Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Weekly (Belated) Log: April 19-25, 2010

As father and son, we share a similar passion for the sport of running and wanted to share some worthy accomplishments and news from the past (two) week(s) in our local world. Enjoy!

-Mark Lorenzoni (on the run since 1973) and Alec Lorenzoni (running since 1999)

The Weekly Race Report

Sintayehu Taye (right) getting the win in the Men's 1500, courtesy of virginiasports.com

Jason Vigilante's Cavalier track squad headed south to Clemson this past weekend to compete in the 2010 ACC Championships and came away with a third place finish on the men's side and an 8th place finish for the women. Leading the way for the men were sophomore middle distance stars Lance Roller and Sintayehu Taye, who won their first ever ACC individual titles. Roller led a 1-2-4 Cavalier finish in the 800 meters as he outkicked teammate Robby Andrews 1:50.79 to 1:50.92 for the victory (senior Alex Bowman was 4th in 1:51.33). In the 1500, Taye narrowly got the win as a very slow early pace for the first half led to a mad dash over the final 400 meters. Taye ran his last quarter in 52 to eke out the victory in 3:59.96 as only a half second separated the top 6 finishers. Teammates Bowman and freshman Brett Johnson were 3rd and 6th respectively in 4:00.19 and 4:00.53. All told, the Cavaliers scored an amazing 42 of their 125 points in these two events. On the women's side, Meghan Briggs was the lone ACC champion as the senior All-American won her third consecutive title in the javelin with a toss of 171'10" to wrap up a stellar conference career for Virginia.

Run For Autism 5K

On Saturday, April 17th a record crowd of 576 participated in this popular local fund raiser with 50 youngsters competing in the inaugural kid's quarter mile section of the event (the first leg of the area's Kid's Triple Crown series). Fellow blogger, Alec, running in support of his wife, who is a teacher at the Virginia Institute of Autism, and all the wonderful families who have children at the school, set the record over the beautiful Rugby Avenue/Greenleaf/Oxford neighborhood course with a 16:07 clock stopper. Jeff Wilson (17:36) and Peter Krebs (17:59) helped round out the top three spots. Carmia Steyn was the first woman into the chutes as she also set a new course record with a blistering 18:20. Jennifer Hochrein (20:15) and Sophie Speidel (20:43) topped off the medal stand.

Age group blue ribbon winners in the 5K included Bruce Bowman and Jessica Oxford (9 & younger), Lee Parkhill and Alice Ducharme (10-13), Matt Hantzmon and Madaline Ducharme (14-17), Lee Eschenroeder and Amy Duncan (18-23), Harrison Jones and Maggie Frye (24-29), Jeff Wilson and Severine Beatret (30-34), Peter Krebs and Jennifer Hochrein (35-39), Patrick Sandis and Susan Shrum (40-44), Chris Samley and Sophie Speidel (45-49), Scott Smith and Mary Claire Smith (50-54), Kevin Cox and Karen Maray (55-59), Tom Teisberg and Linda Owens (60-69), Don Simroth (70+).

The top finishers in their respective ages over the quarter mile Kid's road course were Ellery Long (top 2 year old), Linden Scherer (top 3 year old), Asher Long and Suna Erdim (top 4 year olds), Jenna Stutzman (top 5 year old), Adrian Grubbs and Ella Reed (top 6 year olds), Tom Fischer and Madeline Packer (top 7 year olds), Jack Bruns and Lauren Sullivan (top 8 year olds), Cleve Packer and Kathleen Bianchetto (top 9 year olds), Danny Talbert (top 10 year old), and Trevor Stutzman (top 12 year old).

Thanks again to the support of longtime VIA board member Tommy Brannock, over 200 area lacrosse players joined the festivities with Nancy Haws' Western Albemarle girls taking the top honors and claiming the Golden Stick Award once again (70 WAHS girls ran the race). The Module 2 team of teachers had the highest VIA participation as they earned the Golden Clipboard Award.

Over 65 folks helped event coordinators Kate Lambert, Linda Sharp, and Eileen Stanczak with course and finish line logistics on race day including Doug Schneider, Alison Webb, Joanne Rogol, Bill Blodgett, Dave Murphy, John Lloyd, Carol Finch, Coleman Charleton, Audrey Lorenzoni, Rob Cordaro, Kathy Thomas, Stacey Bruns, Dan Monahan, Bev and Marily McCoid, Jeff Stanczak, Val Lopez, Rorie Hutter, Becky Weybright, Rachel Rose, Dennis Craft and Kelly Moore.

Thanks to an outpouring of fundraising support from many of the participants, the race was able to raise over $50,000 for valuable programs benefitting the many students with autism at VIA and making this special event the 2nd largest fundraising race in the area (behind the Women's Four Miler). Top fundraisers included the Stanczaks, the Webbs and 15 year old Samantha Moore, who all by herself collected over $3,000 from friends and family for her younger brother's school!

Gus Lacy Track Classic

Even though it officially started over a month ago, the high school outdoor track season never really begins until the middle of April with Fork Union's annual Gus Lacy Track Classic. Most of the area schools attended the 11th edition of the meet with Albemarle placing best on the boys side (2nd) and Western Albemarle on the girls (4th). In the individual action, the highlight of the meet was undoubtedly Anthony Kostelac in the boys 800 meters, which he won in a time of 1:51.19, the #3 time in the US this spring!

114th Annual Boston Marathon

In the world of running, the stage doesn't get much bigger than the Boston Marathon and for Charlottesville's Seth Hutchinson, his debut at the world's most prestigious long distance race was a command performance as he finished 21st overall among a record field of 27,000. Hutchinson's impressive 2:20:56 (5:23/mile) catapulted him to a 8th place finish among his US peers.

"I felt good pretty much the entire way," commented the area's fastest marathoner and the 2010 Ten Miler champ. "Thanks to good coaching (Dana Thiele) and a well laid out race day game plan, I felt very prepared for the challenging aspects of the course, including the hills at Heartbreak."

Hutchinson's Olympic Development teammate Louise Knudson was the area's top female finisher as she ran a huge personal best of 2:51:24 (6:33/mile). Knudson, whose previous best was her 2:58 performance at last year's NYC Marathon, finished 37th in the women's field and was the 21st American across the finish line.

"I loved the huge and loud crowds that lined the entire course," gushed an excited Knudson. "I went out very conservatively over the first half of the course, which really helped me to run negative splits over the last ten miles. I loved the whole experience!"

Over thirty area marathoners joined the speedy duo at the 114th running of our nation's oldest marathon, including the following folks who had excellent performances over this most challenging course: Brian Kayser, Bill Potts, Kenny Ball, Kristen Keller, George Rich, Cheryl Hahn, Harry Landers, Mark Hampton, Julia Bellis, Heidi Johnson, Lindsey Cressy, Kara Williams, Cynthia Lorenzoni, Kim Morris, Ken Nail, Bev Wispelwey, Marit Gay, Brian Hoard, Paul Humphreys, Trish Foley, Paula Capobianco, Katie Craven, Gayle Jones, Jerri Emm, Lisa & Rick Kwiatkowski, Linda Scandore, Bonnie Wilfore, Claire Mitchell, Diane Rosin and Wendy Golden.


RMR Kid's Running Camp

The Ragged Mountain Racing team athletes will be hosting the area's first running camp for kids (ages 5-12) this summer on July 13th and 14th. Registration opened earlier this week and you may download the form on our website here. Entry is limited to the first 100 campers and is expected to fill quickly.

Blue Ribbons To...


All of the Virginia Cavaliers who earned All-Conference (top 3) distinctions in their respective events, including:

Meghan Briggs- Javelin (1st)
Lance Roller- 800 (1st), 4x400 relay (3rd)
Sintayehu Taye- 1500 (1st)
Adams Abdulrazaaq- 110 Hurdles (2nd), 4x400 relay (3rd)
Robby Andrews- 800 (2nd), 4x400 relay (3rd)
Ryan Collins- 10,000 (2nd), 5000 (3rd)
Steve Delice- 400 Hurdles (2nd)
Andy Fahringer- Javelin (2nd)
Steve Finley- 3,000 Steeplechase (2nd)
Emily Vannoy- Shot Put (2nd)
Alex Bowman- 1500 (3rd)
Trey Miller- 10,000 (3rd)
Marcus Robinson- Triple Jump (3rd)
Kevin Anding- 4x400 relay (3rd)

All of the poor souls who had to run (and have EVER had to run) the dreaded 10,000/5,000 meter "double" at the ACC Championships. In high school, the best distance runners oftentimes bite the bullet and run the 1600/3200 double to maximize their team's points, but in college it gets much, much worse (and longer). The only good news is that the 10,000 (25 laps) is on Thursday night and the 5,000 (12.5 laps) is on Saturday afternoon. All told, Ryan Collins, Trey Miller, Sean Keveren, Anna Corrigan and Lauretta Dezubay ran 9.3 miles (and 37.5 laps) for the good of the Cavaliers!

High school multi-talented athletes Jordan Hill & Javanique Burruss who scored 32 and 24 points respectively for their teams at the Gus Lacy Track Classic. Hill, a senior at Albemarle, won the long and high jump, was 2nd in the 200, 7th in the triple jump, and ran the 3rd leg on the Patriots 2nd place 4x400 relay team. Burruss, who is just a freshman at Louisa, was 2nd in all three of her events (long jump, triple jump, 100). In the state rankings, she is currently #3 in the long jump (#1 in Group AA) and #5 in the triple jump (#2 in Group AA).

Longtime Fork Union cross country and track coach Winston Brown who not only hosted a great track meet (along with his entire staff) in the Gus Lacy Classic this past weekend, but who also provided knowledgeable and entertaining commentary throughout the entirety of the meet.

Seth Hutchinson (2:20:56, 21st overall and 8th US finisher) and Louise Knudson (2:51:34, 37th overall female and 21st US finisher), who were the top area finishers at Monday's 114th running of the Boston Marathon. Over 40 area runners successfully completed the world's most famous marathon.

Nicole Kelleher, a UVA Medical student who finished first at the USA Triathlon Collegiate Championships in Lubbock, Texas on April 17th. Kelleher, who is one of the top ranked profesisonal triathletes in the nation, beat last year's champion by two minutes!

Suzanna Turanyi, who ran her first 24 hour relay and in doing so, completed 75 miles (in 21 hours). Turanyi completed her first ultra in Hampton during the weekend of April 17-18, and in the process, helped to raise several thousand dollars for the American Cancer Society.

Jay James, who not only was the official guest starter for the Run For Autism, but also one of the top finishers as he sped to a 20:08 clocking (18th overall), making the popular WINA sportscaster one of the fastest radio runners in town.

Nicolein Wilder, who in only her second marathon scored a ticket to the Boston Marathon, as she ran a stellar 3:55 over the challenging Charlottesville Marathon course on April 17th.

Scott and Mary Claire Smith, who became the first local couple in recent memory to win the same age group in their respective gender at the same race, when they both took home blue ribbons in the 50-54 age group at the Run For Autism on April 17th.


In the Starting Blocks...

Another very busy weekend of racing on tap, including...

Several area not-for-profit road races (check our list of upcoming events for more details), as well as the Charlottesville Day School's Family Fitness Cross Country runs . This special event (all on grass) will begin at 1:00pm on Sunday afternoon at the beautiful Panorama Farms in Earlysville, and will be a part of the First Annual Virginia Youth Fitness Day. It also marks the second leg of the Kid's Triple Crown and is open to all families who are interested!

The Dogwood Track Classic, by far the area's biggest annual track meet which will feature virtually all of Central Virginia's tracksters on UVA's Lannigan Field. The meet begins at 8:30am with the 3200 meter runs.

The 116th Annual Penn Relays, the biggest and most prestigious track meet in the entire country. The best part of the this meet is the fact that high schoolers, collegiates, and professionals all share the same track in front of 50,000 fans over the course of this three day event. Also unique to this meet is the number of Jamaican high school teams who make the long trip up from the Caribbean to compete in what is essentially the highlight of their spring racing calendar. The emphasis that the Jamaicans place on this meet is reflected in the overwhelming majority of Jamaican-Americans spectators in attendance. The "sea of green and gold" will get a special treat this year as Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt will compete for his home country in the USA vs the World 4x100 relay. Representing the area will be several Cavalier relays, as Coach Vig's squad does battle with the country's best. Also competing will be senior Patriot Anthony Kostelac in the High School Boy's Invitational Mile, as well as former UVA middle distance standout Kevin Tschirhart in the Olympic Development Mile.

No comments:

Post a Comment