Old School Photo

Just got the following email and accompanying photo from my good pal Marty McGowan down on Staten Island. Marty is a loyal Marist xc alum and true friend to our program on many, many levels.

Pete, I'm learning how to scan pictures onto the computer, and thought you'd like this one. It's the Marist X-C team from Fall 1971, my Junior Year.
from the top Coach Len Olsen, Bob Nelson, Pete Rock, Jay Doyle ( Jay was our # 1 runner that year ) Don Gilespie and ??? ( he was a grad assistant who sometimes showed up as an asst coach, forgot his name, sorry ) Bottom Row; John Petraglia, Bob Salomon, Me, with the sunglasses ( Bob and I were Co Captains that year and Pat " Milo" Stevens (No relation to Rich Stevens, who came on board outdoor season 1972). Thanks for the Christmas card, the kids are growing!! Stay safe. Marty

No snow here!

What an interesting weekend of weather, huh? Well, maybe not so "interesting" if you live on Long Island or New Jersey, where you had to shovel about 2 feet of snow.

Here in the Poughkeepsie area? All that was needed was a light broom to sweep off the dusting of snow we received. Weird, I know. Not that we are complaining up here ...

Anyway, hang in there and get your training in as you can. I am assuming track workouts will not be getting done anytime soon by those of the southern persuasion.

I guess you could call this storm "flaky" huh?

Oh! Keep voting on this poll. Only a few days to go ...

So much for planning ...

Creativity and clarity of thought do not come naturally to me. I have to work at it. As a writer, I have always marveled at those who can write fiction, short-story prose or poetry, and write it well. I'm not that creative. I need the real world to power my words. And even then, it's not that great.

Anyway, my creative task this week was to come up with a salient workout schedule for the break for the distance men of Marist College. This is always a difficult task. I want to strike the right chord of hard work, speed and recovery -- all the while knowing that several men probably will just train hard and well and not really follow the schedule religiously. Which is fine. But for those that like structure and will actually read and adhere to the schedule, it's important that I get it right. Or at least come close.

And so I struggled with it. But this morning, there was a breakthrough. Perhaps it's the latent journalist in me, the guy who needs a deadline to produce. Guys were starting to leave because they were done with finals; I had to produce something. So I sat down at the laptop and had an amazingly productive 1.5 hours this morning.

-- I completed the daily workout schedule. It had started percolating last week, was mostly done on Tuesday but needed some final tweaking on Wednesday morning. Done.

-- Not satisfied with that relatively easy task, I then plunged into some more long-range thinking. I decided to map out phases of training for the next three or so months of indoor track and early outdoor track. This is an important step for me; I tend to fly by the seat of my pants in terms of creating workouts. Often, I will script a workout while athletes are warming up for that very workout. This may seem chaotic, and perhaps it is. But to me, as long as there is a method behind the madness, it is OK. As long as I know what I want to get accomplished on that given day and that thought process is powering it, it should work out OK.

That is why creating these training cycles -- defining their length and their scope -- is important. Once the cycle is created, the actual implementation of the workouts can follow a seemingly endless and limitless pattern. As long as the concept behind the workouts is there, there are no bounds of how to execute what you want to get out of that workout.

So anyway, I felt really good about the thought process. Vess arrived -- with coffee! -- and we went over it for a few minutes. Excellent. A good morning of work. The December/early January time frame for all training groups consists almost exclusively of strength-based training. Hills. Fartleks. Accelerator (progression) runs. Tempos. Cruise ints. Stuff like that. Pretty basic. Right? Makes perfect sense. Right?

Feeling secure in my thought processes for a change ... and then in walks Mr. Awesome (Curt) and Conor. They have an idea. They have a great idea, they proclaim! Instead of the hill workout I had planned for them, they ask, would it be OK if they did quarters (400s). Quarters? Ha! Flies in the face of everything I was thinking about over the past hour or so.

Normally, I would dismiss this idiotic idea on its face. It's Dec. 16. Who the heck needs quarters of Dec. 16? But alas, I am a sucker for 400-meter workouts. It is my belief that quarters can be used for ANY training group at ANY time. Sprinters? Check. Mid-distance? Check. Long distance? Check. Marathon? Believe it or not, it can work there too!

The key is the proper volume, intensity and recovery. This is where I put my foot down. Mr. A and Conor said they were thinking "not that many quarters, like 8 of them, but pretty fast." Nope. Sorry boys. We do quarters on Dec. 16, we do A LOT of them.

The plan was hatched: 2 sets of 8. Short recovery. Cutdown style, but not too fast. No faster than 3km race pace. Still not a great idea in all, but it's quarters. I'm a sucker for quarters.

Well, it turned out to be a great practice. First and foremost, it must be noted that the hill repeat guys had a GREAT workout. Good for them. That's what they should be doing.

Mr. A and Conor? They ran the 16x400 workout to perfection. They looked relaxed, smooth and ran them in control (for the most part) and with short breaks. Again, was it the best workout on this day? Probably not. But it's quarters. It worked. They looked great, felt great and are confident in their fitness level.

Sometimes, you go with your heart and your gut. Macrocycles and microcycles are nice. But you coach people, not robots, and sometimes you listen, adapt and have fun.

Finals week, and planning ahead

This is finals week. The general policy is, we have scheduled practice every day, and it is optional. If you can show up, show up. If not, not. The majority of the guys come most days, but the top priority is acing finals.

Despite that, we had a pretty spirited workout in McCann and on the MidRise Hills today. Nicely done, men!

There has been some discussion among alums about the fancy AAU Championships. This traditional McCann workout (2x2 mile) is generally during midterm week in the spring semester, usually the second week in March, after the IC4As. I do not have a definite date yet, but you can use that as a guide.

I am willing to adjust slightly based on alum travel schedules. Especially Prinz, since he does not currently live on this continent, and said he might be in Po-Town for the AAU festivities. Looking forward to that if you can make it; should be fun.

Want a holiday card?

This post is for alumni, friends and others that I no longer see on a regular, daily basis.

We just got our family holiday cards in the mail today. They are really neat. If you would like me to mail you one, please e-mail me your current address. Since many of you have moved in recent years, I do not have updated mailing addresses on many of you all.

Please email me at runhed246@hotmail.com with your mailing contact information, or you can TEXT me if you have my number.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Clairification on today's cold weather

For those men's distance runners reading this today before practice:

If you prefer to do the workout inside the McCann Center, text me and let me know and we'll discuss it. Keep in mind that we do not have access to the fieldhouse track till 3 p.m.

If you ask me my preference, I say go outside and do the accelerator. But if you want to do a workout indoors (probably thresh mile repeats, and a lot of them!), we can discuss.

Keep voting on the poll!

How cold is too cold?

Tomorrow (Friday), the workout protocol for the distance runners is the "Accelerator Loop." Some coaches call it a Progression Run. I like "accelerator." A more NASCAR feel to it. Hey, I used to have a mullet, remember? (Side note: Webster wants me to grow another one while he is away studying abroad in Italy; I am considering it; but I do value a happy marriage, too)

Anyway, back to the topic: Friday is accelerator. However, the weather forecast is for highs in the mid-20s and biting wind. Pretty typical winter weather for the mid-Hudson Valley, albeit maybe a bit early. A few men were wondering whether the workout could be changed and/or moved inside to the McCann Fieldhouse given the cold weather.

My initial, gut reaction was: Uh-uh. No. Accelerator is an outside workout. Cold and wind should not matter. If it were mile repeats at the track, then yes, maybe we bring it inside. But an effort-based, road-course workout? I think we can keep it on West Dorsey, thank you very much.

But I am always open to suggestions.

Generally, my rule for outside running: If it is icy and dangerous for cars, no off-campus distance runs. Otherwise, most days are OK for outside running. Unless you prefer inside.

OK. I'm going around in circles now. Good night, everyone.

What a poll!

Boy, this Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow thing is quite a neck-and-neck race. Every time I check, it is tied or one park is leading by a small margin. Good stuff!

Nice to be thinking about cross country still, despite the bone-chilling cold and snow of the inevitable winter.

Of course, with this raw weather comes a sense of renewal in that it means the beginning of track season.

My 6 a.m. jogs are joyless jaunts in the dark, with black ice lurking around every bend and hill, and biting wind turning my graying beard into icicles. And it's not even January yet! But I should not complain. Our morning run posse seems to grow by the day. I am the slowest of the group, which is good and bad. Today, my fastest training partner literally ran circles around me and another slow poke.

Anyway, keep voting, and keep reading.

And bundle up. It's cold out there.

Yale results, splits, etc

Women's meet results by event

60-meter dash
16. Rachael Eichacker 8.53 seconds
17. Meghann Cocca 8.53 seconds

200-meter dash
9. Holly Burns 26.94
18. Rachael Eichacker 28.23
20. Meghann Cocca 28.46

400-meter dash
4. Holly Burns 1:01.11

500-meter dash
3. Nicole Weir 1:25.60
4. Emilie Cardone 1:28.82

3000-meter run
1. Addie DiFrancesco 10:19.99
Splits
40.8, 83.1 (42.3), 2:04.8 (41.7), 2:46.3 (41.5), 3:27.6 (41.3)
4:08.8 (41.2), 4:50.2 (41.4), 5:31.4 (41.2), 6:12.6 (41.2), 6:54.2 (41.6)
7:35.8 (41.6), 8:17.0 (41.2), 8:58.5 (41.5), 9:39.9 (41.4), 10:10.99 (40.09)
1km: 3:27.6; 2km: 6:54.2 (3:26.6); 3km: 10:19.99 (3:25.99)
Comment: Ran like a clock. Great! Who knows if you could have kept this up for 5km? I think it would have been close. Nicely done.

Pole vault
9. Justine Colabraro 2.90 meters (9 feet, 6.25 inches)

Long jump
7. Brooke Kristensen 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5.25 inches)

Triple jump
4. Brooke Kristensen 9.71 meters (31 feet, 10.25 inches)

Men's meet results by event

60-meter dash
16. Mike McCloskey 7.32 seconds
18. Darren Bushey 7.60
21. Neal Viets 7.74

200-meter dash
18. Mike McCloskey 23.85
22. Neal Viets 24.54
23. Darren Bushey 25.25

400-meter dash
10. John Kristie 53.82
11. Phil Krupka 54.08

800-meter run
7. Alex Cuesta 2:01.28
Splits: 29, 59 (30), 1:30 (31), 2:01.28 (31.28). Comment: Section victory. Nicely done!14. Chris Vanzetta 2:05.09
Splits: 30, 61 (31), 1:32 (31), 2:05.09 (32.09). Comment: Not a great start, but it should get MUCH better.

Mile run
7. Matt Panebianco 4:40.14
33.9 (209 meters), 67.1 (33.2), 1:41.5 (34.4), 2:18.1 (36.6), 2:53.1 (35.0), 3:28.7 (35.6), 4:04.3 (35.6), 4:40.14 (35.84). Comment: No place to go but up!

3000-meter run
Note on splits. All runners were in the same section, which made splits very difficult to record. Panebianco and Janczyk did a great job of trying to record them, but they seemed a little off in spots. As a result, we will post 1km splits here so you can get an idea of the way each of the races trended. Hope that helps.

3. Nick Webster 8:55.44. 2:57, 5:54 (2:57), 8:55.44 (3:01.44)
5. Alex Ward 9:09.90. 3:00, 6:04 (3:04), 9:09.90 (3:05.90)
7. Colin Johnson 9:27.20. 3:00, 6:07 (3:07), 9:27.20 (3:20.20)
9. Will Schanz 9:38.48. 3:05, 6:19 (3:14), 9:38.48 (3:19.48)
10. Ryan Fitzsimons 9:42.24. 3:08, 6:22 (3:14), 9:42.24 (3:20.24)
11. Brendan Green 10:16.58. 3:13, 6:46 (3:26), 10:16.58 (3:30.58)

5000-meter run
6. Matt Janczyk 16:03.08
Splits
36.7, 73.3 (36.6), 1:49.8 (36.5), 2:27.1 (37.3), 3:04.7 (37.6)
3:43.3 (38.6), 4:21.1 (37.8), 4:58.4 (37.3), 5:35.7 (37.3), 6:13.3 (37.5)
6:50.7 (37.4), 7:28.3 (37.6), 8:06.8 (38.5), 8:45.6 (38.8), 9:24.9 (39.3)
10:04.3 (39.4), 10:43.8 (39.5), 11:23.8 (40.0), 12:03.0 (39.2), 12:43.7 (40.7)
13:24.6 (40.9), 14:05.2 (40.6), 14:44.8 (39.6), 15:24.9 (40.1), 16:03.08 (35.18)
1km: 3:04.7; 2km: 6:13.3 (3:08.6); 3km: 9:24.9 (3:11.6); 4km: 12:43.7 (3:18.8); 5km: 16:03.08 (3:19.38)
Comments: A 5km PR, because you have never run a 5km before on the track. And probably never will again. On that, we can agree.

60-meter hurdles
9. Mike Clifford 9.73 seconds

1600-meter relay
7. Marist A (Christie 53.8, Krupka 54.3, Cuesta 55.1, Panebianco 54.3) 3:37.72
8. Marist B (McCloskey 57.0, Viets 54.2, Josh Lopez 53.1, Johnson 61.x) 3:43.63
10. Marist C (Bushey 59.3, Vanzetta 54.7, Clifford 54.3, Janczyk 53.9) 3:49.39
Comment: Thanks to my son Joey for helping to time one of the relays. He got all the splits on his iPod. True story! And after checking with Coach Horton, his splits were accurate! Nicely done.

Pole vault
4. Max Carow 4.12 meters (13 feet, 6.25 inches)
8. Henry Zhang 3.82 meters (12 feet, 6.25 inches)

Rolek repeats in record form

Received this note via email from Marist alum (1973) Donald Paulson. A very nice note with some great news about fellow alumni runners. Here it is ...

Coach Peter:

Attached is a picture of Mike Rolek winning the Seaford Wellness Council's annual 5K run. The race was run yesterday (Saturday) in the rain and cold in Seaford, New York. Mike not only defended his title but also he set a new course record of 15:14.

Fellow alumni Mike Bamberger and DJ Paulson received medals in the event. Bryan Quinn, another alumni, competed. It was a great day for Marist Alumni racing. It shows the camaraderie and fellowship built up among the runners under your tutelage. You have a great program with great young men. As a parent of one of these runners, thank you.

Donald Paulson '73

FYI - Photo taken by Jack Healy, race photographer. I was able to get it so quickly because a club that I run helps sponsor this event.

Yale results/splits coming shortly

Hello all: I have been very busy with recruits the past few days so I have not been able to post the Yale results and splits. They will be posted as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience.

The xc course poll seems to be getting a strong response. Keep it going. Keep checking, I'll get the Yale stuff up as soon as I can.

Housekeeping items

OK, I like the spirited cross country courses debate! I think Steve nailed it: Bowdoin and SM are about as equal as you can get. You can continue to discuss it, but his logic is sound and nearly bullet-proof.

Second item: Indoor track starts Saturday at Yale. Looking forward to getting back to the boards. This is a low-key meet to just get us going. Training has started in full force for the xc guys. The track guys have been going full force with Terry since mid-September.

After this, we have a month-long break from meets, but the training never ends.

Will post at some point Sunday with results, splits, etc., from Yale.

Cuesta: This one's for you!

One of our track guys, a long sprinter named CUESTA (his first name is Alex, but no one -- not even his mother! -- calls him that; he's just Cuesta; yes. his mother calls him Cuesta!) apparently is a big fan of this blog. Huge fan. Checks it every day. In class, even!

He gave me a hard time about not having many recent posts. Dude. We are in between seasons. I'll get cranking in due time -- today, in fact, as this is my second post! So anyway, I told Cuesta yesterday that I would do a post for him to satiate his need to read a post on this fancy blog.

There. How's that, Cuesta?

Oh, and a note to his professors: If he is reading this blog instead of paying attention to you in class: You have my permission to scold him, maybe even dock him a half-letter grade on class participation. He should NOT be reading this blog in class! Just like he should not be texting in class!

From all reports, Cuesta's in great shape. He's not hurt (that's BIG) and he's training hard and tough. That's good. He showed some real flashes of good stuff last spring, and we're hoping to start off a great junior year with a strong performance at Yale.

Speaking of which ... oh yeah, our first indoor track meet is Saturday! At Yale. But I guess you might have figured that out already. I will post the schedule here soon. And when I do, I'm sure Cuesta will be the first to read it!

Cross country comparisons

Sorry, have not been in blog mode of late. Just saw Keenan's and Jut's comments regarding xc course comparisons. Here are my two cents:

Regarding Sunken Meadow: Keenan makes some fair points. I am not familiar with the course too much, other than when we used to go down there for the season-opening Stony Brook meets. My last recollections from those meets was that the course was a mess. There were drainage issues and it just wasn't that good. Based on Footlockers being there, obviously it has been tidied up.

Look. I am biased toward Bowdoin. The course has been the same since Coach Horton and friends created it 20-plus years ago. It has never been in better shape than it is now. It is a very tough, very fair course. And again, it HASN'T CHANGED. To me, that is key. Has Sunken Meadow changed? I think maybe it has. Again, nothing against Sunken Meadow. It's a great course. But Bowdoin is reaching near legendary status at this point. I really think it is. And it is well deserved.

Regarding the twins' time at Bowdoin: Jut, those guys were CRUISING. They were NOT running all out; at least, that is how it appeared to me, and to legendary track announcer Ian Brooks, who was on hand to emcee the Nike meet (that was cool!). And why would they? They just needed to advance to Nats, where they will be facing pretty stiff competition. Could they have broken the Bowdoin record (which, Keenan my friend, is held by a fancy LI runner named Millieon? am I right?)? I would say most probably yes. That record is 15:39, for those keeping score at home ...

But don't read much into the fact that they ran a lot slower at Bowdoin than Holmdel. I do think Holmdel is not as tough as Bowdoin (oh boy, Curt is gonna come after me on this one, and maybe Emerel!), but I do not think you can just their times on face value. That's just my opinion.

Having said that: As good as those twins are, even all out I could not see them cracking 15:00 at Bowdoin. No way. No how. Based on that statement, Bowdoin is tougher than Holmdel. Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow? I will not form an opinion on that since I do not know enough about the current SM layout.

OK? OK.

NXN at Bowdoin Park

My son Joey and I spent the better part of the day down at Bowdoin Park for the Nike Cross Country Regional races for the Northeast and New York Regions. Wow! What a day!

Bowdoin is our home course, and what a great course it is. Today, the folks at Nike really dressed it up even more.

And I must take this opportunity to give a major (huge!) shout-out to longtime Arlington High School coach Terry Horton, now our assistant coach at Marist College, who more or less crafted and sculpted this Bowdoin course from scratch more than 20 years ago, to what it is today. He did this primarily with his own two hands, his trusty pickup truck and his even more trusty father, who helped do the heavy work for years and years on this course. Terry's contributions to the Bowdoin course cannot be overstated.

This year, the course was trashed after about a dozen races at the Coaches and Officials meet in a downpour in late October. Joey and I ran the course the next day during a Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club race. It was a mud pit, seemingly beyond repair.

Today, driving down the park road (thanks to Pete Sanfilippo for giving me VIP parking!), the course looked amazing. It was all mulched and in prime running condition. Nike had the course lined from start to finish. Really classy. When I talked to Terry the day before the race via cell, he was (as usual) down at Bowdoin putting the finishing touches on his baby. He told me: "You aren't gonna recognize this place."

He was right! Imagine being a volunteer groundskeeper at your local Little League field, and then having that field being transformed into Yankee Stadium overnight. That's how Terry must have felt. But as he accurately pointed out, this can be done with a Nike crew of 30 or so folks, as opposed to the one-man volunteer band that he is each and every autumn.

Oh, and one more thing, as an FYI for those interested in map minutia: Everyone says Bowdoin is in Wappingers Falls, and that is its mailing address. But technically, Bowdoin is located in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Not that anyone cares, but I'm kind of a maps/borders freak.

Anyway ... the races were excellent. The runners were among the best high schoolers in the country. It was sunny and windy. But for Nov. 28, you couldn't find better conditions or a better venue. A truly memorable day.

We did a lot of Marist networking down there today. Several runners and their families said there were going to drive up the road to Marist and check out the campus. Nice. Very nice.

Lastly, there has always been this debate about which courses are tougher. Holmdel in New Jersey. Wickham in Connecticut. Bowdoin in New York.

The best New York runners have known all about Bowdoin. Now, entrants in the Northeast Race can reach their own conclusions. No matter what they think, they should know that they saw Bowdoin at its absolute, glorious best today at the NXN meet.

Philly results from today

A pair of Running Red Foxes did well down in Philly today.

In the half marathon, Mike Rolek (class of 08) blitzed the half marathon in 1:09:52. He was eighth overall out of 7,188 finishers. Rolek checked in Sunday morning. He was not pleased and was hoping for better. A blazing 15:00 for 3 miles was a bit too aggressive to start. But Mike had been under the weather for a few weeks leading up to the race. Bad combo. Still, a solid performance and a sub-1:10 for 13.1 miles. Nicely done. BRO.

In the full marathon, current team sophomore Luke Shane ran a personal-best time of 3:08:17 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Luke was 396th overall out of 7,464 finishers and he was seventh in the 15-19 age group. He improved on his PR by a full 15 minutes. Like Rolek, he was hoping for slightly faster but still achieved his goal of a Boston qualifier. Nicely done!

Unfortunately for Luke, the 2010 Boston Marathon closed out a few weeks before Philly, so he'll have to wait till 2011 to run the famous race. Memo to Luke: Your young. You have many more Bostons in front of you, pal.

Women's ECAC results, some commentary

Team standings, ECAC University Division

1. Marist 85, 2. Albany 119, 3. Towson 137, 4. Binghamton 147, 5. Sacred Heart 188, 6. UNH 199, 7. Loyola 206, 8. Rider 208, 9. Monmouth 217, 10. Fordham 233, 11. George Mason 297, 12. Mansfield 342, 13. Holy Cross 342, 14. Seton Hall 378, 15. Fairfield 384, 16. Colgate 389, 17. VCU 408, 18. St. John’s 411, 19. Hofstra 512, 20. Siena 513

Marist individual results (5,000 meters)

5- Addie DiFrancesco 17:51.8 *school record, 5km cross country; **ECAC All-East
7-Brittany Burns 18:12.5 *ECAC All-East
15-Kathryn Sheehan 18:38.2 *ECAC All-East
28-Erin O’Reilly 18:59.8
33-Katie Messina 19:09.0
37-Julie Hudak 19:14.1
40-Sarah Parsloe 19:18.0
83-Jillian Corley 19:57.4
86-Kara Lightowler 19:59.2
94-Kelley Hanifin 20:01.9
99-Briana Crowe 20:05.3
108-Sarah Keating 20:15.4

Coaches Association Race (5,000 meters)

3-Laura Lindsley 19:50.0
7-Alyson O’Brien 20:05.3
11-Rebecca Denise 20:26.4
12-Dayna McLaughlin 20:35.1
13-Katie Topalian 20:35.4
15-Dana Boscarino 20:45.1
16-Colleen Smith 20:48.7
20-Kim Bartlett 21:00.1
23-Kelley Gould 21:09.7
25-Shannon Farrell 21:21.0
29-Rachel Lichtenwalner 21:32.9
30-Rachel Bremer 21:35.1

Commentary on team standings: Obviously, it does not get any better than this. We had the strongest 4-5-6-7 runners in the field, and that was that. Coach Chuck set three goals for the season-ending championships, and this enabled us to achieve them all. Nicely done!

Commentary on individual performances: Great job by Addie with a record-breaking time! Great way for Brit to go out as a graduating senior. Kathryn and Katie weren't feeling 100 percent, but they did their jobs superbly. Erin O'Reilly capped off a remarkable freshman season. Julie Hudak had a great bounce-back race and was a great leader for this team! Sarah Parsloe saved her best for last, wow! As far as the rest of the team, there were several strong performances and almost universally excellent times on a course that was not as easy as it appeared; certainly less challenging than the MAAC 6km, but not the pancake-flat/fast road race of Albany.

Again, it's not often days like this come along, and we should all enjoy it for what it is, and what it was.

Lastly, it was great for Phil to be there to witness this. His legacy and lineage still remain with this team, and he is still very much a part of our family. Thanks for riding in the van with me, it made the trips both ways seem very quick indeed.

Coming tomorrow: Updates from the Philly Marathon (Luke Shane) and Philly Half Marathon (Rolek).

Thanks as always for reading.

Men's IC4A results, some commentary

OK, the kids are settled and I have a little bit of computer time, so here goes ...

Men's team standings, IC4A Championship Division

1. Duke 41, 2. William and Mary 67, 3. George Mason 113, 4. LaSalle 130, 5. Columbia 150, 6. Marist 153, 7. Syracuse 193, 8. Princeton 213, 9. Delaware 230, 10. UMass 240, 11. St. Joseph’s 242, 12. Duquesne 318, 13. Harvard 320

Marist Individual results (5-mile course)

12-Matt Flint 25:48.5 *IC4A All-East
23-Will Griffin 26:07.7 *IC4A All-East
27-Curtis Jensen 26:12.6
39-Tim Keegan 26:26.2
52-Conor Shelley 26:35.1
71-Nick Webster 26:55.0
80-Zak Smetana 27:04.5
83-Tom Lipari 27:07.0
86-Sam McMullen 27:11.3
89-Sean Nestor 27:16.4
94-Pat Duggan 27:23.7
100-Matt Janczyk 27:36.7

Coaches Association race (5-mile course)

6-Mike Nicoletti 27:55.8
10-Billy Posch 28:04.8
11-Kyle Havard 28:07.6
16-Ryan Brown 28:40.7
20-Joel Moss 29:01.7
21-Colin Johnson 29:11.7
25-Michael Keegan 29;32.5
26-Ryan Fitzsimons 29:54.2
30-Greg Masto 30:25.8
33-Brendan Green 30:53.4

Notes on the team standings: Most of the teams in this race were not playing with a full deck, so to speak. That includes us, as we were sitting out Vess and Quimes, who are nursing injuries. We proved we could hang in this crowd, even without all our horses. Nicely done.

Notes on the course: This was still the "construction" VCP course, meaning the hills were condensed and thus making it tougher than the the "original" VCP course. However, this course was slightly shorter than the "construction" VCP course that was run at MAACs. What does this mean? Who knows. My guess it is what about 15-20 seconds SLOWER than the "original" VCP course. I will admit that the changing face of the VCP course is slightly annoying, given our meticulous school records at Vanny. But such is life. We can only run the race, and the course, that we are in. And today, we did that quite nicely.

Some notes on how our individuals ran, varsity: Flint proved to nail it pretty nicely at the end of the season; Will was still feeling the obvious effects of a serious flu illness; Curtis ran very strong and turned around what had been a 2-race slump of sorts; Zak and Duggan finished up strong, consistent seasons, their best ever in XC; same with Sam; Lipari had his best effort of the year; Keeg and Web ran well but definitely can do better, we will have to discuss and analyze things a little, but your value to our team is unquestioned; Nestor had a pretty typical freshman XC season, with some flashes of great things to come.

Some notes on how our individuals ran, JV: Obviously the times were faster; but in most cases, the effort and race was far superior to the MAAC meet. Among the big stars: Kyle Havard (huge!), Nicoletti, Posch, Brownie, Joel, Brendan; Meegan did fairly well in his first VCP; Fitz was not happy with how it went.

Some notes on our XC Seniors: Much like recent seniors, these men will be remembered as much for the tone they set OFF the xc course as the effort they put out ON the course. Future team successes will be rooted in all that you guys accomplished, both on and off the practice and race venues. It will never be forgotten by your old coach. Captain Conor, Captain Janzo, Masto, Colin: THANK YOU, MEN!

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.

A "banner" day at VCP!

Big, breaking news!

Our women's team WON the ECAC University Division, today at Van Cortlandt Park.

Addie DiFrancesco set an all-time Marist xc 5km record and was 5th place overall. Brittany Burns and Kathryn Sheehan joined Addie as All-East finishers, all placing in the top 15.

Our 4-5-6-7 pack was the best in the race. Depth wins cross country races!

Congrats, ladies. And major kudos to Coach Chuck for putting together a great program. The future is bright.

Our men's varsity -- minus Vess and Quimes -- had a strong showing in the Championship Division. We were 6th of 13 in a competitive field. A positive end to a mostly strong season.

More results and details later on when I have time to type them up.

FYI: It was literally a "banner" day as the ECAC rewarded us with an "ECAC Champions" banner, which is now hanging proudly in Chuck's office.

Rock on.

One more time for Ogden Hills

On Wednesday, a few men did a scaled back version of the opening season Ogden Hills workout. Fitz called it a "full circle" moment as we ended the season with the same workout as we began it.

It was a beautiful fall day, not nearly as cold as it seems based on how I was dressed. Also pictured are Captain Conor leading the charge up the hill, along with the Thug Patrol of Mr. Awesome, Flint and Will.

Thanks to Vess for taking the pictures and providing me with coffee.