IC4A results from today ... will have to wait!

Because of some finish line timing issues, it may be awhile before we have results from the men at the IC4A Championships University Division today. A bunch of us coaches were huddled over the finish-line cameras, trying to piece together and re-create the meet results. Our guys ran well and in a very tight pack. Our top-5 spread was pretty tight. We overcame an early race injury and DNF from sophomore Ryan Colabella, who went down and turned his ankle in the first half-mile of the race. In particular, sophomores Charlie Ropes and Bryan Buttigieg really stepped up to fill the gaps. Great stuff! In the meantime, here are results from the first race of the day, in which our non-varsity guys ran extremely well -- led by sophomore Omar (BROmar) Perez, who finished second overall and PRed by a fancy full minute! University Division results will be posted whenever I get them.

IC4A Coaches Races, Men’s 5-mile results

2-Omar Perez 27:15.6

3-Spencer Johnson 27:25.0

5-Pat Deedy 27:33.8

8-Mark Vuono 27:42.2

9-Stefan Morton 27:44.8

10-Nick Salamone 27:47.6

11-Doug Ainscow 27:55.3

12-Tommy Lappas 27:59.5

13-Ty Gamble 28:03.1

14-Justin Tampellini 28:15.1

15-Nick Hughes 28:16.9

27-Eddie White 30:18.4

Final tailgate of the season at Van Cortlandt Park

Kathy Gould asked me to post here to remind all parents, family and friends who plan on attending Saturday's XC-ending IC4A/ECAC Championships that this will also be the final Team Tailgate of the season, at Van Cortlandt Park. Anyone who wishes to contribute/coordinate with Kathy should reach out to her at kathygould@optonline.net. As always, our tailgates are awesome, and the team bus gets loaded with lots of food and drink for the ride home and beyond. Look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday as we close out the 2013 cross country season.

IC4A/ECAC race schedule

Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park
Women's Coaches' Association Race: 9:30 a.m.
Men's Coaches' Association Race: 9:40 a.m.
Men's IC4A University Division Race: 11:30 a.m.
Women's ECAC University Division Race: 12:15 p.m.

Riding with Coach: A remembrance of Duane Davis

This was the mid-1980s. I don’t remember the specific year. I do remember that I was a young, nervous and aspiring sportswriter. My assignment was to write an article on Duane Davis, the baseball and basketball coach at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park. “Davis was a tough one,’’ my newspaper colleagues warned me. “He hates articles about himself,” they said. “He’d rather talk about his athletes.” Good luck with that, they clucked with a snicker.

I prepared my questions in my steno/reporters’ notebook. The list started with your basic sportswriter questions; there were others about his athletic/coaching background. Other than the admonitions from my jaded colleagues, I really did not know what to expect. I called Coach Davis at home to arrange the interview. OK. Arrive at promptly 12:30 in the afternoon at the FDR parking lot. Hmm. That’s odd. I’m gonna interview this guy in the parking lot? I arrived at the appointed time. Coach Davis was there. He ordered me to get in the passenger seat of his car. The interview would take place during his lunch break, and during his lunch break he would be going to the bank. The interview would last exactly as long as it took Coach Davis to drive to the bank, do his banking (while I waited in the car) and drive back to FDR.

I started in with my questions. His answers were directed as much at his windshield as at me. He never took his eyes off the road. His answers started out short, staccato, not giving up much. My body shifted as we careened around the curves along South Cross Road. The usual sportswriter/coach talk. Inane questions. Clipped answers. When I started asking about his own athletic background, the answers became a bit more expansive. On the return trip from the bank, we were pretty much having a conversation more than an interview. I was feeling good about this. I was filling up my notebook. I was going to be able to write a decent story.

We got back to the high school. As instructed, the interview ceased at that moment. We shook hands. He went back to his day. I went back to mine. I wrote the article. It is a long-ago press clipping that I never saved and have certainly forgotten about – until I heard that Coach Davis, sister of Athletic Director Tim Murray’s secretary Janet Davis, passed away earlier this month. Coach Davis had a long and storied career, at both FDR and at Mount St. Mary College. He touched the lives of thousands of athletes he coached and taught. I never got to know Coach Davis all that well after that drive to the bank that afternoon, but I got the sense that he was a tough guy who cared deeply about the boys that he coached and who he helped to transform into better and fine young men.

Coach Davis did not call after the article was published. This is good. In the newspaper business, the only post-article calls you get are for things that you screwed up. No feedback is great feedback. Coach Davis never mentioned his opinion of the article. Like most old-school, taskmaster coaches, I would later learn that Coach Davis parses out praise in tiny morsels.

However, in ensuing years when he would call in results to the newspaper, he would address me by name. When I would cover his team’s games, he would give me that firm handshake, direct eye contact, and he would remember my name. I’d like to think that was the old coach’s way of saying that I did all right by him on that long-ago ride to and from the bank.

Philadelphia Marathon: Luke Shane PRs; Dave Swift neg splits

Congrats to Marist Running Alums Luke Shane (2:42:07) and David Swift (3:08:39) for their excellent races at the Philadelphia Marathon this morning. Luke went for it, aiming for that elusive sub-2:40 performance. His half marathon split was 1:18:58 and he was well on his way. However, he encountered some late-race issues -- it's a marathon, it happens! -- and fell short of the pre-race goal. HOWEVER ... the time represents an excellent personal-best for Luke.

Mr. Bucket (Swift) had a nice bounce-back effort after his wheels-coming-off race at NYC just two weeks ago. He went through the half in 1:35:53 and came back with a nice, negative split second half of 1:32:46 (if I'm doing the math properly). This qualifies Mr. B for the 2015 Boston Marathon, where he hopes to join his fellow Middle Age Machine training partners.

Speaking of training partners, a quick shout-out to one of my morning jogging buddies, David Osterhoudt. Davey O ran 3:12:20, despite dealing with health issues (he came down with a major sinus/ear infection earlier in the week) and foot problems as well.

Nicely done, one and all.

Luke's splits: 36:52 (10km); 1:18:58 (half marathon); 1:52:49 (30km); 2:42:07 (personal best); 14th in division, 66th in gender, 69th overall
Swift's splits: 45:19 (10km); 1:35:53 (half marathon); 2:15:40 (30km); 3:08:39 (Boston qualifier); 62nd in division, 515th overall

Women's regional: Team photo

NCAA Regional team, circa 2013, from left: Junior Michelle Gaye, freshman Janelle Solviletti, sophomore Kristen Traub, sophomore Nicki Nesi, sophomore Annie Gould, freshman Jaime Durso, junior Erin Thompson.

For those keeping score at home: Of the 14 athletes who raced with the fancy Marist singlets on Friday, a total of one (1!) was a senior (Scrudato).

Men's regional: Team photo

NCAA Regional team members, circa 2013, from left: Freshman Jake Hensler, sophomore Ryan Colabella, sophomore Pat Rynkowski, junior Mark Valentino, senior captain Ryan Scrudato, sophomore Johnny Lee, junior Ian Dorset.

Alumni race results: Elizabeth O'Brien's stellar half marathon!

It has been a phenomenal fall for our ever-growing list of women's running alums, and 2012 grad Elizabeth O'Brien provides yet another highlight. At the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Savannah last weekend, Elizabeth ran an incredible debut time of 1:35:58 (7:20 pace). She was 227th overall out of 11,414 finishers; 10th of 583 in her age group; 49th of 7,959 in her gender.

Here are her splits: 5km, 22:30; 10km, 45:20; 10-mile, 1:12:59. Overall pace: 1:12:59.

Elizabeth and her twin sister Allyson were great and loyal teammates here for four years; they were part of Coach Chuck's first full recruiting class of XC/distance runners, a group that has become outstanding alumni runners. The O'Brien twins are originally from Central New York but the O'Brien Family moved to South Carolina a few years ago while they were still at Marist. Anyway ... we are extremely thrilled at this performance. NICELY DONE!

Alumni race results: Stockadeathon

In the "better late than never" department ... Congrats to our loyal Marist Running alums Nick Webster and Lisa D'Aniello, now running for our friends at the Albany Running Exchange, for their excellent races at the Stockadeathon 15-kilometer race last weekend in Schenectady.

Web was 15th overall and sixth in his age group in a stacked field in 51:08 (5:30 pace). We remember Web this time of year as he provided one of the biggest money performances in school history at the NCAA Regional meet three years ago at Hamonnasset, enabling our team to get a program-best 10th place. Glad that he is still running strong.

Lisa, who made her mark here at Marist in both rowing and track, continues to chase it on the roads with great success. She was seventh in her age group in 1:03:00, an average of 6:46 per mile. Her 5km split was 20:55 and her 10km split was 42:01.

Great job to both!

NCAA Regionals: Women's results

The women fought hard in an extremely competitive race across the board. Our lead runners did a great job. We had big gaps in there between our places, and we need to tighten them up. Again, the effort was there. Up next: ECACs ...

NCAA Northeast Regional

Friday, November 15, 2013

Van Cortlandt Park

Women’s individual results, 6,000-meter course

87. Kristen Traub 22:08.0

91. Michelle Gaye 22:11.2

127. Janelle Solviletti 22:37.4

167. Nicki Nesi 23:08.0

204. Erin Thompson 24:05.2

222. Annie Gould 24:36.9

229. Jaime Durso 24:44.7

Women’s team standings

1-Providence 44, 2-Dartmouth 84, 3-Syracuse 135, 4-Cornell 154, 5-Boston College 169, 6-Harvard 211, 7-Columbia 228, 8-Iona 229, 9-New Hampshire 250, 10-Albany 326, 11-Connecticut 332, 12-Stony Brook 359, 13-Yale 385, 14-Boston University 390, 15-Brown 394, 16-Vermont 399, 17-Quinnipiac 516, 18-Sacred Heart 520, 19-Buffalo 528, 20-Northeastern 570, 21-Army 598, 22-Bryant 654, 23-Marist 670, 24-Holy Cross 705, 25-UMass 712, 26-Fordham 730, 27-Canisius 791, 28-Hartford 822, 29-Binghamton 853, 30-St. Bonaventure 881, 31-Maine 890, 32-Fairfield 901, 33-Manhattan 990, 34-Siena 1005, 35-Hofstra 1010, 36-Niagara 1014, 37-Central Connecticut 1015, 38-INC, St. John’s