Riddick Finishes 12 at USAs
Albuquerque, New Mexico- While a few have qualified, no one has actually gone and done it…until this weekend.
Monique Riddick became the first member of the adidas Garden State Track Club to compete in the USATF National Championships, competing in the shot put this weekend for the Black and Gold.
Her farthest toss was 54’-4”, or 16.47m. Just five inches away from placing ninth overall, her three attempts in Sunday’s first round were a foul, 16.41m, then 16.47m.
Look for a longer article about this historic event in next weekend's weekly email.
Harris Wins Long Jump
Ithica, New York- Going against a field of twenty-six athletes, GSTC long jumper Nafee Harris seemed to finally regain his form after an injury-riddled spring.
In his second jump, Harris popped a 7.46m/24’-5.75” leap to win the 2014 Deneault Memorial Cornell Invitational Long Jump this weekend. His first indoor meet of the year, he broke Aaron Lucas’ indoor club record from West Point’s Crowell Invite in January of 2013.
Harris’ mark falls just short of the all-time GSTC long jump record, as Lutalo Boyce leaped 7.53 last June at Club Nationals to win the national title for the Gold.
Ross Wins 500m
Princeton, NJ- Tyrone Ross continued his undefeated streak in the 500m, rolling in the 500m yet again this weekend at the Princeton Invite. Running stride for stride with Princeton’s Ray Mennin, Ross won the event by a quarter of a second, 1:05.35-1:05.58.
Dennie Waite competed in the mile, finishing 3rd in 4:19.77, while Kelsey Lewis finished 13th in the high jump at 4-11.
Angi Races in Brooklyn
This weekend, Diana Angi ran the Al Gordon 4 Miler in Prospect Park in 34:07.
Road Relays Action
Open Action: 8 Teams Break Men, Women Records
New Brunswick, NJ- With warm weather comes fast times, and that’s certainly what happened in the fourth running of the GSTC Road Relays. On the men’s side, the top three teams broke the old record of 31:03; on the women’s side, five teams crushed the former record from 2013.
Leading the onslaught was Josh Neyhart and his boys from Shippensburg. Rocking their “Spring Street Track Club” uniforms from yesteryear, Neyhart sat on the lead pack of Ken Goglas, Jose Escamilla, Atilla Sabahoglu, and Dillon Gracey. Rolling through the first mile in 4:35, Neyhart took control on the gentle uphill, rolled hard on the downhill, and handed off in the lead that “Spring Street Track Club White” never relinquished. Not only did they set a new event record of 29:54, they are also the first team to ever break 30:00 for the 10k relay. They averaged 4:49 a mile with their counterparts, “Spring Street Track Club Black,” finishing fourth in 31:26, or 5:04 a mile.
On the women’s side, five very good teams dipped under the former record of 38:27. Cheyenne Ogletree and Alyssa Douma, aka “Kittens with Mittens,” led from wire to wire, averaging an impressive 5:48 pace to finish in 36:01. Just seven seconds behind them were the “Southern Belles” of Robyn Evangelist and Brittany McCann. While just a few strides away from the winning team, we were, quite honestly, just happy they found the finish line and didn’t get lost running around the circle, ending up somewhere in Maryland. Surely they may have asked us to hold up the awards ceremony as they made their way back.
“Beat the Meet” rounded out the top three open women teams, as Karen Auteri and Christen Rillo came in at 37:52 with a 6:06 average. The Foam Rollers team of Erika Meling and Stephanie Donatone finished at 38:09, the final team to break the former course record.
Team “RU Speed Racers” of Allison Payenski, a current Rutgers miler and graduate student, and Victoria Pontecorvo, a recent RU grad and current GSTC member, averaged 5:51 a mile to run 36:19 in the Rutgers female alumni division.
Other Records Fall
Several other records fell thanks to GSTC efforts. In the college women’s division, Kelly Thow and Kristen Prazenica put on a dominating show, winning the category by exactly two minutes in 39:42 and setting a new course record. The male costume team of Mike Fonder and Matt Eder, aka “Better Late Than Never”, established a new standard with their 30:48 effort, an impressive 4:58 average carrying a sword the entire race. Not entirely sure why they did that…but alas, they did.
The Gruchacz brothers, Keith and Adam, shaved more than 2:00 off the Brother-Brother record, rolling to a 33:07 team time. We were particularly happy here as they handed the lone Central Park Track Club entry, “CPTC Twins,” a loss by almost 90 seconds. Ahh, peace has been restored in the universe. Thank you, gentlemen.
The “Wonder Twins”, Michelle Brangan and Maureen Ruckelshaus, set a 40s masters record of 41:13. In the masters 50s, Brian Harris and Matt Baker also made history under their “Groovy Guys” name, finishing in a record time of 37:21. Much like the Gruchasz boys, this was a sweet one as it tops the 2012 record set by a Shore AC duo.
PRC Squeaks Past RRC in “Route 1 Rivalry”
It was close, as expected, but the Princeton Running Club (PRC) won the first annual “Karnes Cup” over the Rutgers Running Club (RRC), 13-17. Each of the three divisions, male/female/coed, were scored like a cross country meet, with two teams per club allowed to score. The finishing places, 1-4, were tallied for all three divisions, then combined for a final team score.
It was a dead heat after scoring the men’s and women’s races. The PRC won the men’s races, 4-6, thanks to a 1-3 finish. However, the RRC won the women’s side with the same score, 4-6, thanks to a 1st and 3rd place finishes (Erin LaCosta and Monika Juzwiak were the third place team). So, that brought the team score to 10-10.
However, the PRC swept the top two places in the coed division, clinching the win. This resulted in a 3-7 score, bringing the final team score to 13-17, PRC. In all, ten PRC and nine RRC teams competed, setting the table for an interesting rematch in 2015.
Team Runs
Monday: (Central Enclave) 5:30 @ RSC
Tuesday: (Central Enclave) 5:30 group run @ Rutgers Student Center (RSC)
Tuesday: (South Enclave) 9:30pm at Stockton
Wednesday: (Central Enclave) 5:30 group run @ RSC
Wednesday: (South Enclave) 7:00pm run
Wednesday: (Morristown Enclave) 6:15 group run @ Morristown Running Company
Thursday: (Central Enclave) 5:30 group run @ RSC
Thursday: (South Enclave) 7:00pm run at Rowan
Friday: (Central Enclave): 4:15 at RSC
Friday: (South Enclave) 4:30 track workout at Delsea
Saturday: (Morristown) 9:00 group run @ Morristown Running Company
Saturday: (Central Enclave) 10:00am track workout at HPHS
Sunday: Manasquan Reservoir @ 9am
Quotes of the Week
“Is Mike Anis really a doctor?” -Angela Dunn, at Leadership Team meeting
“Beat the Meet? Hood and Wood? I can’t say some of these team names out loud. There are women and children all around us.” -Josh Neyhart, while emceeing the awards ceremony, to meet management.
“So could you delay the start by ten minutes? Robyn and I accidentally ended up in PA and will be late. We know we’re getting the TMA for this one.” -Brittany McCann, via text
“It’s been a while since we’ve had a good TMA.” -Peter Bolgert, upon hearing of the infamous drive to Pennsylvania
TMA
Somehow, despite driving to New Brunswick successfully numerous times, Brittany McCann and Robyn Evangelist ended up somewhere in Pennsylvania while trekking up for the Road Relays. Don’t get us wrong, we appreciate the efforts they make to attend GSTC events, but this one has left everyone scratching their heads.
With all due respect, we haven’t a clue how the ended up in Pennsylvania while en route to New Brunswick. No clue. But somehow they did, we held up the race ten minutes, and low and behold, they made it, and raced very well without a warm up.
The caveat here is that we do understand that the South Enclave, hidden in the dark shadows of southern New Jersey, lives within an underdeveloped, to some degree third world country down in the Pine Barrens. We are empathetic to the fact that they don’t have many roads, not every house has running water, and the luxury homes “dial into” the Internet. However, we are saddened by their inability to cope with the real world and its complex system of highways, road signs, and general transportation infrastructure that has been supporting human travel now for several generations. Indeed, you can take a lady out of the south, but you can’t take the south out of the lady.
Keeping it classy, these ladies rolled out of their Pontiac Trans Am hoopty in ripped Wa Wa shirts, showing their true colors…both literally and metaphorically. Here’s to the Ladies of the South Enclave. Hashtag, keepitclassy!
GSTC TRIVIA…IS BACK
In 2011, during the inaugural Road Relays I, several future GSTC’ers competed without having any idea what the GSTC was. Well, most people didn’t, as it was just a few months old at the time. Which member did NOT compete three years ago?
1- Sergio Ocontrillo
2- Wismith Francois
3- Matt Eder
4- Chelsea Callan
5- Nicole Salge
This Week in Club History
Three years ago, the GSTC held the first annual Road Relays. But there was a very small problem: the snow was melting, and the drains weren’t working. A huge puddle, over 100 meters long, formed on the backstretch. After renting a gas-powered water pump from Home Depot, it was apparent after an hour this wasn’t helping. The water was pumped off the road onto the grass, but the grass was frozen, so it just rolled back onto the road. For about 150m, the race was run on the gravel path, above the water puddle, as luckily the snow had melted enough there. It was really fun.
Gold Star
By Ashwin Anantharaman
Lori-Ann Woodard
Lori started working out with GSTC February 10th because she spent years looking for a running club that included sprinters workouts (instead of long distance runs which she is not interested in at all). She did another search a few months ago and was pleased to find GSTC on line. She is tired of the boring gym workouts and short distance running for fitness. In the last 2 years, she lost a considerable amount of weight and her health has significantly improved. Now she has a sprinters itch again and wants to get back to being in great shape by doing what she always loved to do - run hard and run fast! It's never too late to do what you love! Her goal is by next year to compete as a masters sprinter. When she was in college her 200meter PR was 26.2 and 400m PR was 62.5! She loved every step as a sprinter and is looking forward to continuing what she loves. Her routines are to complete sprinter workouts every week. She also started working out one on one with GSTC Personal Trainer Pro Mark Parisen who created a fitness plan for her. She is a full time Director of Quality at Medtronic a pacemaker company located in Monmouth Junction. She also started her own business last year by making organic body butters and facial creams. She encourages everyone to visit www.umaglow.com. She also likes to sing and write songs as her goal is to record them in a studio some time in the near future.
Allison Herdje
Allison recently joined GSTC and is a sophomore at the Hun School in Princeton . She joined because she knew it was a very good club and she wanted good training so she
could reduce my times! Her PR for the 1600 is 6:16 and her goal in the spring is to break 6 minutes in the mile. Before runs she usually stretches and goes for a warm up run. She hoping to add some effective rituals for her race routine this spring. Her hobbies outside of running include baking, crafts, and doing community service, playing soccer recreationally and for Hun in the fall.
Steady Striders
By Amy Denholtz
Congrats to everyone who ran in the team's annual Road Relays race! Our next steady striders run is set for this coming Saturday, March 1st, at 9am, beginning from Grove 5 of Johnson Park in Highland Park/Piscataway. Grove 5 is across from the Rutgers football stadium and off of Landing Lane. The Grove 5 parking lot is the first parking lot on the left and has a picnic area with bathrooms (for directions and park map, see: www.co.middlesex.nj.us/parksrecreation/johnson.asp). Please email Amy, at adenholtz@gmail.com, with any questions or to RSVP for the group run on Saturday.
TEAM STUFF
Sunday Morning, 2/23: Road Relays www.roadrelays.org
Yearly dues----à https://runsignup.com/Club/NJ/NewBrunswick/GardenStateTrackClub
Team website---------------> www.gardenstatetc.org
Team Facebook Fan Page----> https://www.facebook.com/groups/159501487397707/
Team Blog---------------> http://gardenstatetc.blogspot.com/
Team YouTube Channel---> http://www.youtube.com/user/GardenStateTC
This Week in Training
By Chris Tafelski (cjtafelski@yahoo.com)
If you raced this week, we should make some adjustments to the usual routine to give you some recovery time. Since this is a fairly nonspecific block of training and the paces are fairly flexible, the best way to recover is to modify your volume and intensity based on the feel of your runs. Some people may be able to do normal training starting Monday. For others, it may be Wednesday or Thursday until they feel normal again. This is a classic time where being a slave to the numbers can backfire on you - Are you hitting a goal volume or pace because it will make you a better runner, or are you hitting it for the sake of hitting it? Less (or slower) running in the few days following a race may allow you to return to full training sooner, resulting in an overall greater benefit down the line.
Monday - comfortable run + 8x8-10sec hillsprints. Skip the sprints if you're feeling sore from the race.
Tuesday - another comfortable run OR 4-5 sets of 4x400 at 5k pace on a 2:00 cycle. If your 400s take 80-90 seconds, go on a 2:30 cycle. If they take 2:00, go on a 3:00 cycle. Take 3:00 between sets.
Wednesday - medium run of 15-20% of week's mileage
Thursday - super easy 40-60 mins or OFF.
Friday - 25-45 minutes of T-pace running, followed by 4x300 at mile pace cutting down to 800 pace with 100m recovery
Saturday - same as Monday
Sunday - long run.
What is this email?
TRIVIA ANSWER
Answer- Chelsea Callan did not. We couldn’t believe, when looking at results from 2011 last week, how many current GSTC members randomly competed in it.
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