Paul Short Run: Men's results

This was a truly memorable day at a meet that has provided a few milestones for our program throughout the years. Thanks to alumni and friends who have been blowing up my phone with excitement. Please note: This is the same Paul Short course you all have run in the past. A few other notes: The weather was perfect. Overcast, cool, not sunny. The course was flawless. No rain, no mud. The field was as strong as it has ever been. And yes, we opted for the Gold race, something we haven’t done in many years. All of that – plus a hard-working team of motivated men – led to history in the form of Ramsey Little’s school-record 23:34.2 (yes, that’s accurate) time for 8km and Chris Paxis’ 24:37.0 time (third fastest ever at Paul Short … behind Ramsey and Girma Segni). As well as several more personal-best times. Know this: Our guys have their feet firmly on the ground. They know that 35 teams finished ahead of them (including two MAAC schools). Our work is still in front of us. But yeah: Today was a good and memorable day. OK.
 
Paul Short Run
Lehigh University
Friday, September 30, 2022
Men’s results
Gold race, individual 8km
39. Ramsey Little 23:34.2 *fastest 8km XC time in school history, old record 24:13 by Mike Melfi, 1998
188. Christopher Paxis 24:37.0 *third fastest Paul Short time in school history
262. Brendan Dearie 25:01.9
280. Gabriel Rodriguez 25:10.8
313. Kieran Donnelly 25:22.3
351. Tyler Perry 25:36.7
359. Daniel Czop 25:42.8
388. Aidan Pech 26:12.9
400. John Ignacz 26:37.3
407. Jack Dovaras 27:06.1
416 finishers
Gold race, team standings
Marist 36^th of 46 teams
Open race, individual 8km results
180. Ian Wiesinger 26:05.0
192. Christopher Walsh 26:09.6
210. Dominic Mastromatteo 26:18.2
226. Jon Kittredge 26:25.4
235. Jack Parsons 26:27.6
238. Jeremy Mbogo 26:28.0
256. Steven Viera 26:33.7
277. Jacob Anderson 26:48.1
294. Christian Locker 26:56.0
313. Alexander Pattison 27:09.1
327. Neel Viswanathan 27:15.7
533 finishers

Paul Short Run: Women's results

In all our years attending Paul Short, we’ve NEVER seen a field so deep, so fast and so strong as this. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. We were not at full strength and our ladies ran tough and strong in a buzzsaw field. Back to work and onto ECACs in two weeks!
 
Paul Short Run
Lehigh University
Friday, September 30, 2022
Women’s results
Gold race, individual 6km
274. Adele Alexander 21:55.1
308. Hannah Belleville 22:13.4
314. Tori Mariano 22:16.2
326. Parker O’Brien 22:22.6
382. Sami Kehler 22:57.1
396. Anaiya Bobo 23:13.5
398. Kate Murtagh 23:15.6
403. Sierra Fisher 23:29.6
405. Raven Stanet 23:31.1
416 finishers
Team finish: 45^th out of 46 teams with 1,372 points
Open race, individual 6km finishers
99. Kathryn Tenney 23:20.0
130. Kaitlyn Hastings 24:08.2
140. Emily Litke 24:08.2
162. Christina Diorio 24:27.9
163. Caitlin McCann 24:28.2
189. Karlie Genevive 25:05.5
211. Mary Dougherty 25:23.3
221. Greta Stuckey 25:36.7
267. Mackenzie Schubert 26:50.8
272. Madison Whited 27:03.8
286. Hunter von Ahn 27:44.4
307 finishers

Next up: Paul Short

Our next cross country meet is Friday morning at Lehigh University for the annual Paul Short Run Invitational. This is a big meet and the 2022 version might be the biggest ever in terms of numbers. Here is the race schedule for the races in which we will have competitors.
 
9:30am Open Men’s 8k Race
10:15am Open Women’s 6k Race
11:00am Men’s College Gold 8k Race
11:45am Women’s College Gold 6k Race

A visit from Tom Williams

I know he still reads my blog, so I don’t mind posting that Tom Williams (Class of 2008, Running Red Foxes) stopped by today with his dad, my good friend Matt Williams. Tom graduated from Arlington High School, but he has lived in Portland for the past several years, so seeing him back in the area was highly neat. I showed him around the new McCann Center and we sat around and talked for about an hour. Most Wednesday mornings, I try to get together with Matt at his real estate office out by Arlington for coffee and chatter. Today, the morning powwow was moved west to the McCann Center, which made my commute easier and more memorable, since I was able to see Tom. Also neat! 

The run that didn't exist

Like most Wednesday mornings, I joined my friends out at Netherwood School in the Hyde Park/Pleasant Valley area for a jog on the rural and hilly roads out in the Salt Point area. I don’t run much anymore, at most three times per week; the Netherwood loops are my favorite runs, all of them are hilly and hard. But meeting up with my pals Schneider and Dave O, who push me to be better, is worth it – even in the dark like today! Dave O was feeling a little under the weather, so it was just me and Schneider today. In the dark. We did my favorite loop – Spooky Hollow, 7 miles. In daylight, the views around Edition Farm (horses, etc.) are incredible. In the dark, with just headlamps illuminating in front of us, there are no views. Because I’m an idiot, I don’t know how to sync up my runs to Strava, the social media app for runners, cyclists, etc. That’s OK. Usually, Schneider or someone else will “tag” me, I’ll put some odd title on the run, and the Strava universe can see what we did. But today, Schneider’s watch bugged out as we were leaving the dark elementary school parking lot. He tried to fix it, but no avail. So, today’s run was not on Strava. In modern parlance, this means it doesn’t really exist! Here’s the thing, though: Prior to Strava, I had done thousands of runs. Most of them have been long since forgotten. Some of them are memorable. Very old-fashioned, I know. I will admit to trying to sync up my Garmin to Strava. I think I figured it out for the future, but this run still was stubbornly not uploaded. So, it’s not on Strava. But it is in our memory banks – Schneider and me. We talked the whole way, in the dark. We knocked out some pretty solid middle miles. The hill up Marshall completely gassed me, but my boy powered up it strong as an ox as Schneider usually does. The overall pace was 8:38, not bad for a hilly 7, at this stage of my (non)-running career. Other than it not being tagged and linked up to Strava, the morning run was perfect. Actually, let me correct that: The run was perfect. No Strava needed today. Neat!

CCSU Ted Owen: Men's results

Like the women, a partial squad of men on the traditionally “long” course (we calculate it to be 20-30 seconds long of a traditional 8km). The guys competed well and with the tiebreaking rule (head-to-head comparisons of top-5 runners), our men got third in the field. A solid day and we now look forward to Paul Short. 

 

CCSU Ted Owen Invitational

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Stanley Quarter Park, New Britain, CT

Men’s team results

1-CCSU 36, 2-Merrimack 75, 3-Marist 100, 4-New Hampshire 100, 5-Bryant 149, 6-New Haven 176, 7-American International 178, 8-Hartford 178, 9-NJIT 232, 10-Sacred Heart 213, 11-Bentley 306, 12-St. Francis NY 376, 13-Bridgeport 425, Incomplete-Siena

Men’s individual results, 5.08-mile course

9-Brendan Dearie 26:29

20-John Ignacz 27:00

25-Jack Dovaras 27:09

26-Christopher Walsh 27:13

28-Jon Kittredge 27:16

43-Jeremy Mbogo 27:48

60-Jack Parsons 28:15

65-Alexander Pattison 28:19

67-Christian Locker 28:23

79-Steven Viera 28:36

81-Dominic Mastromatteo 28:38

104-Jacob Anderson 29:09

165 finishers

CCSU Ted Owen: Women's results

The calendar says it is now autumn and it sure feels like it today. Cool temperatures and breezes, and a sunny cross country meet! We ran partial squads at CCSU today and our young women's team had some strong performances on the day. We look forward to putting all the pieces back together on Friday at Paul Short. For today, another great day to be out and playing cross country.

CCSU Ted Owen Invitational

Saturday, September 24, 2022

Stanley Quarter Park, New Britain, CT

Women’s team results

1-Rhode Island 47, 2-New Hampshire 51, 3-CCSU 58, 4-Marist 143, 5-Merrimack 147, 6-Sacred Heart 169, 7-Bryant 172, 8-Hartford 175, 9-NJIT 248, 10-New Haven 298, 11-Bentley 314, 12-Bridgeport 380, INC-Siena and AIC

Women’s individual results, 5km course

8-Nora White 18:20

35-Anaiya Bobo 19:32

36-Kaitlyn Murtagh 19:36

42-Raven Stanet 19:46

44-Sierra Fisher 19:49

64-Kaitlyn Hastings 20:12

69-Christina Diorio 20:27

77-Emily Litke 20:35

78-Kathryn Tenney 20:40

82-Caitlin McCann 20:45

84-Mary Dougherty 20:50

100-Karlie Genevive 21:14

122-Mackenzie Schubert 22:05

124-Grace Reynolds 22:17

134-Greta Stuckey 22:44

137-Madison Whited 22:59

139-Marissa Sciotto 23:09

145-Juliana Geniti 24:09

159 finishers

Mud brothers

After seemingly months without rain, Mother Nature is making up for lost time. The rainy days we’ve had? Have been RAINY DAYS (although, as I type this, the sun is shining again!). Earlier today (Thursday), the sun was not shining. It was raining. Angrily. But, it was warm! Thursday is a true “recovery” day for our XC men. We go off campus, enjoy some beautiful mid-Hudson Valley scenery, and the guys run easy-paced recovery distance. Today, as we gathered in the late morning, the Angry Rain was falling, and a rift had formed: Many guys wanted to stay on campus and run from here (or, heaven forbid, on the treadmill!). Some guys (a minority of them, to be sure) wanted to go to Vassar Farm for our usual Thursday jaunt. And so, we went! There were just seven men (see above, from left = Rams, Pech, Citera, Walsh, Jacob, Jack, Jiggy) and they had a great time frolicking in the rain for about 7 miles (followed by strides). It was mild (mid-60s) so the rain was a pleasant diversion and the run went just fine, thank you. Call them Mud Brothers. Tomorrow, it will be much cooler to usher in the official beginning of autumn. Another day, another run.

Next meet = CCSU

Ted Owen Invitational, hosted by Central Connecticut State University

Saturday, September 24

Stanley Quarter Park, New Britain, CT

Women's race = 11a

Men's race = 11:45a

Nike Team Store closes in 5 days!

 Friendly reminder for anyone looking to purchase Marist Track and Field branded gear: The team store (linked here) closes in five (5!) days. If you are interested in getting some really neat stuff, check it out. OK!

‘You’re doing a great job, coach’

It was just another moment in just another day – a glorious, late-summer/early-fall day. Wednesday. The cross country runners were dispatched on a moderate 10-miler. Time to go check on the sprinters, which started Camp Terry (preseason training with Coach Terry Horton) this past week. On Wednesday, they were doing some short hill sprints from the base of midrise hill. A quick drive over to the admission/midrise parking lot with one of the athletic department vans (so I wouldn’t lose a coveted parking spot with my own vehicle in the McCann lot). An old man starts walking toward us, the guy locks eyes with me, firm handshake and says, “You’re doing a great job, coach.” Wow. Who IS this? I’ve been around a long time and have crossed paths with hundreds of guys like this, but this guy eluded me. That’s because I had never met him. But, he knew who I was and knew what I was doing. More accurately, knew of the fine work of the athletes in our program. Very, very neat. This guy – a true gentleman, by the way – is Bill Zabicki, proud Class of 1966, Marist College. Mr. Zabicki was a pioneer athlete in Marist Athletics, part of the nascent rowing program of the early/mid-1960s. As a young man, he was also a successful rowing coach. He went on to a long and distinguished military career, 25 years in the U.S. Army, where he proudly served our country in the Vietnam War. We talked for a while, maybe 10 minutes. Mostly, I listened. Marist is a special place because of its association with special men (and women) like Bill Zabicki. In a long-overdue tribute (according to people who know a lot more about rowing than I do), Mr. Zabicki will be honored this weekend by having a crew shell named in his honor. It was humbling that this guy knew about us. He follows Marist Athletics avidly from afar (he lives in San Antonio). “You guys had some good sprinters, I see.” So yeah, this guy pays attention. Highly neat. Nice to be recognized. Even better than this old guy is getting his due, his long overdue moment in the spotlight. Nicely done!

Van talk

For years, ‘van talk’ has been a sacred ritual of our program. We spend a lot of time in vans, practically every day for practice. Most of our trips are short, but it’s still enough time to have wide-ranging discussions and/or compare notes on musical tastes. You might think this will morph into a rant about “the music these kids listen to these days” … and … you’d be WRONG! Surprisingly, there is much overlap in their tastes and our tastes. The current iteration of team vans has (for now, at least) Sirius XM satellite radio, so that expands the scope of listening past radio (and really, who listens to commercial radio stations anymore?). My two go-to XM stations are Channel 60 (Outlaw Country) and Channel 23 (Grateful Dead). One guy on the team, a sophomore, will sometimes connect his phone to the van and shuffle his playlist. There is much to like there! Specifically, the Lumineers and Jason Isbell and Tyler Childers, along with some other of the newer country artists. Neat. And then, there was Friday. A trip to New Paltz for a big tempo/interval workout for the men and the women. We are lacking in van drivers for the 2p women’s practice, but Czop and Ian stepped up and volunteered to drive the other vans for us. Huge assist. Made my day. While we didn’t share “van talk,” they filled a vital role for us. And, I’m sure, there was lively “van talk” (or, at least, van music) on their ride to and from Ulster County. Also neat!

Siena Invitational: Women's results

As with the men's race, the women's meet was very competitive and very deep compared to past years. Also, it was a bit warmer by the time the women hit the grassy course at the Crossings. Here are notes and quotes from women's head coach Chuck Williams: 

Another strong debut from the class of 2026. For the second straight week team was led by a runner making their collegiate debut, this time Nora White. Also, strong races from classmates Christina DiOrio and Emily Litke. Overall, top 11 Marist finishers on the day were either freshmen or sophomores.

"Really proud of how well the women ran today at Siena. We closed some of the gaps from last week's season opener and we were strengthened by the return of some key runners. Looking forward to being at full strength when we return for the MAAC Championships and the potential this team has to be really strong at the end of the season ."

 
Women’s results
Siena Invitational
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Crossings of Colonie
Women’s team standings
1-Quinnipiac 49, 2-Bucknell 94, 3-Siena 97, 4-Albany 108, 5-Marist 144, 6-Williams 167, 7-Fairfield 176, 8-RPI 187, 9-Rider 200, 10-Manhattan 267, 11-Mount St. Mary’s 328, 12-Union 345, 13-Saint Rose 416, 14-NJIT, incomplete
Women’s individual results, 5km course
20-Nora White 18:50.8
25-Parker O’Brien 19:05.2
31-Hannah Belleville 19:13.7
36-Adele Alexander 19:27.6
42-Tori Mariano 19:33.8
44-Sami Kehler 19:34.6
79-Kaitlyn Murtagh 20:17.3
83-Christina Diorio 20:30.1
85-Emily Litke 20:33.1
92-Anaiya Bobo 20:34.7
94-Raven Stanet 20:46.4
98-Sara Leavens 20:56.5
116-Mary Dougherty 21:35.9
117-Caitlin McCann 21:39.6
134-Karlie Genevive 22:12.7
146-Samantha DeStefani 23:03.5
148-Greta Stuckey 23:06.4
151-Grace Reynolds 23:36.5
153-Mackenzie Schubert 23:44.6
154-Marissa Sciotto 23:56.6
165 finishers

Siena Invitational: Men's results

A very competitive meet -- much more competitive and deep than the 2021 version, wow! There were several notable improvements in time from the 2021 meet, led by Pax (top-10 finish, 55-second improvement over 2021), Gabe (29th place, full minute improvement over 2021) and strong 8km debuts from Tyler Perry (26:15.3) and true freshman Kieran Donnelly (26:23.7). Other big jumps from 2021: Jiggy (nearly 1 minute), Czop (more than 2 minutes), Jack Parsons (more than 1 minute), Jonny K (13 seconds), Frank (23 seconds) and Jeremy (30 seconds). While such improvements are highly neat, we are striving for more and better; the men finished ahead of four MAAC schools and trailed two MAAC powers. There's always room to Be Better. There has been some illnesses spreading through the team the past few days, and a few guys didn't race (or didn't finish) as a result. No excuses, and no one is feeling sorry for us. Up and at 'em tomorrow at 8a for our New Paltz long run. OK!

Siena Invitational
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Crossings of Colonie
Men’s team standings
1-RPI 44, 2-Siena 69, 3-Williams 89, 4-Bucknell 100, 5-Rider 110, 6-Marist 156, 7-Mount St. Mary’s 204, 8-Albany 242, 9-Union 286, 10-Quinnipiac 298, 11-Fairfield 312, 12-NJIT 358, 13-Manhattan 359, 14-Saint Rose 430
Men’s individual results, 8km
8-Christopher Paxis 25:36.5
29-Gabe Rodriguez 26:06.7
37-Tyler Perry 26:15.3
43-Kieran Donnelly 26:23.7
67-John Ignacz 26:50.0
75-Daniel Czop 26:54.2
79-Chris Walsh 26:59.1
88-Aidan Pech 27:09.3
91-Jack Parsons 27:16.7
99-Dominic Mastromatteo 27:21.8
101-Jack Dovaras 27:22.5
115-Jon Kittredge 27:46.0
116-Francisco Mendonca 27:46.9
118-Jeremy Mbogo 27:52.0
123-Alexander Pattison 27:55.9
133-Dylan Perkinson 28:23.3
145-Jacob Anderson 28:40.1
147-Christian Locker 28:43.2
164-Anthony Citera 29:34.9
182-Marcel Stewart 31:12.8
191 finishers

Marist track -- Team Store!

 Want some Marist track and field branded gear? The Nike Team Store for Marist Track is now open, and will remain open for the next two weeks. There's some good stuff there. Note that this is simply a "public service" for friends, family and alums of the program. There is no fundraising element to it (for that to be the case, the prices would have been marked up, and I didn't want to do that). Happy Shopping!

Here's the link ... 

Ramsey Little = MAAC Runner of the Week

What's next: Siena meet

On Saturday, we head up the Thruway to the Capital Region for the Siena Invitational at the Crossings of Colonie, site of the MAAC Championships later in the fall. It will be a busy day of racing at the Crossings, with some high school races being held (see schedule below). We are hoping to see a lot of our Albany area alums and friends out there for a nice day of early-season racing. Neat!

SCHEDULE:

8:45am Modified Boys 2,000m race
8:47am Modified Girls 2,000m race
9:15am Freshmen Boys 2,600m race
9:17am Freshmen Girls 2,600m race
9:45am Men’s Collegiate 8,000m race
9:50am Awards Ceremony for Modified and Freshmen Races
10:30am Women’s Collegiate 5,000m race
11:15am High School Boys Varsity 5,000m race
11:50am High School Girls Varsity 5,000m race
12:30pm High School Boys JV 5,000m race
1:10pm High School Girls JV 5,000m race
1:45pm Awards Ceremony for High School Varsity and JV

Home meet: Men's results

 A wise (and loyal!) follower of the program -- channeling his inner Buck Showalter -- texted me a well-worn baseball saying that is sort of applicable to today's meet for the men: "You can't win the division in April, but you sure can lose it." The implication being! A good early-season (or, in this case, really, preseason) performance does not guarantee any future success. But a less-than-stellar early-season meet can set a tone (not a good one) for the season. With that in mind? Today was a good day for the men. This year's team had 15 men finish faster than last year's fifth runner. A marked improvement? Yes. A good start? Yes. What does that mean? It means THIS: Tomorrow is another day, another long run. Next week is another meet. On it goes. This parade is just starting. OK.

Marist Season Opener
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve
Poughkeepsie, NY
Men’s results
Team standings
1-Marist College 24, 2-Iona University 44, 3. Siena College 75, 4. Manhattan College 118, 5. Hartford University 119, 6. Felician University 182
Individual results, 6km course
1-Ramsey Little 18:32.6 *course record, old record = 18:51.5 by Dietrich Mosel, 2017
2-Christopher Paxis 18:59.0
4-Tyler Perry 19:21.9
8-Gabe Rodriguez 19:32.3
9-Kieran Donnelly 19:33.7
14-Aidan Pech 19:51.8
18-Brendan Dearie 19:54.2
23-Daniel Czop 20:04.0
25-Christopher Walsh 20:05.7
26-Jack Dovaras 20:06.1
28-Steven Viera 20:08.2
29-Dominic Mastromatteo 20:09.7
30-Jon Kittredge 20:10.6
31-Jeremy Mbogo 20:15.7
33-Dylan Perkinson 20:16.0
34-John Ignacz 20:16.9
35-Ian Wiesinger 20:21.2
36-Francisco Mendonca 20:27.0
38-Jacob Anderson 20:30.1
40-Alexander Pattison 20:33.4
43-Jack Parsons 20:42.0
50-Christian Locker 21:07.7
56-Marcel Stewart 21:45.6
58-Anthony Citera 21:54.9
66 finishers

Home meet: Women's results

Our ladies were not at full strength today but the effort and energy and good vibes were there. We hold great enthusiasm and promise for what lies ahead for this group. Neat. 

Marist Season Opener
Saturday, September 3, 2022
Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve
Poughkeepsie, NY
Women’s results
Team standings
1-UConn 25, 2-Marist College 68, 3-Iona University 76, 4-Hartford University 107, 5-Siena College 108, 6-Manhattan College 149, 7-Felician University 181
Women’s individual results, 5km course
5-Parker O’Brien 18:46.1
11-Adele Alexander 19:21.2
13-Hannah Belleville 19:24.8
18-Tori Mariano 19:44.7
21-Sami Kehler 19:54.0
29-Kaitlyn Murtagh 20:24.3
31-Raven Stanet 20:32.0
34-Anaiya Bobo 20:45.1
35-Christina Diorio 20:52.8
39-Emily Litke 21:00.2
42-Karlie Genevive 21:27.6
46-Kaitlyn Hastings 21:38.7
47-Mary Dougherty 21:40.1
53-Caroline Bell 22:04.7
54-Caitlin McCann 22:06.4
56-Grace Reynolds 22:16.4
58-Mackenzie Schubert 22:25.0
61-Gina Ruotolo 22:33.4
66-Greta Stuckey 23:39.8
67-Marissa Sciotto 23.39.8
69 finishers

Splintered sunlight

 

Our Friday morning jog from Marist, up to the top of College Hill, and back down through Poughkeepsie to the Marist riverfront and back to campus, featured this really cool photo at the top of College Hill -- the four of us silhouetted by the almost sunrise behind us. It was the first cool morning in a long time (upper 40s/lower 50s); the calendar says September, so the seasons are slowly changing. And cross country racing season starts tomorrow morning, another harbinger of seasons' change. OK!