Throwback Thursday: Team photo, circa 1985

This photo is courtesy of current Bryant University director of track/cross country, Mitchell Switzer, and it was sent to him by his mother, Terry Clark, who was a Marist Class of 1986 classmate. Small world/makes me feel old. Mitchell is an excellent young coach who I have been hanging out with here in Orlando for the USTFCCCA Convention, which concludes today. Not looking forward the the 60-degree temperature swing on the flight home late tonight. Regarding the picture: You'll notice the very retro uniform, modeled after the Athletics West singlets of yore, as well as a lot of 1980s hairstyles (mullets); and if you are trying to find me, look for the sullen looking dude in the front row with a striking resemblance to the late great Prince. 

Throwback Thursday: Merry Christmas, circa 1982

Don't remember if I have posted this before. Even if I have posted it, it's worth a redux here: My Champagnat Hall dorm photo, circa December 1982. For those keeping score at home, that's a LONG TIME ago! Like, 37 years. Whoa. You can see me and my pal Murph swapped high school letter jackets. That's so ... 1982! Another fun fact: The guy, second from left, with the Ws on his high school letter jacket? That's none other than Christian Morrison, the current head track coach at Sacred Heart University. Neat.

Alumni reunion (in the mud) at Lehigh

Several alums raced at the USATF Club National Cross Country Championships at Lehigh University, a place they raced while wearing the red and white of Marist, at the Paul Short Run. Now they are wearing different color uniforms, but still Forever Foxes at heart. Mike Kennedy ran for Shore AC, Spencer Johnson for San Diego Track Club (just a week after his marathon at CIM!), Janelle Solviletti for Battle Road TC, Brittany Griffin for soundRunner racing (she took quite a spill early in the race and was thus covered in mud). Good stuff.

Alumni reunion at the Armory

Pictures like THIS warm an old coach's heart: Three treasured alums, getting together at the Armory -- a place they spent hundreds of hours in as high school and college runners, now as coaches of young runners. Nicki Nesi (Pelham), Kelley Posch (Mahopac), Billy Posch (North Salem). So awesome, so proud of them ALL.

Elizabeth and Spencer run fast at CIM!

We are very proud of our elite Marist Running alumni marathoners – Elizabeth Wasserman and Spencer Johnson -- who represented our program so well at the California International Marathon (CIM) on Sunday. Known as one of the fastest and deepest races in the country, if not the world, our alums did great. Elizabeth was 91^st in the women’s race in 2:47:19 (half split = 1:21:42) and was sidetracked in the second half when she had to retie her sneakers four (4!) times. She is eager to continue her pursuits in the marathon and she’s got a great future in the sport. Spencer ran a four-minute personal-best time of 2:25:27 (half split = 1:09:41), good for 112^th in the race. Spencer was slowed by an unplanned bathroom stop later in the race, but he bounced back to resume his fast pace for a strong finish. Nicely done to both Elizabeth and Spencer!  

Honolulu Marathon: Christine Coughlin, 9th in her age group!

Very proud of Marist Running Alum Christine Coughlin, who ran 3:38:25 and placed ninth in the 25-29 division at Sunday's Honolulu Marathon, her second year in a row running the race. She clearly had a lot of support from her Hawaii family and friends out there. Nicely done, Christine!

Morning, noon and night

Freshman Daniel Czop (pronounced "Chop") had a self-imposed long and productive day on Friday. First, he and fellow freshman Ian Wiesinger decided (on their own, no prompting, no "punishment" run) to show up at 5:30 a.m., to run with me and our early-morning "Hyde Park Early Birds" running group. Our Friday routine is a 6-mile run from Marist, usually up to College Hill and down to the river and back up to campus. Our winter loop has morphed into a "Main Street Run" because it is more well lit and safer in the dark. Since Czop was racing the 5km at Ocean Breeze later that night, the "plan" was for him to do a simple shakeout jog and then meet us at the bus at 11 a.m. Next thing we know, Czop is jogging down Main Street with us, heading away from campus. And voila! He did the entire 6-mile run with us (you can see the boring run stats from Schneider's watch). Fast forward more than 12 hours later, and Czop ran a pretty solid season-opening 5km at Ocean Breeze (splits below). Afterwards, I sent these post-race photos to the running group text to show the guys what this crazy young kid did later in the day (yes, Peter, his place was incorrect on the scoreboard, but the time was accurate). We usually don't recommend a 6-mile "shakeout" ... but for Czop, it seemed to do no harm.

5,000-meter run

6. Daniel Czop 15:51.40

36, 74 (36), 1:52 (38), 2:29 (37), 3:06 (37)

3:44 (38), 4:21 (37), 4:58 (37), 5:36 (38), 6:14 (38)

6:51 (37), 7:29 (38), 8:07 (38), 8:45 (38), 9:23 (38)

10:02 (39), 10:41 (39), 11:21 (40), 12:00 (39), 12:40 (40)

13:20 (40), 13:59 (39), 14:37 (38), 15:15 (38), 15:51.40 (36)

Kilometer splits: 3:06.6, 6:13.6 (3:07.0), 9:23.7 (3:10.1), 12:39.9 (3:16.2), 15:51.40 (3:11.50)

Fastrack Season Opener: Women's results

What a great way to start the 2019-2020 indoor track season! Senior Denise Grohn notched a personal-best time in the 3,000-meter run and got an ECAC qualifier mark out of the way, a full three months in advance of that championship. Neat!  We had a lot of new faces in a lot of new (for us, recently) events. And our super-duper graduate assistant coach Debbie Boerke blitzed a great time in the 400 dash in between coaching the team. OK!

Fastrack Season Opener

Ocean Breeze, Staten Island

Friday, December 6, 2019

Women’s results

60-meter dash

45. Alyssa Ridgway 8.43

51. Gianna Ferrara 8.55

54. Bethany Zekraus 8.67

200-meter dash

25. Alicia Chute 27.69

38. Bethany Zekraus 29.07

46. Daniella Meyer 30.30

400-meter dash

5. Debbie Boerke (Marist Alumni Racing Team) 58.40

16. Natalie Tidler 1:01.54

34. Daniella Meyer 1:09.08

800-meter run

5. Julianna Fame 2:23.80

33.8, 68.5 (34.7), 1:45.1 (36.6), 2:23.80 (38.70)

19. Gina Ruotolo 2:37.72

35, 74 (39), 1:56 (42), 2:37.72 (41.72)

20. Alexandra Wehrhahn 2:38.84

35, 74 (39), 1:56 (42), 2:38.84 (42.84)

Mile run

2. Jill Laliberte 5:22.10

40.7, 78.8 (38.1), 1:58.2 (39.4), 2:38.7 (40.5), 3:19.4 (40.7), 4:00.3 (40.9), 4:41.7 (41.4), 5:22.10 (40.40)

3,000-meter run

2. Denise Grohn 9:53.70 *ECAC qualifier

40, 85 (45), 2:03 (38), 2:42 (39), 3:21 (39)

4:00 (39), 4:39 (39), 5:19 (40), 5:59 (40), 6:39 (40)

7:18 (39), 7:59 (41), 8:39 (40), 9:18 (39), 9:53.70 (35.70)

Kilometer splits: 3:21, 3:18, 3:14.70

5. Rebecca Walters (unattached) 10:22.12

40, 85 (45), 2:05 (40), 2:46 (41), 3:26 (40)

4:06 (40), 4:48 (42), 5:29 (41), 6:11 (42), 6:54 (43)

7:37 (43), 8:18 (41), 9:01 (43), 9:43 (42), 10:22.12 (39.12)

Kilometer splits: 3:26, 3:28, 3:26.12

6. Emily Burns 10:27.92

40, 86 (46), 2:05 (39), 2:46 (41), 3:26 (40)

4:06 (40), 4:48 (42), 5:29 (41), 6:10 (41), 6:53 (43)

7:36 (43), 8:18 (42), 9:00 (42), 9:44 (44), 10:27.92 (43.92)

Kilometer splits: 3:26, 3:27, 3:34.92

60-meter hurdles

14. Isabella Azar-Brandes 10.03

1,600-meter relay

14. Marist (Isabella Azar-Brandes 63.34, Anne Bekasi 69.25, Alicia Chute 64.11, Natalie Tidler 63.46) 4:20.56

High jump

17. Anne Bekasi 1.45 meters (4 feet, 9 inches)

Long jump

14. Alexa Spain 4.56 meters (14 feet, 11.5 inches)

15. Alyssa Ridgway 4.48 meters (14 feet, 8.5 inches)

16. Gianna Ferrara 4.42 meters (14 feet, 6 inches)