Halloween #2 = 2p practice group (photo)

 

Several themes presented here, a few of which escaped my limited pop culture knowledge (Despicable Me + Bruno Mars?). Also noted, "Pete costumes" were not permitted this year.

Halloween #1 = Morning lift

 

Halloween spirit started early (6:45a) with sprinter morning lift = highlighted by Coach Alisha's birthday. Neat!

Theme Week #2 = Ben Fleet (Appreciation) Day

 

In perhaps one of the most original and creative themes in recent memory? On Wednesday, the women's XC team had "Ben Fleet Appreciation Day" in honor of our new strength and conditioning coach, who has motivated and inspired our distance athletes. (Forever Foxes, do not despair: Coach Suma is still the head strength and conditioning coach, working with the track athletes). Ben has the classic strength coach look: Muscular and tattooed, and our ladies followed suit. Although I wasn't there (I was at the track with the middle-distance athletes), word is that Ben actually ran one mile with the women. That's putting the "conditioning" in strength and conditioning, for sure. Neat!

Theme Week #1 = Pink Day

 

Our women's XC team likes to have "Theme Week" before every MAAC Championship. We started off on Tuesday at the (Vassar) track with "Pink Day" (an alert/snarky follower of the program called it "Pepto Bismol Day" after seeing this picture). Anyway? Lots of spirit and energy (out there)!

What's next: MAAC Championships

 Our next cross country meet is the MAAC Championships on Saturday at Twin Ponds on the Farm in Montgomery, NY. Race times are men's 8km at 11a and women's 6km at 12 noon o'clock.

Forever (and Future) Foxes

 

It was Homecoming (aka Alumni) Weekend. And while we did spend a little bit of time on campus (including about one quarter of the very exciting football game!), we made it across town to Plan Bee Farm Brewery to meet up with this fine group of Forever Foxes (and now, with some Future Foxes!). It was a great fall afternoon with men, women (and now) children that we cherish. Neat. 

Fun(ny Fact = just realized that I had the exact same title for a (similar) post back in August! I'm not changing it!

Vermont meet: Women's results

Outstanding day for our women, great tuneup as we prepare for championship season!

Fall Foliage Invitational
Hosted by University of Vermont
Hard’Ack Recreation Area
St. Albans, Vermont
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Women’s team standings
1-Binghamton 47, 2-Vermont 49, 3-UAlbany 81, 4-Sacred Heart 82, 5-Marist 86, 6-Bryant 166
Women’s individual results, 5km course
3-Sierra Fisher 18:05.0
11-Addy Thibodeau 18:27.3
19-Edy Livingston 18:46.1
26-Paige McCaul 18:56.9
27-Mallory Holloway 18:57.5
42-Emily Litke 19:22.1
48-Julia Radjenovic 19:35.0
50-Isabella Colabatistto 19:37.2
63-Raven Stanet 20:02.4
72-Rebecca Maclaren 20:16.3
81-Christina Diorio 20:43.4
94-Mary Dougherty 21:26.3
112 finishers

Vermont meet: Men's results

Once again, we had a top-5 of all freshmen! They competed well today. Up next = MAAC Championships in 13 days.

Fall Foliage Invitational
Hosted by University of Vermont
Hard’Ack Recreation Area
St. Albans, Vermont
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Men’s team standings
1-Binghamton 17, 2-UAlbany 59, 3-Vermont 76, 4-Sacred Heart 110, 5-Marist 139, 6-Bryant 147
Men’s individual finishers, 8km course
27-Justin Schwartz 26:48.8
29-Sean Wilson 26:52.4
38-Kevin Cannon 27:07.4
43-Sanjith Nomula 27:15.0
44-Miles Chamberlain 27:16.0
49-Raffi Buchakjian 27:29.3
57-Ryan Wisker 27:51.3
62-Jack Dovaras 28:01.5
74-Pierce Francis 29:03.2
89 finishers

Hayley Collins = 3rd at Hartford Marathon

 

Congrats to Forever Fox Hayley Collins for her superb, four-minute PR time of 2:41:16 at the Hartford Marathon on Saturday morning. Hayley went through the 13.1-mile split at 1:19:15 and came back in 1:21:01, an overall average of 6:09 pace. Her actual overall PR improvement was 4:07, at that pace it's great! She said via text, "almost 2:40 like I hoped, just have to work on fuel more." We love Hayley. She was about the hardest working athlete we've ever had here, and she continues to get it done. Neat!

(I joked with Hayley after she sent this photo = "wait! did you get fourth? did the BABY beat you too!" I really do need to grow up one of these years...)

IC4A Championships: Men's results

 It was a beautiful fall day in the Bronx, a great day for cross country. Our men had an OK day. Some guys had their best races of the year; others, not so much. We'll have another small crew of men racing at Vermont on Sunday, and then it's onto championship season in November. OK.

IC4A Championships
Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY
Friday, October 18, 2024
Individual results, 8km course
56-Gabe Rodriguez 25:37.5
69-Kieran Donnelly 25:47.5
82-Jeremy Mbogo 25:57.4
103-Tyler Perry 26:08.8
111-Steven Viera 26:14.6
141-Logan Schaeffler 26:33.3
144-Dennis Love 26:33.7
153-Jackson Borge 26:38.4
261 finishers
Team standings
15^th of 24 teams, 387 points

Remaining XC schedule

Here's what the rest of the fall season looks like:  

--IC4As: On Friday, we will be bringing a group of (9) men to Van Cortlandt Park for the IC4A Championships. Race time is 11:30a.
--Fall Foliage in Vermont: On Sunday, we will be bringing most of our women’s team and a small(er) group of our men’s team to the Fall Foliage Invitational, hosted by the University of Vermont. The races will be at 12:30p (women) and 1:15p (men).
--MAAC Championships: On Saturday, Nov. 2, the MAAC Championships will be held at Twin Ponds in nearby Montgomery (Orange County). Race times are men at 11a and women at 12 noon.
--NCAA Northeast Regionals: On Friday, Nov. 15, the NCAA Northeast Regional race will be held in Hopkinton, NH. The original site of Franklin Park in Boston was moved to New Hampshire due to construction in and around the Franklin Park area.

Weekend race results

Congrats to Marist Forever Foxes running alumni for outstanding race results this weekend:
 
--At the Mohawk Hudson River half marathon, Lisa (D’Aniello) Chase powered to a 13.1-mile PR in 1:23:03, culminating what has been a remarkably awesome fall season of racing.
 
--At the Chicago Marathon, Mike Kennedy powered to a 26.2-mile PR in 2:39:40, running (mostly) even splits of 1:19:09/1:20:31.
 
Great stuff!

Mets championships: Men's results

 A strong day for the men, highlighted by our first-year runners! Here are some of the highlights: 

--third-place finish, second year in a row at this event
--top-five Marist finishers, all freshmen, with a 21-second compression (spread) from 1-5
--seven of the top eight finishers were freshmen, all sub-27:00, 31-second spread from 1-8
 
Metropolitan Championship
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Branch Brook Park
Newark, NJ
Men’s team standings
1-Manhattan 49, 2-Seton Hall 53, 3-Marist 71, 4-Columbia 96, 5-NJIT 121, 6-Ramapo 147, 7-Fordham 158, 8-St. Peter’s 212, 9-Hofstra, Essex incomplete
Individual results, 5-mile course
12-Davis Haines 26:21.43
13-Joaquin Bell-Andrade 26:24.28
19-Miles Chamberlain 26:35.49
20-Kevin Cannon 26:38.21
22-Sanjith Nomula 26:42.54
24-Pierce Francis 26:43.09
25-Sean Wilson 26:47.21
28-Patrick Wininger 26:52.58
37-Matthew Ferreri 27:15.66
39-Francisco Mendonca 27:22.27
42-Alexander Ushchak 27:34.55
46-Alexander Pattison 27:39.42
55-David Laubenheimer 28:25.77
58-Dylan Perkinson 29:20.74
69 finishers

Mets championships: Women's results

 A solid day for our women, with the following highlights!

--Improvement over last year’s 6^th place finish
--Top 4 runners all earned top-25 finishes
--Strong debut for freshman Rebecca Maclaren
--Strong races from seniors Kate Murtagh and Mary Dougherty
 
Metropolitan Championship
Saturday, October 12, 2024
Branch Brook Park
Newark, NJ
Women’s team standings
1-Seton Hall 62, 2-Manhattan 83, 3-St. John’s 94, 4-Marist 104, 5-Columbia 125, 6-Hofstra 131, 7-Fordham 136, 8-Ramapo 141, 9-NJIT 211, 10-St. Peter’s 304
Women’s individual results, 5km course
11-Kyra Pellegrino 18:30.74
15-Adele Alexander 18:49.55
22-Julia Radjenovic 19:17.53
23-Kate Murtagh 19:25.13
33-Mary Dougherty 19:51.33
41-Rebecca Maclaren 20:20.57
42-Christina Diorio 20:22.76
48-Tori Mariano 20:39.09
56-Karlie Genevive 21:34.56
57-Rachael Turek 21:35.21
68-Madison Whited 23:31.02
74 finishers

Mets meet on Saturday

 Sorry for the late post = the Metropolitan (Mets) Championships XC meet is tomorrow morning (Saturday, 12 Oct) at Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ. The following teams are racing: 

Women (11) = Hofstra, Ramapo, Seton Hall, NJIT, St. Peter's, Fordham, Marist, Manhattan, Essex CC, St. John's, Columbia

Men (10) = St. Peter's, Columbia, NJIT, Manhattan, Ramapo, Fordham, Marist, Hofstra, Seton Hall, Essex CC

Women's race at 10a. Men's race at 10:45a.

Pole patrol

You know how most job descriptions have a line at the bottom of it that says (something to the effect of): “Other duties as assigned”? Yeah, well. That was my DAY on Monday! Other duties as assigned!
 
Alert readers of this blog might know that our track team has pole vaulters on our roster. Pole vaulters need poles. Poles are expensive. Fortunately, we don’t BUY them. We RENT them. Each year, we order poles for our vaulters from a Massachusetts group called Patriot Pole Vault Club. The catch? We have to go GET them (before the season) and RETURN them (after the season).
 
After a few email exchanges, the poles are waiting for us on some sawhorses in a residential area in Westborough, MA. For those keeping score at home, that’s about a 375-mile roundtrip. Drive there, in one of our team vans, load the poles, drive back. That’s a DAY.
 
Fortunately, I had two loyal teammates – Jeremy Mbogo and Gabe Rodriguez – along for the ride. Van talk was plentiful. They were able to help me load the 14 poles (yes, 14 poles!) for the return trip to Marist. For their companionship and service, they were treated to dinner at Chick Fil A at some exit off the Mass Pike.
 
Previous pole/van trip companions have been my friend Eric and my daughter Natalie. Who will ride with me in May? That’s a long time from now. But, it’ll be here before we all know it.

Special moment with a special young man

Very memorable (and meaningful) moment on Saturday at Paul Short. Our team tent area was in proximity to the team tent for Rowan. A junior on the Profs, Ethan Bergmann, was there to race for Rowan. Ethan is a special young man in our world. His dad, Eric Bergmann (aka Run Boy), is a cherished Forever Fox and an Angel Forever Fox, having lost his battle with cancer several years ago. Seeing Ethan in uniform, racing cross country, gave me chills. He walks, talks – and, yes, runs – just like his dad. Who, I know, was smiling down from heaven on his son.

Alums shine in Voorheesville

 

Thanks to Marist Running Forever Fox Lisa Chase for sending me the text (below) and picture (above) about the Barn to Bridge 5km at Voorheesville (Albany area), a lightning fast road race. Forever Fox twins and school record holders Drew Burns and Emily Burns had strong races -- Drew was third overall in 15:14 and Emily was fourth in 18:22. 

From Lisa: Hi Pete! My legs have felt tired since the DCC Half but I guess they weren't too bad because I had a PR in the 5k today breaking 18 for the first time ever (18:00 gun time/17:59 net...I'll go by the net time!).  Marist was well represented by the Burns siblings as well at the very competitive Barn to Bridge 5k

https://www.zippyraceresults.com/search.php?ID=8975

Paul Short: Men's results

 Solid day for the men as well. Our pack wasn't as tight as in previous meets and not everyone was on top of their game, but they fared decently well against rival schools. Onward!

Paul Short Run
Lehigh University
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Men’s individual results
Brown Division
Team standings
1-Davis & Elkins 79, 2-Catawba 128, 3-Colgate 134, 4-Shippensburg 137, 5-New Hampshire 231, 6-Siena 245, 7-Marist 282, 8-Tampa 313, 9-Wagner 322, 10-Loyola 349, 11-Canisius 376, 12-Merrimack 391, 13-Lafayette 413, 14-Slippery Rock 417, 15-Kent State 424, 16-Holy Cross 434, 17-Indiana Pa. 452, 18-Concord 503, 19-East Stroudsburg 517, 20-Stonehill 608, 21-Niagara 621, 22-Mount St. Mary’s 633, 23-Kutztown 681, 24-Manhattan 698, 25-Assumption 722, 26-Caldwell 739, 27-West Chester 763, 28-San Diego 771, 29-Wilmington Del. 779, 30-NJIT 781, 31-California Pa. 846, 32-Le Moyne 863, 33-Frostburg State 870, 34-Quinnipiac 874, 35-Daemen 895, 36-FDU 898, 37-Molloy 950, 38-Saint Francis 1010
Individual results, 8km course
37-Logan Schaeffler 25:35.2
44-Gabriel Rodriguez 25:43.6
60-Kieran Donnelly 25:55.3
66-Jackson Borge 26:00.5
80-Jeremy Mbogo 26:11.2
86-Tyler Perry 26:14.9
117-Steven Viera 26:32.2
128-Dennis Love 26:39.2
160-Justin Schwartz 27:03.0
174-Raffi Buchakjian 27:13.8
Open Division, 8km course
218-Ryan Wisker 26:55.4
246-Jack Dovaras 27:10.7

Paul Short: Women's results

 A strong day for the ladies! Sierra Fisher had a dominant lead-runner performance and she was backed up by a tight 2-5 pack. This bodes well for the remainder of our season. Very exciting!

Paul Short Run
Lehigh University
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Women’s individual results
Brown Division
Team standings
1-New Hampshire 103, 2-Catawba 156, 3-Liberty 214, 4-Saint Francis 217, 5-Vermont 234, 6-Siena 252, 7-Wagner 264, 8-St. Joseph’s PA 282, 9-Loyola 305, 10-Marist 330, 11-Buffalo 353, 12-UMBC 377, 13-Canisius 379, 14-James Madison 418, 15-Davis & Elkins 425, 16-Slippery Rock 432, 17-Stonehill 433, 18-Holy Cross 444, 19-Colgate 467, 20-Shippensburg 500, 21-East Stroudsburg 530, 22-Kutztown 538, 23-Millersville 580, 24-Towson 588, 25-Lafayette 596, 26-Columbia 613, 27-Merrimack 641, 28-Niagara 661, 29-St. John’s 745, 30-Kent State 754, 31-Daemen 757, 32-Hofstra 783, 33-Mount St. Mary’s 1019, 34-D’Youville 1021, 35-NJIT 1099
Individual results, 6km course
25-Sierra Fisher 22:11.3
65-Julia Zydanowicz 22:51.3
77-Paige McCaul 22:57.5
79-Edy Livingston 22:59.1
84-Kyra Pellegrino 23:00.4
142-Emily Litke 23:32.7
164-Raven Stanet 23:45.8
204-Isabella Colabatistto 24:22.7
286 finishers

Paul Short 2024

 As we have done for most years in the past several decades, we will be racing at Lehigh on Saturday for the Paul Short Run, a staple on our schedule. The race format has changed slightly this year, with high schools racing on Friday and colleges racing on Saturday. Also, there was another race added to the schedule, with expands the schedule. Our teams are entered in the Brown Division again, as usual, but the races are a bit later than normal. 

We will have two men in the Open Division race at 9:30a, and then a full 10-man squad in the Brown Division race at 1:45p. We have entered 9 women in the Brown division and that race is at 2:30p. Compared to past years, this is a relatively small travel squad ... and that's OK!

Omar in Berlin!

 

Congrats to Forever Fox Omar Perez for his strong showing last weekend at the Berlin Marathon. Neat!