MAAC meet: Men's results and splits

MAAC Championships
May 7-8, 2011
Rider University

100-meter dash
8. Mike McCloskey 11.37
9. Darren Bushey 11.57

200-meter dash
6. Jesse Aprile 22.78 *school record
11. Mike McCloskey 23.33
13. Darren Bushey 23.54

400-meter dash
10. Phil Krupka 51.42
11. Chris Coscio 52.10
12. Josh Lopez 53.39

800-meter run
7. Matt Panebianco 1:56.93
Opening 400m: 57

1,500-meter run
5. Will Griffin 3:55.76
60, 2:06 (66), 3:08 (62), 3:55.76 (62.76 last 400m)

9. Sam McMullen 4:05.95
64, 2:12 (68), 3:17 (65), 4:05.95 (64.95 last 400m)

10. Ben Windisch 4:09.39
60, 2:07 (67), 3:14 (67), 4:09.39 (73.39 last 400m)

5,000-meter run
3. Conor Shelley 14:59.93
68, 2:18 (70), 3:30 (72), 4:42 (72)
5:56 (74), 7:09 (73), 8:23 (74), 9:37 (74)
10:51 (74), 12:04 (73), 13:15 (71), 14:26 (71)
14:59.93 (33.93 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:42, 4:55, 4:49

6. Billy Posch 15:23.00
67, 2:19 (72), 3:30 (71), 4:42 (72)
5:56 (74), 7:09 (73), 8:27 (78), 9:46 (79)
11:04 (78), 12:22 (78), 13:40 (78), 14:53 (73)
15:23.00 (30.00 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:42, 5:06, 5:07

7. Zak Smetana 15:40.03
66, 2:18 (72), 3:30 (72), 4:43 (73)
5:56 (73), 7:09 (73), 8:23 (74), 9:39 (76)
10:58 (79), 12:19 (81), 13:40 (81), 15:00 (80)
15:40.03 (40.03 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:43, 4:56, 5:21

9. Pat Duggan 16:00.91
67, 2:19 (72), 3:30 (71), 4:43 (73)
5:56 (73), 7:08 (72), 8:23 (75), 9:44 (81)
11:10 (86), 12:36 (86), 13:59 (83), 15:22 (83)
16:00.91 (38.91 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:43, 5:01, 5:36

10,000-meter run
6. Tim Keegan 32:20.60
78, 2:35 (75), 3:50 (75), 5:06 (76)
6:23 (77), 7:39 (76), 8:55 (76), 10:12 (77)
11:29 (77), 12:46 (77), 14:04 (78), 15:22 (78)
16:42 (80), 17:58 (76), 19:16 (78), 20:34 (78)
20:51 (77), 23:09 (78), 24:28 (79), 25:46 (79)
27:05 (79), 28:26 (81), 29:46 (80), 31:06 (80)
32:20.60 (74.60)
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:06, 5:10, 5:12, 5:12, 5:20

7. Mike Keegan 32:22.80
80, 2:38 (78), 3:51 (73), 5:08 (77)
6:25 (77), 7:41 (76), 8:56 (75), 10:15 (79)
11:30 (75), 12:48 (78), 14:06 (78), 15:25 (79)
16:44 (78), 17:57 (73), 19:15 (78), 20:33 (78)
20:52 (79), 23:10 (78), 24:29 (79), 25:48 (79)
27:07 (78), 28:28 (81), 29:47 (79), 31:06 (79)
32:22.80 (76.80)
1600-meter splits: 5:08, 5:07, 5:10, 5:08, 5:13, 5:18

8. Brian Townsend 32:45.97
80, 2:37 (77), 3:52 (75), 5:08 (76)
6:25 (77), 7:39 (74), 8:55 (76), 10:13 (78)
11:30 (77), 12:46 (76), 14:04 (780, 15:23 (79)
16:44 (81), 18:02 (78), 19:23 (81), 20:44 (81)
22:06 (82), 23:26 (80), 23:48 (82), 26:10 (82)
27:32 (82), 28:54 (82), 30:14 (80), 31:32 (78)
32:45.97 (73.97)
1600-meter splits: 5:08, 5:05, 5:10, 5:21, 5:26, 5:22

9. Joel Moss 32:49.18
79, 2:36 (77), 3:52 (76), 5:07 (75)
6:24 (77), 7:41 (77), 8:56 (75), 10:14 (78)
11:29 (75), 12:46 (77), 14:05 (79), 15:23 (78)
16:43 (80), 18:00 (77), 19:20 (80), 20:42 (82)
22:05 (83), 23:26 (81), 23:48 (82), 26:10 (82)
27:32 (82), 28:54 (82), 30:15 (81), 31:35 (80)
32:49.18 (74.18)
1600-meter splits: 5:07, 5:07, 5:09, 5:19, 5:28, 5:25

11. Mike Nicoletti 33:09.53
80, 2:34 (74), 3:49 (75), 5:06 (77)
6:23 (77), 7:40 (77), 8:57 (77), 10:17 (80)
11:35 (78), 12:55 (80), 14:15 (80), 15:36 (81)
16:57 (81), 18:18 (81), 19:39 (81), 21:00 (81)
22:22 (82), 23:44 (82), 25:07 (83), 26:30 (83)
27:51 (81), 29:13 (82), 30:34 (81), 31:54 (80)
33:09.53 (75.53)
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:11, 5:19, 5:24, 5:30, 5:24

400-meter hurdles
7. Mike Clifford 56.36

3,000-meter steeplechase
3. Arquimedes DelaCruz 9:33.21
72, 2:30 (78), 3:48 (78), 5:09 (81), 6:32 (83), 7:55 (83), 9:20 (85), 9:33.21 (13.21)

4. Nick Webster 9:40.97
74, 2:34 (80), 3:57 (83), 5:20 (83), 6:45 (85), 8:10 (85), 9:31 (81), 9:40.97 (9.97)

5. Ken Walshak 9:43.35
76, 2:37 (81), 3:59 (82), 5:22 (83), 6:46 (84), 8:10 (84), 9:32 (82), 9:43.35 (11.35)

6. Tom Lipari 9:49.87
75, 2:36 (81), 3:59 (83), 5:23 (84), 6:56 (83), 8:19 (83), 9:40 (81), 9:49.87 (9.87)

8. Nick Hughes 10:09.20
77, 2:39 (82), 4:04 (85), 5:25 (81), 6:57 (82), 8:27 (90), 9:56 (89), 10:09.20 (13.20)

400-meter relay
3. Marist (Darren Bushey, Jesse Aprile, Mike McCloskey, Connor Dodge) 43.40

1,600-meter relay
4. Marist (Phil Krupka 51.4, Chris Vanzetta 50.5, Connor Dodge 51.2, Chris Coscio 50.8) 3:24.28

3,200-meter relay
4. Marist (Chris Vanzetta, Matt Panebianco, Andrew James, Ben Windisch) 7:55.82
Chris Vanzetta: 1:56.1 (58.5 opening 400)
Matt Panebianco: 2:00.1 (56.4 opening 400)
Andrew James: 2:01.7 (56.6 opening 400)
Ben Windisch: 1:57.6 (55.2 opening 400)

Long jump
10. Jesse Aprile 6.02 meters

Triple jump
12. Jesse Aprile 12.12 meters

Hammer
12. Sean Ellman 32.42 meters

Javelin
9. Pasquale Magneri 42.66 meters
10. Jake Akey 40.50 meters

Team standings
1-Rider 272, 2. Manhattan 172.66, 3. St. Peter’s 101.33, 4. Iona 62, 5. Marist 38

MAAC meet: Women's results and splits

MAAC Championships
May 7-8, 2011

100-meter dash
13. Meghann Cocca 13.30
17. Kim Ladouceur 13.73

200-meter dash
18. Meghann Cocca 27.46
21. Kim Ladouceur 28.53
22. Christina Turigiano 28.60

400-meter dash
16. Tara Nuccitelli 1:03.79
17. Christina Turigiano 1:05.72

800-meter run
5. Briana Crowe 2:18.35
Opening 400m: 68

10. Jackie Gamboli 2:21.15
Opening 400m: 68

13. Kelley Hanifin 2:23.46
Opening 400m: 70

14. Erin O’Reilly 2:25.32
Opening 400m: 70

15. Laura Lindsley 2:26.70
Opening 400m: 71

1,500-meter run
14. Erin O’Reilly 4:55.56
73, 2:28 (75), 3:51 (83), 4:55.56 (84.56 last 400m)

16. Dayna McLaughlin 5:03.24
76, 2:37 (81), 4:01 (84), 5:03.24 (83.24 last 400m)

17. Rebecca Denise 5:08.43
77, 2:40 (83), 4:05 (85), 5:08.43 (84.43 last 400m)

18. Elizabeth O’Brien 5:08.89
77, 2:40 (83), 4:05 (85), 5:08.89 (84.89 last 400m)

19. Julie Hudak 5:11.82
75, 2:35 (80), 4:02 (87), 5:11.82 (91.82 last 400m)

5,000-meter run
5. Jillian Corley 18:35.17
88, 3:00 (92), 4:28 (88), 5:58 (90)
7:30 (92), 9:02 (92), 10:33 (91), 11:58 (95)
13:27 (89), 14:56 (89), 16:25 (89), 17:53 (88)
18:35.17 (42.17 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:58, 6:00, 5:55

10. Kelley Gould 19:05.62
80, 3:00 (91), 4:28 (88), 5:59 (91)
7:30 (91), 9:02 (92), 10:34 (92), 12:04 (90)
13:38 (94), 15:13 (95), 16:50 (97), 18:24 (94)
19:05.62 (41.62 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:50, 6:05, 6:20

14. Rachel Bremer 19:53.45
89, 3:00 (91), 4:29 (89), 6:00 (91)
7:32 (92), 9:05 (93), 10:44 (99), 12:23 (99)
14:03 (100), 15:42 (99), 17:24 (102), 19:04 (100)
19:53.45 (49.45 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 6:00, 6:23, 6:41

15. Rachel Lichtenwalner 20:07.23
93, 3:07 (94), 4:40 (93), 6:16 (96)
7:53 (97), 9:29 (96), 11:06 (97), 12:44 (98)
14:23 (99), 16:04 (101), 17:44 (100), 19:23 (99)
20:07.60 (44.60 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 6:16, 6:28, 6:39

10,000-meter run
3. Addie DiFrancesco 37:19.07
87, 2:56 (89), 4:24 (88), 5:52 (88)
7:21 (89), 8:50 (89), 10:18 (88), 11:47 (89)
13:16 (89), 14:45 (89), 16:15 (90), 17:45 (90)
19:15 (90), 20:46 (91), 22:16 (90), 23:47 (91)
25:17 (90), 26:47 (90), 28:17 (90), 29:49 (92)
31:18 (89), 32:48 (90), 34:19 (91), 35:50 (91)
37:19.07 (89.07)
1600-meter splits: 5:52, 5:55, 5:58, 6:02, 6:01, 6:01

3,000-meter steeplechase
2. Brittany Burns 10:47.14
87, 2:57 (90), 4:27 (90), 5:59 (92), 7:33 (94), 9:07 (94), 10:35 (88), 10:47.14 (12.14)

9. Jillian Corley 12:02.13
89, 3:03 (94), 4:41 (98), 6:24 (103), 8:09 (105), 9:59 (110), 11:48 (109), 12:02.13 (14.13)

10. Colleen Smith 12:07.06
91, 3:07 (96), 4:47 (100), 6:33 (106), 8:21 (108) 10:09 (109) 11:58 (109), 12:07.06 (9.06)

400-meter relay
5. Marist (Amanda Luccarelli, Meghann Cocca, Kim Ladouceur, Hayley Harnett) 50.80

1,600-meter relay
5. Marist (Briana Crowe 62.2, Colleen Meenan 62.2, Tara Nuccitelli 62.0, Jackie Gamboli 59.9) 4:06.71

3,200-meter relay
5. Marist (Briana Crowe, Nicole Weir, Colleen Meenan, Jackie Gamboli) 9:35.48
Briana Crowe: 2:19.9 (68.3 opening 400)
Nicole Weir: 2:30.1 (68.2 opening 400)
Colleen Meenan: 2:24.4 (66.9 opening 400)
Jackie Gamboli: 2:20.9 (68.7 opening 400)

Long jump
15. Brooke Kristensen 4.49 meters

Triple jump
13. Brooke Kristensen 10.19 meters

Javelin
10. Rachael Eichacker 29.09 meters

Team standings
1-St. Peter’s 250, 2. Manhattan 224.5, 3. Rider 125.5, 4. Iona 118, 5. Loyola 58, 6. Marist 34

Soaring over Bowdoin Park

Check out this photo of what we believe to be a bald eagle. It was taken by my wife Heidi on Monday at Bowdoin Park. Yeah, THAT Bowdoin Park.

It was a bit unusual to be at Bowdoin in the spring, as opposed to the late summer and fall when we are there several times per week.

Speaking of transitions, we were there for our end-of-preschool picnic for our youngest son James. That's right. End of preschool! This means ...

1. He enters kindergarten in the fall. Yippee!
2. He is done with preschool already! Yikes! Four months of summer!

Transitions

Finals week of the spring semester -- this week -- is an odd time.

It's a time of transition as our long three-season journey nears its conclusion. For the majority of the team, the 2010-2011 finish line has been reached. Fortunately, we still have some season left for our championship qualifiers. More on them later in the week.

We are done with the daily routine of practice, and this sudden halt is jarring. It's a nerve-jangling time for finals, final papers, planning ahead for next year or planning for a series of goodbyes.

And so it was on Sunday night, as the exhausted teams got off the buses in the fading twilight, that there was not much to say to the boys. No long run the next day. Good luck with finals.

A couple of the senior men came up to me. My natural instinct was to say, "Yeah, easy 11 tomorrow. Take is slow if you are feeling beat up. No Culinary trails because they might be too muddy. Next workout on Tuesday."

But alas ... there was nothing to say.

I couldn't tell if it was the stifling diesel exhaust spewing from the JTR bus, or maybe it was just the sudden realization that it's the end of the line for most of my seniors, but my eyes were welling up as they walked away from the last bus trip of their college careers.

Hang in there, I'm working on the MAAC results ...

MAAC meet, quick recap: 200-meter school record!

It was a long, tiring and fun weekend down at Rider.

The final team results were predictable and not to our liking, but they do not accurately reflect the fine effort of our athletes. Such is life.

I will do my best to post complete results, splits and other comments in the next few days. As always, the end of the semester is a busy time with tidying up a lot of loose ends.

The big highlight today on the men's side was a wonderful school record by freshman Jesse Aprile in the 200-meter dash. Jesse nabbed the last scoring spot (6th) in a very competitive field and ran 22.78 seconds. This eclipsed the shared school record of 22.82, first set by Mike McCarthy way back in 2000 and then equaled by Brian DeMarco in 2007. It is worth noting, for those not in the know, that DeMarco was perhaps the greatest long sprinter in school history.

While he did not get the school record, kudos to intermediate hurdler Mike Clifford. Cliff proved his 56.39 mark from Yale last Sunday was no fluke. He ran 56.36 on Sunday at MAACs, just missing a scoring spot and just missing the SR of 56.33. We are very proud of his effort.

The men's 4x100 relay team blazed around the track in 43.40 seconds, just a few ticks off the SR of 43.33.

Lastly, the men's 4x400 team of Phil Krupka (51.4), Chris Vanzetta (50.5), Connor Dodge (51.2) and Chris Coscio (50.8) got fourth in a season-best time of 3:24.28. Calling this a "season best" does not do it justice, as it was more than 5 seconds faster than any 4x400 run this year. Talk about saving the best for last ...

The men's 5k was the usual slugfest, with our guys gamely surging and racing with gusto. Whatever the outcome, we go at it and race hard. Great to see my boy Duggan busting up the pack with a ridiculously bold mid-race surge, for which he paid dearly. Such is life.

Fifth-year senior Conor Shelley saved the best for last, medaling with a third-place time of 14:59.93. Yes. This is the same Conor Shelley who, a few years ago indoors at BU, had the audacity to run 15:00.00 for 5,000 meters. Well, Conor mustered that extra .07 on Sunday, somehow. Of course, he has broken 15:00 a few times in between, but it's great to see our old pal still has a flair for the dramatic. One more race, bro.

On the women's side, it was so thrilling to see senior Jillian Corley finish in a blaze of glory in the 5,000, running a strong fifth in 18:35.17. Great job, Jill! We will miss you.

Again, more details to follow ... when I can this week ... be patient ...

MAAC meet, Day 1

We got off the bus to a sunny and warm afternoon, but the weather quickly turned sour. The wind whipped, the rain spitted out sideways and it was generally breezy, damp and – by the end of the 10,000 – chilly.

Overall, it was a solid afternoon for us.

On the track, the 3,200-meter relays were a bit disappointing for us, but the wind was REALLY whipping at that point.

Brittany Burns had a strong race in the women’s steeplechase. In the men’s steeple, we took four of the six scoring spots.

Addie DiFrancesco ran a season-best time and got third in the women’s 10k. The men’s 10k was a tactical mess, as usual, with our guys surging and leading and falling back throughout the race. We did manage to eke out a scoring spot.

Doug Ainscow dutifully recorded all the results, but I am too tired to type them up at this time. I will compile all the results and splits after the weekend is over – early next week.

Back at it in the morning, when the weather promises to be lovely!

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers in the blogosphere.

Men’s results
Hammer throw
12-Sean Ellman, 32.42 meters

Javelin
9-Pasquale Magneri, 42.66 meters (personal best)
10-Jake Akey, 40.50 meters

Long Jump
10-Jesse Aprile, 6.02 meters

4 X 800 meter relay
4-Marist (Chris Vanzetta 1:56.1, Matt Panebianco 2:00.1, Andrew James 2:01.7, Ben Windisch 1:57.6), 7:55.82

3,000-meter steeplechase
3-Arquimedes DelaCruz, 9:33.21
4-Nick Webster, 9:40.97
5-Ken Walshak, 9:43.35
6-Thomas Lipari, 9:49.87
8-Nick Hughes, 10:09.20

10,000-meter run
6-Timothy Keegan, 32:20.62
7-Michael Keegan, 32:22.80
8-Brian Townsend, 32:45.97
9-Joel Moss, 32:49.18
11-Mike Nicoletti, 33:09.53

Women’s results
10,000-Meter Run
3-Addie DiFrancesco, 37:19.07

3,000-Meter Steeplechase
2-Brittany Burns, 10:47.14
9-Jillian Corley, 12:02.13
10-Colleen Smith, 12:07.06

4 X 800 meter relay
5-Marist (Briana Crowe 2:19.9, Nicole Weir 2:30.1, Colleen Meenan 2:24.4, Jackie Gamboli 2:20.9), 9:35.48

Long jump
15-Brooke Kristensen, 4.49 meters

Javelin
10-Rachel Eichacker, 29.09 meters

Matthew Vassar Open results

What’s not to love about one of the best nights of the year, when we have our “home meet” at the Matthew Vassar Open?

The weather was perfect, as usual. The support – from team members, family, friends, administrators, etc. – was the best, as usual.

As has become our tradition, we loaded up on the night’s finale in the 10,000-meter run. Congrats to freshman Billy Hild for a nearly 1-minute PR and that coveted sub-33:00; sophomore Will Schanz for improving his PR by more than a minute; freshman Mike Clausen for a wonderful debut in the event.

Thanks for Pat Deedy for helping me with the splits you read below.

Now, it’s off to the MAAC meet at Rider on Saturday. Check for first-day results if I can get them up from the hotel on Saturday night.

Matthew Vassar Open
Friday, May 6, 2011
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

Men’s results
100-meter dash
6. Mike McCloskey 11.92
7. Darren Bushey 12.02

110-meter hurdles
3. Taylor Bombard 18.33

800-meter run
4. Danny Mendoza 2:03.44
Opening 400-meter split: 59.5
5. Isaiah Miller 2:03.48
Opening 400-meter split: 59.6

1,500-meter run
6. Kevin O’Sullivan 4:16.14
68, 2:16 (68), 3:24 (68), 4:16.14 (70.14 last 400m)

7. Chris Reynolds (unattached) 4:19.38
68, 2:16 (68), 3:26 (70), 4:19.38 (71.38 last 400m)

5,000-meter run
6. Isaiah Miller 16:19.53
77, 2:31 (74), 3:48 (77), 5:06 (78)
6:26 (80), 7:46 (80), 9:07 (81), 10:27 (80)
11:47 (80), 13:08 (81), 14:30 (82), 15:46 (76)
16:19.53 (34.53 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:21, 5:19

10. Ryan Fitzsimons 16:39.63
78, 2:35 (77), 3:52 (77), 5:11 (79)
6:30 (79), 7:51 (81), 9:11 (80), 10:32 (81)
11:54 (82), 13:17 (83), 14:40 (83), 16:00 (80)
16:39.63 (39.63 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:11, 5:21, 5:28

10,000-meter run
2. Billy Hild 32:59.02
76, 2:37 (81), 3:55 (78), 5:14 (79)
6:33 (79), 7:51 (78), 9:10 (79), 10:27 (77)
11:47 (80), 13:05 (78), 14:25 (80), 15:44 (79)
17:04 (80), 18:24 (80), 19:42 (78), 21:02 (80)
22:21 (79), 23:40 (79), 24:59 (79), 26:21 (82)
27:39 (78), 29:00 (81), 30:20 (80), 31:40 (80)
32:59.02 (79.02)
1600-meter splits: 5:14, 5:13, 5:17, 5:18, 5:19, 5:19

3. Will Schanz 33:09.65
76, 2:37 (81), 3:56 (79), 5:14 (78)
6:33 (79), 7:51 (78), 9:10 (79), 10:28 (78)
11:47 (79), 13:04 (77), 14:25 (81), 15:44 (79)
17:03 (79), 18:23 (80), 19:41 (78), 21:02 (81)
22:21 (79), 23:42 (81), 25:03 (81), 26:24 (81)
27:45 (81), 29:06 (81), 30:31 (85), 31:52 (81)
33:09.65 (77.65)
1600-meter splits: 5:14, 5:14, 5:16, 5:18, 5:22, 5:28

4. Mike Clausen 33:21.29
76, 2:36 (80), 3:55 (79), 5:13 (78)
6:32 (79), 7:50 (78), 9:09 (79), 10:27 (78)
11:47 (80), 13:05 (78), 14:25 (80), 15:44 (79)
17:03 (79), 18:24 (81), 19:46 (82), 21:09 (83)
22:31 (82), 23:53 (82), 25:15 (82), 26:37 (82)
28:01 (84), 29:23 (82), 30:45 (82), 32:06 (81)
33:21.29 (75.29)
1600-meter splits: 5:13, 5:14, 5:17, 5:25, 5:28, 5:29

5. Nick Salek 34:49.35
76, 2:36 (80), 3:55 (79), 5:13 (78)
6:32 (79), 7:50 (78), 9:09 (79), 10:29 (80)
11:52 (83), 13:17 (85), 14:43 (86), 16:10 (87)
17:37 (87), 19:02 (85), 20:29 (87), 21:55 (86)
23:23 (88), 24:50 (87), 26:16 (86), 27:44 (88)
29:12 (88), 30:38 (86), 32:05 (87), 33:28 (83)
34:49.35 (81.35)
1600-meter splits: 5:13, 5:16, 5:41, 5:45, 5:49, 5:44

6. Doug Ainscow 34:56.17
80, 2:40 (80), 4:01 (81), 5:21 (80)
6:41 (80), 8:02 (81), 9:23 (81), 10:45 (82)
12:07 (82), 13:30 (83), 14:53 (83), 16:16 (83)
17:41 (85), 19:05 (84), 20:31 (86), 21:54 (83)
23:31 (87), 24:48 (87), 26:14 (86), 27:41 (87)
29:06 (85), 30:34 (88), 32:02 (88), 33:30 (88)
34:56.17 (86.17)
1600-meter splits: 5:21, 5:24, 5:31, 5:38, 5:48, 5:49

7. Brendan Green 36:35.88
80, 2:41 (81), 4:01 (80), 5:22 (81)
6:46 (84), 8:13 (87), 9:41 (88), 11:08 (87)
12:35 (87), 14:02 (87), 15:30 (88), 16:57 (87)
18:28 (91), 20:03 (95), 21:35 (92), 23:04 (89)
24:34 (90), 26:03 (89), 27:33 (90), 29:05 (92)
30:36 (91), 32:09 (93), 33:43 (94), 35:14 (91)
36:35.88 (81.88)
1600-meter splits: 5:22, 5:36, 5:49, 6:07, 6:01, 6:09

Women’s results
1,500-meter run
7. Rachael Peterson 5:19.71
77, 2:45 (88), 4:15 (90), 5:19.71 (86.71 last 400m)

10. Miy Mahran 5:31.25
80, 2:50 (90), 4:24 (94), 5:31.25 (92.25 last 400m)

3,000-meter steeplechase
3. Katie Messina (unattached)
91, 3:09 (98), 4:49 (100), 6:32 (103), 8:17 (105), 10:00 (103), 11:44 (104), 12:35.48 (51.48 last 200m)

Vassar meet schedule

We are all looking forward to our “home meet” Friday night at Vassar College -- the Matthew Vassar Open.

Here is the MVO order of events, with an estimated time schedule.

Please note that these times are ESTIMATED and that the meet more than likely will move AHEAD OF THIS SCHEDULE. Do not hold us to these exact times.

Women, then men
5:30 p.m.: High hurdles
5:50 p.m.: 100 dash
6:05 p.m.: 400 dash
6:25 p.m.: Steeplechase
7:05 p.m.: 800 run
7:25 p.m.: 200 dash
7:45 p.m.: 1500 run
8:25 p.m.: 5000 run
9:20 p.m.: 4x400 relay
9:30 p.m.: 10000 run

Again, let me reiterate: THESE TIMES ARE ESTIMATES. Meet may run ahead of schedule, based on scratches.

Weather is looking good. Just like last year.

Hope to see you there …

Let's go Mets!

Thanks to Mr. Paulson (DJ’s dad) for his kind words on my previous post “Where were you when …”

In an offering of an olive branch to my Mets’ brethren out there … please let it be known that, although I am a Yankee fan, I like the Mets too and will openly root for them – except in the interleague Subway Series games, of course.

Mr. Paulson, a Marist alum, shared his memory of where he was when the Amazins shocked the world and won the 1969 World Series.

“I was in Donnelly Hall when the Mets won the World Series in 1969,’’ Mr. Paulson wrote in an email. “I was watching it on a TV set up in the hallway right outside of what was then the library. The World Series was played in the afternoon back in the day. Thanks for letting me remember this memory.’’

Any time, my old friend.

And just so you know, one of my fondest baseball memories from growing up was sneaking a radio into freshman high school English so that I could hear the first few innings of the 1978 one-game playoff for the AL East between the Yankees and the Red Sox.

For those Red Sox fans keeping score at home, the Yankees won that game. You might remember some shortstop named Bucky Dent … if you are from Red Sox Nation, Mr. Dent was christened with an impromptu middle name based on his improbable heroics on that fine October day.

MAAC travel information

Saturday bus departure time is 11 a.m. Bus will be packed.

Team gear is required. This means Marist apparel top and bottom.

Whether you are racing or not.

We are looking and acting like a TEAM on this weekend.

Gray Nike bottoms, red Nike tops.

Thank you.

Where were you when ...

The death of the evil Osama bin Laden is one of those historic, watershed moments in one’s life in which you remember the exact circumstances under which you heard the news. Wow. That was a terrible sentence. But I don’t feel like rewriting it. You get the idea.

Anyway … if you are old enough to recall, everyone knows where and what they were doing when they heard about JFK’s assassination. Not me. That tragedy occurred precisely nine months before I was born. Hmmm.

The Space Shuttle disaster is another such event. I was actually a college senior, walking into Donnelly Hall for class, when I heard about that terrible moment in history back in 1986.

9.11 … Geez, I remember that one Tuesday morning as vividly as though it were last Tuesday as opposed to 10 years ago this September.

The bin Laden thing is quite interesting. On pretty much any other “normal” night in my life, I would have been long asleep when the news broke late on Sunday night.

But Sunday was not a “normal” day. In fact, it was a rather lengthy day. It started, as usual, with my morning jog, at around 5 a.m. Then, it was off to Marist to get the van loaded up for a track trip to Yale. Great day in the sun, as we have recounted here.

Upon arriving back to Marist in the late afternoon, though, instead of typing up the results at home on the laptop, it was time to change into my formal wear for the Senior Awards Banquet. By all accounts, this went well, despite the fact that I had to make not one but two speeches.

I departed for home a little after 10 p.m., exhausted but also wired from all the coffee I downed with Vess at the banquet.

Naturally, there was Sunday Night Baseball to listen to on the radio, a bonus in that the Mets were playing the Phillies. Much to Salek’s dismay, the Amazins were actually winning this game, 1-0. Upon arriving home and getting changed and ready for bed, I remembered to check on the Mets’ game – figuring, accurately, that their atrocious bullpen would cough up this tenuous the lead.

By the time I turned on the TV, there was no surprise at all to see the score was tied at 1-1. But, what was that crawl at the bottom of the ESPN screen about BREAKING NEWS and TURN TO ABC NEWS for details?

THAT’S how I found out about the despicable terrorist menace’s very timely demise – checking out a basically meaningless early-season ballgame. The baseball game was forgotten and it was time to watch the President speak and to find out what exactly happened.

Again, had it been a normal Sunday night, I would have dozed off well before the Mets’ bullpen blew the lead (yeah yeah Bambi, I know they eventually won the game in 14 innings), and I would not have heard about this news until the early morning hours.

Where were you when you heard? What were you doing?

If I had to guess, the overwhelming majority of college students were probably on Facebook or studying in the library (or some combination thereof) when word started spreading. Or, knowing the brain surgeons on our men’s distance team, probably playing video games. Just a hunch.

For me, it feels utterly unnatural to “celebrate” a death. But for those of us who lived through 9.11 and had close friends who were deeply impacted by the events of that day, this surprising bit of news does hold some semblance of satisfaction. I do not like it when politicians and the like speak of “closure” as there is no “closure” ever from such horrors.

Where were you, and what were you doing, on that May Day in 2011? For the rest of our lives, we’ll remember. That’s for sure.

Men's splits/comments from Yale

These splits posts, for obvious reasons, tend to be mid and long distance event centric, since those events tend to lend themselves to splits and further analysis. The Yale meet, however, was an opportunity for our entire team to shine and really tune up for MAACs.

And so in this post, we will highlight a lot of the non-distance highlights:

--Mike Clifford’s 400-meter hurdle race was nothing short of remarkable. He nearly broke Matt McClellan’s long-standing school record, just missing by .06! I failed to start my watch for his race; I knew it was fast, but I did not know it was THAT fast until I checked the official results. Nicely done!!!!
--Jesse Aprile quietly had one of the best all-around days we’ve had here in a long time. He started off with a PR long jump of 6.40 meters early in the morning. A little later in the morning, he was part of the 4x100 relay that ran a season-best time and the first sub-44.00 this season. Then, he capped it off with a strong PR in the 200-meter dash that had him asking what the SR is in that event (for those keeping score at home, it’s 22.82 seconds). And oh yeah, he also had a decent triple jump best of 12.28 meters, that did not even show in the official results. Jesse will be equally busy at MAACs this coming weekend. Good stuff!
--Phil Krupka had a strong season-best in the 400-meter dash. I was a bit harsh on Phil after his 4x400 leg at Penn Relays. We know he is capable of better and he showed it at Yale. Phil’s in phenomenal shape and we are hoping for a great finish out of him at MAACs too.
--Chris Vanzetta ran a beautiful 800-meter race, just 2 days after a strong Penn 4x400 split. We are hoping for great relay legs from him at MAACs in the 4x800 and 4x400. Nicely done!!
--The 4x400 relay team ran FASTER than the relay at Penn, this despite everyone doubling back and the fact that three of the four legs were actually penciled in to our B TEAM, which did not even run. Crazy.
--Freshman spear chucker Jake Akey had a great series of throws in the javelin, earning a personal-best and probably topping it afterwards in unmeasured throws because of the minimum marks requirements at Yale. Jake has been dealing with a throwing hand injury, but he has gamely changed his throwing grip and is adapting well.
--Great to have senior Sam McMullen, who is perpetually injured, back and running very very strong. He won his section of the 1500 with a blazing 62-second last lap.
--In the same race, we welcomed back our old pal and long-lost teammate Ryan Fitzsimons. Fitz‘ study abroad period in London ended last week and he is now back on campus, training and racing. There was some obvious rust there, but he ran what amounts to a solid first-meet time. He’ll be back for more Friday at Vassar! Great to have him back!

Men’s results
100-meter dash
15. Mike McCloskey 11.54
17. Darren Bushey 11.63 (season best)
25. Neal Viets 12.31

200-meter dash
19. Jesse Aprile 23.17 (season best)
26. Phil Krupka 23.53 (season best)
32. Darren Bushey 23.81 (season best)

400-meter dash
9. Phil Krupka 51.26 (season best)
18. Dan Conklin 53.18 (season best)
19. Chris Coscio 53.31
21. Andrew James 54.01

800-meter run
8. Chris Vanzetta 1:55.83 (season best)
Opening 400 in 57

18. Matt Panebianco 1:58.60
Opening 400 in 53.86 on Coach Pete’s watch (YIKES!)

27. Kyle Havard 2:00.27
Opening 400 in 58

32. Danny Mendoza 2:01.97 (season best)
Opening 400 in 59

1,500-meter run
17. Sam McMullen 4:05.82 (season best)
65, 2:12 (67), 3:19 (67), 4:05.82 (62.82 last 400m)

25. Ben Windisch 4:09.82
62, 2:06 (64), 3:15 (69), 4:09.82 (72.82 last 400m)

31. Pat Duggan 4:13.91
65, 2:11 (66), 3:21 (70), 4:13.91 (70.91 last 400m)

40. Ryan Fitzsimons 4:25.71
67, 2:19 (72), 3:31 (72), 4:25.71 (76.71 last 400m)

5,000-meter run
2. Billy Posch 15:06.02
70, 2:22 (72), 3:35 (73), 4:48 (73)
6:02 (74), 7:16 (74), 8:28 (72), 9:42 (74)
10:56 (74), 12:11 (75), 13:26 (75), 14:34 (68)
15:06.02 (32.02 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:48, 4:54, 4:52

12. Michael Keegan 15:35.60
73, 2:25 (72), 3:38 (73), 4:51 (73)
6:03 (72), 7:17 (74), 8:32 (75), 9:48 (76)
11:04 (76), 12:22 (78), 13:40 (78), 14:58 (78)
15:35.60 (37.60 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:51, 4:57, 5:00

14. Brian Townsend 15:42.53
73, 2:25 (72), 3:39 (74), 4:52 (73)
6:05 (73), 7:19 (74), 8:34 (75), 9:50 (76)
11:07 (77), 12:25 (78), 13:46 (81), 15:06 (80)
15:42.53 (36.53 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:52, 4:58, 5:16

21. Kevin O’Sullivan 15:55.29 (season best)
72, 2:29 (77), 3:41 (72), 4:57 (76)
6:12 (75), 7:28 (76), 8:45 (77), 10:02 (77)
11:22 (80), 12:40 (78), 13:59 (79), 15:17 (78)
15:55.29 (38.29 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:57, 5:05, 5:12

23. Will Schanz 16:05.28 (season best)
73, 2:29 (76), 3:45 (76), 5:03 (78)
6:19 (76), 7:36 (77), 8:55 (79), 10:14 (79)
11:33 (79), 12:53 (80), 14:12 (79), 15:29 (77)
16:05.28 (36.28 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:03, 5:11, 5:15

25. Billy Hild 16:07.81 (season best)
75, 2:30 (75), 3:46 (76), 5:02 (76)
6:20 (78), 7:37 (77), 8:55 (78), 10:14 (79)
11:34 (80), 12:53 (79), 14:12 (79), 15:29 (77)
16:07.81 (38.71 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:02, 5:12, 5:15

27. Ryan Brown 16:12.38
75, 2:31 (76), 3:47 (76), 5:06 (79)
6:23 (77), 7:40 (77), 8:59 (79), 10:19 (80)
11:39 (80), 12:58 (79), 14:18 (80), 15:34 (76)
16:12.38 (38.38 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:13, 5:15

34. Isaiah Miller 16:22.56
72, 2:28 (76), 3:45 (77), 5:02 (77)
6:20 (78), 7:37 (77), 9:03 (86), 10:25 (82)
11:47 (82), 13:09 (82), 14:30 (81), 15:48 (78)
16:22.56 (34.56 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:02, 5:23, 5:23

38. Doug Ainscow 16:41.61
77, 2:33 (76), 3:50 (77), 5:10 (80)
6:29 (79), 7:49 (80), 9:10 (81), 10:32 (81)
11:54 (82), 13:16 (82), 14:37 (81), 16:00 (83)
16:41.61 (41.61 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 5:10, 5:22, 5:28

3,000-meter steeplechase
Note on splits: Yale track runs this event “international style” which is basically a 7-lap race and the water on the outside. MAAC meet is the same next week at Rider. Thus, splits are longer/slower.

4. Chris Reynolds (Flying Jackalope TC) 10:01.67
80, 2:42 (82), 4:08 (86), 5:32 (84), 6:59 (87), 8:26 (87), 9:51 (85), 10:01.67 (10.67)

7. Nick Hughes 10:17.36
78, 2:40 (82), 4:04 (84), 5:30 (86), 6:59 (89), 8:30 (91), 10:03 (93), 10:17.36 (14.36)

400-meter hurdles
8. Mike Clifford 56.39 (season best)

400-meter relay
5. Marist (Darren Bushey, Jesse Aprile, Mike McCloskey, Connor Dodge) 43.98 (season best)

1,600-meter relay
7. Marist (Mike Clifford 53.2, Dan Conklin 52.7, Connor Dodge 51.7, Chris Coscio 52.1) 3:29.74

Long jump
9. Jesse Aprile 6.40 meters (season best)

Triple jump
Jesse Aprile 12.28 meters (season best)

Javelin
8. Jake Akey 41.54 meters (season best)

Women's splits from Yale

Results and relevant splits from women's meet at Yale are below. Big highights:

--Erin O'Reilly's huge 1500 race
--Brooke Kristensen's great jumping day
--Many, many season-best performances.

Also, note additional Mrs. Gould photos above, from 1,500-meter race. THANKS!



Women’s results
100-meter dash
12. Meghann Cocca 13.00 (season best)
14. Amanda Luccarelli 13.12 (season best)
18. Kim Ladouceur 13.63

200-meter dash
13. Amanda Luccarelli 27.32 (season best)
19. Christina Turigiano 28.74

400-meter dash
22. Christina Turigiano 1:06.61

800-meter run
11. Briana Crowe 2:19.86
Opening 400 in 68.4

22. Colleen Meenan 2:25.11 (season best)
Missed opening 400, sorry! Great race though, she won her section!!!

34. Kelley Hanifin 2:28.63 (season best)
Missed opening 400, sorry!

41. Julie Hudak 2:30.32 (season best)
Opening 400 in 73

44. Nicole Weir 2:31.51
Opening 400 in 69

47. Laura Lindsley 2:32.24
Opening 400 in 71

48. Jillian Corley 2:33.06
Opening 400 in 71

1,500-meter run
2. Erin O’Reilly 4:48.72 (season best)
74, 2:32 (78), 3:49 (77), 4:48.72 (77.72 last 400m)

6. Jackie Gamboli 4:53.90
71, 2:28 (77), 3:50 (82), 4:53.90 (84.90 last 400m)

21. Julie Hudak 5:07.12
78, 2:40 (82), 4:04 (84), 5:07.12 (84.12 last 400m)

22. Rebecca Denise 5:08.53
78, 2:40 (82), 4:04 (84), 5:08.53 (85.53 last 400m)

23. Dayna McLaughlin 5:09.55 (season best)
76, 2:39 (83), 4:05 (86), 5:09.55 (86.55 last 400m)

32. Elizabeth O’Brien 5:17.81
80, 2:45 (85), 4:13 (88), 5:17.81 (87.81 last 400m)

42. Rachael Peterson 5:36.76 (season best)
84, 2:56 (92), 4:32 (96), 5:36.76 (88.76 last 400)

3,000-meter run
13. Kelley Gould 11:04.92 (season best)
86, 2:54 (88), 4:22 (87), 5:51 (89), 7:21 (90), 8:54 (93), 10:23 (89), 11:04.92 (41.92)

18. Rachel Bremer 11:14.66 (season best)
87, 2:53 (86), 4:21 (88), 5:51 (90), 7:22 (91), 8:54 (92), 10:26 (92), 11:14.66 (48.66)

25. Rachel Lichtenwalner 11:34.76 (season best)
89, 2:58 (89), 4:31 (93), 6:05 (94), 6:40 (95), 9:15 (95), 10:49 (94), 11:34.76 (45.76)

3,000-meter steeplechase
Note on splits: Yale track runs this event “international style” which is basically a 7-lap race and the water on the outside. MAAC meet is the same next week at Rider. Thus, splits are longer/slower.

5. Jillian Corley 11:59.49 (season best)
93, 3:12 (99), 4:51 (99), 6:32 (101), 8:15 (104), 10:00 (105), 11:46 (106), 11:59.49 (13.49)

7. Colleen Smith 12:14.07
94, 3:16 (102), 4:59 (103), 6:44 (105), 8:31 (107), 10:17 (106), 12:01 (104), 12:14.07 (13.07)

1,600-meter relay
5. Marist (Briana Crowe 62.7, Colleen Meenan 62.9, Nicole Weir 64.6, Jackie Gamboli 63.0) 4:13.43

Long jump
10. Brooke Kristensen 5.03 meters (season best)
13. Kristen Vogel 4.75 meters (season best)
16. Shannon Vogel 4.32 meters

Triple jump
7. Brooke Kristensen 10.55 meters
11. Kristen Vogel 9.79 meters
12. Shannon Vogel 9.49 meters

Yale meet results

Thanks to Kathy Gould (Kelley's mom) for above photos from women's 3k and men's 5k start. Results are below, some good performances on a beautiful day.

Splits and other comments to follow when I can ...

Yale Springtime Invitational
Sunday, May 1, 2011

Women’s results
100-meter dash
12. Meghann Cocca 13.00 (season best)
14. Amanda Luccarelli 13.12 (season best)
18. Kim Ladouceur 13.63

200-meter dash
13. Amanda Luccarelli 27.32 (season best)
19. Christina Turigiano 28.74

400-meter dash
22. Christina Turigiano 1:06.61

800-meter run
11. Briana Crowe 2:19.86
22. Colleen Meenan 2:25.11 (season best)
34. Kelley Hanifin 2:28.63 (season best)
41. Julie Hudak 2:30.32 (season best)
44. Nicole Weir 2:31.51
47. Laura Lindsley 2:32.24
48. Jillian Corley 2:33.06

1,500-meter run
2. Erin O’Reilly 4:48.72 (season best)
6. Jackie Gamboli 4:53.90
21. Julie Hudak 5:07.12
22. Rebecca Denise 5:08.53
23. Dayna McLaughlin 5:09.55 (season best)
32. Elizabeth O’Brien 5:17.81
42. Rachael Peterson 5:36.76 (season best)

3,000-meter run
13. Kelley Gould 11:04.92 (season best)
18. Rachel Bremer 11:14.66 (season best)
25. Rachel Lichtenwalner 11:34.76 (season best)

3,000-meter steeplechase
5. Jillian Corley 11:59.49 (season best)
7. Colleen Smith 12:14.07

1,600-meter relay
5. Marist 4:13.43

Long jump
10. Brooke Kristensen 5.03 meters (season best)
13. Kristen Vogel 4.75 meters (season best)
16. Shannon Vogel 4.32 meters

Triple jump
7. Brooke Kristensen 10.55 meters
11. Kristen Vogel 9.79 meters
12. Shannon Vogel 9.49 meters

Men’s results
100-meter dash
15. Mike McCloskey 11.54
17. Darren Bushey 11.63 (season best)
25. Neal Viets 12.31

200-meter dash
19. Jesse Aprile 23.17 (season best)
26. Phil Krupka 23.53 (season best)
32. Darren Bushey 23.81 (season best)

400-meter dash
9. Phil Krupka 51.26 (season best)
18. Dan Conklin 53.18 (season best)
19. Chris Coscio 53.31
21. Andrew James 54.01

800-meter run
8. Chris Vanzetta 1:55.83 (season best)
18. Matt Panebianco 1:58.60
27. Kyle Havard 2:00.27
32. Danny Mendoza 2:01.97 (season best)

1,500-meter run
17. Sam McMullen 4:05.82 (season best)
25. Ben Windisch 4:09.82
31. Pat Duggan 4:13.91
40. Ryan Fitzsimons 4:25.71

5,000-meter run
2. Billy Posch 15:06.02
12. Michael Keegan 15:35.60
14. Brian Townsend 15:42.53
21. Kevin O’Sullivan 15:55.29 (season best)
23. Will Schanz 16:05.28 (season best)
25. Billy Hild 16:07.81 (season best)
27. Ryan Brown 16:12.38
34. Isaiah Miller 16:22.56
38. Doug Ainscow 16:41.61

3,000-meter steeplechase
7. Nick Hughes 10:17.36

400-meter hurdles
8. Mike Clifford 56.39 (season best)

400-meter relay
5. Marist (Darren Bushey, Jesse Aprile, Mike McCloskey, Connor Dodge) 43.98 (season best)

1,600-meter relay
7. Marist 3:29.74

Long jump
9. Jesse Aprile 6.40 meters (season best)

Javelin
8. Jake Akey 41.54 meters (season best)

Penn Relays 4x400 relay on Friday

Our men’s 4x400 relay team placed fourth out of six teams in Heat 9 of the event on Friday afternoon. The team ran 3:30.01.

Here are the splits phoned in by Coach Horton during T-ball, and then texted later by Team Alternate Dan Conklin:

Chris Coscio: 53.1
Phil Krupka: 53.1
Chris Vanzetta: 51.0
Matt Panebianco: 52.1

It was a solid effort for the team at Penn, where waiting around endlessly in the corral to run is as much a tradition as anything else. At least it was a nice day weather-wise after the torrential rains of Thursday.

Next up: Yale on Sunday.

Caller #2

As the whirlwind trip to Penn Relays came to an end early Friday afternoon with van drop-offs at various houses, we had a little excitement after the long drive.

While parked on the road to drop off Conor and Britt at Fairview, I heard the announcement on my favorite radio station (WDST-100.1, Radio Woodstock) for a contest to see my favorite rock/blues musician Warren Haynes for a special, invitation-only live acoustic show at the radio station later on Friday.

Oh! Such excitement! I punched the number into my phone. It was ringing! We tried to get Quimes to get the number into his fancy iPhone, but it was too late as the line was busy. I had to be caller #9. I was caller #2. NUTS! BUMMER! We tried in vain a few more times …

Just as well. I was whipped from the long two days, and we had T-Ball and Little League to navigate in the late afternoon/evening. I heard a few bits of the Live at 5 broadcast on the radio, and it sure sounded sweet.

Would have been sweeter if I were there in person …

Penn Relays Distance Night: Britt's big 5K!

Good morning from Philly!

That’s right. It’s nearly 2 a.m. as I begin typing this and the Thursday Night Distance Races spilled into Friday. We are all tired and weary from a long day of traveling and a longer night of racing.

The big highlight was Brittany Burns’ school-record and ECAC qualifying performance in the Olympic Development 5,000-meter run. Britt ran 17:10.60, got 18th place and had a strong finishing kick. Some relevant statistics for Britt’s record run:

--This time eclipsed her previous 5k track PR of 18:45 by a whole lot of time.
--This time knocked off 19 seconds from Addie DiFrancesco’s excellent two-year-old school record of 17:29.31.
--This time earned her an ECAC berth, having exceeded that standard of 17:16.64 by a little more than 6 seconds.

Nicely done!

The men’s races were a little bit rougher, but we did get two more IC4A qualifiers and two PRs for those qualifiers.

--In the 5,000-meter run, Will Griffin improved on his personal-best by 12 seconds and just barely squeaked in an IC4A mark with his 10th-place finish in 14:35.85 (IC4A standard is 14:36.00).
--In the 10,000-meter run, freshman Kenny Walshak had a solid debut, notching an IC4A mark of 31:02.72. Discussion after the race was whether this time is a freshman school record for 10km. After further review, Kenny's time is indeed the fastest ever by a freshman. In 2006, Girma Segni ran 31:04.47, and that was the previous fastest mark.

The other men’s results, as you will see, were not so good. No excuses, but it really was a long day. However, we live to fight another week, and hopefully MAACs will be that much better.

It was great to see recent alum Alex Emerel, who is in podiatry school at Temple in Philly, for the night. Also great to see my old college teammate and captain, Kenny Bohan – who was also Kenny Walshak’s coach and mentor in high school at St. Anthony's.

I have typed up the splits below. I am a bit bleary eyed so if there are errors that you can see, let me know.

See you later today!

Penn Relays Distance Night
Women’s Olympic Development 5,000-meter run
18. Brittany Burns 17:10.60 *school record, ECAC qualifier
81, 2:41 (80), 4:03 (82), 5:26 (83)
6:48 (82), 8:11 (83), 9:35 (82), 10:58 (83)
12:22 (84), 13:46 (84), 15:10 (84), 16:32 (82)
17:10.60 (38.60 last 200m)

Men’s College 5,000-meter run
10. Will Griffin 14:35.85 *IC4A qualifier
70, 2:19 (69), 3:28 (69), 4:38 (70)
5:48 (70), 6:57 (69), 8:07 (70), 9:16 (69)
10:29 (73), 11:40 (71), 12:52 (72), 14:01 (69)
14:35.85 (34.85 last 200m)

18. Arquimedes DelaCruz 14:51.00
70, 2:19 (69), 3:28 (69), 4:38 (70)
5:48 (70), 6:57 (69), 8:08 (71), 9:18 (70)
10:37 (69), 11:52 (75), 13:06 (74), 14:17 (71)
14:51.00 (34.00 last 200m)

25. Conor Shelley 15:10.08
73, 2:22 (69), 3:33 (71), 4:43 (70)
5:54 (71), 7:06 (72), 8:18 (72), 9:37 (79)
10:48 (71), 12:03 (75), 13:18 (75), 14:33 (75)
15:10.08 (37.08 last 200m)

10,000-meter run
24. Ken Walshak 31:02.72 *IC4A qualifier
73, 2:29 (76), 3:40 (71), 4:52 (72)
6:04 (72), 7:16 (72), 8:30 (74), 9:42 (72)
10:56 (74), 12:59 (73), 13:24 (75), 14:38 (74)
15:52 (74), 17:08 (76), 19:24 (76), 19:40 (76)
20:55 (75), 22:11 (76), 23:28 (77), 24:45 (77)
26:02 (77), 27:18 (76), 28:34 (76), 29:49 (75)
31:02.72 (73.72)

31. Joel Moss 32:25.20
74, 2:30 (76), 3:40 (70), 4:53 (73)
6:07 (74), 7:21 (74), 8:35 (74), 9:49 (74)
11:05 (76), 12:23 (78), 13:42 (79), 15:00 (78)
16:19 (79), 17:40 (81), 19:01 (81), 20:21 (80)
21:40 (79), 23:00 (80), 24:21 (81), 25:42 (81)
27:03 (81), 28:24 (81), 29:46 (82), 31:06 (80)
32:25.20 (79.20)

32. Tim Keegan 32:37.09
72, 2:32 (77), 3:42 (70), 4:56 (72)
6:09 (73), 7:21 (72), 8:35 (74), 9:49 (74)
11:07 (78), 12:23 (76), 13:42 (79), 15:00 (78)
16:19 (79), 17:41 (82), 19:02 (81), 20:22 (80)
21:41 (79), 23:00 (79), 24:21 (81), 25:43 (82)
27:05 (82), 28:28 (83), 29:49 (81), 31:13 (84)
32:37.09 (84.09)

Correction on previous post

Greetings from Philly, where later (could be MUCH MUCH later) tonight your favorite Running Red Foxes will be participating in Distance Night.

I say MUCH MUCH later because the severe weather earlier today caused some lightning delays, which could delay the already late start to our events. That severe weather made our van ride down all the more stressful and interesting. But we made it.

Quick correction on the previous post: It was NICK WEBSTER who took recorded Zak Smetana's 5km splits from Princeton. Fitting, as they are classmates, good friends and (as Schanz will be quick to point out) fellow Section 2 bros.

Speaking of Web, illness has forced him to scratch from tonight's steeple, which is a bummer. He will be missed. So we will have athletes in the 5km and 10km, as previously posted.

Check the Penn Relays web site for live results. I will try to post quick results in the wee hours of the morning, with splits to follow later in the weekend.

And don't forget our 4x400 runs on Friday afternoon at Penn.

Zak's race inside the numbers

You know ... I take a lot of time to type up race splits on this blog, and I hope some of you find it worthwhile.

Being a certified numbers geek, I love it and think it is good for record-keeping and objective post-race analysis.

While revisiting the numbers, so dutifully recorded by Doug Ainscow last Friday night, this amazing -- stunning! -- nugget was uncovered.

In Zak Smetana's 14:50.39 5k, his 2,000-meter split was 6:02. This means ... this means ... this means ... his last 3,000 meters were covered in (drumroll, please):

8:48.

For those keeping score at home, that's one second slower than Zak's excellent 3km indoor PR of 8:47.

And remember: That's not Zak's FIRST 3km of the race. That's his FINAL 3km of the race.

I just texted Zak this information, and he replied back: "Oh my God that's unreal. I can't even explain how I did that."

Indeed!

The next two Wednesday practices ...

Quick note on tomorrow's practice and Wednesday, May 4 (Cuatro de Mayo?) ...

--Tomorrow, as usual on Wednesday, we head to Vassar for track practice at 11 a.m. Unlike most weeks, though, we do not have access to any vans as all 5 athletic vans are going to be utilized for the big baseball clinic and game down at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill. So PLEASE ... if you have a car and are going to the track, drive to practice tomorrow. THANK YOU.

--May 4: The mandatory end-of-year meeting for all returning student-athletes will be held at practice time, 11 a.m., in the Gray Gym. You MUST attend this meeting if you plan on being on the team next year. We will adjust our workout schedules accordingly. Those that absolutely need to go to the track on this day, we can make arrangements if schedules permit.

Style points

Has anyone ever thought of this?

Sophomore Quimes DelaCruz took an innovative approach to the recent Asics shoe order. Q likes the stylish and lightweight Speedstars. Knowing this was the last order before summer, Q ordered two pairs. The Speedstars coming in shockingly stylin' colors, probably another reason he likes them.

So he gets two pairs in two different colors ... and wears a different color left sneaker and a different color right sneaker.

Crazy? Silly? Maybe. But it's the same sneaker. As long as he keeps track of each "pair" and uses them as pairs -- so as to make sure wear patterns are even -- it's not such a bad idea.

The homestretch

Today's insanely hot weather -- hey, if I'm wearing short sleeves in April, it's HOT -- was a foreshadowing of the summertime to come. I know, it's weird talking about summer when there are still days remaining in April.

But on the college calendar, summer comes well before actual summer. If you know what I mean.

In particular, these two weeks -- this week and next week -- are especially frenetic as the spring semester rushes to its conclusion. In no particular order, we've got:

--Penn Relays on Thursday and Friday
--Yale on Sunday
--Senior Awards Banquet on Sunday
--Returning student-athlete NCAA meeting next Wednesday -- no Vassar practice that day!
--Vassar meet on next Friday night -- always a fan favorite!
--MAAC Meet on next Saturday and Sunday at Rider.
--MAAC Awards Banquet
--Finals Week
--Postseason championships

Phew.

Mix in there some last-minute proofreading for last-minute students, the ongoing McCann Center construction, and on and on, and yeah ... it's a busy time.

But then, after finals week, suddenly it all gets very quiet. And we are into summer.

Stay tuned ...

Larry Ellis splits and comments

800-meter run
Andrew James 1:56:11 (personal-best time)
First 400 meters: 55.6 seconds
Comment: Excellent run start to finish, aggressive when needed. Nicely done.

1,500-meter run
Ben Windisch 4:00.94 (personal-best time)
63, 2:08 (65), 3:13 (65), 4:00.94 (64.94 last 400m)
Comment: Solid PR but needed to kick sooner than 200 meters out. Next time …

Conor Shelley 4:01.86
63, 2:07 (64), 3:13 (66), 4:01.86 (65.85 last 400m)
Comment: You looked like a 5k/10k guy stepping down for foreign feeling speed … which is exactly the case!

3,000-meter steeplechase
Arquimedes DelaCruz 9:06.60 *school record, IC4A qualifier
69, 2:20 (71), 3:33 (73), 4:45 (72), 6:00 (75), 7:15 (75), 8:29 (74), 9:06.60 (37.6 last 200m)
Comment: Good bounce-back from Mt. SAC disappointment. Water jumps much improved. Solid kick. Last 600 meters can be stronger.

Nick Webster 9:37.79 (season best)
72, 2:26 (74), 3:42 (76), 4:58 (76), 6:18 (80), 7:38 (80), 8:57 (79), 9:37.49 (40.49)
Comment: Good effort and tough race. Will get faster.

5,000-meter run
Ken Walshak 14:47.07 (season-best time)
70, 2:23 (73), 3:32 (69), 4:42 (70)
5:53 (71), 7:05 (72), 8:17 (72), 9:27 (70)
10:40 (73), 11:51 (71), 13:02 (71), 14:11 (69)
14:47.07 (36.07 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:42, 4:45, 4:44
Comment: Left it all out there, but needed to move up sooner and race more aggressively earlier.

Zak Smetana 14:50.39 (personal-best time)
71, 2:25 (74), 3:39 (74), 4:51 (72)
6:02 (71), 7:13 (71), 8:25 (72), 9:36 (71)
10:47 (71), 11:59 (71), 13:10 (71), 14:22 (72)
14:50.39 (28.39 last 200m!)
1600-meter splits: 4:51, 4:47, 4:46
Comment: The Perfect Race. Nothing else to add.

Mike Rolek (Marist Alumni Racing Team) 14:52.92 (personal-best time)
71, 2:23 (72), 3:34 (71), 4:44 (70)
5:55 (71), 7:07 (72), 8:19 (72), 9:31 (72)
10:43 (72), 11:56 (73), 13:07 (71), 14:18 (71)
14:52.92 (34.92 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:44, 4:47, 4:47
Comment: As you would expect from a half-marathon/marathon machine, solid and consistent splits and strong but unspectacular kick. Great stuff.

Billy Posch 15:02.13 (personal-best time)
69, 2:22 (73), 3:33 (71), 4:43 (70)
5:54 (71), 7:06 (72), 8:18 (72), 9:32 (74)
10:56 (74), 12:02 (76), 13:19 (77), 14:30 (71)
15:02.13 (32.13 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:43, 4:49, 4:58
Comment: A missed opportunity and a great PR, all in the same race.

Joel Moss 15:07.87 (personal-best time)
71, 2:23 (72), 3:34 (71), 4:44 (70)
5:55 (71), 7:07 (72), 8:20 (73), 9:35 (75)
10:50 (75), 12:05 (75), 13:21 (76), 14:33 (72)
15:07.87 (34.87 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:44, 4:51, 4:58
Comment: Same as Billy; can be better but was pleased with the effort.

Tom Lipari 15:09.61 (personal-best time)
71, 2:23 (72), 3:34 (71), 4:45 (71)
5:56 (71), 7:08 (72), 8:20 (72), 9:34 (74)
10:59 (74), 12:05 (76), 13:20 (75), 14:33 (73)
15:09.61 (36.61 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:45, 4:49, 4:59
Comment: Flashes of hope, can be faster; strong effort.

Pat Duggan 15:17.59 (personal-best time)
72, 2:25 (73), 3:39 (74), 4:52 (73)
6:03 (71), 7:16 (73), 8:29 (73), 9:43 (74)
10:57 (74), 12:14 (77), 13:29 (75), 14:44 (75)
15:17.59 (33.59 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:52, 4:51, 5:01
Comment: Fell asleep in a few laps, otherwise solid.

Brian Townsend 15:32.15
73, 2:25 (72), 3:39 (74), 4:53 (74)
6:05 (72), 7:19 (74), 8:33 (74), 9:48 (75)
11:04 (76), 12:21 (77), 13:38 (77), 14:55 (77)
15:32.15 (37.15 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:53, 4:55, 5:07
Comment: Disappointing, but illness issues need to be considered.

Ryan Scrudato (McCann Harriers) 16:02.83
71, 2:25 (74), 3:39 (74), 4:52 (73)
6:05 (73), 7:22 (77), 8:42 (80), 10:03 (81)
11:24 (81), 12:46 (82), 14:06 (80), 15:23 (77)
16:02.83 (39.83 last 200m)
1600-meter splits: 4:52, 5:11, 5:20
Comment: Ditto Brian T.

Women’s results
1,500-meter run
Jackie Gamboli 4:42.34 (season-best time)
69, 2:27 (78), 3:46 (79), 4:42.34 (76.34 last 400m)
Comment: Considering a tough week-plus of illness, solid effort. Needed to kick sooner.

5,000-meter run
Addie DiFrancesco 17:47.78 (season-best time)
85, 2:50 (85), 4:13 (83), 5:39 (86)
7:04 (85), 8:28 (84), 9:54 (86), 11:19 (85)
12:46 (87), 14:11 (85), 15:39 (88), 17:06 (87)
17:47.78 (41.78 last 200 m)
1600-meter splits: 5:39, 5:40, 5:47
Comment: Frustrating and uneven race, but another step in a strong progression during a heavy race/workout period.

Penn Relays schedule

Here is the Penn Relays schedule for Thursday night, Distance Night at Penn, for those interested. Highlighted events are the ones our athletes most likely will be competing in. Hope to see some of you there ...

Penn Relays Schedule, Thursday
201 College Men's 3000m Steeplechase Championship 7:30 PM
202 College Men's 3000m Steeplechase College 7:40 PM: Nick Webster
203 Olympic Development Men's 3000m Steeplechase 7:50 PM
204 Olympic Development Women's 3000m Steeplechase 8:00 PM
205 College Women's 3000m Steeplechase Championship 8:00 PM
206 College Women's 3000m Steeplechase College 8:15 PM
207 College Women's 3000m Championship 8:30 PM
208 College Women's 5000m Championship 8:40 PM
209 Olympic Development Women's 5000m 9:00 PM: Brittany Burns
210 College Men's 5000m Championship 9:20 PM
211 College Men's 5000m College 9:40 PM: Will Griffin, Quimes DelaCruz, Conor Shelley
212 Olympic Development Men's 5000m 10:00 PM
213 College Women's 10,000m Championship 10:15 PM
214 Olympic Development Women's 10,000m 10:15 PM
215 College Men's 10,000m Championship 10:55 PM: Kenny Walshak, Tim Keegan, Joel Moss
216 Olympic Development Men's 10,000m 10:55 PM

Penn Relays Schedule, Friday
368 College Men's 4x400 (Heats) 4:40 PM: MARIST A

Princeton/Larry Ellis results

During the indoor track season, we have what I like to call the “Magic Carpet” at Boston University, where fast times are often run.

During the outdoor track season, it seems our “Magic Carpet” is Princeton University’s Weaver Stadium.

The Friday night meets at Princeton have become legendary, with usually chilly but decent weather for distance races, incredibly deep fields of talented athletes and great performances as a result.

That was the case for us last night.

Arquimedes DelaCruz’ school record in the 3,000 steeplechase was the big highlight. Quimes ran 9:06.60, broke Justin Harris’ excellent school record by 3 seconds and qualified for the IC4A meet. Will this be fast enough to get him into NCAA Regionals? Time, literally, will tell. Q improved his PR by 11 seconds and atoned for an off race for him out at Mt. SAC. Nicely done!

For me, though, the race that I will remember for a long time – as in, forever; as in, I’ll probably be talking about this one when I’m an old, old man, God willing, at Alumni Weekend with the boys – was Zak Smetana’s truly stunning 5,000-meter race. Zak PRed by 25 seconds and broke 15:00 for the first time. He won the fifth and final section of the long night and truly ran the race of his life.

And it could not have happened to a better or more deserving young man. Zak put in a great summer of training in 2010, but had a disappointing fall XC season, for a variety of reasons. Lesser men would have bagged it, but Zak kept plugging away and cashed in on all that hard work – culminating with the magical race last night. Those who were there saw how pumped his teammates and this old coach were afterwards. Everyone was thrilled for Zak!

It was great to see Marist Running Alum Mike Rolek crack the 15-minute barrier for the first time, getting that huge monkey off his back once and for all. Oh yeah, in case you could not tell by the massive amounts of gear he was sporting, our guy is sponsored by Saucony. The dude was a walking, talking and racing Saucony billboard. Nicely done!

There were many other personal- and season-best performances, as you will see below. Thanks to Doug Ainscow for recording each and every split, which will eventually be typed up here.

For now, though, enjoy Easter Weekend and talk to you all soon.

Larry Ellis Invitational
Friday, April 22, 2011

Men’s results
800-meter run
Andrew James 1:56:11 (personal-best time)

1,500-meter run
Ben Windisch 4:00.94 (personal-best time)
Conor Shelley 4:01.86

3,000-meter steeplechase
Arquimedes DelaCruz 9:06.60 *school record, IC4A qualifier
Nick Webster 9:37.79 (season best)

5,000-meter run
Ken Walshak 14:47.07 (season-best time)
Zak Smetana 14:50.39 (personal-best time)
Mike Rolek (Marist Alumni Racing Team) 14:52.92 (personal-best time)
Billy Posch 15:02.13 (personal-best time)
Joel Moss 15:07.87 (personal-best time)
Tom Lipari 15:09.61 (personal-best time)
Pat Duggan 15:17.59 (personal-best time)
Brian Townsend 15:32.15
Ryan Scrudato (McCann Harriers) 16:02.83

Women’s results
1,500-meter run
Jackie Gamboli 4:42.34 (season-best time)

5,000-meter run
Addie DiFrancesco 17:47.78 (season-best time)

Men’s 5km all-time list

Girma Segni, 14:18.42, 2009*
Arquimedes DelaCruz, 14:33.20, 2011
Adam Vess, 14:33.41, 2008
Peter Pazik, 14:35.84, 1986
Matt Flint, 14:37.45, 2010
Ken Walshak, 14:37.53, 2011
Michael Melfi, 14:42.36, 1998
Justin Harris, 14:42.88, 2007
David Raucci, 14:42.92, 2006
Michael Nehr, 14:45.61, 2001
Will Griffin, 14:47.86, 2010
David Swift, 14:50.24, 1995
Zak Smetana, 14:50.39, 2011
Kirk Dornton, 14:50.89, 2002
Nick Webster, 14:52.54, 2009
Conor Shelley, 14:52.67, 2008
Greg Salamone, 14:55.79, 2000
Tim Keegan, 14:56.45, 2009

*holds both indoor (14:18.42) and outdoor (14:32.65) school records for the distance
Bold indicates current team member

More Boston kudos

Just ran into Marist Running alum Adam Ritter in the locker room here at the McCann Center and he was wondering why there was no mention of his Significant Other on the blog after Boston. Sorry, dude! Here goes …

Michelle Stathers, who is an assistant crew coach here at Marist, ran a marvelous race. She was the top local finisher among women in 3:18:25, and was 524th overall in the women’s field. Great stuff!

In addition, a shout-out to my early-morning jogging partner Fast Tony, who ran a rare negative split (1:33:41/1:32:43 for a 3:06:24) at Boston on Monday. Even better, his 5km splits were amazingly consistent: 22:15, 22:09, 22:04, 22:24, 22:12, 22:12, 22:11, 21:36.

Both were mentioned in my weekly running column in Dutchess County’s Finest Daily Newspaper, linked here.

Congrats to women's tennis

Those that know me understand that I'm not a "social media" guy -- Facebook, Twitter, etc.

But I have to admit to somehow figuring out (without creating an account) how to follow somebody/something on Twitter just now, and it was thrilling!

The Marist College women's tennis team, coached by good friends of ours and running pals Roge Nesbitt (and her husband, Patrick), just won the MAAC title in thrilling fashion. I know this because I was following Twitter feeds (Tweets?) on MAAC Sports and Marist athletics through goredfoxes.com.

Anyway, it was a close match and seemed very exciting. Anytime a Marist team can win a MAAC title in any sport, it's great news to us! To happen to good folks and friends like the Nesbitts makes it even nicer.

Here's hoping the men's tennis team can follow suit with a title of their own next.

Time trials at practice

Today’s midday practice at the Vassar College track was a bit of a departure from the norm.

Because most team members have this coming weekend off from racing, and because last Saturday’s Metropolitan meet at Rutgers was for all intents and purposes a waste of time due to terrible weather, the Track Coaching Braintrust decided a Time Trial would make sense.

Side note: The Track Coaching Braintrust did NOT include me, which is probably a good thing. I was not around last weekend to witness the horrendous conditions (rather, we were endlessly circling JFK Airport, waiting for appropriate conditions to land our jet). Coach Chuck and Coach Horton independently came up with this idea, which I wholeheartedly endorsed.

Anyway, the protocol for the men’s sprint crew centered around an all-out 400-meter dash. It included a lane start and two-turn stagger. Serious stuff!

On the women’s side, Chuck – who is recuperating from knee surgery and could not be there – emailed me with the race groups.

Group 1 did an all-out 800, followed by a 15-minute recovery, and then an all-out 400.
Group 2 did an all-out 1500, followed by a 15-minute recovery, and then an all-out 800.
Group 3, which was really not a “group” per se as it only included two Rachels, did an all-out 3,000.

Here are the results, in some cases very impressive!

Men’s 400-meter dash
(Note of explanation: This was such a CLOSE race and we obviously did not have FAT systems at our disposal. Terry clicked his watch as quickly as possible and these are the most accurate results possible. Top to bottom, everyone ran well, in our opinion. Very well, in fact!)

Phil Krupka, 51.7 seconds
Chris “America” Coscio, 52.0 seconds
Chris Vanzetta, 52.3 seconds
John Kristie, 52.3 seconds
Mike Clifford, 52.4 seconds
Connor Dodge, 52.6 seconds
Josh Lopez, 53.0 seconds

Women’s group 1
800-meter run
Briana Crowe, 2:22
Laura Lindsley, 2:27
Tara Nuccitelli, 2:27
Kelley Hanifin, 2:30
400-meter dash
Colleen Meenan, 64
Briana Crowe, 64
Kelley Hanifin, 67
Tara Nuccitelli, 68
Laura Lindsley, 70

Women’s group 2
1,500-meter run
Erin O’Reilly, 4:52
Dayna McLaughlin, 5:02
Becca Denise, 5:04
Jillian Corley, 5:06
Elizabeth O’Brien, 5:12
Kelley Gould, 5:16
Julie Hudak, 5:21
Colleen Smith, 5:27
Rachael Peterson, 5:40
800-meter run
Jillian Corley, 2:33
Becca Denise, 2:34
Kelley Gould, 2:34
Dayna McLaughin, 2:39
Colleen Smith, 2:40
Julie Hudak, 2:42
Rachael Peterson, 2:51

Women’s group 3
3,000-meter run
Rachel Bremer 11:31
Rachel Lichtenwalner 11:46

Traditional workout for men
--The men’s long-distance group did 8x1000m thresh cruise intervals with 1 min recovery, and they did it quite well.
--Billy Hild did the above thresh workout (Thresh by Fresh?) last week. As a result, he did a very impressive 20x400 workout (2 sets of 10, 1 min break, full recovery between sets). Impressive in that it was solo, and while working on about 3 hours of sleep.

To one and all, a hearty thumbs’ up and nicely done …

Will Griffin earns MAAC kudos

Congrats to Will Griffin for winning the weekly MAAC award for outstanding performance.

Check the link to the story at www.goredfoxes.com right here.

Met Championships results

At long last, the (assumed to be) official results from Friday/Saturday at Rutgers. Friday highlights included:

--Personal best hammer throw by Sean Ellman.
--Personal best runs by Nicoletti, Meegan and Brownie in 10km.
--Strong performances by women in 5km.

Based on all reports I heard, there was nothing memorable -- and everything forgettable -- about the Saturday portion of this meet, which featured terrible conditions that got worse as the day wore on.

Funny what a difference a week makes in April: At UMass, we had ideal conditions and the performances showed. At Rutgers, we had terrible conditions ... and the performances showed.

Note on splits: Thanks to my pals for doing them. You'll notice different formats on different runners. This is how they were presented to me. The information is all there. If you have a preference in format, let me know. The only-lap-splits format is easier to type and easier to read, but I still like to include the overall time when available. If anyone cares to comment, shoot me an email or let me know.

Metropolitan Championships
Friday and Saturday, April 15-16, 2011
Rutgers University

Women’s results
100-meter dash
16. Meghann Cocca 13.03
21. Amanda Luccarelli 13.26
22. Kim Ladouceur 13.53

400-meter dash
28. Colleen Meenan 1:08.40
29. Tara Nuccitelli 1:08.54
30. Briana Crowe 1:09.16

800-meter run
22. Erin O’Reilly 2:32.10
27. Jillian Corley 2:35.30
36. Laura Lindsley 2:40.81
37. Kelley Hanifin 2:41.39

1,500-meter run
23. Dayna McLaughlin 5:21.04
25. Rebecca Denise 5:23.18
28. Elizabeth O’Brien 5:27.37
31. Miy Mahran 5:35.48

5,000-meter run
2. Addie DiFrancesco 17:50.10
Splits not available, sorry!

17. Kelly Gould 19:18.6
88, 92, 92, 92
91, 92, 92, 92
94, 96, 96, 92
43

19. Rachel Bremer 19:39.8
88, 92, 92, 92
92, 93, 95, 96
96, 98, 97, 96
47
21. Ashley Jensen 19:59.1
89, 93, 95, 97
95, 97, 98, 98
97, 98, 97, 96

22. Rachel Lichtenwalner 20:10.8
91, 93, 99, 98
97, 98, 98, 98
97, 99, 98, 96

3,000-meter steeplechase
5. Colleen Smith 12:11.5
86.9, 94.5, 96.2, 100.9, 100.9, 99.9, 101.2, 52.6

12. Jillian Corley 12:41.1
83.9, 94.2, 97.2, 100.9, 106.6, 111.4, 106.2, 47.4

Long jump
22. Brooke Kristensen 4.20 meters

Javelin
13. Rachael Eichacker 26.78

Men’s results
100-meter dash
16. Darren Bushey 11.68
17. Jesse Aprile 11.71
18. Mike McCloskey 11.71

400-meter dash
25. Dan Conklin 55.82
29. Josh Lopez 57.03
31. John Kristie 57.57

800-meter run
23. Kyle Havard 2:06.38
37. Alex Cuesta 2:14.93

1,500-meter run
15. Billy Posch 4:15.98

5,000-meter run
15. Will Schanz 16:19.5
77, 2:29 (72), 3:42 (73), 5:00 (78)
6:17 (77), 7:35 (78), 8:56 (81), 10:15 (79)
11:37 (82), 12:58 (81), 14:20 (82), 15:39 (79)
16:19.5 (40.5)
1600-meter splits: 5:00, 5:15, 5:24

16. Mike Clausen 16:19.7
78, 2:31 (73), 3:47 (76), 5:05 (78)
6:25 (80), 7:45 (80), 9:06 (81), 10:26 (80)
11:47 (81), 13:08 (81), 14:27 (79), 15:43 (76)
16:19.8 (36.8)
1600-meter splits: 5:05, 5:21, 5:17

10,000-meter run
3. Mike Nicoletti 32:14.7
75, 2:31 (76), 3:47 (76), 5:04 (77)
6:22 (78), 7:39 (77), 8:57 (78), 10:16 (79)
11:34 (78), 12:51 (77), 14:09 (78), 15:28 (79)
16:45 (77), 18:04 (79), 19:21 (77), 20:39 (78)
21:56 (77), 23:13 (77), 24:31 (78), 25:50 (79)
27:09 (79), 28:28 (79), 29:45 (77), 31:03 (78)
32:14.7 (71.7)
1600-meter splits: 5:04, 5:12, 5:12, 5:11, 5:11, 5:13

4. Mike Keegan 32:15.2
75, 76, 76, 77
79, 77, 78, 78
78, 77, 78, 79
77, 79, 77, 78
77, 77, 78, 79
79, 79, 79, 77
72
1600-meter splits: 5:04, 5:12, 5:12, 5:11, 5:11, 5:14
(Note: Amended splits)
6. Kevin O’Sullivan 33:06.9
76, 76, 77, 77
77, 78, 78, 79
79, 78, 78, 79
78, 79, 79, 81
81, 81, 80, 80
82, 82, 81, 79
76
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:12, 5:14, 5:17, 5:22, 5:24

7. Ryan Brown 33:16.9
77, 77, 78, 79
79, 80, 79, 81
80, 81, 80, 80
79, 81, 81, 80
80, 80, 80, 79
81, 81, 80, 78
72
1600-meter splits: 5:11, 5:19, 5:21, 5:21, 5:19, 5:20

9. Nick Salek 34:04.1
75, 77, 77, 77
78, 78, 79, 80
79, 80, 81, 81
83, 85, 84, 83
84, 85, 85, 85
85, 84, 84, 84
82
1600-meter splits: 5:06, 5:15, 5:21, 5:35, 5:39, 5:37

Long jump
10. Jesse Aprile 5.98 meters

Hammer throw
16. Sean Ellman 32.60 meters

Javelin
13. Jake Akey 39.01
14. Pasquale Magneri 38.59

Quick Boston results

First of all, MAJOR THANKS to Kelley Gould for enabling me to watch the race online. That was HUGE. Of course, I got no work done today. But this is OK.

The women's elite race was stunningly exciting. I was yelling at my laptop. The men's elite race was nothing short of historic, with world best and American best times recorded.

Now, for your Marist Running updates ...

Junior Luke Shane: 2:44:49. 6:17 pace. 333rd overall. 1:19:18 at the half. Great job!

Alum David Raucci: 2:46:18. 6:21 pace. 621st overall. 1:10:51 at the half. He'll be back to fight another day!

Alum Mike Guarascio: 2:53:16. 6:37 pace. 755th overall. 1:24:22 at the half. Great job!

Three Marist runners in the top 1,000. That's not bad.

Bell lap

There was nothing ceremonious about the last lap run around the McCann Center indoor track. No one was there to witness it. Except for the mournful groan of the train whistles on the nearby tracks below, the building was silent.

This morning, the long-awaiting renovation of the McCann Recreation Center will begin. When the updated McCann Fieldhouse reopens in the fall, there will be new hardwood flooring throughout the arena. That floor will cover a battered and scarred but very useful 160-meter track that served our program well for several decades.

This morning, the watch on my wrist recorded a long (for me) jog of 1:14:11. I started my final laps very early, at 5 a.m., to assure that I would not bother anyone nor impede the construction that will begin the new era in McCann.

We have witnessed gallons of sweat poured out on that track through the years by the dedicated men and women of our program. I have run thousands of laps on that old, beat-up surface – most of them like today, during the silent, early-morning hours with nothing but my thoughts and maybe a few iPod tunes in my ears.

After all that effort and all that sweat through the years, all that remains this morning are the tears.

Photos from California

Thanks to Brittany Burns for sharing the following photos from our trip to the Mt. SAC Relays.

Patriot's Day in Boston

Monday is Boston Marathon Day, and Marist Running will be well-represented on the famous Hopkinton to Boston route.

--Recent Marist alum David Raucci will be among the elite field -- he has bib #47! -- and will be proudly donning the red-and-white Marist Alumni Racing Team jersey.

--Marist alum Mike Guarascio, now a Boston resident, will be on the line in his hometown race. Mike G runs for Greater Boston TC and this is his first Boston.

--Marist junior Luke Shane will be running his first Boston Marathon. We now first-hand how hard Luke trained all winter.

We will be rooting hard for all of them from afar.

Be sure to track their progress tomorrow if you are interested.

Met meet results ...

... Will have to wait!

We were emailed the "official results" earlier in the day, but apparently they are pockmarked with errors -- judging from the fact that my e-mail inbox was "blown up" (as they like to say) by many, many, many corrections.

So, we'll just have to wait until the "more accurate official results" are posted before posting them here.

Thanks in advance to my coaching/split taking team of Flint, Vess and Ainscow for providing me with the Friday evening splits from the distance races. I will post them soon, even if the official results do not arrive soon.

Putting a wrap on California

We head home from California with a very early flight on Saturday -- wake-up at the hotel is before 5 a.m. local time. We will be traveling all day, arriving at JFK close to 6 p.m., if all goes well.

This trip was successful on many fronts.

First and foremost, our athletes gave it their all on the track and posted superb results.

This is a prestigious meet -- dubbed "Where the World's Best Athletes Compete" -- and we were honored to be part of it. Trust me when I say we will be back here at some point. It might not be next year or the year after, but we'll be back.

Mt. San Antonio College is located in a beautiful setting in the hills about 30 miles east of LA. On Friday afternoon, we all went for a run on the mountainous trails and roads surrounding Mt. SAC. It was desert-like: Sunny and hot, but very very dry ... quite a departure from our Northeast spring weather.

After showering up, we headed for a brief sightseeing tour of Hollywood and Beverly Hills. It was fun and unsettling at the same time ... a lot of sketchy characters out there. Here's my East Coast bias, but I feel much more at home (not to mention safe) on the streets of NYC.

Before I forget, my heart and mind were back East for our athletes competing at the the first day of the Met Championships at Rutgers. Thanks to Vess and Flint for helping out with coaching duties in our absence.

From what I could piece together from multiple texts, highlights included:

--A personal-best hammer throw from Sean Ellman.
--A strong showing by Addie DiFrancesco and a nice PR from Kelley Gould in the women's 5k.
--Very strong efforts from Mike Nicoletti and Mike Keegan in the 10k, both ran 32:14 and were in the top scoring spots.
--A solid PR in the 10k from Ryan Brown.

More details when I get home, get the results and the splits. Please forgive me if there is a bit of a delay in getting those up on the blog.

Thanks for the texts, calls and emails while we were out here. Looking forward to heading home ...

Mt SAC: 10,000-meter results, 29:45.81!

Will Griffin ran a tremendous race late last night -- around 2 a.m. back home time! -- in the 10,000-meters at Mt. SAC.

The conditions were laboratory perfect, one of the main reasons you fly all the way out here to race: Once the sun set behind those awesome hills, the temperature drops like a rock and there is a stillness in the air. It was chilly, around 45-50, and not a hint of wind, and low humidity.

In other words, perfect for distance running.

Perfect is the key word, as that is exactly how Will raced.

The plan was to roll 72s as long as possible, which would give him a shot at cracking 30:00.

But as usual, the 10k is as much about racing in packs as it is hitting splits. So I was pacing nervously as Will was rolling 71s in order to stay in the big pack toward the front as opposed to the big pack that was trailing by about 25 meters.

Much like Conor Shelley at Princeton a few weeks ago, Will committed to that pack and there was no turning back. Maybe the pace was a little too peppy, but he was in for the duration and he had to hang on for the ride.

What ensued was a thing of beauty, as Will exceeded all expectations and ran 29:45.81. Among many things, this is:

--An IC4A qualifier.
--A school record, eclipsing Girma Segni's one-year-old mark of 30:08.28 from Bucknell last year.
--The first sub-30:00 for 10km in school history.
--A strong possibility that he has punched his ticket to the NCAA East Regional at Indiana University next month.
--A pretty amazing debut at this distance.

Here are the splits:

Mt. SAC Relays
10,000-meter run
University/Open Division
9th place
Will Griffin 29:45.81 *school record, IC4A qualifier

73, 2:26 (73), 3:37 (71), 4:48 (71)
5:59 (71), 7:11 (72), 8:22 (71), 9:33 (71)
10:44 (71), 11:56 (72), 13:07 (71), 14:18 (71)
15:29 (71), 16:39 (70), 17:50 (71), 19:02 (72)
20:14 (72), 21:25.7 (71.7), 22:38.5 (72.8), 23:51.3 (72.8)
25:03.6 (72.3), 26:16.9 (72.3), 27:27.6 (71.7), 28:38.0 (70.4)
29:45.81 (67.81)
1600-meter splits: 4:48, 4:45, 4:45, 4:44, 4:49, 4:47
5km splits: 14:53 and 14:52

Mt. SAC: Steeplechase results

The early part of the evening at the Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) Relays was highlighted – by far – by graduate student Brittany Burns, who ran one of the best races at a national-caliber track meet in Marist Running history.

Britt shattered her personal-best and own school record by 16 seconds and qualified for the ECAC Championships – the first women’s steepler in school history to do so – with a second-place finish in the University/Open Division in a time of 10:43.41. It was a thrilling race to watch as the intense California sun beat down on the field in the late afternoon at Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

Britt ran the splits she needed to run. With 1,000 meters to go, we implored her to make a big move and she did just that – taking the lead in the race! She was overtaken at the end by the eventual race winner, but she hung tough for an amazing, impressive breakthrough race on the biggest of big stages. We are all so proud of her!

In the men’s race that followed, sophomore Quimes DelaCruz went out hard – maybe too hard? – and faded to a subpar (for him) time of 9:24.82. He also had some stomach issues after the race as well. But no excuses, Q is disappointed.

In the same race, freshman Kenny Walshak had a nice breakthrough performance, notching an eight-second PR and finishing right behind his good pal Quimes in 9:25.79.

Will Griffin is set to run the 10,000-meter race in about three hours. We decided to come back to the hotel to chill out a bit. As I type this, the sun is setting over the beautiful hills that surround this area. And the Mt. SAC campus and track are in an amazing setting. More on that in a future post.

Check back later tonight (not likely) or at some point on Friday for Will’s results and splits.

Mt. SAC Relays
Women’s steeplechase
2nd place!
Brittany Burns 10:43.41 *school record and ECAC qualifier (first in school history in this event)
Splits
80.7, 2:43.9 (85.2), 4:12.5 (86.6), 5:10.0 (87.5), 7:07.6 (87.6), 8:32.5 (84.9), 9:58.7 (86.2), 10:43.41 (44.71 last 200m)

Men’s steeplechase

16th place
Arquimedes DelaCruz 9:24.82
68, 2:19 (71), 3:33 (74), 4:46 (73), 6:03 (76), 7:22 (79), 8:42 (80), 9:24.82 (40.82 last 200m)

17th place
Ken Walshak 9:25.79
70, 2:23 (73), 3:37 (74), 4:50 (73), 6:07 (77), 7:25 (78), 8:43 (78), 9:25.79 (42.79 last 200m)

Coaching by cell

Another example of the incredibly shrinking world:

It's 11 a.m. local time (2 p.m. practice time back in Poughkeepsie), and I needed to touch base with a few men on the team.

What to do? Simple! Who ALWAYS has his cell phone handy? Luke Shane!

So I called Luke, who (of course) was in the lobby for practice, and the phone was handed around like a hot potato.

Coaching from a hotel room 3,000 miles away via cell phone. Now, THAT'S something I couldn't have done back in 1991 when we first started this thing ...

Where the sun always shines

Random notes from southern California paradise …

--Got back from a nice long jog (got lost trying to get across/under the freeway, thus … long) in the neighborhoods of West Covina, where there are seemingly as many DOGS as HUMANS. Wow! I got barked down more times than I remember. Fortunately, all were behind fences that were adorned with ominous “Beware of Dog” signs. Indeed.

--Pretty easy to be a weather forecaster in these parts. Today: Sunny and warm. Tomorrow: Sunny and warmer. Saturday: Sunny and warm. Sunday: Sunny and not quite as warm. You get the idea …

--The simple things in life make us happy, like: FREE BREAKFAST BUFFET. This includes free, unlimited coffee. Oh. Yeah.

--We enjoyed a delicious, albeit expensive, Mexican dinner last night. Authentic Mexican food in California. Nothing better.

--As luck would have it, there is a 24-hour Wal-Mart about five minutes from the hotel, so we did a late-night run there last night for food and supplies.

--Speaking of late night … Will Griffin’s 10,000-meter race goes off at 10:40 p.m. local time. Good for him, as the conditions promise to be nice for long-distance racing. But this jet lag thing is a bit tricky for this old coach, an early riser back in New York. Thus: I woke up today at 2 a.m. local time, which would be the usual 5 a.m. clarion call at home. Ah well … it’s all good. We’ll catch up on sleep next week …

Will post results and details in the wee hours or at some point on Friday.