What's next: NYU Team Challenge

Our next meet, on Saturday, is a new one to our schedule. It is called the NYU Team Challenge, hosted by our pal down at NYU, Nick McDonough. The meet does not start till 6 p.m., and it promises to be a fast-mover. Nick invited only about 8-10 teams, and there are limited entries. It is a scored meet, and it should move fast. We are not bringing all of our athletes -- many of the longer distance runners who will be competing at Terrier next week will train through this weekend's meet. If a time schedule is available, I will post it here.

Black ice

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. The scourge of winter is not snow. It is not bitter cold. It is not even wind. It is ice. Black ice. My pals and I did a skating rink 6 miles today in the City of Poughkeepsie, the streets of which were covered in a thin sheen of ice. It was not fun. Winter's here to stay, as we are skating away on the thin ice of a new day.

Down with disease

This winter's flu is making news. Apparently, it is a stronger than normal strain. In particular, the city of Boston has been hit hard by it. I'm also hearing that the flu vaccine was not as effective as it normally is. And so, there is a lot of flu going around. I had my dance with the devilish virus a few weeks ago. Now, it's Coach Chuck's turn, and it seems to have hit him hard. We wish him a speedy recovery, and we hope that Coach Horton does not fall prey to the scourge. Down with disease, already!

A short winter story by a 7-year-old

Last year, I shared with you a letter written by my son James around Thanksgiving time. This year, I would like to share with you a story he wrote for his first-grade class, entitled "In Winter." I saw it laying around the dining room table and thought I would share it with you.

In Winter, by James
In Winter on New Year's eve I had a snow ball fight. Later then I went to a New Year's eve party. At the party I staed (sic) up till the ball drop.

Editor's note: With the recent warm weather, future snow ball fights are on hold. But the cold is making a return soon. Hope you enjoyed the story.

Gotham Cup: Men's results and splits

Here are the results for the men from Friday. Thanks to Schanz for the help/backup on splits later in the evening. In my early-morning haze, I neglected to mention Will Griffin's excellent mile run in which he went 2:10/2:05 negative split for a near IC4A qualifier. It was an excellent effort in a physically taxing race. If there are any errors, omissions or discrepancies in these results/splits, please let me know. Thank you.

Gotham Cup, Friday, January 11, 2013, NYC Armory

Men’s results

60-meter dash

52-Jesse Aprile 7.38

58-Darren Bushey 7.41

63-Tyler Schwarz 7.46

60-meter hurdles

16-Alex Cunningham 8.96 (8.41 in qualifying round)

45-Robert Marone 9.42

50-Brian Psota 9.69

400-meter dash

76-Andrew James 54.34

88-Connor Dodge 57.50

500-meter dash

43-Frank Amoresano 1:10.01

49-Zach Berzal 1:10.45

62-Marc Cenicola 1:12.72

800-meter run

47-Isaiah Miller 2:07.90

29.2, 61.3 (32.1), 1:35.5 (34.2), 2:07.90 (32.40)

Mile run

3-Will Griffin 4:15.86

33.2, 66.2 (34.0), 1:37.9 (31.7), 2:10.4 (32.5), 2:42.4 (32.0), 3:14.4 (32.0), 3:45.2 (30.8), 4:15.86 (30.66)

28-Mark Valentino 4:34.01

34, 68 (34), 1:42 (34), 2:16 (34), 2:51 (35), 3:25 (34), 3:59 (34), 4:34.01 (35.01)

35-Ryan Scrudato 4:39.05

33, 69 (36), 1:44 (35), 2:17 (33), 2:32 (35), 3:27 (35), 4:03 (36), 4:39.06 (36.05)

3,000-meter run

5-Ken Walshak 8:34.25

34, 74 (37), 1:45 (34), 2:20 (35), 2:54 (34)

3:28 (34), 4:03 (35), 4:38 (35), 5:12 (34), 5:46 (34)

6:21 (35), 6:55 (34), 7:30 (35), 8:03 (33), 8:34.25 (31.25)

Kilometer splits: 2:54, 2:52, 2:48.25

10-Conor Shelley (Marist Alum, running for New York AC) 8:46.86

35, 72 (37), 1:46 (34), 2:21 (35), 2:55 (34)

3:29 (34), 4:05 (36), 4:41 (36), 5:16 (35), 5:51 (35)

6:25 (34), 7:01 (36), 7:36 (35), 8:12 (36), 8:46.86 (34.86)

Kilometer splits: 2:55, 5:51 (2:56), 8:46.86 (2:55.86)

30-Billy Hild 9:04.36

35.1, 71.1 (36.0), 1:46.8 (35.7), 2:22.7 (35.9), 2:58.5 (35.8)

3:34.7 (36.2), 4:11.0 (36.3), 4:47.8 (36.8), 5:24.6 (36.8), 6:01.7 (37.1)

6:38.2 (36.5), 7:14.6 (36.4), 7:51.6 (37.0), 8:28.4 (36.8), 9:04.36 (35.96)

Kilometer splits: 2:58.5, 3:03.2, 3:02.56

37-Johnny Lee 9:14.92

35, 70 (35), 1:45 (35), 2:21 (36), 2:57 (36)

3:35 (37), 4:12 (37), 4:49 (37), 5:27 (38), 6:05 (38)

6:44 (39), 7:22 (38), 8:01 (39), 8:38 (37), 9:14.92 (36.92)

Kilometer splits: 2:57, 3:08, 3:09.92

Distance medley relay

3-Marist (David Marthy, Frank Amoresano, Matt Panebianco, Arquimedes DelaCruz) 10:17.37 *ICAAAA qualifier

David Marthy: 31, 62 (31), 1:32 (30), 2:03 (31), 2:04 (31), 3:05.4 (31.4)

Frank Amoresano: 24, 52.3 (28.3)

Matt Panebianco: 27, 56 (29), 1:27 (31), 1:58.3 (31.3)

Arquimedes DelaCruz: 32, 66 (34), 1:39 (33), 2:12 (33), 2:44 (32), 3:17 (33), 3:50 (33), 4:21 (31)

3,200-meter relay

6-Marist (Bryan Buttigieg, Mark Vuono, Ty Gamble, Pat Rynkowski) 8:07.99

Bryan Buttigieg: 29, 59 (30), 1:29 (30), 2:01.5 (32.5)

Mark Vuono: 28, 57 (29), 1:27 (30), 2:00.2 (33.2)

Ty Gamble: 28, 57 (29), 1:29 (32), 2:02.9 (33.9)

Pat Rynkowski: 29, 61 (32), 1:33 (32), 2:03.1 (30.1)

1,600-meter relay

31-Marist (Zack Berzal 54.2, Alex Cunningham 53.8, Robert Marone 57.1, Darren Bushey 55.0) 3:40.68

Triple jump

30-Andrew Rokoszak 12.21 meters

32-Aaron Kippins 12.11 meters

Long jump

46-Andrew Rokoszak 5.58 meters

52-Jesse Aprile 4.71 meters

Gotham Cup: Women's results and splits

Here are the results and splits for Friday afternoon/night meet at the Armory. Thanks to Will Schanz for backup and assistance on splits, especially in the 5km. My mind is still a bit fried from the long day, so if there are any discrepancies with the splits, please let me know and I will correct. Check out the nearly perfect, bell-curve splits in Katie Messina's excellent early-season 5,000. Nicely done.
Gotham Cup, Friday, January 11, 2013, NYC Armory

Women’s results and splits

60-meter dash

52-Danielle Asaro 8.43

58-Nicole Scicolone 8.53

400-meter dash

49-Colleen Meenan 1:04.35

800-meter run

16-Christine Coughlin 2:22.97

33.6, 69.5 (35.9), 1:46.4 (36.9), 2:22.97 (36.57)

55-Catherine Ferreri 2:41.28

35.8, 75.0 (39.2), 1:57.3 (42.3), 2:41.28 (43.98)

60-Lizzie Peper 2:47.23

35.8, 75.7 (39.9), 1:59.2 (43.5), 2:47.23 (48.03)

Mile run

6-Kristen Traub 5:05.75

36.8, 74.7 (37.9), 1:51.9 (37.2), 2:29.0 (37.1), 3:07.5 (38.5), 3:47.1 (39.6), 4:27.0 (39.9), 5:05.75 (38.75)

37-Annie Gould 5:54.98

40.0, 80.5 (40.5), 2:02.6 (42.1), 2:47.1 (44.5), 3:32.8 (45.7), 4:20.2 (47.4), 5:05.3 (48.1), 5:54.98 (49.68)

3,000-meter run

6-Kathryn Sheehan 10:35.11

39, 79 (40), 1:59 (40), 2:40 (41), 3:21 (41)

4:02 (41), 4:43 (41), 5:25 (42), 6:07 (42), 6:50 (43)

7:34 (44), 8:20 (46), 9:06 (46), 9:52 (46), 10:34.11 (42.11)

Kilometer splits: 3:21, 3:29, 3:44.11

14-Rachel Bremer 11:05.27

41, 83 (42), 2:06 (43), 2:47 (41), 3:30 (43)

4:14 (44), 4:57 (43), 5:41 (44), 6:26 (45), 7:12 (46)

7:58 (46), 8:44 (46), 9:31 (47), 10:18 (47), 11:05.27 (47.27)

Kilometer splits: 3:30, 3:42, 3:53.27

17-Brianna Freestone 11:19.26

40, 82 (42), 2:04 (42), 2:47 (43), 3:31 (44)

4:16 (45), 5:02 (46), 5:49 (47), 6:35 (46), 7:21 (45)

8:09 (48), 8:57 (48), 9:45 (48), 10:33 (48), 11:19.26 (46.26)

Kilometer splits: 3:31, 3:50, 3:58.26

5,000-meter run

2-Katie Messina 18:25.84

41, 85 (44), 2:09 (44), 2:52 (43), 3:36 (44)

4:21 (45), 5:05 (44), 5:49 (44), 6:33 (44), 7:18 (45)

8:02 (44), 8:47 (45), 9:31 (44), 10:16 (45), 11:01 (45)

11:46 (45), 12:31 (45), 13:15 (44), 14:00 (45), 14:45 (45)

15:29 (44), 16:14 (45), 16:59 (45), 17:44 (45), 18:25.84 (41.84)

Kilometer splits: 3:36, 3:42, 3:43, 3:44, 3:40.84

8-Rachel Lichtenwalner 20:01.68

44, 89 (45), 2:14 (45), 2:58 (44), 3:45 (47)

4:36 (49), 5:18 (42), 6:05 (47), 6:51 (46), 7:38 (47)

8:25 (47), 9:13 (48), 10:02 (49), 10:51 (49), 11:40 (49)

12:31 (51), 13:19 (48), 14:09 (50), 14:59 (50), 15:49 (50)

16:40 (51), 17:33 (53), 18:24 (51), 19:14 (50), 20:01.68 (47.68)

Kilometer splits: 3:45, 3:53, 4:02, 4:09, 4:12.68  

9-Kelley Gould 20:12.24

44, 89 (45), 2:14 (45), 2:59 (45), 3:45 (46)

4:36 (49), 5:18 (42), 6:05 (47), 6:50 (45), 7:38 (48)

8:25 (47), 9:13 (48), 10:01 (48), 10:50 (49), 11:39 (49)

12:29 (50), 13:18 (49), 14:09 (51), 15:00 (51), 15:54 (54)

16:46 (52), 17:38 (52), 18:30 (52), 19:21 (51), 20:12.24 (52.24)

Kilometer splits: 3:45, 3:53, 4:01, 4:15, 4:16.24  

Distance medley relay

3-Marist (Kristen Traub, Colleen Meenan, Christine Coughlin, Nicki Nesi) 12:36.85

Kristen Traub: 35, 73 (38), 1:50 (37), 2:28 (38), 3:06 (38), 3:43.5 (37.5)

Colleen Meenan: 30, 63.8 (33.8)

Christine Coughlin: 32, 68 (36), 1:47 (39), 2:26.4 (39.4)

Nicki Nesi: 37, 79 (42), 2:01 (42), 2:42 (41), 3:24 (42), 4:05 (41), 4:46 (41), 5:23 (37)

Long jump

20-Nicole Scicolone 4.97 meters

Gotham Cup: Quick highlights from a hot day and night

Please forgive my bleary-eyed brain as I type this after driving the maroon van through a heavy rain and bizarre fog (warm-ish January temperatures, combined with snow melting), after Friday afternoon and evening's Gotham Cup at the Armory, hosted by our pal Nick McDonough from NYU. A few bizarre, surreal thoughts at this bizarre, surreal time of morning for me:

1. The Armory was hot. I mean: HOT. I had my usual three layers of clothing on, but quickly stripped down to a dri-fit long-sleeve shirt, and I was sweating the entire night. Felt like I had a fever. And I was just sitting and standing around, yelling encouragement and splits. Try racing long distances in those conditions! Not good at all. The shorter-distance races and events benefit from such steamy conditions. But the longer half of the equation really suffers.
2. In a very unusual twist, we did not enter any (not even ONE) athlete in the men's 5,000-meter run, which was held early in the meet. Instead, at that time while men from other teams were circling the track 25 times, we were focusing our attention on the long jump and hurdle events. Such irony was not lost on other coaches who have known us and our program for a long time. Hey, it is what it is, and we are proud of the hard work of our "infield" athletes -- dash, hurdles, jumps -- in our never-ending, Sisyphean quest to become a well-rounded program.

In terms of highlights from the meet, the top one was our IC4A qualifying DMR of 10:17.37 on the men's side. Sophomore David Marthy set the tone on the 1,200-meter leg, leading wire to wire and running 3:05.4. Nicely done, especially for this early. The relay team placed third overall, edged out by St. Joseph's and Stony Brook.

Additionally on the men's side, freshman hurdler Alex Cunningham ran a strong and clean race in the preliminary round (8.41 seconds, a personal-best) and qualified for the final. The final race didn't go as well, but we were pleased with the initial effort. In the 3,000-meter run, Ken Walshak (8:34.25) and Billy Hild (9:04.36) notched PR times, a good way to start the season. On the women's side, senior captain Katie Messina was the top finisher with a second-place in the 5,000-meter run, and our DMR got third place.

It was great to see loyal Marist Running Alums Matt Walsh (back home from Flagstaff, but heading back West soon) and Conor Shelley. Conor, running for NYAC, ran the 3,000 in 8:46.86.

I'm probably forgetting something else as the clock inches toward 2 a.m. We will post complete results and splits at some point later today (Saturday, that is).

Gotham Cup at Armory today

Here is the time schedule and order of events. 

Track events (women, then men)

12:45pm                      60 Hurdles                                          trials

1:15pm                        Men 5k                                                seeded

1:35pm                        60 meter                                              trials

2:20pm                        Mile                                                     Final

3:10pm                        60 Hurdle Finals                                 (top 8 by time from trials)

3:30pm                        60 Dash Final                                      (top 8 by time from trials)

3:40pm                        400m                                                   Final

4:35pm                        500m                                                   Final

5:25pm                        800m                                                   Final

6:15pm                        1000m                                                 Final                                  

6:50pm                        4x400 relay                                         Final

7:50pm                        4x800 relay                                         Final

8:10pm                        DMR                                                   Final

8:40pm                        Women’s 3000                                    Final

9:05pm                        Men’s 3000                                         Final

9:35pm                        Women’s 5000                                    Final

Field events                                   

1:00 p.m. Long jump
5:30 p.m. Triple jump

Having a BALL during intersession

So ... what's a track team to do with all their free time during the long winter break in Poughkeepsie? Well, as you'll see in the above photo, several members of our awesome sprint/hurdle/jumps team went BOWLING at Mardi-Bob Lanes. I happen to love bowling. Two of my kids are in a Saturday bowling league. For many years, when I worked full-time at Dutchess County's Finest Daily Newspaper, I wrote about bowling, covered bowling and even typed in the top bowling scores in the area. So yeah ... I like bowling.

And so, too, do our fastest athletes -- who, by the way, killed it in a great workout today at the Big Blue Doughnut at SUNY. Side note: We set a program record for three consecutive indoor practices over there this week. That's a lot of bridge tolls! Anyway ... check out the photo above with our team of Vanzetta (love those socks, dude), Katie Mac, Nicole, Dodge and Danielle, Tyler, Zach, Marc (we like to call him RALPH), Andrew and Robert. No word on who had the high scores, but my gut feeling is that they probably won't be entering the pro bowling tour anytime soon.

Programming note: Our first meet of 2013 is the Gotham Cup at the NYC Armory on Friday night. Events begin at about 12:30 p.m. on the track and continue well into the evening.

The return of the Big Blue Doughnut

The team is back, and our indoor/outdoor track journey of the next four-plus months has begun in earnest. Our first meet of 2013 is Friday at the Armory, with the Gotham Cup. And for the second winter in a row, we have returned to our borrowed indoor track practice venue with our friends at SUNY New Paltz.

Last year, I called the track to the "Big Blue Doughnut" because of its color (obviously) and because of the circular shape of the track. There are virtually no straightaways on this track; constant turns. On Monday, our first practice at the Doughnut, several athletes had their first experience on the track. Everybody seemed to like it. Today (Tuesday), we will return with the middle- and long-distance crew, several of whom have been there before.

Because of the timing of the track's availability this year, we have multiple, staggered practice times. We are not complaining; rather, we are grateful for the ability to practice indoors every once in a while, something we lost two years ago with the elimination of our indoor track at the McCann Center gym (now the McCann Arena).

More thoughts on New Year ...

My "Happy New Year" post elicited some nice comments from some loyal friends and followers. Among the nuggets of wisdom I received in response to the post:

--From a friend, via e-mail: “Increasingly life seems about inspiration. Finding things that inspire yourself. Doing and saying things that inspire others.’’ I liked that a lot.

--From a loyal alum and very loyal blog follower, who compared the post to the work of St. Therese of Lisieux: “We all live ordinary lives, not doing anything exceptional. Thérèse reminds us that we can all aspire to sainthood by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well.’’ I liked that a lot, too.

--From a fellow coach, with years of wisdom under his belt: Our payoff sometimes does not come for many years after the fact. We have to be OK with the fact that eventually our impact may be felt by those we coach.

Amen to all. Thanks for the feedback and support. Onward in earnest to 2013. We’ll see where the paths lead us this calendar year.

FA50 at Norrie Point: A day in the cold with my old friend

Saturday was the kickoff to the Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club 2013 race season. As always, it starts with a race that my good friend Charlie Sprauer and I organize: The Recover from the Holidays (Fat A--) 50-kilometer run. The race consists of 10 repeats of an out-and-back 5K loop on park roads. When I checked the roads on Thursday, there was a lot of ice. But a few warmish days and some sanding allowed the course to be clear for the run.

There were 16 finishers in the race (see results below). The race winners posted the fifth-fastest times in race history, which goes back to 1996. In all, there were more than 100 runners – including our own Omar and Catherine – who came out to do their weekend long run with friends. A great way to start the year.

Recover From the Holidays (Fat Ass) 50-kilometer race

Norrie Point, Staatsburg, NY

Saturday, January 5, 2013

1-Jason Friedman (New Paltz, 37) 3:32:08

2-Steven Sweeney (Albany, 57) 4:13:52

3-Sheryl Wheeler (Rhinebeck, 49) 4:37:32

4-Tom DeHaan (Kingston, 50) 4:43:36

5-Dave Fernekes (Poughkeepsie, 54) 4:50:00

6-Rosalynn Frederick (Great Barrington, MA, 36) 4:58:35

7-Kristen Porter (Pawling, 41) 5:03:09

8-Stephen Heath (Beacon, 34) 5:10:07

9-Allison Lassoe (Sheffield, MA, 50) 5:10:50

10-Jeanine Armbrust (Staatsburg, 46) 5:14:23

11-Franz Muller (Cody, NE, 53) 5:31:25

12-Paula Rugar (Poughkeepsie, 43) 5:34:56

13-Drew Hopkins (Hudson, 43) 5:38:36

14-Jim Russo (Guilderland, 56) 5:49:35

15-Dave Weiss (Corning, 64) 5:52:04

16-Susan Wong (Glenmont, 65) 5:53:50