FIU, Disney and Greentree Invitational
Oct. 16, 2001
CORAL GABLES, FLA. (www.hurricanesports.com) — – FIU Invitational, Miami, FL – Tamiami Park was the site for the FIU Invite, which was held to make up for the meet cancelled in the wake of September 11th.
The 8,000-meter course had to be changed due to the unrelenting rain that had fallen in the past week. As seen in the pictures-that’s no lake, just a large puddle.
We arrived at the racecourse a couple hours before race time, and luckily, the forecasted rain seemed to be holding off. We warmed up and threw on our spikes. This was going to be a wet one as the course was more or less submerged (at times standing water came up to mid-shin).
The race started and FIU’s Luis Prestes exploded out of the gates. Senior Jeff Gaulrapp and I headed out side-by-side with sophomore Matt Mulvaney close behind. We splashed across the first field, covering our teammate, Mulvaney, with mud from our back-spackle. The three of us worked together to try and reel in Prestes, and at about 1.5 miles in Mulvaney and Gaulrapp charged ahead and pulled even with him. I was about 30 meters back when Alex Shaw of FIU pulled even with me, then worked his way up to the lead pack.
At around 3 miles, the lead pack of 4 was still within my site, and St. Thomas’ Welby Ramos made a move past me. At 4 miles, I mustered a move past a fading Ramos, and set my sights on Shaw.
As the course coiled around itself, I could see Prestes, Gaulrapp and Mulvaney together with less than a mile to go. I wanted to yell to my teammates to get going, but was in no condition to voice my concern. Mulvaney did make a move to the lead (but having never won a race on the collegiate level yet, he perhaps didn’t have the confidence to make a more decisive push). Later Gaulrapp told the young prot?g?, had he made a stronger move, he probably could have claimed victory.
As it was, Prestes, a true miler, had a stronger finishing kick, and pulled away from Gaulrapp and Mulvaney in the final 400 meters.
Gaulrapp ran a swift 25:25 for 2nd, a seasonal best, and Mulvaney lowered his personal best by 19 seconds with a 25:40. FIU’s Shaw cruised in next in 4th place, and I held on to 5th with a 26:08, also a seasonal best.
Freshmen Danish Ahmad and Billy Bludgus came in together for 4th and 5th spots on the team, Ahmad out-kicking Bludgus near the end. The team’s 6-foot-plus enforcer, Matt Maloney kicked in for 6th on the team.
Sophomore Scott Sadowski was not present at the race, and we’ll be without him for the rest of the season as he resigned from the team to concentrate his energy more fully on academics and pressing fraternity matters.
Next week we’ll be traveling to Orlando for the 5th Annual Disney Classic.
5th Annual Disney Invite, Orlando, FL – The Disney Wide World of Sports Complex was the site for our fourth meet of the year. We took a charter bus up the day before and went directly to the race site to check out the lay of the land.
The course appeared to be relatively fast. An expansive, finely manicured grass field was the venue for the start, and part of the two loops that made up the 8,000 meter course. The “woods” portion of the race, however, had rough footing and at times loose sand.
We stuck around to check out one of the high school races (who I might add had an impressive recruit we were taking a look at), and then we headed out for the hotel.
The next morning, we arrived at the racecourse early and, as we did at the State Championships, began our warm-up in the dark. By the time the sun rose, we lined-up and blasted off.
I decided to try and go out with undisputed team-leader Jeff Gaulrapp and impressive sophomore Matt Mulvaney and see how long I could hang it with them. We cruised the first mile, Mulvaney and Gaulrapp at 4:56, and I was a couple seconds back at 4:58. It was faster than I had gone out all year, and perhaps mentally I let it get to me a little. During the first mile, Mulvaney was licking his chops, sitting on the shoulders of the leaders, ready to pounce. Gaulrapp settled him down a bit, and kept up a smarter pace.
Then they uncorked it, working together to quickly lead a chase pack, eating up other runners who had gone out too fast. I began to fade, trying hard to see through my shades that had suddenly fogged up in the early morning humidity.
At the 2-mile, I couldn’t even see Mulvaney and Gaulrapp (even after tossing my misty shades to assistant coach Damon Griffiths). They were flying.
Mulvaney had surged ahead around the 3.5-mile mark and the 19-year-old from South Hadley, MA had pulled beside Luis Prestes, FIU’s 28-year-old from Brazil. Mulvaney then gave the man 9 years his senior a friendly pat on the back, ready to go to work with him and pick off more guys together.
But Prestes, and Gaulrapp too for that matter, had a more devastating kick than the youngster, and managed to out-muscle Mulvaney over the last mile. Gaulrapp surged ahead, nearly catching Prestes in the final stretch.
Gaulrapp placed third in a seasonal best of 25:11. His only better career showing was a 24:37 he popped at Big East a year ago.
Mulvaney cruised in with a big personal best of 25:26, good enough for 6th place overall.
I ran the inverse of Mulvaney’s time, 26:25, but that was a disappointing 25th place.
Our 180-plus pounder, Matt Maloney, who was recently dubbed “The Moose” by his teammates (because of his large stature compared to his feather-weight teammates, and because of the numerous Moose found in his home state of New Hampshire) stepped up with his best outing of his young collegiate XC career, finishing fourth for the team.
He was followed by math whiz, Billy Bludgus, who continues to move up the ranks with each week of training after his summer stress fracture. Danish Ali Ahmad, the 17-year-old frosh, couldn’t get things clicking, finishing 6th for the team.
Next week, we’ll be home on Friday for the Greentree Invite at Larry and Penny Thompson Park.
Greentree Invite, Miami, FL – Larry and Penny Thompson Park was the site of our lone home meet for the season. After a stretch of three straight weeks of racing, the guys and I were all feeling a bit beat up.
The terrain on the 8,000 meter racecourse was perhaps the worse I’ve ever seen in my cross-country career. It was an undulating grass course with intermittent chunks of coral rock jutting out here and there. It looked like our already tattered legs would take an unnecessary beating.
After discussing the importance (or more correctly, the lack of importance) of this race, we decided to go out more controlled, run a tempo pace and just get a good workout in. Sophomore Matt Mulvaney was heard to say that he just wanted to get through the race healthy and uninjured. I think the team was in full agreement.
The race went off late in the afternoon with the sun low on the horizon, and with a more relaxed attitude, we settled into a brisk but comfortable pace.
Meteorology major, Matt “The Moose” Maloney came steaming out of the gates, leading the race through the first quarter before settling into his pace and, as he so aptly pointed out, we held the top six spots after the first 200 meters.
But a race isn’t won (actually, more often times it’s lost) in the first 200 meters, and I assumed the lead along with Alex Shaw of Florida International. We brought the race through the first mile in a relatively easy 5:21 and continued to cruise bringing a mass of humanity through the 2-mile in an equally easy 10:49.
Around the 2.5-mile mark, an armada of FIU guys passed our Hurricane trio of senior Jeff Gaulrapp, soph Mulvaney, and myself. Five FIU runners led through the 3-mile mark in 16:14 with our trio a stride back.
Right around that point, the pace started to pick up a little bit as the runners could begin to sense the finish was drawing near. Luiz Prestes took over the lead and our trio moved up. Just before the 4-mile mark, Gaulrapp, Mulvaney and I regained the top three spots, with Prestes nipping at our heels.
It felt as though we were maintaining our brisk tempo pace, but sure enough, we were slowly increasing the pace. The pack began to string out as most of the runners preferred to keep it as more of a tempo effort.
As we approached the final quarter, the pace had kicked into high gear. Prestes and Gaulrapp glided, stride for stride beside one another. I was perched on their shoulders, coasting right along with them.
Down the final straight, Prestes threw in a decisive kick right as Gaulrapp hit an unfortunately placed pothole (luckily he wasn’t injured and was able to kick it in a second behind Prestes in 26:45.) I was a second back of Gaulrapp in third (26:46) and Mulvaney, who decided to call it a good workout, coasted in easily for fourth (27:00).
Our second trio-the trio of freshmen-were lead by Billy Bludgus. He continued his recovery, stepping up as the team’s #4 runner for the first time in his career. He’s getting stronger and stronger and should only get better as the season progresses.
Danish Ahmad, the pride of Canada, came in a place behind Bludgus, while “Moose” Maloney kicked in (with his size 15 feet and mountain-man goatee) right behind the Canadian.
We were edged by one point in the team scoring 29-30 by FIU.
Two weeks away from the Big East Championships, the team seems confident in its training and we all seem eager to taper a little and finally reap the benefits of all our miles (or kilometers). Big East is being held at Van Courtland Park in NY on the 26th of October, 2001.
