ECAC/IC4A Championships: Day 1 results (Czop = school record in steeplechase!)

Seven years ago to the DAY, I wrote the following words on this very same blog: “Sometimes in real life, stories have happy endings.’’  That was written from my hotel room in Princeton, NJ, after the first night of racing at the IC4A Championships, when Mark Valentino capped his Marist Running career with a school-record time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:05.01. Talk about symmetry: Seven years later, I’m in another hotel room, this time in Fairfax, VA. Same meet: IC4A Championships. Same event: Men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Same outcome: A career-ending school-record run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Another happy ending! In other steeplechase! How NEAT is that!
 
Senior Daniel Czop went out with an absolute bang in his last career race. Last week at the MAAC Championships, he placed third and (barely) qualified for the IC4As with his 9:19.44 (the standard = 9:19.99). Tonight, on a rainy night at George Mason University, Czop ran a truly masterful race, working his way up through the field (sorry, kids, no splits available) and wound up in sixth place, and finished with a truly remarkable, miraculous time of 9:04.71. School record (Tino’s previous mark = 9:05.01). In his last race in a Marist uniform. At IC4As. In the steeple. Symmetry. Awesome.
 
Other notes from the day:
--It rained pretty steadily and persistently through much of the afternoon – especially during Parker’s 800 and Amari’s 100, and they both raced admirably in the conditions.
--The timing system was (to be as diplomatic as possible here) a bit wonky. And, it still is. Kieran ran in the first heat of the 5km … and those results have yet to be posted! Grace’s high jump results have yet to be posted. The men’s 1,500 results are still a work in progress: the first-heat results (slowest seed times) haven’t been posted yet, but there were some pretty solid times run in that heat, which will certainly impact overall placings (but not team scores). We’ll update everything tomorrow night (might be a late post, as our bus internet seems to be not functioning).
--Speaking of the 1,500: Pax came within one second of the school record in the event in a strong effort and a personal-best time. Neat.
 
Tomorrow’s schedule includes:
--Easton Eberwein in the open 400
--Amari Mathis in the open 200
--Kiana Pathirana in the triple jump
--And three relays: men’s and women’s 4x800 + men’s 4x400.
 
IC4A/ECAC Championships
George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Saturday, May 13, 2023
Day 1 results
IC4A 100-meter dash trials
14-Amari Mathis 10.89
IC4A 1,500-meter run
13-Chris Paxis 3:50.21 (personal best, second-fastest time in school history)
33- Brendan Dearie 3:57.48
IC4A 3,000-meter run
13-Gabriel Rodriguez 8:41.64
IC4A 3,000-meter steeplechase
6-Daniel Czop 9:04.71 *school record, old record 9:05.01 by Mark Valentino, 2016
IC4A 5,000-meter run
TBA, official results pending: Kieran Donnelly 14:44
ECAC 800-meter run
37-Parker O’Brien 2:19.90
ECAC 1,500-meter run
18-Hannah Belleville 4:41.74
ECAC 3,000-meter run
8-Adele Alexander 10:07.74
ECAC high jump
Grace O’Neill 1.58 meters (place unavailable)