Penn Relays: Friday's relay results

It was a long and not-so-great day for our relay teams at Penn on Friday. As Coach Horton said, we seemed to be about 1-second off everything -- overall splits, overall times, or in some cases ... both. But as always, Penn is a great experience and we are honored to be there every year. A fitting end to the day: Just as our section of the sprint medley relay was about to start, the skies opened and it started raining and was a bit windy. Our SMR guys competed well and fell just short of the school record. Here are the numbers:

4x100-meter relay: 80th place of 92 teams, 44.27. Team of Tim Johnson, Tyler Schwarz, Jesse Aprile, Alex Cunningham.

4x400-meter relay: 82nd place of 89 teams, 3:29.91. Team of Tim Johnson, Kyle Heubner, Nate Lungarini, Zach Berzal.

Sprint medley relay: 25th place of 34 teams, 3:31.29. Team of Tim Johnson, Tyler Schwarz, Matt Edwards, David Marthy (1:54.19 split, according to Penn website).

Penn Relays: Under the lights

Steeple brothers Mark Valentino and Ken Walshak at Franklin Field.

Penn Relays: Men's distance night results

We had two men running the steeplechase. Mark Valentino had a monster, breakthrough effort -- an 11-second PR and a high placement in the Olympic Development race. Ken Walshak ran a strong effort but clearly showed rust in his form, having not run this event in two years. Here are the numbers:

Penn Relays

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Men’s distance night results

Olympic Development 3,000-meter steeplechase

5. Mark Valentino 9:18.15

72, 2:27 (75), 3:42 (75), 4:58 (76)

6:15 (77), 7:33 (78), 8:47 (74), 9:18.15 (31.15)

College men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase

32. Ken Walshak 9:27.33

74, 2:29 (75), 3:46 (77), 5:02 (76)

6:21 (79), 7:35 (84), 8:57 (84), 9:27.33 (30.33)

Penn Relays: Women's distance night results

We had two athletes competing on distance night at Penn. Junior Michelle Gaye ran a hard-fought personal-best time in the 5,000-meter run. Sophomore Kristen Traub was on school-record pace for much of the race but fell just short of the mark. Both competed hard and represented our program with pride. Here are the numbers:

Penn Relays
Thursday, April 24, 2014

Women’s distance night results

College Women’s 3,000-meter run

24. Kristen Traub 10:06.20

78.8, 2:36.6 (77.8), 3:55.9 (79.3), 5:16.3 (80.4)

6:38.5 (82.5), 8:00.4 (81.9), 9:25.5 (85.1), 10:06.20 (40.70)

College Women’s 5,000-meter run

21. Michelle Gaye 17:28.38 (personal best time)

84, 2:43 (79), 4:06 (83), 5:28 (82)

6:52 (84), 8:15 (83), 9:40 (85), 11:05 (85)

12:30 (85), 13:55 (85), 15:21 (86), 16:47 (86)

17:28.38 (41.38)

1600-meter splits: 5:28, 5:37, 5:42

3km split: 10:20

Penn Relays schedule for our athletes

We will have athletes competing on Thursday and Friday at Penn Relays at the following times.

Thursday
Men's steeplechase, college championship, 7:30 p.m.: Ken Walshak
Men's steeplechase, Olympic Development, 7:50 p.m.: Mark Valentino
Women's 3,000, college championship, 8:30 p.m.: Kristen Traub
Women's 5,000, college championship, 8:40 p.m.: Michelle Gaye
Friday
Men's 4x100 meter relay: 12:30 p.m.
Men's 4x400 meter relay: 4:15 p.m.
Men's sprint medley relay: 6:30 p.m.

Happy Earth Day

Today is Earth Day, a worthy spring day to observe the beauty of nature and conserve our resources. The world's best coffee shop/convenience store, Stewart's, gave free coffee all day to those who entered with a refillable mug. I found my refillable mug. It was a wonderful day.

Foul mood?

Anytime you can combine my two favorite sports -- baseball and track -- is a good day for me. So it was at the Vassar Track this morning, when we arrived the homestanding Brewers were playing a baseball doubleheader with St. Lawrence. The sound of baseball. The smell of cut grass. An empty track, awaiting an interval workout. A warm breeze. What a great morning ...

Until the ping of the aluminum bat yielded a foul pop behind home plate and into the track area, nearly giving Gregg a concussion. Yikes. Time to move our backpacks and our bodies closer to the start/finish line. Play ball!

Boston Marathon: Matt Szymaszek (2:45:22) conquers the race

Matt Szymaszek's race report, via email: "I was with Joe T this morning and we both had out of body  experiences considering how little work we put in prior to this race. This was my first Boston and it was truly was an incredible experience. Starting residency last July and adding a terrible winter on top it it has severely impacted any chances of a regular running schedule. I'm not sure how much more running I'll be able to squeeze into my schedule because Lindsey and I are expecting the birth of our first child in October! In any case, could not be more pleased with these results and I look forward to having another chance at it in the future.'' 

Boston Marathon: Kara Lightowler, all smiles at the finish

Kara Lightowler, 3:04:29, 203rd in the women's field

Boston Marathon: Joe T. and his awesome cheering squad

 Joe Tarantello, proud Boston finisher, proud to have him on the Marist Alumni Racing Team. Nicely done!

Boston Marathon: CT sizzles ... just what the doctor ordered!

Thanks to Walsh and Rolek for updating me on another Boston Marathon result from today. Matt "CT" Szymaszek powered to a tremendous time of 2:45:22 and placed 608th overall in the race. Unless I am otherwise notified, he is the fastest male finisher among Marist Running alums.

Also, this from Rolek: Apparently, due to the terrible winter for training, both CT and Joe T. (2:51:48) had subpar training for today's race. And lest we forget, CT is now a doctor, so he's a bit busy as well (not that Joe T., a teacher and a coach, is living the life of leisure either! ... all these guys are busy). So for both of these guys to run as fast as they did ... it is remarkable and worthy of our continued praise. Nicely done, men!

Boston Marathon: Kara LIGHTS it up with a 3:04:29!

Marist Running was well-represented today at the Boston Marathon:

--Leading the way was Kara Lightowler (Class of 2012), who placed 189th in the women’s race in an amazing performance of 3:04:29. She went through the half marathon split in 1:30:03. Great, great job by K-Lights!

--Very proud of my Marist 1986 classmate Pete Pazik, former school record holder at 5,000 meters. Pazik proved he’s still got it as he approaches the big 5-0 later this year. He was 80th in his division and 1,408 overall in 2:54:33 – an even-paced effort, too, with a half split of 1:27:06.

--Joe Tarantello had another solid marathon effort, 2:51:48. He just texted that it was his best marathon EFFORT considering his subpar winter training. Great job, Joey Tat!

--Ryan Fitzsimons was close behind in 2:57:01, a remarkable performance given his training was curtailed by an Achilles injury for most of the winter.

Perfectly normal

The weather geek in me finds this volatile April weather fascinating from a statistical point of view. The track coach in me finds our recent run of excellent meet-day weather to be just perfect. According to my National Weather Service radio data report, Saturday's mean temperature was the exact norm for the date. At the sun-splashed Wolfie Invitational at Stony Brook, though, the "normal" felt absolutely glorious: Warm sunshine, cool breezes. After a brutal and endless winter, "normal" sure seemed abnormally nice.

Add to that the fantastic tailgate, organized by Louise and Tom Valentino and provided by our loyal parents and alumni, and it was a perfect afternoon of track and field on a holiday weekend. Here's hoping all had a great Easter Sunday, and now it's full steam ahead with the final weeks of the outdoor track season.

Stony Brook: Final results posted

Previous posts have been updated with final official results, places and times. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter Sunday. We are preparing to plow into our busiest few weeks of the season, with Penn Relays, Yale, Vassar and MAAC meets all coming at us, rapid-fire.

Stony Brook: Men's results and splits

Sunday night: Updated with final results and places.

Wolfie Invitational

Stony Brook University

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Men’s results and splits

100-meter dash

7. Tyler Schwarz 11.68

10. Joe Cafaro 11.74

200-meter dash

7. Matt Edwards 23.18

10. Tyler Schwarz 23.29

13. Tim Johnson 23.75

400-meter dash

3. Matt Edwards 50.91

11. Tim Johnson 52.62

14. Connor Dodge 53.97

15. Ty Gamble 54.35

800-meter run

10. Nestor Taylor 1:58.18 (first lap, 57.9)

11. Nate Lungarini 1:58.29 (first lap, 57.9)

17. Bryan Buttigieg 2:00.16 (first lap, 58.7)

1,500-meter run

4. Nick Salek 4:05.45

62, 2:06 (64), 3:13 (67), 4:05.45 (69.45 last 400 meters)

10. Kyle Hannafin 4:07.97

65, 2:13 (68), 3:20 (67), 4:07.97 (47.97 last 300 meters)

13. Stefan Morton 4:13.41

65, 2:13 (68), 3:21 (68), 4:13.41 (52.41 last 300 meters)

14. Charlie Ropes 4:14.80

66, 2:15 (69), 3:23 (68), 4:14.80 (51.80 last 300 meters)

16. Pat Ginty (unattached) 4:15.76

65, 2:15 (70), 3:25 (70), 4:15.76 (50.76 last 300 meters)

3,000-meter run

3. Saad Baig 8:46.84

69, 2:16 (67), 3:26 (70), 4:37 (71)

5:51 (74), 7:04 (73), 8:16 (72), 8:46.84 (30.84)

9. Nick Salamone 9:23.72

71, 2:23 (72), 3:37 (74), 4:52 (75)

6:08 (76), 7:25 (77), 8:44 (79), 9:23.72 (39.72)

10. Justin Tampellini 9:38.95

71, 2:23 (72), 3:37 (74), 4:54 (77)

6:15 (79), 7:37 (82), 8:58 (81), 9:38.95 (40.95)

5,000-meter run

8. Johnny Lee 15:48.19

71, 2:24 (73), 3:35 (71), 4:49 (74)

6:03 (74), 7:18 (75), 8:34 (76), 9:51 (77)

11:09 (78), 12:29 (80), 13:48 (79), 15:08 (80)

15:48.19 (40.19)

9. Eddie White 17:09.00

75, 2:36 (81), 3:56 (80), 5:18 (82)

6:39 (81), 8:02 (83), 9:26 (84), 10:51 (85)

12:18 (87), 13:45 (87), 15:10 (85), 16:32 (82)

17:09.00 (37.00)

400-meter hurdles

4. Zach Berzal 57.63
6. Joe Cafaro 59.61

1,600-meter relay

4-Marist A (Tim Johnson 53.3, Zach Berzal 50.5, Connor Dodge 52.6, Matt Edwards 51.3) 3:27.78

Long jump

4. Andrew Rokoszak 5.63 meters (18-6.75)