Mile high alums

As I currently sit in the Denver airport in a multiple hour delay in my return flight to LaGuardia, such vagaries of travel cannot dampen the positive vibes felt last night when I reconnected with three Marist Running alums for dinner at a sports bar at the Gaylord Rockies. Sean Hopkins (Class of 2005), Colin Johnson (Class of 2010) and Ryan Fitzsimons (Class of 2012) all took time out of their busy lives to meet up for dinner and drinks and great conversation. Even though these men were loosely connected (or not at all connected) during their time at Marist, they have forged post-graduate connections here in the Mile High City. Colin is the glue bridging them both; even though he and Hopkins were never in school together, they have grouped up a few times for runs and races out here. And Colin and Fitz did share a few years together on the team, so it was easy to rekindle their friendship. How they all wound up in the Denver area generally, and in that restaurant last night specifically, speaks to the randomness of life. It was great to catch up with all of them and hear how they are doing and what their plans are for 2023 and beyond. Spoiler alert: They have some big plans for some very long distances in the coming year. I’m proud of them all. It was gratifying to learn that they still avidly follow the blog, so of course this post is a natural offshoot of that! Their kind words about the blog have motivated me (even if temporarily) to post more in this space. And, with recent developments, it may well be the only outlet to flex my writing muscles, at least for the time being. OK! Here’s hoping we go from bored at the gate to board(ing) the plane, soon.

Sky high

I’m writing this from Room 9119 at the Gaylord Rockies hotel and convention center in the Denver area, here for the USTFCCCA Convention – the annual convention for collegiate track/cross country coaches. Conventions are what conventions are: Meetings, symposiums, networking, and a lot of socializing. Those that know me well may have noted that among this short list of activities none ranks high in my world. But alas, I do my best to get to the convention every year. There are conference and regional sessions that I believe are important; and, most importantly, any legislation that comes up for voting can only be voted upon here, on site. And so, I attend. But still … I do my best job of dodging as much of the above activities that are not “required” – whatever that means. So far, so good.

I spent the better part of two days nowhere near Denver. Oh sure, I flew into Denver on Sunday afternoon, walking outside to the surreal feeling of 62 degrees in December. In a city that is a mile above sea level! Soon enough, I would experience winter. My good friend Bob Sweeney was there to pick me up and jettison me far away from the convention. And really, far away from everything! Bob lives in Leadville, an old mining town deep in the Rockies. Leadville has the highest elevation for an incorporated city in the United States, sitting at a bit above 10,000 feet. It is known for that, as well as for endurance races such as the Leadville Trail 100-miler. With the convention being in Denver, this gave me permission to finally overcome my travel inertia and pay a visit to Bob and his wife Sue, who have been living in Colorado for nearly 15 years.

Bob is a one of my best and oldest friends. Sitting around drinking coffee and talking for hours on end could have hijacked my entire stay there. I have a very low bar for satisfaction and I would have been fine with that. However, we did get out and do some stuff. Alert followers of the blog may recall that Bob is a world-champion pack burro racer – racing with donkeys. I got to meet his partner in racing, Yukon, and Yukon’s backyard companion Ray. Bob thought it would be a good idea to take Yukon and Ray out for a easy jog/walk with the strange visitor from New York State. This, of course, filled me with great trepidation. I’m a falling hazard. I’m not particularly athletic. And, like most people on this planet, I have no experience in how to handle and manage a 400-plus-pound animal with a mind of its own. “Just hold onto the rope and follow Ray,” Bob said. “And if he goes too fast, let go.” It turned out to be a fun experience on a sunny and brisk morning. We did more walking than running; Bob managed my inexperience well and for the most part Ray cooperated. We did a little more than two miles on snowy dirt roads, and met some neighboring donkeys along the way. That turned about to be the biggest challenge – getting a distracted Ray back on the road back to Bob and Sue’s house and not stuck commiserating with the neighborhood asses.

Oh, so about the elevation. I did wake up with a splitting headache on Monday morning – a common altitude side effect but also may have been partially due to dehydration. Other than that, day-to-day activities didn’t seem much different. Until Tuesday morning, when Bob took me out for a 3-mile jog right before our trip into the Denver area for the convention. Tuesday was cold and snowy – standard-issue Leadville weather. Bob took me on a snow-covered trail, and we went straight uphill for 1.5 miles. My lungs burned. My legs burned. At sea level, I’m a mediocre at best hill climber, actually probably not even that good. At 10,000 feet? Pfffft. My wheels were spinning as my breathing maxed out and Bob suppressed laughter and occasionally broke into a fast walk, which pretty much coincided with my lung-searing shuffle. My breathing maxed out but I’m glad I got to experience a run in Leadville. I’d like to come back in warmer weather and run on some dirt roads that are not covered in snow so I could get a better gauge of the true effect of this high altitude on my “normal” run pace. The 3-mile jog came in at around 12 minutes per mile. Yes, altitude was a major driving force to this stumbling pace. But also, the snow-packed trail, while runnable, proved to be less than ideal for my awkward gait. Definitely a memorable experience and I’ll have to try jogging here in Denver to see how much of a difference it is! As high up as Leadville is, Bob and Sue’s house is surrounded on either side by huge mountains – most of them near or above 14,000 feet of elevation. This sort of Rockies scenery makes the Catskills and the Adirondacks look like speed bumps in comparison. Definitely glad I was able to make the trip out there and thankful for Bob’s willingness to transport and entertain me.

After a few meetings on Tuesday afternoon here at the convention, my avoidance strategy continued. Rather than attending the Hall of Fame dinner and reception at the convention center on Tuesday night, I opted to meet Marist Running alum Katie Messina for dinner in the area. It’s difficult to fathom that Katie (Class of 2013) graduated nearly 10 years ago already. She and her husband Nathan moved out to the Denver area a little more than a year ago so it was good to be able to connect with her for a few hours. Will be hoping to do the same tomorrow night, with a few other Marist Running alums who now live in the Denver area.

Wagner meet: Men's results - SMR school record

This was a great way to end the 2022 calendar year -- with another school record on the track. We will aim to keep rewriting the record board in 2023. Today's record was in the rarely-run sprint medley relay, with the team of freshman Amari Mathis, junior Ryan Bahnsen, sophomore Easton Eberwein and sophomore Tyler Perry breaking the six-year-old mark in the event by 1.52 seconds. 

 

Other highlights: John Ignacz had a great mile/3km double; Gabe Rodriguez, Steven Viera, Jack Parsons, Ian Wiesinger and Alexander Pattison all notched personal-best times in the 3km; pole vaulter Noah Brown had a strong day (one jump away from his school record mark), despite a fall of very little event-specific practice (unless you count skydiving!).

 

We can't wait to see what 2023 will bring. Neat! 

 

Wagner College Seahawk Shootout

Friday, December 9, 2022

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

Staten Island, NY

Men’s results

60-meter dash

21-Amari Mathis 7.16

300-meter dash

25-Easton Eberwein 36.44

32-Ryan Bahnsen 36.77

1,000-meter run

12-Jacob Anderson 2:42.27

Mile run

6-John Ignacz 4:24.30

8-Brendan Dearie 4:25.66

18-Neel Viswanathan 4:39.31

3,000-meter run

2-Gabe Rodriguez 8:35.72

Kilometer splits: 2:53, 5:44 (2:51), 8:35.72 (2:51.72)

5-Steven Viera 8:46.38

2:58, 5:54 (2:56), 8:46.38 (2:52.38)

7-John Ignacz 8:51.39

2:59, 5:53 (2:54), 8:51.39 (2:58.39)

8-Jack Parsons 8:52.07

2:58, 5:53 (2:54), 8:52.07 (2:59.07)

9-Daniel Czop 8:56.24

2:58, 5:52 (2:54), 8:56.24 (3:04.24)

10-Ian Wiesinger 8:58.38

3:02, 6:05 (3:03), 8:58.38 2:53.38)

11-Alexander Pattison 9:11.84

3:02, 6:08 (3:05), 9:11.84 (3:03.84)

16-Jon Kittredge 9:21.24

3:02, 6:07 (3:05), 9:21.24 (3:14.24)

17-Christian Locker 9:22.58

3:04, 6:13 (3:09), 9:22.58 (3:09.58)

Sprint medley relay

2-Marist (Amari Mathis 22.0, Ryan Bahnsen 22.9, Easton Eberwein 49.62, Tyler Perry 1:56.61) 3:32.41 *school record; old record 3:33.93, 2016

1,600-meter relay

19-Marist (Jacob Anderson 55.59, Neel Viswanathan 55.48, Ian Wiesinger 57.89, Steven Viera 55.09) 3:44.04

Pole vault

7-Noah Brown 4.25 meters (13 feet, 11.25 inches)

 

Wagner meet: Women's results

We had a small contingent of ladies at the meet today at Ocean Breeze, and here are the results from their events. We'll be back at full strength and with a full team in 2023!

Wagner College Seahawk Shootout

Friday, December 9, 2022

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

Staten Island, NY

Women’s results

300-meter dash

57-Alexa Mocko 47.04

1,000-meter run

6-Mackenzie Schubert 3:22.28

Mile run

10-Kaitlyn Murtagh 5:33.33

36.60, 1:21.12 (41.52), 2:04.72 (42.75), 2:47.75 (42.75), 3:29.06 (41.60), 4:11.02 (41.96), 4:53.38 (42.37), 5:33.33 (39.95)

15-Mary Dougherty 5:43.64

40.09, 1:21.42 (41.34), 2:05.05 (43.63), 2:48.07 (43.02), 3:31.46 (43.39), 4:16.58 (45.13), 5:43.64 (1:27.06)

What's next: Wagner meet

The final meet of the 2022 calendar year is Friday at Ocean Breeze. We will have a small squad of athletes racing. Final exams start next week, and Friday is the last day of classes for the fall semester, so many athletes will not be traveling. That's OK! We look forward to one more racing opportunity before we flip the calendar over to 2023. Neat.

 

Wagner College Seahawk Shootout

Friday, December 9, 2022

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex, Staten Island, NY

Order of events/time schedule (women/men)

1p: 60 hurdles

1:20p: 60 dash

2:10p: Mile run

2:55p: 300 dash

3:40p: 600 dash

4:15p: 1,000 run

4:40p: 3,000 run

5:15p: Sprint medley relay

5:45p: 4x400 relay

Spencer Johnson qualifies for Olympic Trials in the marathon!

Spencer Johnson has run personal-best marathons in each of his nine tries at the 26.2-mile distance, but none was as glorious as Sunday at the California International Marathon. Spencer dipped under the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon qualifying standard of 2:18:00 with a truly breakthrough performance of 2:17:07. His splits below are incredibly consistent. Very exciting and so glad for Spencer, who has been working toward this goal for so many years.

5km = 16:24

10km = 32:29 (16:05)

15km = 48:50 (16:21)

Half marathon = 1:08:30

25km = 1:21:12 (32:22)

30km = 1:37:23 (16:11)

35km = 1:53.37 (16:14)

40km = 2:09:53 (16:16)

Full marathon = 2:17:07 (1:08:37)