (led by Kutchy) decided to ditch their phones in a pile in favor of actual human interaction (what we used to call "conversation") ... it was quite pleasant and at times goofy. We could all stand to do this more often. OK!

Marist Running at NYC Marathon

By all accounts, yesterday was a perfect day for the return of the NYC Marathon. The weather was perfect. The crowd was perfect. Being back in person, through the five boroughs, was perfect. All race reports were filled gratitude and an appreciation of the perfection of the day.

Marist Running alums and friends basked in the glory of a great day. Here are the results we culled, along with some notes about them:

Conor Shelley, 2:44:45. A very strong effort from Conor, who is now juggling work and two young children since the last time he set foot on a marathon starting line.

Tim Keegan, 3:05:12. Keegs was hoping for a sub-3 but enjoyed a great run out there and from what we heard even made a cameo TV appearance!

Bryn Gorberg, 3:17:05. Great debut, see race report below.

Ken Schneider, 4:15:05. My good pal and training partner had his named called out hundreds of times, running on the Team For Kids charity and with his name on his shirt. A head cold slowed him over the final 7-8 miles but it didn’t damper the great feelings.

Anthony Ferreri, 4:15:06. Tony ran every step with Ken and enjoyed it immensely. He was coming off a hard effort at Boston a few weeks ago so he had no desire to push the pace.

Kent Rinehart, 4:29:29. On Saturday, Marist’s dean of admission led the 3:30 pace group at Indianapolis. On Sunday, he paced the 4:30 group at NYC. What a weekend and what a way to cap a strong fall of marathon racing.

Molly Weeks, 4:42:50. Our smiling former record holding sprinter moved up to the marathon and seemed to enjoy every step!

Miy Mahran, 6:49:13. A pesky knee injury resurfaced for Miy and she said in a post-race text that she had to walk a lot as a result of it but still got through it.

Here’s Bryn’s race report: Yesterday was a dream! Couldn't have asked for a better day for my first marathon. I had so much support from family and friends scattered along the course to look forward to and have as checkpoints for when it got harder. I'm really proud of how fairly even I was able to run and the fact that I was able to pick it back up a bit in the final two miles. I'm very excited to do another, but I don't think any other race can compete with the energy of NYC Marathon (maybe Boston)!

United we stand

Thanks to Roshan K for sharing these pictures from today's football game (Marist shut out Drake, 7-0). Here is a description of the events, as posted prior to the game, on goredfoxes.com ...

POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Marist Athletics' Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the IDEA Committee, will be hosting the first United We Stand game on Saturday, when the Red Foxes host Drake at Tenney Stadium for a noon kickoff. 
 
The United We Stand game is a campaign born from SAAC during the fall of 2020.  SAAC members created a week of diversity and inclusion events modeled from the NCAA's Diversity and Inclusion week. 
 

• Day one: SAAC members promoted the Black Student Athlete Alliance's first ever town hall meeting. 
• Day two: My Story Matters – SAAC members interviewed diverse student athletes from all sports and promoted their life stories. 
• Day three: I've Got Your Back – SAAC hosted a buddy team field day where the committee invited six teams to participate in field day events and strength sport to sport relationships. 
• Day four: Together We Rise – SAAC members interviewed leadership from the department's IDEA committee, BSAA, and SAAC diversity and inclusion committee to see how and what these groups are doing to create and more inclusive and diverse athletic community. 
• Day five: United We Stand – An event postponed by Covid-19 during the fall of 2020, it has taken new life this fall as it will be hosted this Saturday during the home football game. 

 
During Saturday's game, there will be a booth set up for student athletes to receive a United We Stand shirt to wear during the game and sign a United banner to take a picture with their teammates.
 
Not only will this game serve a purpose for a reason for all student athletes to be together and stand together, its purpose is also to drive attention to the United tab on GoRedFoxes.com. This tab houses all information related to diversity and inclusion. From events, recorded trainings, support systems, to support groups, SAAC wants to make sure all student athletes thrive in a diverse and inclusive community.