Final XC workout of the season, part 3

In the afternoon, it was off to Bowdoin Park for a progressively fast interval workout in the "horseshoe" section of the course down by the start/finish area. As we arrived, the Two Old Men of the Course -- Terry Horton and Ken Kraft -- were setting up the finish line chute area for Saturday's New York State Federation XC Championships. As we experienced with the men, the women had plenty of pep in their step as well -- a very spirited and FAST workout from a spirited and FAST group of women, in the midst of an epic, historic season, one we hope to end in fine fashion at Van Cortlandt Park.

Final XC workout of the season, part 2

As with the 8 a.m. group, the 11 a.m. group did 2 sets of 5 "Great Lawn" hills at the Mills Mansion. This is a tradition we have tried to keep with -- finishing our season at the same venue and same workout as we started. Way back in August, nearly three months and about 45 degrees warmer ago, we did 3 sets of 5 at Mills. It was much colder today, obviously, but the pep in their step was still there, all these weeks and all these workouts and races later.

Final XC workout of the season, part 1

Today was our final quality day (hard workout) of the cross country season for men and women. As is the custom for Tuesdays, there are three distinct practices: 8 a.m. for a select group of men who cannot make the usual 11 a.m., due to class conflicts; 11 a.m., for the majority of the men; and 2 p.m., for the majority of the women. Above is a photo from Mills Mansion (with the mansion in the background) of the 8 a.m. group.

IC4A/ECAC tailgate

Thanks in advance to Palmer Weimann's parents for offering to organize a tailgate (may be a soggy one) on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park. We will bring two (2) athletic department tables. Anyone interested in contributing and/or coordinating food, please contact Martha and Ted at 860 803 8918 or whctgirl@gmail.com. And for the sake of Rivas (and the rest of us), let's hope the forecast for rain changes between now and then. OK!

What's next: ECAC and IC4A Championships

Our final meet of the cross country season is Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park. Right now, the forecast is looking wet -- a rainy day. We are working on getting two 10x10 tents from Marist Athletics in an attempt for our athletes to stay dry. Here is the race schedule, hope to see some of you there:

ECAC/IC4A Cross Country Championships

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx

Race schedule

10 a.m.: ECAC Coaches’ Race, 5km

10:30 a.m.: IC4A Coaches’ Race, 5 miles

11:15 a.m.: ECAC Championship Race, 5km

11:45 a.m.: IC4A Championship Race, 5 miles

A Foxy workplace

Thanks to Marist Track Alum Molly Weeks for sharing this picture via text of her desk area at her new job as advertising coordinator at RED MUSIC, which is a label under Sony Music, in NYC. We’re thrilled for Molly on this first job, which she seems to really like so far: “The people and the work environment are great and it’s awesome to be able to work with music all day! Still getting used to the commute but very grateful for everything to say the least!” And, she added: “Good thing I was a sprinter because I just booked it through Grand Central at 400m pace to make my train and I got I just before it pulled away.” I guess you could say this is “music to my ears.” 

Foxes, on the recruiting trail

What better way to follow up a freezing cold day at a cross country meet ... with another freezing cold day at a cross country meet! That's what Coach Chuck Williams did today at the New York State XC Championships in upstate Wayne, NY. He was hanging out with his good friend and former teammate Mike Melfi, now the coach at SUNY ESF. "Standing outside in the cold recruiting is a lot easier when you spend the day with a great friend and fellow Red Fox,'' Chuck texted me. Indeed!

NCAA Regionals: Final thoughts and numbers

As I mentioned on Facebook, the outpouring of alumni interest and support in this meet was tremendous. Making it more exciting was that the alumni tracking the live results knew more about how our teams were doing than we did on the frozen ground in Buffalo. I mean, the “eye test” was pretty accurate – I could tell our women’s team was having a special day early, and I could tell our men’s team was grinding its way through the field methodically after a slow start in the slop. But through the leonetiming.com results, we can see tangible data of the progress at varying checkpoints along the course (more in the men’s race, because it was longer and with more electronic splits). What you can see with the numbers below is what we saw with our own two eyes, as I just said: The women got out, stayed out and closed like champs. The men got bogged down early, drove me batty with nerves, but ran with grit and toughness and progressed a whopping 11 places from start to finish.

Women’s progression:

1-mile: 14^th place

3km: 14^th place

6km (finish): 11^th place

Men’s progression:

1-mile: 29^th place

3km: 26^th place

5.8km: 21^st place

7.2km: 20^th place

10km (finish): 18^th place

And one last mind-blowing fact, courtesy of a late-night text from Coach Chuck: At the MAAC Championships, we had three All-MAAC (top-15) runners. Of those three runners, one did not compete due to injury and the other two competed hard but did not factor into our team scoring at the regional meet. And yet, the top-5 scorers on Friday got the job done to the tune of a historic, 11^th-place finish. Strange things happen at the regional meet – and sometimes they are strangely wonderful.

NCAA Regionals: More photos

NCAA Regionals: 20 years ago

Yesterday's conditions in Buffalo were about as challenging as we can remember. Fortunately, we have alumni with long memories, and one of them posted this photo of Joe Majkowski and Chris Smith battling through the muck from 1997 at Franklin Park in Boston -- the first year of the current NCAA Regional format. That was a tough day, too!

NCAA Regionals: Women's results

There are not enough superlatives to describe this performance, something that Chuck and I will remember for the rest of our lives. In horrendous conditions, the women did the following: 

--Improved 14 places from last year. Fourteen places!

--Powered to the best finish in school history -- by far -- eclipsing the 15th place finishes from a generation ago. And, just so those teams are not lost to memory ... those were damn good teams that placed 15th back in the day. Right, Phil?

--Had five runners in the top-100, an incredibly difficult feat in any conditions.

--Overcame the loss to injury of Ali Bartolotta, who was only our LEAD RUNNER at MAACs two weeks ago. Let that one sink in. How many teams can overcome THAT. Here's the answer: THIS TEAM CAN, because it might be the most mentally tough group of young ladies I have ever been around. Their pretty damn fast, too. 

I say tend to text in ALL CAPS a lot (because I tend to be an idiot) and I tend to say "nicely done" a lot, but gosh darn it, today it needs to be in caps: NICELY DONE!

NCAA Northeast Regionals

Friday, November 10, 2017

University at Buffalo host

Audubon Golf Course, Amherst, NY

Women’s team standings

1-Providence 82, 2-Dartmouth 115, 3-Syracuse 117, 4-Columbia 120, 5-Yale 131, 6-Iona 167, 7-Brown 194, 8-Cornell 221, 9-New Hampshire 251, 10-Buffalo 346, 11-Marist 354, 12-Harvard 401, 13-UMass Lowell 402, 14-Boston College 413, 15-UMass Amherst 438, 16-UConn 448, 17-Sacred Heart 475, 18-Stony Brook 504, 19-Army West Point 530, 20-Vermont 541, 21-Holy Cross 558, 22-Fordham 576, 23-Quinnipiac 617, 24-Albany 620, 25-Northeastern 636, 26-Binghamton 646, 27-Central Connecticut 692, 28-Boston University 694, 29-Canisius 718, 30-Manhattan 725, 31-Siena 853, 32-Bryant 976, 33-Hofstra 991, 34-Fairfield 1022, 35-Colgate 1058, 36-St. Bonaventure 1064, 37-St. John’s INC, 38-Hartford INC, 39-Wagner INC

Women’s individual results, 6km course

50. Gianna Tedeschi 22:50.0

52. Shea Bohan 22:51.9

73. Emily Burns 23:07.8

83. Mara Schiffhauer 23:18.8

96. Jordan Casey 23:26.4

132. Maria Smith 23:42.2

172. Hayley Collins 24:22.1

251 finishers 

NCAA Regionals: Men's results

The men left it all out there today, and I'm extremely proud of them. They beat teams that had beaten them at early championships and senior captain Dietrich Mosel had the best finish since Quimes DelaCruz's 26th in 2012. A top-50 finish in this slop is remarkable, as is three top-100 finishes. We were right in the mix with several teams vying for the top-15. Although we fell short of that goal, it wasn't from a lack of effort. Nicely done, men. 

NCAA Northeast Regionals

Friday, November 10, 2017

University at Buffalo host

Audubon Golf Course, Amherst, NY

Men’s team standings

1-Syracuse 28, 2-Iona 48, 3-Army West Point 218, 4-Stony Brook 222, 5-Columbia 223, 6-Boston University 228, 7-Brown 245, 8-UMass Lowell 254, 9-Cornell 272, 10-Harvard 285, 11-UConn 285, 12-Providence 295, 13-Dartmouth 390, 14-Buffalo 426, 15-Albany 440, 16-Canisius 441, 17-Yale 471, 18-Marist 478, 19-Manhattan 483, 20-UMass Amherst 511, 21-Binghamton 513, 22-Vermont 573, 23-Siena 590, 24-Sacred Heart 641, 25-Central Connecticut 661, 26-Northeastern 716, 27-New Hampshire 760, 28-Fordham 778, 29-Boston College 780, 30-Quinnipiac 782, 31-Holy Cross 1001, 32-Hofstra 1012, 33-Bryant 1023, 34-Colgate 1037, 35-Fairfield 1042, 36-Hartford 1049, 37-St. Bonaventure 1171, 38-Wagner INC

Men’s individual results, 10km course

45-Dietrich Mosel 33:12.2

81. Mike Kennedy 33:49.3

93. Alexander Hogue 33:57.2

111. Chris Rivas 34:19.0

149. Steven Rizzo 34:48.4

158. Palmer Weimann 34:57.6

189. Riley Hughes 35:43.6

254 finishers 

NCAA Regionals: 11th heaven

The screen shot from the phone tells it all. An epic, historic day for our women's program. 11th place! Our previous best was 15th place, a generation ago. So very proud of this group of very special young women. Allow me a few minutes to thaw out and results and photos will be posted, provided the wifi on the bus works. 11th heaven. Nicely done! Wow! Neat! All of it! Yaaaaaaaay!

NCAA Regionals: It's warm. In Room 616

As I type this, from the warmth of our hotel in suburban Buffalo, it's 22 degrees outside with a "real feel" (wind chill) of 5 degrees. As the day progresses, this does not look to change -- unless you inject snow flurries into the forecast. The real feel will hover in the single digits all day. It's cold. It's windy. At our pre-meet run yesterday on the course, the Audubon Golf Course was a swampy, muddy mess. I walked the first 1km of the course, and my boots and flannel-lined khakis were covered in mud and muck. The key words in the previous sentence: "walk" and "1km" ... now, imagine our intrepid runners traversing this slop for 6km (women, at 11 a.m.) and 10km (men, at 12 noon). Add in brutal wind and cold temperatures and, well, you have a cross country meet, in November, in Buffalo.

NCAA Regionals: Snow is now in the forecast

As I have been doing for the past week or so, I am obsessively checking Accuweather for the forecast in the Buffalo area. For the first time in my constant refreshes, measurable snowfall is now in the forecast. The probability for 1-2 inches of snow is more likely now, for late on Thursday. This harkens us back to the first regional meet we attended, way back in 1997 in Boston, when the course was covered in snow. It was not pretty. Again: Conditions will be the same for all racers.

What's next: NCAA Regionals. In Buffalo.

Our next meet is the NCAA Northeast Regionals at Audubon Golf Course in Buffalo. Hmmm. Buffalo. In November. This could get interesting. Each day, we check the long-range forecast. Each day, it gets colder and colder. The most recent prediction? Snow showers, high of 26, real feel in the low teens. Now that's a cold shot. But, as wise coaches have always said? The conditions are the same for everybody. Here are the race times:

Women's 6km = 11 a.m.
Men's 10km = 12 noon

We leave early Thursday morning for our trip across the great Empire State. Layers will be packed.

NYC Marathon: Girma’s amazing day!

As stated in the previous post, Marist Running Royalty Girma Segni had what is believed to be the best overall finish by a Marist runner in NYC Marathon history with his 18^th-place run on Sunday in 2:23:51. Although it was not a PR for Girma, the time and effort were remarkable nonetheless in light of the fact that just three weeks ago, he ran a 2:28:42 for a third-place finish at the Detroit Marathon. At 32, Girma shows no signs of slowing down. We are very proud of him.

NYC Marathon: Marist Running results

After a day of obsessively refreshing the app on my phone and the results on my laptop – along with spending five hours at a club swim meet – here’s what we could cobble together in terms of Marist Running results at Blog Central for today's New York City Marathon:

Girma Segni: 2:23:51 (18^th overall!)

Ryan Fitzsimons: 2:50:52
Kyle Hannafin: 3:09:07

Omar Perez: 3:13:59

Billy Hild: 3:37:04 (post-race photo here)

Tim Keegan: 3:19:39

Todd Bivona: 3:48:52

Here’s Kyle’s race report via email: Hi! Today’s race was an unbelievable experience. My official time was 3:09:07, which was off my goal of 3:05 but I am really happy to debut with a sub-3:10 in rainy, slick conditions. I now realize that my first 7-8 miles was too fast (second mile was 6:12!). I kept telling myself to relax and stay patient, but the crowd on 4th Ave was out of this world and intense. Their energy was toxic and I guess my body just couldn’t hold back! As a result, I began to fall apart a bit around 17-18. I must have heard “Go Marist!” 20 times throughout the race, which was pretty awesome too.

In terms of my local running friends – early-morning jogging partners and others, here’s what we found:

Tony Ferreri: 3:30:56

Ken Schneider: 4:07:53

Nick Lamando: 3:43:36

Jason Bellamy: 4:55:58

Krys Wasielewski: 5:01:07

If I missed anyone – which seems likely to me – please let me know and I’ll update with further posts. Proud of everyone’s efforts on a warm-ish/wet-ish day in the five boroughs. 

Early morning postcard: Get Well, Suma

The pre-dawn darkness in the McCann Center has been a bit gloomier this week for our sprint team’s 6 a.m. lift on Tuesday and Thursday, as strength and conditioning coach Aaron Suma has been out due to illness. We all missed Suma, but we are heartened to hear that he will be back on campus and with our team (and every other team he works with) very soon. 

What’s next: NCAA Northeast Regional XC meet

Our top-7 runners (with a few alternates) will be heading to western New York next week for the NCAA Northeast Regional meet, which will be held on Friday, November 10 at the Audubon Golf Course in Amherst (University at Buffalo is the host school). Race times are 11 a.m. for the women’s 6km race and 12 noon for the men’s 10km race. After that, we conclude the season at the IC4A/ECAC Championships on Saturday, November 18, at Van Cortlandt Park.