Men's photos: IC4A Championships

Men's photos: Coaches Association race

Women's photos: Coaches Association race

Men's XC team dinner: Bringing it home

For the first time in many years, our men's XC team dinner was held at our house in Hyde Park. It's challenging getting this many guys at the house but we were able to squeeze everyone in and have a good dinner and meeting in preparation for tomorrow's XC finale.

Snow kidding? It's still XC season!

Well, well, well. Apparently, winter was in a rush in getting here. The recently completed storm dumped about a foot of snow here in the mid-Hudson Valley, forcing the unprecedented cancellation of the Federation high school XC Championship, which was to be held on Saturday at Bowdoin Park. With the amount of snow that fell on already saturated ground, there was no way that course could have held anything resembling a championship running event in those conditions. For our team, the ECAC/IC4A Championships will plow on (pun intended) as planned on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, which promises to be a bit messy tomorrow for sure. Much like the rest of the season, in which seemingly every meet has been contested in challenging conditions, we'll simply spike up and go.

Ending at the beginning

mid-November: cold and windy

mid-August: hot

As has been our custom on and off for many years, our men's XC team had its final hard workout of the season at the same venue as the first hard workout of the season -- Mills Mansion in Staatsburg, for the "Mills Hills" workout. Instead of the usual 3 sets (first day of preseason), today we did 2 sets. Each set consists of five hills on the Great Lawn of the mansion grounds. The juxtaposition of the three-month difference is startling. On the first day of preseason, almost exactly three months ago, it was warm and humid and the men ran shirtless. Today, it was cold and blustery and no one even thought about running shirtless as the temperature was in the mid-30s and the "real feel" was much colder than that, with a stiff wind blowing uphill off the Hudson River. The mood was light and fun. Workout groups were divvied up based on class -- group 1 = seniors; group 2 = juniors; group 3 = sophomores; group 4 = freshmen. The ground was soggy toward the bottom of the hill and crusty/frozen toward the top of the hill. Our long three-month journey that is cross country is coming to an end, where it began back in the summer.

One more time: ECAC/IC4A Championships

Our final meet of the cross country season is Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park, where we will be racing in the ECAC (women) and IC4A (men) Championships. This meet is steeped in tradition – it’s the 110^th annual IC4A Championships! It’s also steeped in the tradition of our program. Many other cross country teams conclude their season at the NCAA Regionals, or bring a partial or “developmental” squad to this meet. Not us! This is a championship meet, and we treat it as such. It’s also a celebration of our season, and a celebration of our seniors, who will be racing XC for the final time. For them, it represents the end of a journey of eight or more years in most cases. While we still have many months of track ahead of us, the unique team aspect of cross country is difficult to replicate in track. And so this day is memorable, fun, bittersweet, all rolled into one. Many alums make the effort to come to Vanny to watch our teams race. Again, it’s a celebration of everything our program is about – past, present and future. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate (as I type this it's raining AGAIN and my front and back yards are under water).

Another tradition is a great parents/family tailgate, and once again senior Palmer Weimann's mom, Martha, will be organizing it. Contact her at whctgirl@gmail.com or by cell/text at 860 803 8198.

Below are the race times and schedules. Past runners and coaches will note that new this year is one championship race – no longer the differentiation between University and Championship divisions. This is a welcome change and should make all the races better and more competitive. There are now four races instead of six. Here's the schedule.

10 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Coaches’ Association race, 5 miles

10:45 a.m.: Women’s ECAC Coaches’ Association race, 5km

11:15 a.m.: Men’s IC4A Championship race, 5 miles

12 noon: Women’s ECAC Championship race, 5km

Hope to see you there.

NCAA Regionals: Final thoughts

Before we move on to our final championship meet of the cross country season – ECAC/IC4A on Saturday at Van Cortlandt Park – and then onto the long grind of track seasons (indoor and outdoor), here are some final thoughts on the snow and mud and muck in Buffalo for the NCAA Northeast Regional.

As noted, our women’s team racing to 11^th place for the second consecutive year is a big deal to us and really validates the hard work of our athletes and the consistently high level we have reached within the program. It’s a testament to the women who put in the work – every day, every week, every month, every season. They are relentless warriors, and it is an honor to be associated with them. The conditions affect every athlete and every team in different ways; for us, it seems to bring out the best in our unit. And that’s great.

On the men’s side, we can say similar things. While our goal was to finish anywhere between 15^th and 20^th place, in analyzing our 21^st-place finish you’ll note that we finished ahead of numerous teams that were ranked ahead of us and/or finished ahead of us all fall. In some cases, we outdistanced these teams by a wide margin, and our men did it in a progressive fashion by constantly improving their team standing as the race unfolded. So while we were hoping for slightly better, we know that on this day our men did what they tend to do here: Grinded it out and overachieved.

Mostly, what I’ll remember from this is the sheer enormity of effort. At the end of the race, we had athletes covered in mud, sweat, tears and a little blood. They were shivering cold, despite the intensity of their racing. A few of them couldn’t feel their extremities. They all finished – strong, hard, proud – and they all “left it out there” (one of those well-worn coaching clichés that I don’t even like, but actually fits here), and to summarize, they made us proud. It was, to paraphrase the T-shirts, a great day to be a Running Red Fox.

Signs of the times: Part 2

We work in a construction zone, as we eagerly anticipate the new McCann Center in late 2019 or early 2020. Magically, this signage appeared outside the entrance to McCann over the past few days – an alert blog follower surmised that perhaps we wanted to explain to basketball fans what was going on in the area, and I think that makes sense. Anyway, these architect renderings have us even more excited for what’s to come, as the renovated McCann Center looks to be magnificent. In the meantime, we’ll work around the construction zone and noises and continue to Be Better every day.

Signs of the times: Part 1

Our new lockerroom in McCann recently got a new addition – a bulletin board. We immediately seized upon this space, and will continue to utilize it, as we did outside our previous home (the racquetball court).

NCAA Regionals: Women's results

NCAA Northeast Regional Championships

Friday, November 9, 2018

Audubon Golf Course, Amherst, NY (UBuffalo host)

Women’s team standings

1-Columbia 41, 2-Dartmouth 88, 3-Yale 94, 4-Cornell 120, 5-Iona 143, 6-Syracuse 155, 7-Brown 182, 8-Harvard 231, 9-Boston College 271, 10-Providence 366, 11-Marist 370, 12-Connecticut 391, 13-Stony Brook 432, 14-Albany 442, 15-UMass Lowell 449, 16-Vermont 470, 17-Northeastern 508, 18-Army West Point 576, 19-Fordham 591, 20-Siena 594, 21-Quinnipiac 597, 22-Canisius 605, 23-Binghamton 636, 24-Holy Cross 644, 25-Boston University 653, 26-Central Connecticut 681, 27-New Hampshire 709, 28-Buffalo 753, 29-Sacred Heart 821, 30-Hofstra 906, 31-Colgate 943, 32-Fairfield 963, 33-Niagara 1011, 34-Hartford 1039, 35-Bryant 1112, 36/37/38-Manhattan, UMass Amherst, St. Francis, NY INC

Women’s individual results, 6km course

27. Gianna Tedeschi 22:29.9

75. Emily Burns 23:20.6

85. Denise Grohn 23:29.5

90. Rebecca Walters 23:34.0

101. Maria Smith 23:41.7

106. Hayley Collins 23:46.9
115. Shea Bohan 23:52.7

243 finishers

NCAA Regionals: Men's results

NCAA Northeast Regional Championships

Friday, November 9, 2018

Audubon Golf Course, Amherst, NY (UBuffalo host)

Men’s team standings

1-Syracuse 79, 2-Iona 88, 3-Army West Point 135, 4-Dartmouth 144, 5-Brown 172, 6-UMass Lowell 220, 7-Buffalo 245, 8-Columbia 272, 9-Stony Brook 274, 10-Northeastern 292, 11-Harvard 299, 12-Siena 332, 13-Vermont 354, 14-Connecticut 354, 15-Boston University 367, 16-Cornell 376, 17-Yale 439, 18-Binghamton 471, 19-UMass Amherst 480, 20-Providence 496, 21-Marist 507, 22-Hofstra 571, 23-Canisius 595, 24-Boston College 663, 25-New Hampshire 672, 26-Albany 708, 27-Central Connecticut 753, 28-Fordham 794, 29-Quinnipiac 810, 30-Holy Cross 854, 31-Colgate 975, 32-Fairfield 992, 33-Bryant 999, 34-Sacred Heart 1027, 35/36/37-Wagner, St. Francis, NY, Hartford INC

Men’s individual results, 10km course

58. Michael Kennedy 34:25.2

92. Christopher Rivas 34:54.1

109. Riley Hughes 35:09.1

120. Alexander Hogue 35:21.6

130. Conor Stack 35:33.1

147. James Draney 35:48.8

158. Palmer Weimann 36:02.8

241 finishers

NCAA Regionals: Men's pictures

 Thanks to Dan Hillman for these amazing shots from the men's race. Unfortunately, all we have from the women's race are videos, which don't play well on the blog. From these pix, you get the idea of the conditions.

NCAA Regionals: Quick recap = 11th heaven, again!

One look at senior Palmer Weimann's face tells the story of today at Buffalo. Another sh*t show of conditions, another banner day for our program. Our women's team matched last year's program-best 11th place, led by stellar sophomore Gianna Tedeschi's 27th-place finish. Our men's team moved gamely through the pack, as well as any team in the race, and placed a solid 21st, led by senior Michael Kennedy's 58th-place finish. Proud of all of our athletes. It's a great day to be a Running Red Fox.

NCAA Regionals: View from Room 222 = snow

Here's the view from my hotel room. At first glance, you probably notice the nice fall colors, right? But if you look closely, you'll see what I see, and that is SNOW. Wind-driven snow. Welcome to Buffalo! We welcome the early winter weather. The course will be muddy, mucky, wet and chilly. Time to spike up and go.

NCAA Regionals: Team dinner

Thanks to Dan Hillman for sharing this photo from our team dinner last night at Carrabba's in Buffalo. With a relatively small travel squad, team dinners like this are more possible. Soon, it'll be time to layer up and go out and face the elements at Audubon Golf Course in Amherst. Women's 6km at 11 a.m.; men's 10km at 12 noon.

NCAA Regionals: Shuffling off to Buffalo

We are headed north on the Thruway now in a JTR bus, with our good pal and loyal driver Mike R at the helm, destination Buffalo for the NCAA Northeast Regional. A quick scan at the Accuweather forecast and it is very much Buffalo for tomorrow morning: A mix of rain and snow (snow early), little or no accumulation, windy, high around 41. Lovely. Similar to last year! Is the weather ever nice in Buffalo, in November? Who knows. Our limited experience of Buffalo in November, a small sample size, is not nice in the weather department. We'll spike up and go, just like last year. Race times are 11 a.m. for the women's 6km and 12 noon for the men's 10km.

Sub-2:40: Spencer’s story

I spoke with Spencer on Sunday night after the race. Our guy got a big dose of big-city races. Even though he was in an elite starting area, the crowd overwhelmed him. He had a fanny pack with all of the gels he planned on taking. In the bustle of the start, the fanny pack was dropped and lost. As he frantically tried to retrieve it, panic ensued. Spencer’s rather small (I’m being nice here); he was barked down by angry and anxious runners as he scurried back to try to get his stuff. Fearful of being stampeded, he took off without his fanny pack and didn’t take his first gel under mile 17, when he saw his father. Obviously, this had a huge impact on his race. Spencer is not a guy to make excuses and he did not use this as an excuse. But clearly it was a factor. It’s a bummer because he was cruising at sub-2:30 pace for quite a while. Is it possible he would not have hit the wall as hard as he did? Yes, it’s possible. Lesson learned, for sure. He still PRed by a bit and he now has another marathon in his legs, with experience and things to improve upon. We are proud of him, and all the alums. (also thanks to Hild for sending me a different version of the picture from mile 18, with Spencer flashing the universal "Foxes" sign)

Sub-2:40: Fitz’s story

After a few days to think about it and with several texts from loyal alums to confirm it, last weekend was really a great day for Marist Running alums – with three men breaking the 2:40 barrier. We chronicled Luke Shane’s amazing breakthrough race in the previous post. Here’s his classmate Ryan Fitzsimons’ story and photo – both poached from Facebook. I hope he doesn’t mind:

From collapsed lung four months ago to a shiny new marathon PR, yesterday was filled with lots of emotion. But the resounding feeling is simply validation. When I first graduated college and started pondering the idea of running the marathon I set the goal of breaking 2:40:00. After 6 years of work I finally achieved that goal yesterday in a big way. I ran 2:37:20 for 111th place one year after this race absolutely crushed me physically and mentally. To comeback and redeem myself was almost solely what I thought about for the last 365 days. But what I am most proud of is how I accomplished this. After a grueling year of injuries, surgeries, work and life changes, Appalachian trail hike/therapy sessions and finally a 10 week intense marathon buildup I went into the race with the focused intention of walking away having a positive experience. I knew I was in decent shape but this is the marathon after all, anything can happen and I’ve been the victim to that unpredictability many times in the past. But this time was different. I have grown immensely as a human this last year, I have worked tirelessly on my mental health and mental strength and was able to put it to the test on race day. And I did not fail myself. Race day wasn’t perfect, life isn’t perfect, but what you can do in each moment of adversity is make the conscious choice to improve the situation. In times of strain on the course I shifted my focus to the positive energy around me, the beauty of the weather, the energy I was putting into the earth and feeling the earth radiate that energy back propelling me forward, and New York’s glowing enthusiasm for race day. I made yesterday a celebration. A celebration of running, of good health, of strong friendships and family, and of my time in New York. I stopped looking at my watch after mile 9 as to keep my mind focused on how I was feeling and staying present in the moment instead of stressing about the work ahead. Enjoying the journey, living for the moment, celebrating life, this is what the marathon means to me. This is why I will continue to run more and I know that I am capable of faster. But this race has solidified my own self belief. Validated. @ New York, New York

Luke Shane, 2:37:54: Marathon perfection

For the better part of the last eight years, the marathon – specifically, the chase for a sub-2:40 marathon – has been the obsession for Marist Running Alum (Class of 2012) Luke Shane. He has come tantalizingly close to it, several times. He’s had some great races, some good races, a DNF, and a debilitating foot injury that landed him in a boot for a few months. Luke trains hard, relentlessly hard; we’ve battled over the phone, via text, via email, about his penchant for too-hard training. His drive has been equally relentless. He wanted to break 2:40. He was going to break 2:40. He NEEDED to break 2:40. Would he ever break 2:40? For a while, to him at least, it seemed like it would never happen. Would it happen? Well. Yes. On Saturday, at Indianapolis, it all came together for Luke in a big, big, BIG way. He broke 2:40. He broke 2:39. He broke 2:38. He ran 2:37:54, the race of his life, a perfectly executed negative-split race, a thing of beauty, an effort, a time, a PR that left him sobbing tears of joy at the finish line. The only thing less than perfect here are the photos he could provide me (all we got is this post-race shot that appeared in the Indy paper). Here are his remarkable stats from his remarkable race.

10km: 37:58 (6:07 pace), 59^th place

Half marathon: 1:19:35 (6:05 pace), 55^th place

30km: 1:52:50 (6:04 pace), 53^rd place

Finish: 2:37:54 (6:02 pace), 36^th place

Second 13.1 miles: 1:18:19 (5:59 pace)

Luke, the former fat kid from Bolton Landing, the caboose of many a Marist XC race from his time in the red and white, the grinder who worked too hard and cared too much … finally got to the finish line he craved -- we craved -- for so long. We are very, very happy for him.