Indoor track

Ex-runner’s ramble: indoor season breaks a sweat

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — The starting guns go off like clockwork as heat after heat of hurdlers, sprinters, middle- and long-distance runners burst from the starting line on a pair of afternoons each week at Sullivan County Community College. In the space of a mere hour and a half, all of the running events from the lightning-quick 55 meter dash and hurdles to the grueling two-mile are run around the perimeter of the field house, featuring high school competitors from Sullivan West, Liberty, Tri-Valley, Eldred, Monticello and Ellenville.

Meanwhile, in the center of the densely packed gym, high jumpers work to clear the bar at ever-increasing heights, while at the far end of the field house at the throwing cage, shot puts and weights fly through the air and are marked for their distance. While there are no official winners, no medals and very little fanfare, make no mistake about it: what is taking place is serious business. Coaches note every time and distance and keep close track on each participant’s progress.

Welcome to indoor track. Like its fall predecessor, cross-country, indoor is the haven for many serious runners who know that what they do in terms of conditioning and racing will set the stage for the year’s crowning season, outdoor track. Like cross-country, much of the strenuous efforts put forth by countless numbers of kids will go virtually unnoticed by the public. Whereas basketball arenas will frequently be packed with cheering and fervent fans, indoor track meets will be virtually unattended with the exception of a few ardent supporters.

The runners, jumpers and throwers don’t seem to notice the paucity of spectators. They have more important things on their minds.

These local developmental meets and the larger meets held at Gillis Field House at West Point on the weekends keep coaches and their indoor athletes on task when it comes to figuring out which people are best suited for certain events and then getting down to the business of training, teaching and strategizing that will trim running times and increase throwing and jumping distances to prepare individuals and teams for the league meet, the sectionals, and for those who have risen to the top of their events, the states and beyond.

Like cross-country and outdoor, the indoor season has local, state, regional and national levels of competition. Several of the elite indoor athletes will travel to meets far and wide to test themselves against competitors who reign supreme in other locales. Not surprisingly, many of the icons of cross-country resurface during indoor and outdoor seasons to compete against each other. For them, running isn’t a seasonal diversion; it’s a way of life.

Warwick’s Aislinn Ryan and Sullivan West’s Mike VanWagenen were recently chosen as the OCIAA’s junior runners of the year amongst the league’s belated listing of cross-country all-stars. Ryan, who recently won the national championship at Foot Locker in San Diego, is back to pounding the indoor circuit and dreaming of beating her main rival, Nicole Blood of Saratoga Springs. Blood had won all but one of the outings between the two fleet-footed juniors until Ryan blew away the competition at Foot Locker. The rivalry will begin yet another chapter with this indoor season. This past weekend Ryan bested a talented field at the Armory Track and Field Center to win the 3000 in The Hispanic Games.

VanWagenen, while not on Ryan’s level of national prominence, seeks to use the indoor season to further establish himself in the context of the section and hopefully the state.

They are not alone. Here is a school-by-school breakdown of who is out for indoor track and the events they will be featured in.

Sullivan West: Jessica Wagner: 55 meter sprints, the 300, 6000 and 1000-meter runs; Amanda Ward: one and two- mile; Freshman Chelsie Schadt: 800 and the mile; Eleanor Bryan: 1500-meter race walk; Jessica Armstrong is entering the season recovering from a soccer-induced stress fracture but is working hard; Stevie VanWagenen: the one or two mile; Melissa Fleckenstein: shot put; Brittany Flynn: hurdles; Ashley Murphy: the 55, the 200 and 300; Tara Brewer is out to improve her conditioning and may run a variety of events.

Among the boys Mike VanWagenen will look to dominate the two-mile. Matt Layman: the 800 and the mile; Will O’Brien: the hurdles, the sprints up to the 400; Will Schlott : sprints; Steve Daley and Ben Creegan will compete as throwers.

Eldred indoor athletes are coached by Frank Schorling. Katie Hanson, a senior, will be throwing the shot put along with Kristie Meeham. Kieran Pierce: one and two mile; Catlan Sardina: can “fill in any place we’re weak in,” Schorling said. Kyle Schneider: sprints; Maggie Snyder: from the 200 to the two mile; Grace Babula: will also run long distance but recently surpassed four feet in the high jump as well; Kyle Anthony: last year’s Section Nine leader in the triple jump, can run the 200, 300, 400, 600 and 800; Jonathan Counts: the 55 up to the middle distance; Nick Gottleib: sprinter and long jump; Coyote Anderson: a sprinter who can run anything up to and including the 800; Max Gunther: the 800-meter and the mile; Ashley Tice: the sprints, the 1000 and 1500-meter; Sean Ranne: middle distance; Lindsay Warden: middle distance.

Tri-Valley indoor athletes are coached by Joe and Missy Iatauro. Jeremy Mathsen: runs the one and two mile; Andy Garigliano: throws the weight and shot put; Travis Wolfe: Tri-Valley’s seasoned champion long distance runner; Bret Hyde: high jump and sprints; Casey Gray: sprints, long and triple jump; Dan Knox: sprints and jumping; Jon Huppke: 800 up to the two-mile; Sean Messenger: a sprinter, hurdler, long jumper and can run the 400; Max Fiedler: hurdles, long jump and the 800; Justin Tompkins: 800 and the two mile. Other Tri-Valley athletes and their events include: Ryan Loughney: the shot put and weight throw; Kyle Bryne: sprints, long jump, hurdles, 400; Karen Diamond: throwing; Jenn Gorman: hurdles, 55 up to the 800; Brandie Carroll: high jump, hurdles and up to the 400; Melissa Fancher: 400 up to the two-mile; Courtney Roosa: 800 up to the two-mile; Megan Drown: 55 up to the 800; and Rachel Sanborn: 800 up to the two-mile.

Monticello indoor athletes are coached by Pete Wysochansky. Erica Kalber: shot put; freshman Katie DelGatto: middle distance; Corey Price: middle distance; Brandon DeVine: distance runner; David Berson: middle distance; Keenan Hall: thrower; and Robert Macedonio: pole vault.

Ryan tops all comers at Hispanic Games

NEW YORK, NY — Featuring more than 5,000 athletes from 250 different teams and runners from eight states and Washington D.C., the New York Armory came alive on January 8 to 9 with the 11th annual Hispanic Games. The massive track meet in the armory can only be described as theatre in the oval. With distance runners encircling the arena on the state of the art Mondo surface track and sprinters and hurdlers dashing off down the eight-lane sprint track in the center, this reporter/photographer worked to take it all in including the pole-vault, long jump and high jump amid the din of pumping music, starting gun reports and the cheering ensemble of fans and athletes who packed the bullpen on the perimeter of the track and the galleries above.

It was a chance to see the larger picture of the indoor scholastic track and field circuit. Aislinn Ryan, striving to break Nicole Blood’s record of 9:47.58, came up short on the time but long on the win. Ryan (9:57.54) took first by a convincing 42 seconds over Shelby Greany (10:39:02) of Suffern, NY. Blood did not run at this meet, thereby forestalling a rematch between the two rivals, which was last engaged in San Diego when Ryan garnered the national cross-country title. Blood finished 12th in that race.

The Hispanic Games were the site of Newburgh Free Academy’s Elzie Coleman’s historic U.S. record-setting performance in the 400 meters. Coleman ran 46:58. The 2004 Hispanic Games also witnessed the incredible mile run by Devon Williams, a freshman from Towson Catholic High School in Maryland who turned in a remarkable 4:50.76 to establish a meet record.

See next week for more on the Hispanic Games, including a comparison of times and distances with regard to existing records and current Section 9 performances.