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 | THE WEEKLY EMAIL
Let us know what team races you can run! |
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WHICH RACES CAN YOU DO?
2016 aGSTC Open Men/Women Racing Schedule
3/13: Road Relays (+ Mike's Courtside Bar and Grill) 3/16: Adrenaline 5k (+ Angelo's Pizzeria + Forgotten Boardwalk Brewery) 4/16: Asbury Park Half Marathon, 5k, & Relay (+Dark City Brewery) 5/1: Broad Street 10 Miler (+Frankfurt Tap; registration closed) 5/14: Newport 10,000 (+ ) 6/4: College Ave Mile (+Olive Branch) 6/13: President's Cup (+Charlie Brown's Parking Lot!)
GARDEN STATE GRAND PRIX The aGSTC Racing Committee of Josh Neyhart, Tim Seeley, Chuck Schneekloth, Katie Castro, Prudence Jones, and Karen Auteri have decided on the following three categories:
1. PARTICIPATION
2. AGE GROUP PLP
3. ENCLAVE PERFORMANCE
4. OVERALL (all 3)
At the year's end banquet, winners of these categories will either receive GARDEN STATE GRAND PRIX CHAMPION shirts, GARDEN STATE GRAND PRIX CHAMPION medals, or GARDEN STATE GRAND PRIX trophies.
Please email us back today with what races you can do with the team this spring!
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| | Club Results
The Pre-Game 4 Miler (A Superhero Event) | | | Aya, Karl, Erika, Prudence, Kristina, Steve, and Karen after the race. Evidently Karl thought he was attending a college basketball game. |
Numerous GSTC'ers took to the streets of Morristown on Superbowl morning to run a club favorite, The Pre-Game 4 Miler.
Steve Mennitt was the club's top finisher in 20:43, finishing second overall in the race. His time falls ten seconds short of his PR, 20:33, which is aGSTC #3 on the Big List. Other age group award winners included Mark Minervini (23:29, 2nd), Joe Singleton (23:35, 3rd), Steve Warren (24:44, 3rd), and Erika Meling (25:11, 3rd).
Other aGSTC finishers included Matt Storms (26:02), Karen Auteri (26:13), Jess Byrnes (26:53), Karl Leitz (26:51), Aya Leitz (27:12), Anne Belfour (27:40), Kristina Petillo (29:33), Lucinda Warren (30:31), and Prudence Jones (39:03).
Millrose Games
Women Win First Millrose Title | | | Graves, Elgin, Ndu, Douma celebrate after their win. |
The adidas GSTC women won their first Millrose Games title, and they won in style- by eighteen seconds. However, their 11:37.66 victory, a big club record, is a good bit deceiving on paper.
In fact, the club trailed through the first three legs. Lead off Meg Elgin, fresh off her first sub-5:00 clocking last weekend, battled through a tough opening 1200m, as many teams started with their strongest runner first. Handing off in 3:35.03, the club's fastest ever 1200m split, she was in third- about four seconds off 1st, and three seconds off 2nd.
That left 400m leg Ugonna Ndu alone, yet she still split the fastest 400m time of the relay- 57.03. Her efforts barely closed the gap, however, as Monroe College, now the leader, split 57.34.
Half miler Alyssa Douma got to work, alone like Ndu, in third place. However, things got real interesting as Central Park TC's Melissa Sullivan split 2:14, bringing the aGSTC's cross-river rival back into the party. With a pedestrian 2:29 split, Shore AC faded from the leadergroup, and while Douma handed off to anchor Carmen Graves with a 2:20.28 carry, the club was in firm second behind Monroe--with CPTC just two strides behind.
The first lap was speedy- 32- which equates to 4:16 mile pace, something Graves certainly hasn't run before. However, she was simply covering the hard opening lap of the Monroe anchor, and it appeared, at first, this could be quite a battle. After 400m, however, Graves took over, and it was clear she was the strongest miler in the group. The only runner to break 5:00, she cruised a 4:45 final leg, lapping three teams in the process. Moments later, the Armory tweeted the below picture, celebrating the victors of first event of the Millrose Games.
Men Win First DMR Title The NJ*NY Track Club is a small group of elite, professional athletes coached by America's legendary Frank Gagliano. With an undefeated record in the Millrose Games DMR, they entered the meet Saturday as the heavy favorite. After all, they did have Michael Atchoo, a 3:57 miler from Stanford, on their anchor. Not only is Atchoo an accomplished athlete, he is a veteran to the DMR; just last year, he anchored the Cardinal to an NCAA title in this indoor event.
However, after 9:49.30 of relay racing, that undefeated record is no more.
After sitting near the back of the pack for most of the race, Josh Neyhart made a hard move in the final 300m, handing off the baton in second place. Less than a second behind NJ*NY, and less than a second ahead of NYAC, it was a tight pack--especially since two Central Park teams were less than two seconds away.
Tyrone Ross, however, showed that yes, the 400m leg, while the shortest by far in the event, is most certainly an important one. The 36-year-old sizzled a 47.77 split, leaving the NJ*NY team three valuable seconds back. However, the NYAC team surged to the front, by a stride, thanks to a 47.18 leg, leaving the club still in second after half the race.
| | | Ross battles in the 400 leg |
Next up was Sean Stetler who, to his credit, has been training more as a miler than a half miler this indoor season--as evidenced by his 4:12 two weeks ago in Boston. He did, however, have the club's fastest 800 time this season, thus qualifying him for the 800m "A Team" spot. That said, he handed off in season best 1:54.64, thanks to a very strong surge in the final 150m. While outpaced by NJ*NY's 1:52 and NYAC's 1:53 legs, Stetler did, to his credit, fight hard down the final stretch to keep the baton just a stride away from the lead pack.
Miler Alfredo Santana, sitting in third, settled in on the first turn. Realizing the pace was conservative and pedestrian, he did the only thing an elite athlete in such a situation would do: take control.
Surging to the lead after 100m, NYAC and NJ*NY followed. Rolling through the 800m mark at 2:02, Santana continued to push the pace, eventually breaking NYAC's Davies, who eventually ran 4:11. It then became a chess match between Atchoo and Santana, as suspense built slowly after every lap. Finally, on the last backstretch, Atchoo made a move, getting on Santana's shoulder. Sensing his ambitions, Santana wisely began to move into the second lane moments before, preventing him from being boxed in as the two were passing teams in lane one. On the homestretch, with Atchoo still pushing, Santana was the stronger man, triumphantly surging to the tape with a 4:04.87 split--the fastest in the race.
Last year, the club won the men's sprint medley, but this was the first men's DMR win at Millrose Games.
Women 4x200 Break Meet Record The former record for the Millrose Games was 1:39.05, set in 2013. The aGSTC sprint squad put an end to that.
Unfortunately, despite sizzling to a 1:38.58 finish, the crew of Miki Barber, Ugonna Ndu, Jacqueline Todd, and Jessie Gaines were outleaned by Monroe College. So, while the club now holds the Millrose club record, the meet record now belong to Monroe College.
Thanks to an incredible 23.5 lead-off by Barber, the black and gold were out to a huge lead. Ndu, weary off her earlier 400m DMR leg just an hour ago, brought the baton around preserving the same lead. Despite an excellent handoff from Todd transitioning through the exchange zone, St. John's and Monroe caught up, resulting in a dead-heat tie between the aGSTC and latter in the final exchange. On the inside, long jumper Gaines fought hard to keep MC on the outside, but by the 100m mark, they had taken the lead for good, winning by just .4 seconds.
That aside, the ladies did set a club record and break the previous meet record in the process of their silver medal.
Women B DMR Finish 5th The women's "B" distance medley team finished 5th out of 6th teams, and just .4 away from 4th, with a 12:33.02 team time. Emily Lamb, in her aGSTC debut, ran a terrific lead-off, handing off the 1200m leg in 3:48.05- or 5:04 mile pace. From there, Brianna Wright ran a season best 63.74 in the 400. At this point, the team was by themselves, making it hard for half miler Laura Quintana to pace or push herself. Handing off in 2:27, anchor Jenn Cronin began slowly reeling in 4th place Shore AC with North Brooklyn Runners in last. With 400m to go, Cronin surged past SAC into fourth, but 200m later, NBR snuck by her. A hard battle in the final lap resulted in the fastest B team in club history, along with a fine 5:13.49 carry for Cronin.
Men B DMR Place The men's B Team had a very strong race, hitting the tape in 10:16.63. In 2013 and 2014, the B Teams ran 10:30 and 10:13, respectively. Dylan Lowry took the lead from the gun, pulling the lead pack through the first half mile in 2:02. Handing off in 5th of ten teams, that's where the group stayed for the remainder of the race. Ricky Garcia split 50.71, then Kyle Price 1:57.1. At that point, anchor Tyler Melius was by himself, with CPTC almost 100 meters ahead. Without anyone in front or behind, Melius cruised to a 4:24 final carry.
Men 4x200 Finish 6th The men's 4x200 finished 6th overall, finishing 2nd in their heat with a 1:30.68 clocking. CJ Bailey, 3rd in the 2014 MOC 400IH, put the group in second on the lead-off. Derrhyl Duncan followed with a strong leg, pushing up on the shoulder of the leader. Kevin Persson then lost contact with a 23.4 leg, and Ish Robbins finished with a 22.2 leg.
Last year, the relay ran 1:28.5 and finished second by .01.
Men C DMR Grab
For the first time in Millrose history, a C Team competed in the distance medley. And thankfully--they were wearing black and gold.
Tony Harris lead-off the group in 3:09, handing off in 8th after running with the leading for 800m. CJ Bailey then split 51.1, followed by a 1:58 carry from Deon Bascom. Will Appman ran a very strong anchor, passing one team and falling just one second behind 6th place Monroe College.
The group's total time was 10:19.83.
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SUNDAY TEAM RUNS
Start Time 9:00am | | | Yes! the Sunday team runs are always this fun!! |
This week: Buccleuch Park and afterward
a Leadership Team Meeting
(all are welcome)
Jan. 3 Duke Farms Jan.10 Morristown
Jan. 17 Turning Basin / Princeton Towpath
Jan. 24 Liberty State Park / Hoboken OAB/park loops Brianne
Jan. 31 Buccleuch Towpath
Feb. 7 Sussex Branch Trail
Feb. 14 Rosedale
Feb. 21 Fairmont Park
Feb. 28 Manasquan (changed! sorry!)
Mar. 6 River Road
Mar. 13 ROAD RELAYS!
Mar. 20 Ridgewood Duck Pond
Peter's Puzzler
Peter Bolgert is an esteemed member of the club who was on the DMR that won the club national title in 2013 for the aGSTC. A former Marquette standout in the steeplechase, he is now halfway through a PhD program in the plasma physics department at Princeton University. In hopes to raise the intellectual rigor to the club's weekly email, he designs weekly puzzlers to sharpen the wit, acumen, and intellect of the club...while wearing this onesey.
Peter's Puzzler This week's puzzle comes from my arch-nemesis, "The Riddler." There's an airplane with 100 seats, and there are 100 ticketed passengers, each with an assigned seat. They line up to board in some random order. However, the first person to board (GSTC member Steve Mennitt) just sits in a random seat, without even looking at his boarding pass. Each subsequent passenger sits in his or her own assigned seat if it's empty, but sits in a random open seat if the assigned seat is occupied. What is the probability that you, the hundredth passenger to board, finds your seat unoccupied?
The Anis Angle
100%. I missed my flight because I was telling the gas attendant about my long run splits from three weekends ago. I started out at 7:10 pace, and felt okay, but I had some GI issues, so I stopped at the bathroom. Of course some idiot takes the last of the toilet paper, so I'm looking around for some stupid leaves, preferably the green softer ones, and of course it's winter, so all the leaves are gone. Anyways, when I started at mile three, my Garmin, I mean Tom Tom, didn't work right away. So I had to stop again, and some jerk with a stroller almost kills me with this big wheels, and--hey, which way is Newark Airport?"
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| | Kyle's Korner Garden State took a trip up to Boston last weekend to have some fun at the BU Valentine Invite. Of course our version of fun happens on the track with great performances by our members. With a weekend of many great performances including Top 10 finishes in 4 different events from Cyrus in the 60m Dash, Alfredo in the 3000, Tim in the Pole Vault, and Herman in the Long Jump we had plenty of stand outs. But the event that was most popular was the Mile Run. With 242 Women and 316 Men competing it was the largest event of the weekend for both genders and also the event with largest representation of GSTC members! Here's a little inside info on the Valentines Miles Mania. Ladies First. Carmen Graves: (4:40.0)
What were you feeling as you walked towards the start line? I was pretty excited to race the mile at Boston especially because the BU track has a great atmosphere. Training was going really well leading up to the race, so I was anxious to see exactly where I stood fitness wise. How did your race play out? The goal I set for myself was to go out in 2:20 through the 800 and just maintain. I knew I was sure to get a PR if I stayed conservative. The plan went well and I clocked off even splits throughout. Are you out for some sub 4:40 blood since you got so close? I am definitely looking to get in the 4:30's-sub 4:40 range for my next mile. In retrospect I'm like, "Why didn't I start pushing earlier?", but it gives me something to look forward to next time! Josh Neyhart: (4:12.6)
What did you do to get in the mindset for this race? To get in the mindset for the race I went over my race plan with my coach Dillon Gracey. We discussed a strategy that suited my racing style. I visualized possible outcomes in the race and tactics I would use to set myself up to run fast. Pre-race I spent 15 freezing minutes warming up outsides in the Boston tundra. I was really excited, anxious, but mostly felt great. I knew I had a chance to run really fast. How confident were you on the line? On the line I was confident I was ready to run fast. My pre meet had felt great. My warm up felt great (despite being 10°F). My pre race strides felt strong. All of that sort of made me nervous. I realized what a wasted opportunity it would be if I didn't get after it. How did it feel coming home with that huge season PR and the fastest time for the club of the day? Coming down the final straight away when I first made eye contact with the finish line clock I saw it ticking 4:07-4:08 and realized I was going to run pretty fast. It was pretty exciting coming off the turn in first. The BU track is in a pretty cozy arena and the atmosphere was great. I was just feeding off that energy. It's also very special to be on a club with such an insane stable of middle distance talent. It motivates me to get out there everyday and better myself. I hope other runners continue to see this is the club to join if you want to become a serious post collegiate runner. Sean Stetler: (4:12.8)
Were you excited to racing in Boston? I was very excited to race in Boston. After a PR in the 800 the week prior, I wanted to see how low I could go for 1609. 4:10 was the mark I was looking for, figuring I would be a few seconds under or over depending on how I raced. What were you thinking midway through your race? Ultimately, I made a few tactical errors in the race. I was a bit impatient and made a move right around 800. Realizing that I couldn't commit to holding the move until the line, I backed off and let a few people go around. When I tried to regroup the last 400 I was stuck on the rail pretty good and I didn't get any real freedom until the last 75 meters or so. Will you be hunting that 4:10 barrier? I felt great, and I think I had a sub 4:10 in me, but I just didn't make the right moves. My indoor PR is technically 4:18, so I am still thrilled with the time, but I think there was a bit more there. Tyler Melius: (4:14.6)
How prepared were you for this race? I am definitely very fit. On top of the past month of indoor racing I've also been hitting 60-70 quality miles per week while hammering at least two hard workouts a week at Ursinus College's indoor track facility under the watchful eye of Coach Blickle. Did you put it all out there or do you have another better indoor race left for this season? Racing the Mile up at Boston was definitely a great experience but I'm far from satisfied. It was a solid race and a solid time, but I'm ultimately looking for something more in the 4:09-4:10 range for that distance by the end of this indoor season. And that's really just going to come down to me getting out faster through 800. I sometimes have the tendency to allow myself to hang out in the back of the pack and try to make a move in the last 400, but on these indoor 200 tracks early positioning is key. So anyways, I'll take another stab at that distance on the last weekend of February up at Ocean Breeze for the Fast Track Last Chance meet with full intentions of hitting that time. How was running your first race as a Garden State club member at such a big event? I have nothing but tremendous things to say about Adidas Garden State Track Club. A few months ago I was racing for Bryn Mawr Running Co. and decided to make the transfer and right away I was extremely pleased with my decision to do so. It's the perfect platform for me (and everyone) to reach any specific time/height/distance goal. And we have a lot of really elite athletes with a lot of really elite goals. Dylan Lowry: (4:17.6)
How did your race play out? Well it was my first mile in 9 months so I didn't want to expect anything crazy. I went into the race with a goal of sub 4:20. We went out in 2:11 at the 800 which was slow for my goal pace. So I changed my mindset to just winning the heat and forgetting about splits. At 400 to go I still felt really good so I made my move and closed in 62 seconds to win the heat. How happy were you with your performance? I was really happy with my race and how I negative split it because that's not my usual style of racing. Would you have done anything differently? I don't think I could have done anything differently since I wasn't sure where my fitness was at. Feeling that good after the race had ended was a nice confidence booster. Peter Bolgert: (4:26.2)
How did it feel to be at a meet of that caliber? The meet was not particularly intimidating to me. I've been to many track meets of similar or higher caliber. That said, it was exciting to be around so many great athletes. What was your strategy coming into the race? My strategy was to get out pretty fast and not get boxed in, which had happened to me at Gotham Cup. I did what I planned to do, but paid for it in the last 400m, when I died pretty hard. What did it mean to you to run a season PR? Despite the rough finish I still had a several-second season best, which made me happy.
2015 aGSTC HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Paid Your 2016 Dues Yet? Please do so. It keeps the lights on!
FROM OUR COACHING STAFF
If you've paid your yearly club dues, you thus gain to access to our awesome spring training plan put together by our team coaches, Ken Goglas and Mike Fonder. If you haven't received it, and would like to, please email ken_goglas@hotmail.com. You can always request a personalized training plan through our dues link above!
INTERESTED IN TRACK WORKOUTS?
We have organized team track workouts every Monday and wednesday night at Highland Park HS from 5:30-7:30. Come out and have some fun with us, regardless of your age, pace, or workout. The more energy out there the better!
This Scarf's For You Award presented to the club member who goes above and beyond the call of duty...anything to keep Tyrone Ross salivating for one of his own.
This week's metaphorical scarf goes to Carl Blickle. A member of the club and Leadership Team, the head coach at Ursinus College, and our Olympic Development Coordinator, Carl had a huge role in this weekend's success at Millrose Games. In fact, he played a role in bringing six of these athletes to the club....an incredibly big number in less that one year.
Carl also coaches many of our top athletes, as well.
So, for all his awesome contributions in such a short amount of time...this scarf's for you!
Clean Underwear on Demand Award Just like everyone needs clean, new underwear, the club needs clean, new members, too!
We welcome various new members to the group, including Thom Knowles (former standout at Princeton University in the 90s), Jolene Collins (a former Penn Stater who has run 3:07 and 85:xx), David Ringwood (a former standout at Johns Hopkins who's been close to breaking 15:00), Sharanya "Sherry" Srinivasa (a 30 year old trackster from North Jersey), Tommy Moxom (a high schooler who has transferred schools and wants a group to train with), Theresa Padilla (has placed in her age group the past two half marathons from Eatontown), Kristina Bulagay (runs up in Bogota), Kyle Thakker (Rutgers sprinter from Holmdel), Maggie McLean (Rutgers sprinter from South Plainfield), Shawn Williams (a speedy soon-to-be-masters marathon runner who is a chiropractor in Monclair), Brianna Wright (sprinter from South Jersey), Justin Grasso (recent TCNJ graduate; former president of their running club), Jamin Nieri (Italian national team, javelin).
Newcomers: the key is coming out to team events and meeting people...the club is much more fun when you get to know folks!
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