Indoor track

Ex-runner’s ramble: the bigger picture

Big meets serve as measuring sticks for local teams and individuals

By RICHARD A. ROSS

SUFFERN, NY — With three developmental track meets per week (weather permitting), including a pair at Sullivan County Community College and another at West Point, most local teams haven’t had much time to participate in meets outside of the realm of the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic League (OCIAA).

But on Monday, January 17 Sullivan West and Eldred traveled to the Rockland County Community College field house to participate in the annual Suffern Invitational meet. The meet affords teams an opportunity to give their younger members a chance to run in freshman/sophomore competitions held in the morning. Their varsity athletes compete from midday on. (See next week’s TRR for details).

The field house at Rockland is huge and the majority of teams competing hail from Section I. They include such perennial contenders as New Rochelle, Eastchester, North Rockland, Mount Vernon, Nyack and Bronxville.

That makes for a competitive field, but not a daunting one. A comparison between some winning times and distances at last year’s Suffern meet and those registered at the OCIAA championships show Section 9 teams to be quite competitive. For example, Eldred’s Catlan Sardina’s 2004 high jump of 5-06 garnered him a fifth place at the Suffern meet, but the winning jump of 6-02 was equal to the height reached at the OCIAA meet last year by Bill Martin of Monroe-Woodbury.

On the girls’ side of the ledger, Monticello’s Erica Kalber came in second in the shot put at the 2004 OCIAA championships with a heave of 35-00.25. The winning throw at last year’s Suffern Invitational was 36-08.75.

At last week’s Hispanic Games, which were held at the New York Armory, Warwick’s Aislinn Ryan took first place in the 3000 with a time of 9:57.54, transferring her number-one status from cross-country after winning the nationals at Foot Locker to an early dominance of the indoor circuit in that event. Her time ranks her at number one in the nation to date for this year in the 3000.

The winning time for the 3200-meter girls’ race at Suffern was a sluggish 12:08.2. Ryan probably would have lapped the winner there.

Warwick’s Michael Mark, Adam Lloyd, Dan Rock and Anthony Campione took fifth in the 4x400 relay at the Hispanic Games with a time of 3:27.9. Monroe-Woodbury’s Bryan Getz came in fourth in the pole vault with a jump of 13-0 feet. Thea Kennerknect placed third in the girls’ pole vault with a jump of 10-0 feet.

Tri-Valley took its milers to the Armory on January 15 to compete in the Archbishop Molloy Stanner Games. The Bears and Eldred will bring their teams to the Yale Invitational on January 21.

Keeping track: a comparative view of times and distances

Compiled by RICHARD A. ROSS

richardross@riverreporter.com

All indoor track athletes can benefit from participating in larger meets and taking the measure of themselves and their teams against other teams from other locales. A number of charts are included here to offer indoor tracksters a basis of comparison. A copy of both the boys’ and girls’ comparative times and distances compiled by this writer shows the results from last year’s OCIAA meet, the New York State Indoor Championships held at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse and the existing New York State and all-time national high school records. The last three columns are left blank to afford indoor athletes a chance to keep track of their personal bests, their goals for 2005 and this season’s best times. Needless to say, the state and national records are subject to change at any time.

Speaking of records, last year Newburgh Free Academy’s Elzie Coleman broke the national record for the 400 twice. At the 2004 Hispanic Games, he ran 46:58 and then shocked the running world by streaking to a new national record of 45:92 at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho last February. Coleman is now running for Mississippi State but his legendary high school career was most certainly augmented by continual running against elite competition.

Tri-Valley’s Heather Iatauro set a meet record in the girls’ invitational mile at the New Balance Games at the Armory with a time of 4:53.79 and placed second in the girls’ mile at the Millrose Games at Madsion Square Garden with a time of 4:57.44. That race was won by Nicole Blood of Saratoga Springs. Iatauro is now running for Princeton University.

The message for indoor track and field athletes is this: Take the measure of your current performance and study the training and techniques that can make you better. Set goals for yourself and then work as hard as you can to exceed your former best effort. Do that, and you can deem yourself a winner whether or not you place in your event.