| MEN, WOMEN FINISH 7TH OVERALL AT USATF XC NATIONALS | | | The club visiting the GG Bridge after the race |
On December 12, the best running clubs converged upon San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for the 2015 USATF Club XC National Championships. Out of the 2,500 USATF clubs in America, the aGSTC finished 7th overall with their men (7th) and women (15th) scoring 22 total points. Here is the top ten- comprising of clubs from Massachusetts, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, Washington, California, Washington DC, and....New Jersey! | | | Club members pose at GG Park before previewing the course |
Top Ten Clubs in USA- Combined Men + Women 1- Boston Athletic Association (MA: 1, 2) = 3
2- Boulder Track Club (CO: 3, 14) = 17
3- New Balance Boston (MA: 13, 5) = 18 4- Atlanta Track Club (GA: 9, 9) = 18 5- Bowerman TC (OR: 15, 4) = 19 6- Club Northwest (WA: 3, 17) = 20 7- adidas Garden State TC (NJ: 7, 15) = 22
8- Playmakers Elite (MI: 10, 13) = 23 9- Strava TC (CA: 7, 26) = 33 10- Georgetown RC (DC: 19, 16) = 35
Men Finish 7th Overall Santana, Gillette Finish in Top 25
Thanks to top-25 finishes by Alfredo Santana and Matt Gillette, the aGSTC men had the best finish in club history over the muddy trails of GGP. Despite a loaded field of 59 teams in the A Race, the group finished 7th overall. Scoring 321 points and averaging 31:13 for their scoring top five, the team finished just behind 6th place Brooks Beasts- comprised of US track Olympians Dorian Ulrey, Garrett Heath, Nick Symmonds, and Casimir Loxsom.
Santana and Gillette ran together through four miles. From there, Santana began slowly pulling away, as the club's mile, 5k, and 8k club record holder eventually finished the 10k in 30:08- also a club record. Gillette finished just eight seconds later in 30:16.
| | | Stetler en route to defeating Alan Webb (left, red) the US mile record holder |
Sean Stetler ran very well as the team's #3 man, finishing 90th in 31:36. Youssef Rochdi, despite being without spikes, was 114th in 31:56.
The 5th man was Rob Nihen, who ran a very impressive 32:08. More impressive than his time was his race strategy. From 3k to 10k, the Glen Rock native passed 23 runners, the 7th most of everyone in the race, moving from 151 to 128. Had he not made this huge move in the final part of the race, the team would have had 344 points--falling from 7th to 10th.
The team was rounded out by Nick Crits (32:23), Tim Seeley (32:54), and Ethan Rissell (33:01). To their credit, all displaced Beasts' #5 man and three-time 800m Olympian Nick Symmonds.
B Race Champions! Goglas Leads Group to First Ever Team Title This year's "B race" was easily the most controversial topic among the athletes and coaches. Due to the course having some tight single-track paths, race officials decided to split the race into two races. At first, there were numerous stipulations to get into the "A Race," including prior nationals performances and participation in local association championships. When the dust settled, however, the race committee decided to just let every A Team into the A Race, regardless of prior performance or participation.
Regardless of politics, the aGSTC men didn't just win the first ever USATF B-Race--they dominated it. Averaging 32:57, the team scored just 32 points, well ahead of the other teams that included Georgetown RC (90), Asics Aggies (92), Greater Boston TC (104), West Valley TC (114), New Balance Boston (120), Boulder TC (215), and SFRC (278).
Averaging 32:57 for its scoring top five, this effort would have finished 31st out of 59 A Teams; for the second consecutive year, the club's "B Team" beat cross-river rival Central Park TC's A Team.
| | | Appman, Donohue, Price, and Goglas work together at the 2k mark |
The group's top man was Ken Goglas, who was 8th overall in 32:31, or 5:14 pace. His time would have made him the A Team's #7 finisher.
Rookie Jon "Apples" Sewnig capped his 2015 with an excellent performance as the #2 man, finishing in 32:35--good for 11th. Just three seconds and two places behind him was Kyle Price, and Mike Robinson ran a 40-second PR (33:12) as the #4 man. Will Appman rounded out the group's team scoring with a 33:46 effort. Mike Anis (33:49) and Kevin D'Emic (34:00) were the team's final finishers.
An unfortunate yet classic moment of irony occurred just before the B Race, as it was delayed because four runners from the A Race exceeded the 45 minute time allocation. The final two finishers came in at 54:36 and 55:49, both just barely under 9:00 pace.
Outside of a misplaced 54 year old, the slowest time in the B Race was 47:04.
C Team: 50th of 69 Teams The aGSTC C Team finished just 7th out of 10 teams in the B Race, but when merging the scores, their 34:13 team average of 132 points would have placed them 50th out of 69 teams. Matt Eder was the team's top man, running an impressive 33:26--good for 23rd overall. Sean Donohue , despite being just weeks off a marathon, was the #2 in 33:46. Stephen Rathbun was third in 34:16 as James Rivers (34:42) and Joe Zeoli (34:53) closed out the team's scoring. Just 87 seconds separated the group's #1 and #5 man--not a bad spread for a 10k race!
This was the only "C Team" in the men's race, as the SF-based Impalas also had a C Team in the women's race.
D Team: 62nd of 69 Teams The aGSTC D Team finished 9th out 10 teams in the B Race, but they did beat six other teams in the A Race, putting them at 62nd out of 69 teams total.
Newcomer Steven Morgan, fresh off the Philly Marathon like Donohue, was the team's top man in 34:46. John Welsh (34:47) ran well as the team's #2, as he was right on Morgan's shoulder at the finish. Zak Martins (36:30), Brendan Conway (37:00), and Ryan DeGregorio (37:01) were the final three scorers for the only D Team in the race.
Masters 50's at Nationals For the first time in club history, the men had a 50's masters team at the national cross country championships.
John Montgomery (middle) was the team's top man, capping off his fantastic 2015 racing year with a 38:38 finish, good for 237th overall--or 70th in his age group. Two minutes later, Matt Baker and Kevin Dollard finished just three seconds apart in 40:16-40:19, respectively. From there, aGSTC stalwart Jeremy Stratton (41:57) and newcomer Louis Cinquino (50:47) wrapped up the team's scoring.
Last year, the men's 40's masters team finished 15th at the national cross country championships.
Women Finish 15th Beat CPTC For First Time in Club History In one of the most competitive women races in history, the aGSTC women finished a very respectable 15th. To put this accomplishment in perspective, they were just one spot behind true always-strong Colorado Track Club--and they were two spots ahead of the Central Park Track Club, a team that is typically in the top ten and, until this year, has always beaten the aGSTC.
Carmen Graves ran a very strong, smart race, as she finished 39th in 20:52, a club record for 6k cross country despite the muddy, slow conditions. Crystal Burnick, as expected, was the team's #2, as she ran 21:58 despite coming off half-marathon training. Liz Sweeney also ran a strong race, finishing as the team's #3 in 22:20.
The biggest surprise of the day came from Aimee Chegwidden. Knowing the difficulty of the course, she moved up 41 spots during the second half of the race, finishing as the team's #4 runner in 22:40. Only one other runner passed more (45) runners than Chegwidden.
Jenn Cronin (22:50), Alyssa Douma (23:00), and Cara Notarianni (24:09) were the 5th, 6th, and 7th finishers for the team, respectively.
B Team Finishes 33rd The women's B Team finished 33rd, beating eight teams out at Golden Gate Park.
Emelia Perry was the team's top finisher, as the recent Ursinus grad finished in 23:15. Nicola Hallenborg was just strides behind her with a 23:27, as Erika Meling (23:46) also cracked 24:00 as the #3 runner. North Enclave captain Katie Castroaguadin (24:35) and women's co-captain Nicole Salge (24:43) were the team's final two finishers.
The group finished third of all B Teams, close behind New Balance Boston (27th) and the Impalas (28th).
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