Bard = better. Full moon optional

In the “revisiting old blog posts” category, here’s something that has changed in the past year: The commute time for my daughter’s swim practices during winter break. Also! “Winter break” is far shorter than it was a year ago. Natalie will be back on the Siena campus for swim practice starting on next Monday. Last year, her between semesters “break” was a virtual (pun intended) eternity: Fall 2020 semester ended at Thanksgiving and Spring 2021 semester didn’t begin until (for her, anyway) early March, due to a positive Covid test in February (By the way? February 2021, which seems like about 10 years ago, was about as yukky a month as I can recall!). Anyway, last year at this time, we were trucking all the way up and over to Arkville (Delaware County) for her swim practices at Catskill Recreation Center, and that continued well into the winter. Now? Her practices are much closer, at Bard College. For those keeping score at home (and you know that I am!)? Here are the stats:

Home to Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson = 26 minutes (18.6 miles, 30km)

Home to Catskill Recreation Center, Arkville = 80 minutes (65.3 miles, 105km)

Much closer, much more convenient, and a better walking environment for me while I idly wait for the two-hour practice to be completed. Alert readers may ask! Why is the Old Man still driving the college sophomore to swim practices? Great question, simple answer: She doesn’t yet have her drivers license. Which is fine with us (for now). Especially since we’re not driving all the way out to Arkville for an end-of-year full moon (like last year). Happy New Year.

Post mortem post report

End-of-year statistics are always fun for a number guy like me. This blog was started way back in 2007 (back when blogs were the hip and cool thing to do, as opposed to now, when … well …). That year, there were only 54 posts since it didn’t represent the full calendar year. In 2008, there were 170 posts and the numbers climbed from there (184 in 2009), and then from 2010 through 2018 – probably the Golden Era of this blog (if there is such a thing) -- there were more than 300 posts per year, with three years of more than 400 posts (the high mark was 2014, with 407 posts). What’s the point of all these numbers? This year, 2021, will be the lowest full-year total of posts since the blog was created 15 years ago. As logical humans, we always seek reasons, causes, correlations, people or things to blame. I don’t know. There just have been fewer posts this year. How’s that for an in-depth analysis? I mean, obviously, there were far fewer results oriented posts, thanks to you-know-what. And we didn’t have the Pandemic Papers series to carry us through the first full year of, well, the pandemic. And so, the post numbers are low this year. Will 2022 be better? My guess = yes. But again, the days of averaging more than one post per day? I think that ship has sailed for good. On to 2022.

Reasonably OK

Just got off the phone with loyal alum (and equally loyal blog follower) Marty McGowan. Always nice checking in with Marty! When I asked him how he and his son were doing (remember, Marty lost his beloved wife Annie a few months ago), Marty’s answer was “reasonably OK.” I had to chuckle, as that has been my go-to response for the past two years (roughly). “Reasonably OK” is a great response – it’s not overly chipper and upbeat and also not too “Debbie downer” at the same time. While “really good” or “great” or “couldn’t be better” are the smile-inducing replies we often like to hear, “reasonably OK” is probably most accurate most of the time. I’ll take “reasonably OK” most days in 2022.

Why Joe Posnanski matters

Oh gosh, what a great, great book! “The Baseball 100,” by Joe Posnanski. It’s an absolute feast of words by a guy who sure knows how to write and sure knows how to write a lot. I’ve been a fan of his for many, many years. I’d like to think my writing style emulates his: Straightforward, heartfelt and probably a bit too wordy. That’s OK. Actually, that was a bit egotistical, I’m sorry, comparing myself to a master wordsmith like Posnanski. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking. This book is sooooo good. Basically, Posnanski – an amazing baseball writer – decided to rank the top 100 baseball players of all time. Each player has a chapter. The book is a door-stopper, a paper weight of gargantuan proportions. It features more words than “Moby Dick” (he makes this reference quite a bit, adding to the book’s already prodigious word count). I’ll admit that I’ve been cheating. I’m not reading the book in order. I will randomly flip it open to a chapter and start reading. Last night, I flipped to #9 on the list, Stan “The Man” Musial. Of course, I had heard of Musial but I knew little about him. Until this chapter. And now I want to know more, much more, about this guy’s amazing baseball life. Then, I flipped back and got Joe Morgan, the greatest cog in the Big Red Machine (Oh! That was another great Posnanski book!) If Posnanski is reading this post (and, really, why would he be?), I have an apology: Joe? Dude? I didn’t actually BUY your book. Like I usually do, I borrowed it from the Hyde Park Free Library. Because it’s a new book, it’s only a 14-day borrow. I looked at the front desk lady at the library quizzically when she told me I only had 14 days to read this anvil weight of a book. She said, “call as you get closer, we’ll see if we can work something out.” That’s OK, kind library worker. This book is so good, I may do something unusual and actually BUY it. Thank you, Joe Posnanski, for this wonderful work. Keep the long-form articles and blog posts and books coming, for years to come. Give us the next 100, and the next 100 after that; 800 pages, 900 pages, no problem! I’ll be reading. OK! 

An updated Christmas story

Sometimes (not often, but occasionally), I will go back and read some of my old blog posts. To check on past results and splits. And also? To check on past moments in time, in my life and in the life of this long-running blog. Ten years ago this Christmas season, I wrote about … well, Christmas season, 10 years ago! Specifically, about the family crisis we were going through with regard to my then-79-year-old mother. Like many elderly women, she has osteoporosis. Like many elderly women, she had a fall and fractured multiple bones. It required complex orthopedic surgery – lots of hardware implanted into that tiny, frail little Italian lady. It was a stressful, life-changing moment, one that she was fortunate to survive. And now, 10 years later, still frail and mostly blind and starting to lose her hearing, we were able – finally – to visit her, in her cramped assisted living room. First time in Room 102 in two years. We were all masked up. She recalled that Christmas season of 2011, one which included multiple hospital visits. She recalled how I was her go-to for visits to the friendly, patient and kind orthopedic surgeon. Like many running coaches, I think I have a rudimentary understanding of the lower anatomy (truth is: I’m just the dumbass holding the stopwatch, reader of numerous articles and owner of numerous lower body injuries and coach of countless athletes with countless injuries). As a result, I enjoyed (as much as you can) these visits, picking the doctor’s brain about my frail old mother, no doubt annoying him with informed-sounding questions about impossibly complex orthopedic topics. The bottom line emotion of all this? Gratitude. Gratitude that she survived and still survives, gratitude that we were finally able to visit her, despite a raging new variant or a virus crisis that seems to drag on endlessly. Gratitude for HER gratitude … she could very, very easily feel sorry for herself. She steadfastly refuses, and as a result she is an excellent role model for all of us in the family. Finally, last week, she was able to hold one of her three great-grandchildren – all of whom have been born during this pandemic, none of whom have been able to visit due to excessive travel, restrictions, health and safety concerns, all of it, you know the deal. So this is our Christmas story for 2021. One of gratitude. Here’s hoping we can revisit both of these posts in 10 years, and write a similarly themed post.

Merry Fitness

 

Thanks to Kutchy for sharing this photo of him, TP, Roshan and Begs after an indoor track workout at an "undisclosed venue on Long Island" on Christmas Eve. Good to see the boys getting their work in. Merry Fitness. And Merry Christmas to all today.

And a boosted New Year

Quick follow-up to this morning's post. Marist College just announced that it will be requiring all members of the campus community -- faculty, staff, students, etc. -- to get a Covid booster vaccine shot by January 31. The college already has a required flu shot mandate in place as well. These are public health decisions that many colleges and universities are following; colleges and universities are congregate settings where community spread of viruses can be rapid. Toward the end of this fall 2021 semester, there was a relatively high prevalence of flu and flu-like symptoms on campus (and among our teams). So yeah. Between flu shot and Covid boosters? They'll be a lot more sore arms in the coming days and weeks!

Another Covid Christmas

What’s the same this year? Trepidation over holiday gatherings as the Omicron variant portends another surge in this endless pandemic. Should we get together with friends and family? That’s a deeply personal question, with no right or wrong answers.

What’s different this year? Most of us have some level of protection via vaccination. So that’s good. Except, this Omicron variant seems particularly adept at sidestepping such vaccine immunity. Simply being vaccinated isn’t enough. Now, you need to be “boosted” – getting a booster dose of the vaccine boosts (pun intended) immunity greatly toward this latest, pernicious variant. So say the experts – doctors and scientists. The problem with this is that a lot of people are sick and tired of these same experts and the perception of their moving goalposts. A big sign across from the south entrance of Marist College calls it “insanity” … “the same vaccine, over and over again.” Pandemic fatigue, it’s called. Sick of mask mandates. Sick of vaccine propagation. Sick of it all. I get it. We live in a grown-up world and we need to adapt in a grown-up way. But everybody has their opinions, their limits, their thresholds for these things. We don’t have a manual or a roadmap for dealing with pandemics. These are the same conversations we’ve been having for almost two years now.

And so, we plug along, living life on eggshells again, riding this latest wave of … whatever it is and whatever it will be. I’m not a scientist or an expert – not even close – but the end goal here is not the eradication of the virus, as that doesn’t seem to be an option. Rather, it seems to me now that the end goal is something called endemicity. Which, if I get the concept accurately, means that the virus is with us all the time, but at a low hum and as a constant undercurrent of our everyday lives. In other words, it’s like other infectious diseases – influenzas, upper respiratory infections, etc. They come and go, we deal with it, we stay home when we’re sick, and we live our lives. That sounds … normal. That sounds like … something we could live with. Here’s the thing! We’re not there yet, folks. Omicron -- and its multiple, evil spike proteins -- might have some devilish tricks up its sleeves. Let’s hope it’s not too disruptive. Let’s try to keep the “happy” in Happy Holidays and the “merry” in Merry Fitness. OK.  

Convention(al) wisdom: Thoughts on a few days in sunny Florida

As I was writing this, I was sitting at Gate 8 at MCO Airport (Orlando), awaiting a Friday evening return flight to Westchester County Airport and a return to the reality of December weather (the flight was delayed, got home after midnight, it's cold and rainy as I update this on Saturday morning). For the past 72 hours, I had spent as much of my waking hours as possible out in the warm Florida sun. I bypassed most of the optional symposiums and other continuing education meetings in favor of long walks in the sun, listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I sat through a few mandatory (and mostly tedious) conference, regional and national coaching sessions. The end-of-convention voting session on Friday afternoon was marred by technical difficulties with the voting Web site – someone mentioned that the voting site needed to be “scraped,” which most certainly didn’t sound promising. And so? We voted in the very old-fashioned method of raised hands and then makeshift paper ballots. It’s almost 2022. You can’t make this up! Aside from boring but sunny walks in the vicinity of the JW Marriott/Grande Lakes convention center and resort, here are a few highlights from the 72 hours I was at the USTFCCCA Convention:

--There was a PNC golf tournament on site. It seemed like a big deal. Why did it seem like a big deal? There were lots of golf people around, NBC Sports cameras, stuff like that. And oh yeah, some guy named Tiger Woods was playing. That seemed to cause quite a fervor among a lot of coaches who are into golf. Me? I just kept walking.

--My first night there, I had a lively and raucous dinner with our neighboring coach, Billy Poole-Harris at Bard College in northern Dutchess County. Billy is new to Bard and he’s got big plans for the Raptors. He’s got an infectious enthusiasm for this profession. This is his first head coaching job and he has hit the ground running, recruiting like crazy and aiming high for a team that even he admits has nowhere to go but up. The night ended with him scribbling down workout ideas on the back of a napkin at the bar – this is the type of stuff you often see at coaches’ conventions! I look forward to future lively talks with Billy. Highly neat.

--On Thursday morning, I attended a triple jump symposium that was led by Mario Wilson, an accomplished jumps/multis coach at the University of Virginia. Mario is a Marist alum and we are proud of the career he has forged as a track coach. Mario was a very talented football player here at Marist and only dabbled in track a little after his football eligibility was over. We take no credit for his meteoric rise in the sport, but we can still take great pride in this Forever Fox. I scribbled notes and marveled at his expertise. He has coached All Americans and Olympians. It was really awesome to see this!

--The other symposium I went to was on my first night down there (right before my burger-and-beer with Billy at the bar), with renowned pole vault expert Dennis Mitchell of Akron University. Coach Mitchell provided a head-spinning array of information in the nearly hour-long seminar. Once again, I scribbled notes and tried to digest it all, as we attempt to expand our event offerings at Marist to include the pole vault. How about that? The only two “continuing education” type talks I attended were non-distance related – heck, they were non-running related! Old dog, new tricks.

--Lastly, like all conventions, the main goal is connecting and socializing with our peers. I’m not the most social guy and often darted the other way when I saw large crowds of coaches talking and socializing (hey, it’s a convention, that happened a lot). However, I do enjoy one-on-one and small group discussions with our longtime friends in the sport – including our former assistant coach Erica Maker. As stated in a previous post, Erica is enjoying great success at her alma mater, St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. We were able to share a few meals together and it was great to get to know some of her fellow St. Olaf coaches during the few days down there.

While we enjoyed our time at the convention, the sobering undercurrent of Omicron variant pandemic news could not be ignored. Well actually? We were in Florida. So … it was mostly ignored! But seriously, there were times were I looked around and thought to myself: “What are we DOING here!” Or even, “what am I doing here!” We were mostly unmasked, mostly inside, mostly eating and drinking and mostly in large groups. I mean yeah, it was a convention. But still … As we head into the coming weeks and months of winter, what will become of this variant, this never-ending pandemic. I guess we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we!  

Convention(al) wisdom: Where is everybody?

We take a brief break from the mid-Hudson Valley at the beginning of the winter for a trip to sunny and warm Orlando (yay, x2!) for the USTFCCCA (U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) Convention. Or, as many of my athletes referred to it yesterday? CoachCon. Yes. CoachCon. I like that. It sounds hip. By the way? Our organization would do well to shorten its name and/or acronym, don’t you think? Anyway, I’m writing this at 33,000 feet on Jet Blue flight 195 from Westchester County to Orlando.  After a little bit of predictable morning commute congestion on I-684 on the way to the airport, the flight process – sometimes stressful for not-frequent flyers like me – was almost comically easy. Checking my duffel bag? Took about three minutes, with a friendly reminder that my ubiquitous flannel neck gaiter is not considered an approved face covering (yeah, yeah, OK). Security checkpoint? The “line” consisted of one person – me! I asked the friendly TSA guy where everybody was. He joked, “we were just waiting for you” but then added the big rush was about an hour prior to my arrival. The boarding process? I’m in the second-to-last row of the plane. Of the eight seats in the back two rows, there is one occupant. Again – me! Where is everybody? Don’t know, don’t care. Looking forward to landing, putting on my cargo shorts and listening to audiobooks and podcasts in the warm Florida sun. And oh yeah: Attending convention activities too. OK!

About race splits

Although we don’t have another meet for a month, I wanted to get this off my chest. It’s about race splits. Race splits are near and dear to me. I’m a numbers guy and race splits help to make sense of races – during them, but especially after they have been completed. I do post the splits on the blog but that process has gotten a bit murky lately. Most track meet timers now post electronic splits in real time through their live results links. Those splits are obviously far more accurate than my crude notebook-and-pen (and fading eyesight and slower reflexes) method. So, my internal dilemma is this: Do I even post splits on the site anymore? Should I just post a link to the race results? Also! Should I even bother with writing down the splits while coaching? While it certainly would be easier on both fronts to do this – stop typing up splits and stop taking them at races – I feel I will probably revert to what I have done for years. Which is? Write the splits down and (eventually) post them on the blog. The write-them-down-on-the-clipboard thing, I think, will always have utility. Athletes and coaches can easily refer to my rudimentary chicken scratch to instantly analyze races, as opposed to burying our collective heads in our collective phones – which we do anyway, most of the time. The posting to the blog thing? That might diminish through time, for several reasons: 1. Our athletes almost never read the splits (or the blog, for that matter), and really, it’s about them and it’s for them … so if they are not engaged in the splits process, what’s the point? 2. Alert, loyal alums who really want to see the splits will find their way to the timing Web sites anyway. 3. It takes a lot of time and energy on the bus ride home, when we are usually in a mentally drained and sleep-deprived state. So yeah, that’s where I’m at with that topic – an admittedly boring post about a boring topic to most … but not all!

USATF Club Nationals

We are so proud of our Forever Foxes who raced at USATF Club Nationals down in Tallahassee today. Coach Chuck was there to cheer them on and take pictures. Spencer Johnson was the third runner on the San Diego Track Club’s fourth-place team. SDTC was fourth of 35 teams with 143 points. Spencer placed 35^th overall out of 268 finishers with a time of 31:55.0 on the 10km cross country course. It was warm and humid and times were slowed by the conditions. Gianna Tedeschi was the second runner for the Garden State Track Club team that placed 13^th with 320 points. Gianna was 62^nd overall in 22:07.9 for the 6km course. Thanks to Chuck for sending these awesome pictures of our awesome alums. Neat.

Wagner Seahawk Shootout: Ramsey Little = 3km IC4A mark

Earlier in the week, Jeremy Mooney and Ramsey Little asked if they could participate in the Wagner Seahawk Shootout at Ocean Breeze. A quick text to our friend Joe Stasi at Wagner, and our guys were in the meet. We (coaches) weren’t there, just those two guys getting in some pre-holiday break work. Ramsey notched a personal-best time and IC4A qualifier in the 3km, just six days after his decent season-opening 5km at Boston University. Very solid and consistent kilometer splits. Jeremy struggled in his dash, due to flu-like symptoms. There are a lot of flu-like symptoms floating around our campus right now. From what we are hearing, as of right now, flu is a bigger nuisance and threat than Covid on our campus. At least for right now. Anyway, this concludes our abbreviated 2021 of competition. Here’s hoping for much more, and much better, in 2022. OK.

Wagner Seahawk Shootout

Ocean Breeze, Staten Island, NY

Friday, December 10, 2021

60-meter dash

18. Jeremy Mooney 7.24

3,000-meter run

4. Ramsey Little 8:25.69 *IC4A qualifier

34.02, 33.87, 32.77, 33.16, 34.16 (2:47.98)

33.89, 34.12, 34.18, 33.97, 33.59 (2:49.75)

34.56, 34.39, 34.10, 33.22, 31.64 (2:47.91)

Alumni racing news: Lots of good stuff!

As the kids say: Fire! Hoo baby, our Forever Foxes running alums were definitely on fire over the weekend, with outstanding results from hither and yon. Great stuff, people! Here’s a literal rundown of the great race results:

--Out in California, Bryan Buttigieg (aka, Butti; aka Gregg) had an intensely satisfying and monster negative split race at the California International Marathon – a race known for great depth and fast times. Butti finished in 2:37:17, exactly 6:00 pace. How about this split? First 13.1 miles = 1:19:53; second 13.1 miles = 1:17:24. He was in 334^th place overall and 76^th place in his division at the halfway point; he finished in 211^th place overall and 51^st place in his division. That must have been so thrilling!

--At the NYRR Ted Corbitt 15km race in New York City, former teammates Christopher Rivas (50:59), Mike Kennedy (53:08) and Riley Hughes (1:04:20) had strong races. Rivas averaged 5:29 per mile for the 9.3-mile course and 25^th overall; Kennedy averaged 5:43 per mile and 40^th overall and progressed amazingly with each 5km split (18:05, 18:00, 17:03). See picture above ...

--Conor Shelley texted results from Santa’s Toy Trot 5km on Long Island, where he notched his fastest time since 20:16 (15:33.82), getting third place and bringing home $125 in a cash prize. When I Googled the race for a results link, I immediately noticed a very Conor-esque draw to the race: Packet pickup at Brickhouse Brewery in Patchogue with free beer and live music at the finish. Hey. Give Conor credit. He’s got two very young kids at home and sleep deprivation is a certainty. If he had a post-race barley pop or three? He earned it!

--On Saturday night at Boston University, Janelle Solviletti – racing for Battle Road TC – had a phenomenal race in the 5km, with a sizzling 17:46.54. Great to see her running so fast and so strong, several years removed from the red and white.

--Lastly, saw this post on Facebook from Matthew Szymaszek (aka CT), from a Half Ironman Triathlon. Pretty amazing results. From him. And from all of them!

BU Season Opener: Men's results

Superlatives are always tricky. Words like “best ever” or “always” or “never” should be avoided or at the very least, used with great caution. Was this our “best ever” season-opening meet? Perhaps. The best in a long while, for sure. Was it a “rust buster,” that phrase often used for first competitions of the season? Heck no, it wasn’t. For a team that hasn’t set foot at an indoor track meet in nearly two years, these men showed up and brought energy and fire, from start to finish. Right from the outset, with the 60-meter dash guys: Jeremy Mooney blazed to a heat victory in a personal-best time (7.06). Freshmen Lukas Bussetti and Jared Tomasetti has strong inaugural collegiate races. Other highlights as the day progressed:

--The milers worked well together with three PRs – Tyler Perry, Aidan Pech, Thomas Dinsmore, in rapid succession. Neat.

--The 400 dash guys with strong open PRs (Ryan Bahnsen, 50.25), Easton Eberwein (51.82). Outstanding. And they brought more heat later in the day in the relay (more on that next).

--Senior Pat Beglane FINALLY breaking 2:00 in the 800-meter run with a decisive and strongly run 1:59.59.

--The 4x400 team – all of them doubling back – ran 3:21.77 and left us all jabbering about how the decades-old school record of 3:20.04 is in jeopardy. Yeah man! In the B relay, Pax came back just minutes after a stellar PR in the 3km with an anchor split of 52.46, fastest of that relay.

--Oh yeah, in that 3km: Pax closed in 63 seconds (30-second last lap) for a stellar PR of 8:37.82. Brendan Dearie notched a collegiate best and Jon Kittredge broke 9:00 for the first time in his career as well. Neat!

--In the field, freshman Noah Brown closed in on the pole vault school record with a debut mark of 4.20 meters, just .06 of a meter away from the mark. And as previously posted, Lukas Bussetti broke the nearly 50-year-old long jump record.

Most importantly, we had FUN being a TEAM out there (see picture). Great to be back on the track and back at BU.

BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Boston University Track and Tennis Center

Men’s results

60-meter dash

6. Jeremy Mooney 7.06

9. Lukas Bussetti 7.16

12. Jared Tomasetti 7.33

19. KJ Thomas (unattached) 7.36

200-meter dash

12. Jared Tomasetti 23.27

400-meter dash

5. Ryan Bahnsen 50.25

9. Easton Eberwein 51.82

800-meter run

7. Pat Beglane 1:59.59

28.1, 57.2 (29.1), 1:27.8 (30.6), 1:59.59 (31.79)

Mile run

12. Tyler Perry 4:26.98

35, 68 (33), 1:41 (33), 2:15 (34), 2:49 (34), 3:23 (34), 3:56 (33), 4:26.98 (30.98)

13. Thomas Dinsmore 4:27.04

34, 67 (33), 1:40 (33), 2:14 (34), 2:49 (35), 3:24 (35), 3:55 (31), 4:27.04 (32.04)

14. Aidan Pech 4:28.26

35, 69 (34), 1:41 (32), 2:15 (34), 2:49 (34), 3:22 (33), 3:55 (33), 4:28.26 (33.26)

Roshan Kalikasingh 4:42.16

36, 70 (34), 1:43 (33), 2:17 (34), 2:51 (34), 3:25 (34), 4:04 (39), 4:42.16 (38.16)

3,000-meter run (with kilometer splits)

35. Christopher Paxis 8:37.82

2:53, 5:48 (2:55), 8:37.82 (2:49.82)

40. Brendan Dearie 8:45.58

2:51, 5:48 (2:57), 8:45.58 (2:57.58)

47. Jon Kittredge 8:56.17

2:58, 5:55 (2:57), 8:56.17 (3:01.17)

55. Jack Parsons 9:08.58

3:01, 6:06 (3:05), 9:08.58 (3:03.58)

5,000-meter run (with kilometer splits)

77. Ramsey Little 14:47.79

2:57, 5:50 (2:53), 8:48 (2:58), 11:50 (3:02), 14:47.79 (2:57.79)

102. Gabe Rodriguez 15:26.00

3:01, 6:01 (3:00), 9:04 (3:03), 12:14 (3:10), 15:26.00 (3:12.00)

103. Matthew Hartman 15:31.34

3:01, 6:02 (3:01), 9:04 (3:02), 12:13 (3:09), 15:31.34 (3:18.34)

111. Dylan Perkinson 15:57.15

3:06, 6:17 (3:11), 9:31 (3:14), 12:45 (3:14), 15:57.15 (3:12.15)

116. Jeremy Mbogo 16:13.80

3:11, 6:23, (3:12), 9:40 (3:17), 12:59 (3:19), 16:13.80 (3:14.80)

123. Patrick Kutch 16:29.90

3:10, 6:22 (3:12), 9:38 (3:16), 13:01 (3:23), 16:29.90 (3:28.90)

60-meter hurdles

20. Noah Brown 9.19

1,600-meter relay

4. Marist A (Easton Eberwein 50.75, Ryan Bahnsen 49.95, Roshan Kalikasingh 49.52, Thomas Dinsmore 51.47) 3:21.77

8. Marist B (Patrick Beglane 53.25, Tyler Perry 55.28, Aidan Pech 53.60, Christopher Paxis 52.46) 3:34.88

Pole vault

6. Noah Brown 4.20 meters (13 feet, 9.25 inches)

Long jump

6. Lukas Bussetti 6.87 meters (22 feet, 6.5 inches) *school record, old record by Tim Murphy, 6.78 meters (22 feet, 3 inches) set in 1973

BU Season Opener: Men's long jump record!

The phrase “records are made to be broken” is certainly a cliché. But if ever there was a record made to be broken, it was our men’s long jump mark. Not because Tim Murphy’s 1973 leap of 22 feet, 3 inches (6.78 meters) was “made” to be broken, per se, but for the fact that at nearly 50 years old, it was our oldest school record on the books. Key word = WAS. Freshman Lukas Bussetti, competing in his first collegiate indoor meet (last year, as a true freshman, there was no indoor track season!), broke that elusive mark on his third jump on Saturday afternoon at Boston University, eventually placing sixth overall with a leap of 22 feet, 6.5 inches (6.87 meters). Earlier in the day, he has a strong debut at the 60-meter dash. Pretty awesome stuff!

Long jump

6. Lukas Bussetti 6.87 meters (22 feet, 6.5 inches) *school record, old record by Tim Murphy, 6.78 meters (22 feet, 3 inches) set in 1973

BU Season Opener: Women's results

Gosh, was it good to get back to the BU Track and Tennis Center for the beginning of our indoor track season, the first real track meet we have been to in nearly two years, since the IC4A/ECAC meet back in early March 2020 (right before … you know what …). Hayley Collins (5km, ECAC qualifier) and Hannah Belleville (3km, huge personal-best time) carried on from their XC season successes for great season-opening races. Our jumpers and sprinters were finally able to do their events for real, after so much practicing. Overall, it was a great season opener and we look forward to what 2022 will bring on the track.

BU Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Boston University Track and Tennis Center

Women’s results

60-meter dash

34. Alyssa Ridgway 8.62

40. Gabrielle Brosnan 9.15

41. Nina Florio 9.17

200-meter dash

26. Camille McHenry 27.63

33. Kiana Pathirana 29.02

36. Nina Florio 29.50

39. Gabrielle Brosnan 29.77

400-meter dash

9. Natalie Tidler 1:02.33

13. Alexa Mocko 1:06.59

800-meter run

9. Juliana Fame 2:28.41

32, 68, 1:47, 2:28.41

13. Anaiya Bobo 2:34.61

34, 71, 1:52, 2:34.14

3,000-meter run

37. Hannah Belleville 10:16.72

Kilometer splits: 3:21, 6:47 (3:26), 10:16.72 (3:29.72)

5,000-meter run

49. Hayley Collins 17:08.08 *ECAC qualifying mark

3:20, 6:45 (3:25), 10:10 (3:25), 13:39 (3:29), 17:08.08 (3:29.08)

60-meter hurdles

13. Sydney Villani 9.92

19. Isabella Azar-Brandes 10.26

18. Talia Augusto 10.32

High jump

13. Grace O’Neill 1.45 meters (4 feet, 9 inches)

16. Anne Bekasi 1.40 meters (4 feet, 7 inches)

Long jump

17. Alyssa Ridgway 4.77 meters (15 feet, 7.75 inches)

23. Gianna Ferrara 4.07 meters (13 feet, 4.25 inches)

Triple jump

10. Kiana Pathirana 10.21 meters (33 feet, 6 inches)

BU Season Opener: Final Time Schedule

BU Season Opener (Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener)

Saturday, December 4, 2021

Field Events (women, then men):

11:00am High Jump: Anne Bekasi, Grace O’Neill

Shot Put

Pole Vault: Noah Brown

Long Jump: Alexa Spain, Alyssa Ridgway, Gianna Ferrara, Lukas Bussetti

Following the Men’s Shot Put: Weight Throw

Following the Men’s long jump: Triple Jump: Kiana Pathirana

Running events:

11:00am Women’s 60H Trials: Isabella Azar-Brandes, Talia Augusto, Sydney Villani

11:07am Men’s 60H Trials: Noah Brown

11:15am Women’s 1 Mile

11:33am Men’s 1 Mile: Brendan Dearie, Thomas Dinsmore, Roshan Kalikasingh, Aidan Pech, Tyler Perry

12 noon Women’s 60m Trials: Alyssa Ridgway, Gianna Ferrara, Bethany Zekraus, Gabrielle Brosnan, Nina Florio, Brianna Koutros, MacKenzie Mitchell

12:10pm Men’s 60m Trials: Lukas Bussetti, Jeremy Mooney, Jared Tomasetti

12:22pm Women’s 400m: Natalie Tidler, Alexa Mocko

12:30pm Men’s 400m: Ryan Bahnsen, Easton Eberwein

12:42pm Women’s 60H Finals

12:45pm Men’s 60H Finals

12:50pm Women’s 600m

12:57pm Men’s 600m

1:10pm Women’s 60m Finals

1:13pm Men’s 60m Finals

1:18pm Women’s 800m: Anaiya Bobo, Julianna Fame, Kayla Sexton, Gina Ruotolo

1:25pm Men’s 800m: Pat Beglane

1:34pm Women’s 200m: Camille McHenry, Kiana Pathirana, Grace O’Neill, Alicia Chute, Gabrielle Brosnan, Brianna Koutros, Nina Florio, Bethany Zekraus, MacKenzie Mitchell

1:54pm Men’s 200m: Jeremy Mooney, Jared Tomasetti

2:14pm Women’s 300m

2:24pm Men’s 300m

2:38pm Women’s 1000m

2:56pm Men’s 1000m

3:08pm Women’s 3000m: Tori Mariano, Hannah Belleville, Gianna Mastromatteo

3:56pm Men’s 3000m: Brendan Dearie, Jon Kittredge, Jack Parsons, Christopher Paxis

4:50pm Women’s 4x400m Relay: Marist A

5:05pm Men’s 4x400m Relay: Marist A and Marist B

5:20pm Women’s 5000m: Hayley Collins

6:40pm Men’s 5000m: Matthew Hartman, Patrick Kutch, Ramsey Little, Jeremy Mbogo, Dylan Perkinson, Gabe Rodriguez

8:40pm Estimated completion of meet

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