In an incredibly exciting development! There are now bleachers trackside at The Track at Gartland Commons -- not a lot, but more than none at all. Highly neat.
In other news! Here is a link to the entries (now) and live results (later).
We are a few days away from our home meet. This summer weather has been great as we are in the process of setting up the track. Coach Billy Poole-Harris is the nominal Meet Director and he is doing an amazing job with everything. Based on the entries, it looks like the meet (on the track) will run from 12 noon until about 5:15p -- if all goes well. The weather is looking favorable = cloudy and mild. Sunday and Monday, after the meet? Not so much! Cold and rainy weather. Glad we dodged that bullet.
Note: Second day/final results may not be posted till Sunday due to internet outage on the bus.
First of (hopefully) many (outdoor) school records on a warm and windy day.
Fred Hardy Invitational
Someone at practice reminded me that it was Friday the 13th (of March), exactly six years ago today, that the pandemic world started to unravel and our world began to stand still. After a great indoor track season in 2020, the outdoor track season of 2020 (along with all other collegiate sports) came to a screeching halt.
It doesn’t seem like it was six years ago already. By the same token, it also feels like 60 years ago. That pandemic spring – the early days of the Covid crisis – were really, really unusual times. In hindsight, it’s clear that most of the world was simply guessing about how to proceed. Good and bad decisions were made. Many, many lives were lost.
How soon we forget; I remember, vividly, the raw emotions and tears of our athletes at the end of that week when the reality of our sport being taken away smacked them hard in the forehead. We just took it for granted that there would be another practice and another season.
Here in 2026, we’re back to taking that for granted. We have practice today. Our outdoor track season begins a week from today, in Richmond. On and on and on, the practices and seasons just roll on by. Except for that dark period of 2020 and into 2021. This is a good time to take stock and be grateful for what we have, when the memory of what was taken away is so vivid.
Marist's annual Day of Giving is coming up in three weeks. But you don't have to wait until Wednesday, March 25 to donate to our program! The Day of Giving donation links are live now. Why wait? Donate NOW!
Why donate to our team? Oh gosh. Let me count the WAYS:
1-Allows us to travel with a large squad to faraway meets -- Richmond, Colonial Relays, Bucknell -- and give us valuable visibility at these regional meets.
2-Allows us to bring elite-level athletes to national-caliber meets. This year, we are bringing a small group of athletes to Raleigh Relays at North Carolina State. You donation ensures that we can do that -- this year and in future years.
3-Allows us to fully outfit our team with gear and continue to provide equipment (pole vault poles, throwing event implements, etc.) as we rapidly expand to every event in track and field.
4-One long-term goal for our program is to purchase an alter-gravity treadmill -- the brand we are targeting is "Boost" treadmill. This is an EXPENSIVE piece of equipment -- in the tens of thousands of dollars. Some of our rival schools (you know, the one that finishes AHEAD of us every year!) make very good use of these devices, which allows injured athletes to continue to train at a very high level. Your Day of Giving donation -- this year and next year -- can go a long way to our program securing one of these vital pieces of equipment.
OK. That's my sales pitch for now. Here are the links to donate!
If you want your donation to go toward the men's track/cross country budget, click HERE.
If you want your donation to go toward the women's track/cross country budget, click HERE.
Thank you for your consideration and Go Red Foxes.