Forbes Sets Meet Record at Holiday Classic

Newton North freshman Carla Forbes leapt into the books at the Boston Holiday Classic, with a meet record 37-4.5 in the triple jump. While not contested at the indoor state meet, that mark would have earned her second place in the outdoor state meet last spring.

In the long jump, Forbes placed 3rd (16-3) with teammate Amy Ren taking 7th (15-10). Ren was busy, competing in the high jump (7th, 5-0) and 55 hurdles (9.06 in the heats and 9.11 in the finals for 4th). Steph Brown won the pole vault with a clearance at 10-6.

North's 4x200 relay placed 5th in 1:52.37.

Holiday Classic - NNHS Girls Results:

 
Triple Jump
1. Forbes, Carla      37-04.50# 
  
Long Jump
3. Forbes, Carla      16-03.25  
7. Ren, Amy             15-10.25  
 
Pole Vault
1. Brown, Steph       10-06.00  
 
High Jump
7. Ren, Amy               5-00.00  
 
55 Meter Hurdles (Heats)
6. Ren, Amy               9.06q
 
55 Meter Hurdles (Final)
4. Ren, Amy               9.11  
 
4x200 Meter Relay
  5 Newton North  'A'                                   1:52.37   3 
     1) Forbes, Carla FR                2) Brown, Steph SO                
     3) Wong, Kayla SO                  4) Cuccurullo, Julia JR           
 

The NN Boys had three runners in the 5K, three throwers in the shot put, and a 4x200 relay team. Jake Gleason took a run at the unofficial Newton North record in the indoor 5K, coming within three seconds of Chris Barnicle's freshman mark of 16:18, set in 2002. Gleason was 4th overall in a personal best 16:21.47. Teammates Dan Ranti (16:40) and Ezra Lichtman (16:59) finished 6th, and 7th, respectively.

In the shot put, the trio of Ebbs (47-10), Donovan (45-4), and Castillo (42-3) placed 6th, 9th, and 14th, in one of the deeper events of the day.

North's 4x200 relay team placed 2nd to Lawrence in a time of 1:35.37.

  
Shot Put
 6. Ebbs, Charles           47-10.00  
 9. Donovan, Ryan        45-04.00  
14. Castillo, Umberto  42-03.25  
 
5000 Meter Run
 4. Gleason, Jake               16:21.37# 
 6. Ranti, Dan                     16:40.07  
 7. Lichtman, Ezra             16:59.59  

4x200 Meter Relay
  2 Newton North  'A'                                   1:35.37   2 
     1) Kiley, Ben SR                   2) Doyle, Terrell SO              
     3) Penn, Isaiah JR                 4) Wu, Hao-Kai SR                 

NNHS Alumni etc. Results - 12/26/09

I was chatting with a friend at the BU Mini-Meet #2, and we were comparing notes on the difficulty of finding indoor venues to do track workouts out over the holidays. His solution was to forget about the track workouts, and use races as his speedwork, hence his regular presence at these indoor meets.

There's something to be said for that, and the BU Meets make it particularly easy. The atmosphere is extremely low-key, the warm-up facilities are good, and because there are only a few events contested, the meet goes fairly quickly. While I'm not a fan of running races as workouts (i.e., not running them hard), using racing as a substitute for speedwork is not such a bad idea.

Anyway, at this time of year just about everyone seems to be using these early indoor meets as part of their preparation for the bigger meets to come. At yesterday's BU meet, I saw Sam Arsenault (NNHS '09) getting in some good quality running. He ran a modest 23.69 in the 200, but came back with a solid 51.55 in the 400. I don't what event he'll be focusing on this winter, but I'm guessing it will be the 400 or even 500.

Another former Bay Stater, Ryan Hardiman, jumped in the 400 and ran 54.68. (Last week he ran 8:54 for the 3K, showing good range!) This week's 3000m was won by former MA state XC champion Ryan Collins, who ran 8:22.10.

NN School Record Attempt at Indoor 5K?

Dan Hamilton brought t my attention the fact that there is a 5000m race scheduled for the Boston Holiday Classic H.S meet next Monday (Dec. 28), and that he thinks that several Newton North runners are entered. The prospect of running 25 laps indoors is usually met with groans, especially from those who never run such a race. Actually, I think it's a fine event, provided the track is 200m (no 5Ks in the SOA, thanks) and banked, and the supposed boredom never bothers me.

Anyway, this raises the question: what is the NNHS school record for the indoor 5000m? My first guess would be the 16:18 that Chris Barnicle ran at NSIC as a freshman. Does anyone know of a better time? And if that 16:18 is the standard, might one of the current Tigers take a run at it? Ezra Lichtman, Dan Ranti, and Jake Gleason ran 16:36, 16:37, and 16:45 at Cold Spring Park last Fall, and it's not much of a jump to imagine any one of them running twenty seconds faster on the indoor oval with no rocks, roots, or hills to slow them down.

North Impressive in Indoor Track Opener

The first night of indoor track, and the last dual meet before we all ring in 2010, saw fine performances from many, and two easy wins for the Newton North teams.

The North boys were led by three wins from Ben Kiley (55, 300, HJ), a 48' throw in the shot from Conor Ebbs, and league-best performances in the 600 (Isaiah Penn), 1000 (Ezra Lichtman), 1M (Dan Ranti), and 2-Mile (Jake Gleason). North Coach Jim Blackburn probably won't be happy that his team finished second in the 4x400 relay to a determined Needham squad, but otherwise it was an encouraging night.

Overall Results from Athletic.nett

55
1.  Ben Kiley    6.83  NNHS 12 
6.  Ryan Lucken  7.01  NNHS 9 
29. Kevin Han    7.39  NNHS 12 
35. Mike Vaglica 7.51  NNHS 12 
 
300
3.  Ben Kiley     37.94  NNHS 12 
10. Hao Wu        39.52  NNHS 12 
11. Terrell Doyle 39.60  NNHS 10 

600
1.  Isaiah Penn 1:26.29  NNHS 11 
7.  Alon Soran  1:30.50  NNHS 12 
11. Ryan Kwan   1:32.61  NNHS 12 
14. Kevin Foo   1:34.26  NNHS 12 

1000
1.  Ezra Lichtman 2:45.22  NNHS 11 
2.  Matt Lee      2:45.30  NNHS 12 
3.  Justin Keefe  2:46.80  NNHS 11 
24. Matt Lee      3:15.36  NNHS 9 
29. David Buzby   3:17.02  NNHS 10 

1 Mile
1.  Dan Ranti      4:47.11  NNHS 11 
13. Sam Fogel      5:03.86  NNHS 12 
18. Steven Michael 5:09.68  NNHS 10 
21. Jon Long       5:12.10  NNHS 9 
33. Jon Bressler   5:32.35  NNHS 12 
 
2 Miles
1.  Jake Gleason   10:19.14  NNHS 12 
13. Mike Weinfeld  11:08.56  NNHS 12 
19. David Demarest 11:33.81  NNHS 9 
 
55m Hurdles
9.  Faisal Mayanja   9.23  NNHS 12 
27. Eliot Silverman 10.30  NNHS 12 
28. Matthew Dickey  10.54  NNHS 11 
29. Young Guang     10.56  NNHS 10 
 
4x400 Relay - Varsity - Finals  
1.  Needham  3:36.43 
2.  NNHS     3:37.32 
 
Shot Put
1.  Conor Ebbs     48-02.00  NNHS 12 
2.  Ryan Donovan   46-06.00  NNHS 11 
3.  Swardic Mayanj 42-03.00  NNHS 10 
5.  Jacob Brunell  40-11.50  NNHS 11 
 
High Jump
1.  Ben Kiley       5-06.00  NNHS 12 
2.  Tylor Hart      5-04.00  NNHS 11 
3.  Faisal Mayanja  5-02.00  NNHS 12 

The North girls were also impressive, without posting quite the gaudy numbers that the boys did. However, Jaya Tripathi had the league's best time in the 600, and North had four hurdlers in the league's top ten. Also of note, sophomore Maggie Heffernan ran a promising 5:39 mile behind Margo Gillis' controlled 5:26, and North had three high jumpers clear 5 feet.

55
3.  Carla Forbes     7.68  NNHS 09 
8.  Kayla Wong       7.98  NNHS 10 
16. Jess Fugazzotto  8.24  NNHS 12 
22. Latifa Smalls    8.33  NNHS 12 
 
300 Meters
4.  Ariana Tabatabaie  44.88  NNHS 12 
7.  Stephanie Brown    45.32  NNHS 10 
 
600
1.  Jaya Tripathi    1:47.88  NNHS 12 
3.  Meghan Bellerose 1:50.23  NNHS 09 
38. Katie Brandl     2:09.56  NNHS 11 
 
1000
5.  Sam Gluck         3:26.96  NNHS 12 
10. Shoshanna Kruskal 3:36.17  NNHS 12 
13. Lauren Smith      3:38.25  NNHS 10 
16. Elena Hemler      3:40.29  NNHS 12 
22. Eve Szerlip       3:48.40  NNHS 09 
 
1 Mile
2.  Margo Gillis      5:26.54  NNHS 11 
6.  Maggie Heffernan  5:39.42  NNHS 10 
16. Becca Trayner     6:15.13  NNHS 10 
18. Melissa Weikert   6:18.42  NNHS 10 
 
2 Miles
9.  Susannah Gleason  13:12.05  NNHS 12 
10. Devika Banerjee   13:14.06  NNHS 12 
16. Sarah Perlo       13:37.03  NNHS 10 
 
55m Hurdles
3.  Amy Ren      9.51  NNHS 12 
4.  Kayla Wong   9.58  NNHS 10 
5.  Emily Denn   9.66  NNHS 11 
10. Jenn Liu    10.09  NNHS 12 
 
4x400 Relay
1. NNHS   4:23.08
 
Shot Put
15. Semira Azadzoi     25-03.00  NNHS 12 
19. Michela Salvucci   23-08.50  NNHS 10 
21. Bridget McLaughlin 22-11.50  NNHS 09 
 
High Jump
1.  Emily Hutchinson    5-02.00  NNHS 11 
2.  Amy Ren             5-00.00  NNHS 12 
3.  Lucia Grigoli       5-00.00  NNHS 10 

Return to Reggie for NN, Bay State League

Newton North joins the rest of the Bay State league in celebrating the annual return to the Reggie Lewis Track this afternoon for the first meet of the indoor season. North competes against Needham in the only dual meet scheduled before the Holiday break.

Good luck to all the teams!

Action gets underway at 4:30 with the boys mile, and the meet will not start late! The officials for the Bay State meets always keep things moving fast.

My understanding of the schedule of events (assuming no changes from previous years):

On the infield:

Boys/Girls HJ

In the cage:

Boys Shot put
Girls Shot put

On the oval:

Mile
1000
600
300

On the infield:

55 hurdles
55 dash

On the oval:

Girls 2M
Boys 2M
Boys 4 x 400 relay
Girls 4 x 400 relay
JV events

Larry's Legacy

The night was one of the darkest of the year, and I was grateful that Terry was driving, especially on these back roads. If I had been alone, I doubt I would have remembered all the turns as we headed down back roads South out of Needham through Dover, Medfield, Walpole, and Norfolk, finally arriving in Wrentham and at the funeral home where friends and family were saying good-bye to Larry Olsen.

Larry was out on a run a week ago Sunday when he suffered a fatal heart attack. News of his death was hard to accept, not only because it represented a huge loss to his friends, family, but because many of us secretly thought of Larry as invincible, as someone who would resist the ravages of age better than any of us, and still be winning races and setting records while we watched him from our rockers. Larry was a very good runner when he was young, but his focus and consistency over the decades transformed him into a great runner as he aged.

But if he had been a great runner only, he wouldn't have been so revered, and perhaps there wouldn't have been such a long line of people stretching out of the funeral home and onto to the sidewalk for his wake, waiting for hours in the cold to pay their respects and exchange stories about the runner, the coach, the man. Larry Olsen's legacy is that he somehow managed to give his greatness back to all of us, those of us who chased him in races, followed him as their coach, or were lucky enough to have him as a friend. Larry had the generosity and grace to compete with modesty, to give every race his best effort, and to lose with dignity. As Terry said, Larry was one of the few people whose conversation after a race was always welcome and complimentary. If you beat him, he would talk about how well you had run without ever making an excuse for his own performance; if he beat you, he would encourage you, making you feel you could do better. His post-race talk was always about the race and how it went, never about superfluous things.

His close friend and Tri-Valley teammate Robert Chasen told us last night that the first time he beat Larry in a race was one of the most memorable accomplishments of his life, more memorable than the time he beat the future Olympian Nourredine Morceli. I'm sure many other runners feel the same way. Larry gave us that gift. Instead of retiring early when he started slowing down, or becoming the kind of runner who lives on past glories while talking incessantly about his present infirmities, he continued competing into his 60's without apology or excuse, giving younger runners like myself a chance to take his measure -- sometimes. If I wasn't at my best, he would still beat me, and no victory over Larry Olsen was ever achieved without great effort.

I was not a close friend of Larry's, so it must be for others to recount stories of his personal generosity and his work as a coach, but as a fellow runner, I was the recipient of his larger generosity to the sport. On the rare times it happened, beating Larry Olsen in a race was a great feeling, and he gave that to us by making sure it was never easy. He made me and countless other runners better and left us a legacy that continues to inspire us to live up to his example.

Lukas Verzbicas Becomes Youngest Male Footlocker Champion

Let's start with the age thing: Lukas Verzbicas was born on January 6, 1993.

On Saturday, a month short of his 17th birthday, the sophomore from Orland Hills, Illinois who emigrated with his parents from Lithuania when he was nine, became the youngest male champion in the 31-year history of the Footlocker National Cross-Country Championships, and the first sophomore to win the race. Racing on a wet and muddy course, Verzbicas' time of 15:07.8 gave him a 15-second victory over Matt McElroy, which was the largest margin of victory since 2002.

And he doesn't even consider running to be his main sport.

Verzbicas, who last year set national freshman indoor records for the mile (4:15.43) and 3,000m (8:29.15), really entered the collective consciousness of the running community when, as a freshman, he set a national high school record of 14:18 in the indoor 5000m at National Scholastic Indoor Championships last March at the Reggie Lewis Track.

After finishing 3rd in the 2M at the Nike Outdoor Championships last June, Verzbicas returned to his first love -- multi-event sports -- winning the junior men's duathlon world championship.

It's almost impossible not to speculate, not to look into the future for Verzbicas and wonder where he'll be in a year or two, but for now, his race in San Diego speaks for itself.

DyeStat Article on 2009 Footlocker Boys Championship Race

2009 Bay State XC All-Stars

According to posts on DyeStat, the following athletes were voted Bay State League all-stars for the 2009 season:

Girls:

Leah Gellineau BRO
Mariana Liebman-Paleaz BRO
Sarah Bowhill FRA
Maria Grandoni FRA
Mairead Kiernan MIL
Emily Hughes MIL
Olivia Collins MIL
Hannah Alpert NED
Katina Russell NED
Margo Gillis NN (MVP!)
Susannah Gleason NN
Courtney Shea WAL
Emily Nadel WEL
Priyanka Fouda WEL
Jesse Kaliski WEL
Eve Roth WEL
Julie Tevenan WEY
Bridget Jaklitsch WEY
Molly Barker WEY

Boys:

Dan Bohling Brookline
Brendan Grove Brookline
Mark Perry Brookline
Sam Pratt-Otto Brookline
Christian Sampson Brookline
Chernat Sisay Brookline
Romey Sklar Brookline
Ben Groleau Framingham
Jake Gleason Newton North
Ezra Lichtman Newton North
Dan Ranti Newton North
Justin Connolly Walpole
Ryan Doherty Walpole
Zach Ganshirt Walpole
Peter Krieg Wellesley
Tim Robinson Wellesley
John Williamson Wellesley
Kody Crawford Weymouth
Steven Sollowin Weymouth (MVP, I assume!)

Congratulations to all the athletes, and to Margo, Susannah, Jake, Ezra, and Dan!

And a history question, prompted by Susannah and Jake Gleason: Have any brother and sister been all-stars in the same year before?

All the Comforts of Foam

I remember the moment very clearly: I was standing in City Sports trying to decide whether to shell out $24.99 for a three-foot long cylinder of industrial strength polystyrene foam. To be honest, I didn't know if it was polystyrene, I just knew it was a material and a color not found in nature, and it promised to help me release the knots and tension in my beaten-up muscles. Ah, but it would be such a waste to bring it home if it just sat in a corner, neglected like any other trendy piece of exercise equipment that promised much but delivered little.

That was over a year ago. In the end, I bought the exotic cylinder ("No thanks, I don't need a bag"), and brought it home. And then, despite my early misgivings I fell in love with my foam roller.

I knew that muscular therapy -- targeted massage -- could help heal muscles in ways that stretching could not, but regular massage felt like a huge luxury for the runner on a budget. The foam roller didn't take the place of getting a good massage, but it sure helped. It was also enjoyable in a way that few other "maintenance" activities were. It was always a chore to stretch after runs, but I actually looked forward to the post-exercise pleasure of "myofascial release" that I could get by rolling out quads, hamstrings, glutes, IT bands, calves, and other muscles whose names I have never learned.

Anyway, I thought of all this when I saw an article in the NY Times (Becoming Your Own Massage Therapist) that described the growing use of foam rollers and other devices for doing self-massage.

On the one hand, I find myself nodding along with the runner quoted in the article who calls her foam roller "her best friend." On the other hand, the proliferation of doo-dads for "sticking," rolling, and kneading yourself does raise questions about whether it's always a good thing to bypass the massage professionals. To quote the article:

"For all its advantages, self-massage has its limitations. Cassidy Phillips, founder of Trigger Point Performance Therapy, considers it the equivalent of oral hygiene. 'You brush away some plaque yourself,' he said, 'but you still go to the dentist for a thorough cleaning.'"

True, although flossing is not nearly as much fun as spending some quality time with the roller.

An older article from Running Times (The (Almost) Magical Foam Roller) makes the case that rollers should be seen as a supplement to the traditional stretching that we should be doing. According to the article,

"In the case of muscle knots, stretching alone is not enough. When stretching a muscle with knots, you are only stretching the healthy muscle tissue. The knot remains a knot, laughing in the face of the stretch."

Probably the safe thing to say is that self-massage is another tool for managing the daily shocks that our flesh is heir to, and is a particularly useful tool for those of us whose bodies lack the resilience they had when we first started abusing them. It doesn't take the place of stretching or for that matter, for being smart about our training. And it is still not a miracle cure for all that ails us. For miracles, I still go to the massage therapist and the podiatrist.

Larry Olsen: 1946 - 2009

Larry Olsen, one of the most revered runners in New England, passed away Sunday, reportedly from a heart attack suffered while running in his hometown of Millis. He was 63, and still full of competitive spirit and love for the sport.

No words that I write can adequately express what a gigantic figure Olsen was in the New England running community. Anyone who ran against him knew how good he was, how tough he was, but also how much he cared for his fellow runners. As for his running accomplishments, he won countless races and set numerous U.S. age-group records, including running 53:40 for 10 miles at age 50, and most recently running 43:30 for 12K at age 60 in the USATF-NE championship race in Bedford. I read on his club's web site that in over 100 New England championship races, Larry won his age group an astonishing 62 times.

But it wasn't just that he won races and set records, it was how he did it, with a determination and fearlessness that inspired all of us to be a little tougher, work a little harder, aim a little higher.

For the past 14 years, Larry worked as an assistant and then head girls coach at Hopedale High School. An article in Monday's Metrowest Daily News includes tributes from his friend and Hopedale boys coach Joe Drugan:

"Larry really knew how to develop student-athletes," said Drugan. "A lot of the kids who come to cross country are kids who didn't make it in soccer, didn't make it in softball, didn't make it in a lot of other sports. Larry would develop those kids... [He] really loved the kids. People have no idea all the things Larry did for the kids. The community is going to miss him and the student-athletes are certainly going to miss him.... We didn't always agree as coaches. In fact, there were times we'd fight like cats and dogs. But he was a true friend. If you're lucky you'll have a handful of friends like Larry in your life. I was that lucky."

NXN Shows How to Cover an XC Meet

After the Versus network botched coverage of the NCAA Div I Cross Country Championships, there were some message-board posters who said, in effect, that the running community should be happy that it was on TV at all. That misguided perspective was utterly devalued by the superb webcast of yesterday's NXN (Nike Cross Nationals), the unofficial but very real high school XC championships.

Everything that was wrong with the Versus coverage was exposed as lazy and shallow by the NXN webcast. Where Versus used commentators and interviewers who had done minimal research and had -- at best -- a vague notion of the top two-three teams and individuals, the NXN announcers were amazingly well-prepared, and were able to provide significant background detail before, during, and after the race. NXN used Toni Reavis, and he is by far the best U.S. announcer we have for distance running. The commentators included Rich Gonzalez of DyeStat California, and a seemingly endless supply of world-class athletes who had run at Footlocker when they were in high school.

What clinched it, though, was that NXN had live splits and team score updates at every kilometer. while the scores were somewhat misleading (for some reason, the software wasn't programmed to remove the non-scoring individuals from the team score), it still made all the difference to know what was going on, which teams were moving up or falling back, and how it was all developing.

Versus also shot itself in the foot by taking multiple commercials breaks during each of the two NCAA races. The NXN webcast showed the races in their entirety. It was riveting.

If you didn't watch it live, you can watch it all again here:

NXN Boys Championship Race

NXN Girls Championship Race

If I were a high school runner, watching these would make this race and the whole experience look like the coolest thing ever.

Well done, NXN!

NNHS Alumni Results - 12/5/09

Indoor track meets began in Boston, and a few hours later the snow arrived. Coincidence?

In any case, there were some familiar names in the results of the Jay Carisella T&F Invitational at the Reggie Lewis Center, Saturday. I counted six NNHS alumni running, jumping, or throwing.

Let's start with Jess Barton. The Northeastern sophomore transfer finished 5th in the 3000, running 10:15.75.

In the men's 1000m, Northeastern's Seb Putzeys looked in fine form, taking 2nd in 2:34.10.

BU Freshman Sam Arsenault ran 8.03 in the prelims and 7.97 in the finals of the 55 hurdles to place 3rd in that event. Arsenault also cleared 6-4 in the high jump to take 5th.

Hymlaire Lamisere (UMass Dartmouth) and Ivan Kostadinov (unattached) were separated by only a quarter inch in the long jump, as Hymlaire jumped 20-00.05 and Ivan was 20-00.25.

Finally, Bentley sophomore Steven Long recorded a throw of 13.23 (43-05) to place 13th in the shot put.