Chernock Gives Lananna Hall of Fame Award

Vin Lananna, just retired coach of Oregon, just was inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame (which you can watch here).  Giving him the award was Roy Chernock who also was the long time coach at W&M from 1978 to the early 1990s.  Lananna gave a nice (short) speech even noting Chernock's 62 year marriage to Ethel.  Chernock's first coaching job was at CW Post on Long Island which is he coached Lananna. 

Frosh Representing USA at International XC Events

Meghan McGovern will be representing Team USA junior squad competing at the North America, Central America, and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Mandeville, Jamaica on Jan 26, 2013. 

Emily Stites will be resenting Team USA junior squad competing at the Bupa Great Edinburgh Cross Country Challenge in Edinburgh, Scotland on Jan 5.  

I'll put up more when we get closer.

Interview with W&M's Newest Two All-Americans

Okay so I am using new technology here on Hangouts on Google+ which actually worked fairly nicely.  We spoke about the confidence needed to get All-American as a frosh for Emily Stites and to finish 13th in the US for Elaina Balouris.  

New Track Talk

Thanks so much to Jason Schoener (writer), Emily Furia (writer and editor) and Harald Anderson (digital side).  

Becky Flowers '98 in the NY TImes

Back when I started my teaching career one of the local runners who completed against my school's XC team was Becky Flowers.  Becky went onto run for W&M and graduated in 1998.  Today she made the NYTimes for her thesis that the Grand Canyon is much older (70 million years) than originally thought and might have thus been seen by dinosaurs.  

NCAA Pictures

Thanks to Tim O'Dowd for these pictures from the NCAA meet. 

Interview with Emily Stites

I was going to try to interview Emily and Elaina, but no need now since Flotrack interviewed of them.  This interview was taken just after the NCAA meet was over. 

Elaina Balouris

Watch more video of 2012 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on flotrack.org

Elaina says that even she was surprised by her 13th place finish.  She also speaks about her spring break through season in the 5K.  

Balouris Finishing NCAA

It should be noted that Balouris has the 4th best finish ever for a female from W&M (finishing above - photo from Let's Run) while Stites is the first frosh to win and All-American title at W&M and was the 4th frosh across the line. 

W&M 22nd

The women finished 22nd at the NCAA meet a few minutes ago.  Frosh Emily Stites (directly above with her finishing medal) was 27th while Elaina Balouris (middle of the top picture) finished 13th.  If both were in the top 30 they would each get All-American titles. More

Like Us on Facebook

After two years of being dormant we are restarting the Spiked Shoe Society on Facebook.  If you would "like us," it will be a way to reconnect with old friends.   Definitely post pictures of your family and important events on our wall.  If you go there now, you will see a picture of Randy Hawthorne running with the University of Michigan's team and former W&M coach Alex Gibby. 

Watch Women Live at Noon Today

Go here at noon EST to watch the women complete at the NCAA Championships. 

Women off to Nationals

The women left today for the NCAA meet.  If you want to see it live, go here on Saturday at noon.  I'll put more here prior to Monday. 

Landry Debuts in 2:17

Christo Landry '08 ran 2:17.11 to finish 4th in his debut marathon in Richmond.   Landry is now a volunteer coach at U Michigan (where former W&M coach Alex Gibby is coaching). 

Women Qualify for the NCAA Meet

Elaina Balouis finished 7th and Emily Stites, 10th, to lead the women to their highest finish ever in the Southeast regional meet meaning they have AUTOMATICALLY qualified for the NCAA meet.  This continues what has been a great season for the women so far.  More  (picture above is from Coach Walsh as they got ready for their run on Thursday)

Men 8th and McGrath 18th at Regionals

Alex McGrath's 18th place led the men at the Southeast regional this AM with a 30:36 time as the men finished a disappointing 8th overall in the race.  This means for the second straight year, after 14 consecutive trips, the men will not be going to the NCAA regional meet.  McGrath's placement does mean that he has earned All-Region honors. 

The men went 1, 3, 4, 8 and 9 to win the 13th straight CAA Championship.  Alex McGrath led the way with the win. 

Women and Balouris Win CAA

Elaina Balouris and the women's team won the CAA meet putting their top five in the top nine finishers (1-3, 8, 9).

CAA Championships Preview

More of Spirit Week

It appears the women's team are not only running very well this fall, but, as you can see above, having a great time doing it.  Above is a photo from day two of spirit week. 

CAA Race Times Change

Here are the CAA race times this week (a little different than the earlier post).

10am: Women’s Race

11am: Men’s Race

Come join us at Eastern State and look for the alumni tent.

Women's Team

It is nice to see that the women's team has time to do more than studying and running.  The picture above comes from spirit week which was just last week.

Pre-Nat Results

The women were 6th and the men 14th at the Pre-National meet.  More soon. 

Getting Geared Up for Pre-Nats

The cross country teams have arrived at the "Pre-Nat" meet. A great performance here (after their invitational a few weeks ago) can almost guarantee an invite to the NCAA meet. Return tomorrow for the results.

Moran Running NYC

Ed Moran will be running the NYC Marathon on Nov. 4th.  He ran 2:11.47 there last year which is the fastest marathon ever run by a W&M grad. 

Paul Short Invitational Photos

Back in college Randy Hawthorne used to take pictures of us and then put them on the blackboard in the locker room for us to take home.  Now there is a much easier method.  You can go here for lots of pictures from the Paul Short Invitational. 

McGrath and Boularis

Alex McGrath and Elaine Boularis were named CAA athletes of the week. 

Will You Join Our Tent at Homecoming

At the CAA meet there will be a tent for alums to gather together and reminisce the days of yore. Above is the team food tent at the Paul Short Invitational which will also be at the homecoming CAA meet (see a few posts down for details).  

Women/Men Ranked in US

If you follow the men's history, you know they rarely crack the top 25 before pre-nationals, but now they are 23rd and the women are 17th after their strong showing last weekend at the Paul Short  Invitational. 

Women 1st, Men 2nd in Regional Poll

It has been a long time since the women's team was up in the top few in the region, but thankfully they are back.  The women are now ranked 1st in the Southeast region and them men second.  

Alumni/Parent Tent at CAA

For those of you who can make it to the CAA Championships on Homecoming weekend there will be a tent for alums and parents to hang out, catch up, cheer and enjoy the meet.  Here are the details of the meet. 

Paul Short Invite Pics from Tim O'Dowd

Men and Women Second at Paul Short

W&M was the only school to place four runners in the top-17 of the race, led by senior Alex McGrath who finished 11th overall in 24:23.  Redshirt-junior Josh Hardin was next came through in 24:27 for 14th place.  Senior John Muller cruised through the mud and the muck in 24:29, taking 17th.  Grad student Joe LoRusso finished the scoring in 51st, taking 24:57, and Joshua Mercado and Jack Anderson  rounded out the varsity seven, in 25:24 and 25:45, respectively.  More

The Tribe was lead by its own All-American, with junior Elaina Balouris finishing fifth overall at 20:29.  Freshman Emily Stites was right on her shoulder and finished just steps behind Balouris in sixth.  Classmate Meghan McGovern gave W&M three in the top-20, crossing the line 19th in 20:56.  Both freshmen were making their Tribe debuts after two strong unattached showings earlier this season.  Sophomore Jess Cygan ran 21:07 for 34th place in front of the hometown crowd, and junior Clarissa Schick finished out the scoring in 38th overall, crossing the finish line with a time of 21:13.  Sophomore Dylan Hassett and senior Katie Buenaga rounded out the team effort, finishing 59th and 62nd, respectively. More 

Randy Hawthorne & the XC Teams

Steve Walsh just sent me these great shots of  Randy Hawthorne and the XC Teams.

Massey Center for the Cure & Colonial 1/2 Marathon

And there is more!  If you want to run a 5K on the W&M campus, then the Massey Center for the Cure 5K is coming up on November 2nd at 5:15 pm.   If you want to really plan ahead then the Colonial Half Marathon, which I still remember doing as a long hard training run in 1984 (!) is on Feb. 24th at 1 pm. 

CAA at William and Mary

Have a spare moment on Homecoming Weekend and want to see the XC race?  W&M is hosting the CAA Championships on October 27th.  Here are more details. 

Ostadt 05 Training for Ironman

It is a far cry from cross country and track to the Hawaii Ironman, but Adam Ostadt '05 is training for it 24 hours a week in addition to his job as a P.E. teacher in Williamsburg.  Check out the article starting on page 37. 

Balouris/McGrath CAA Runners of the Week

For winning the W&M Invitational, Elaina Balouris was named CAA Athlete of the Week. Likewise Alex McGrath was also named CAA Athlete of the Week for winning the same meet. 

New Track Talk

September 2012 Track Talk from kenhalla

The older generation (like myself) know that Randy Hawthorne did the Track Talk newsletter for 30 years until I took it over 6 years ago.  Fortunately Emily Furia and Harold Anderson have taken been doing it the past two years and have made it look amazing.  If you haven't received it in the mail, you will tomorrow.  Please read it and consider two things: 1) can you make a contribution to the team either electronically (look to the right on this blog page) and helping our alumni group out (e-mail me if you have any questions at kenhalla@gmail.com).  Click on the link above to see it in a bigger format or on the arrows. 

Landry 11th at CVS 5K

Christo Landry was 11th (just in front of Alan Webb) in 14:13 at the Providence, RI Downtown 5K.  The race served as the USA 5K road championships. 

Men/Women Win W&M Invite

Men's race above. 

Women's race above.

Both the men and women won the William and Mary XC Invitational yesterday.  The women were led by Elaina Balouris who won the individual title in the 5K race, crossing the finish line in 17:39 under near-perfect conditions at the Eastern State course.  Sophomore Jess Cygan was the next in-uniform finisher and fourth overall at 18:10, and classmate Dylan Hassett was sixth in 18:30.  More

The Tribe's victory was keyed by a 1-2 finish in the 8K race, with the win going to senior captain Alex McGrath.  The ninth-place finisher in the region last year, McGrath crossed the line in 25:17 and just a step or two ahead of teammate Rad Gunzenhauser, who was also given a time of 25:17.  Grad student Joe LoRusso was next across the line for the Green and Gold, finishing eighth overall in 25:44. More. 

Landry 7th and 20K Champs

Christo Landry was 7th and the USA 10K road championships in 1:00.04 continuing his find running during 2012.

Men, 3rd and Women Win FIrst Meet of the Year

The men finished third in the 5K race won by W&M's Ron Guzenhauser in 15:01. Joseph Larusso was 6th and Anderson was the third Tribe athlete.  For his performance, Guzenhauser was named CAA Athlete of the Week.

The women won the 2 mile race with Jess Cygan finishing 2nd, Dylan Hassett in 5th and Lanie Smith in 6th.

You can see both races above.

Jon Grey Wins Roads Scholar Award

Jon Grey just won a "Roads Scholar" award which gives some support cash out to rising distance runners.  If memory serves, it started in 1987 and has been helping athletes.  Each runner gets a one year sum of $5,000. 

Graney Finishes 18th in Steeple At Trials

Grand Valley State senior and William and Mary alumna Betsy Graney (2011) ran 9:59.76 to take ninth in her heat, and finished 18th overall only six seconds behind the last qualifier for Friday's finals. Greany owns the top two All-Time 3k steeple performances in NCAA Division II.  Thanks to Tim O'Dowd for this update. 

You may have noticed that Ed Moran has not run the 5 or 10K (both of which he met the "A" standard.  Unfortunately he was hurt in the spring, but is now back to training for a fall marathon. 

Landry 17th at Trials

Christo Landry just finished 17th in the Olympic Trials 10K in 28:35.  

All America for Heroux and Balouris

Senior Brandon Heroux wrapped up his W&M career with an 8th place finish in the javelin at the NCAA championships.  Meanwhile Elaine Balouris was 19th in the 10K.  Both performances netted each athlete and All-America title.  Here is a nice blog the two made. 

Baulouris Qualifies for NCAA 10K

As a former 5-10K specialist it is always wonderful to see a 10K runner make it to nationals as Elaina Balouris did yesterday in finishing 3rd at the regional meet in 34:28.  This is only Balouris' third 10K.  Four others completed but did not qualify for the meet on June 6th. More

Brandon Heroux Qualifies for NCAA Meet

Coming back from major surgery Heroux has only had three meets this season but threw for the third best in W&M history in finishing 3rd at the NCAA qualifying meet. More

Friend-Uhl Is Second In Master's 8K

Sonja Friend-Uhl is having a banner year with a runner-up race today in the Master's USATF8K Championship in 28:16, an amazing 5:42 per mile pace.  Friend-Uhl was not only the second female, but was only beaten by 14 of the men. 

Regionals Coming

Below are the W&M entrants for the NCAA regional track meet that serves as the qualifier for the NCAA meet:

Brandon Heroux (Javelin – 11^th)

Elaina Balouris (10,000m– 14^th)

Josh Hardin (10,000m – 20^th)

Chris Tyson (1500m – 22^nd)

Elaina Balouris (5,000m – 32^nd)

Alex McGrath (10,000m – 50^th)

The meet will be on May 24-26th.

Brian Hyde's American Record Broken

Columbian senior Kyle Merber just ran 3:35.59 this past weekend breaking Brian Hyde's '95 American collegiate record of 3:35.84.  Brian is W&M's only Olympian. 

ECAC

At the ECAC meet Natalie Baird finished 2nd in the discus moving her to #8 on the all-time list. In the 800 mes, Katie Buenaqa was 13th in 2:11.39 with Michelle Britto coming in 2:12.   Clarissa Schick ran 4:34 for the 1500 meters while Elaina Balouris was 5th in 16:27 in the 5K.  More

UVA Invitational

Not everyone who is the best on the W&M teams completed at the IC4A meet.

At the UVA Challenge, Alex McGrath was 4th in the 5K with a time of 14:08, while John Muller ran 3:48.83.  In the hammer Braian Waterfield threw 153-4.  The best performance, though, was Chris Tyson who ran 3:43. 12 which is the 6th fastest time in W&M history just ahead of Hall Michael '72.  More

Women 8th, Men 3rd at CAA

Lots of great performances were had by the women's team at the CAA meet led by Elaine Boularis who won the 10K Natalie Baird who second in the discus,  Katie Buenaga and Jess Gygan who were 3rd in the 1500 and 5K respectively.  More and more

The men finished third on the strength of four wins of the fourth straight win from Brandon Heroux in the javelin, with Chris Tyson scoring in the 1500 meters and Alex McGrath winning the 10k (and doubling with a second in the 5k).  Also scoring high were John Muller who was second in the 1500 meters, Brian Waterfield (3rd in shotput), Ben Katz (second in high jump), Will Bass and Jack Anderson (2nd and 3rd in the steeplechase) and Josh Hardin was 3rd in the 5K.  More and more

Mattis is Penn Relays Individual Athlete of the Meet

Sam Mattis, son on Marlon '85 was just named Penn Relays Individual Athlete of the Meet for his winning discus throw at the Penn Relays.   Sam threw the discus 211-11 which is the number 2 in meet history, number 3 in NJ state history and No. 1 in the nation this season.  At one point his father was W&M's hammer throw school record (still #2).  Sam is  a senior headed to the Univ. of Penn.  If you want to read more, check out how Sam, the day after the meet (or see video above), was playing bass in a musical concert. 

Landry and Grey Run Great at Payton Jordan

If memory serves Christo Landry and Jon Grey are now the third and fourth fastest 10K runners ever to go to W&M (after Lane and Moran) with their 28:18 and 28:26 times this past weekend at the Payton Jordan Invitational .  Both are provisional standards, but certainly Landry's will be good enough to get into the Trials as 28:15 is the "A" standard.

Herouz 2nd at Penn

This is Brandon Heroux, W&M's star javelin thrower finished 2nd at the Penn Relays.  Here are some pictures of his effort. 

McDonald Wins Penn 10K

Volunteer assistant coach Darcy McDonald won the Olympic Development Women's 10K in 34:29 now making for (Boularis being the other one) two fast 10K runners training in Williamsburg 

Boularis and Keppler Provisionally Qualify for Olympic Trials

Running in her debut 10K, sophomore Elaine Boularis provisionally qualified for the Olympic Trials with a 33:56 running just one second off Ali Henderson's school record. More  W&M alums also ran with Kathy Newberry running 16:06 in the 5K.

Also provisionally qualifying for the trials was volunteer assistant Janice Keppler who was 4th in the elite pole vault at Mt. Sac at 14-1.25. Nicole Drory also equaled her pole vault personal best in 12-1.25.  Natalie Baird earned a ECAC qualifier in the discus as did Jess Cygan in her first 5K.  Much more. 

Unfortunately Josh Hardin DNFed in his Mt. Sac 5K, but Chris Tyson (at Princeton) ran 3:46 while Rad Gunzenhauser also qualified for the IC4A meet with a 14:18.  Go here for the other performances.

Landry Runs 13:52 At Mt. Sac

Christo Landry ran 13:52 last night to continue his resurgence and complete recovery from his senior year injury.  That means he is 2 seconds off of the provisional standard for the Olympic Trials. 

Friend-Uhl Runs American Record

At our reunion last year my classmates were more than amazed that Sonja Friend-Uhl could continue to run as fast as she has as she is only a few years younger than us.  But run fast she does and last night at the Vanderbilt Invitation she ran yet another American record, this time in the 1500 meters in 4:16.99.  The time provisionally qualifies her for the Olympic Trials.   Above is an indoor record of hers earlier this year when she ran a world record of 4:44 in the mile. 

Zach Perkins Runs 3:53

Watch more video of 2012 Mt. SAC Relays on flotrack.org

Okay, who is Perkins?  Well if you went to W&M in the mid 80s, he was one of my teammates was Randy Perkins '84 and above is his son winning his section of the 1500 at the Mt. Sac Relays. 

Women 9th, Men 14th At Colonials

Led by athletes such as Natalie Baird who scored in the hammer and was third in the discus, the women's team finished 9th at the Colonial Relays.   The 4x1500 was the 5th fastest in W&M history in finishing third and qualifying for the ECAC meet.  Also qualifying was the 4x800 team.  Much more

For the men a highlight was the 4x1500 meter team's victory in 15:49.  More

Boularis PRs in 5K and Other Colonial Results

Elaina Boularis ran a PR in 16:19 at Colonials last night, while Natalie Baird and Nicole Drory were third and fifth in the hammer and pole vault.  More

For the men Chris Tyson ran 3:46 for 5th in the 1500 meters while Ben Katz was 6th in the long jump.  Josh Mercadeo and Rad Guzenhauser ran 14:22 and 14:26 in the 5K.  All three distance runners qualified for the IC4A meet.  More 

Graney Runs 15:56

Watch more video of 2012 Stanford Invitational on flotrack.org

Graney was a steeplechase runner at W&M who transfered to Grand Valley State and just yesterday ran 15:56 at the Stanford Invite.  While it would have been great to see her run the time at W&M, it is nice to see her running well again.  

Stimsons and Hawthornes At Colonials

You have to love technology as the Stimsons (Rosemarie and Dan) and the Hawthornes (Randy and Shelby) have not even headed to Paul's Deli yet and I have the picture of two of the most enduring pairs in W&M history on the blog.  Thanks to Coach Walsh for the quick work!  It is hard to believe it has already been a year since our wonderful reunion last year.  Yes, we will definitely have one in a couple of years. 

David Friedman '83 - Random Acts of Kindness

David (Dustin) Friedman '83 was a senior in my frosh year.  He has gotten some nice exposure recently for his daily "acts of kindness" as you can see here and above. 

Daily Press Article on Ed Moran

For someone who has been out of W&M for 26 years, it is hard to believe Ed Moran is already 30 - and still running.  In fact of all W&M's All-Americans, he has lasted the longest on the running circuit.  Here is a great article on him and all his injuries and successes as he heads to this summer's Olympic Trials. 

Watch Colonial Relays Live

You will be able to see part of the Colonial Relays LIVE this coming weekend.  On Friday you can go here to see the 400m Dash, 100m/110m Hurdles, 800m Run, and 100m Dash Semifinals and to the same link on Saturday to see the 100m Dash Finals, 4x200m Relay, 4x1,500m Relay, and 4x400m Relay.  

More W&M Invitational News

On Saturday, the weather was not on our side as we had to call the meet short as most teams were weary of having their athletes compete in such rainy conditions.  Before the weather became too bad, we had several strong performances. In the discus, Natalie Baird won the event with an ECAC-qualifying throw of 45.47 meters (149-2).  Natalie now owns fourteen of the top sixteen throws in school history. Baird came back to take second in the hammer throw with a toss of 47.12m (154-7).  Erin Challis took eighth at 38.99m (127-11), a personal-best by 7.5 feet.  Baird finished off a full-day when she placed second in the shot put at 12.87m (42-2.75).

In the triple jump, Lynnie Bresnahan PRed with a jump of 11.33m (37-2.25) to take third.  She is now sixth on the all-time athletes list.  Grace Oxley was fourth with another PR of 11.14m (36-6.7) to put her ninth in school history.  Freshman Sydnee Pierce ran 12.60 seconds to take third in her first collegiate 100m dash.  She is now tied for 10th in school history.  Also moving herself into tenth all-time was Maggie Gutierrez in the 400m dash.  She took fifth in 57.97 seconds.  In the 1500m, we had three women finish in the top five.  Katie Buenaga led the way in second, running a PR of 4:36.94, Michelle Britto PRed to take third place in 4:38.45, and Avery Mattingly took fifth in 4:45.36.

On the men’s side, Ben Katz had an outdoor PR in in the long jump at 6.96 meters (22-10) to take the win.  He is now ranked eleventh in school history outdoors.  In the 100m dash, freshman Michael Monti ran 11.52 seconds to take second overall, and Ben Katz was right behind him in 11.54 for third.  David Gunnerson won the 1500m run with a time of 3:58.17 and freshman Ian MacFawn took fourth in 4:03.03.  As the track began to flood with rain, we backed off and controlled the men’s effort in the 3,000m run.   Zach Tennant, Jack Anderson, Josh Mercado, and Andrew Ryan all came through at 9:30. 

Tribe Invitational Starts w. Two Fast 10Ks

The men got off in a big way with two sub 30 10K times.  In the 10,000m, sophomore Josh Hardin ran a career-fast 29:28.07 for the win and junior Alex McGrath was third in another career-best, 29:51.31.  Both men came in well under the IC4A-qualifying standard for the event (31:08), and are currently ranked first and third, respectively, in the NCAA this spring, well ahead of the 30:16 that had been the top collegiate time coming into the weekend.  

Moran 17th at NYC Half Marathon

Watch live streaming video from nyrr at livestream.com

Ed Moran got into a very deep 1/2 marathon running 1:02.51 for 17th place at the NYC Half Marathon. The entire race is above.