As the sun rose Sunday morning the club enjoyed a second Kroger bagel breakfast in the lobby of our hotel. We boarded the bus on another chilly and rainy Michigan morning. All one square mile of Olivet proper passed us by as most of us pass through for probably the last time in our lives. Having arrived at the facility the first two athletes scheduled to compete were Ben Griffith in the men’s long jump and Sophia Grossman in the women’s high jump.
Even though their events were scheduled early, the absurdly long time the heats were taking meant they did not compete until later in the day. So I will start with the first event we had athletes in.
Men’s 5000 (final 2 heats)
The last 2 heats of the men’s 5000 produced some great times for our athletes. Despite dealing with some illness Gabe Worthington finished with a time of 16:36. In no time Gabe will have his immune system under control and he will be back running times he knows he can. Running his first of two events today Matt Stasiukevicius was next in the 5000. Running a time of 16:02 Stas was happy with this because his main focus of the day was the 3000 steeple. Our first PR of the day came courtesy Eamon “Plante Eamon” Plante. In his first sub 16 minute 5000 Eamon finished with a time of 15:53. Eamon tapered everyone’s expectations by saying he wasn’t going to finish his race. Despite a slight quad malfunction Eamon ran a great race. Our next PR and top 5000 finisher was Adam “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” Morad. With a time of 15:27 Adam placed 18th in the men’s 5000 as just a freshman. This gave Adam the 2nd fastest freshman outdoor 5000 time in club history.
Men’s Long Jump and Women’s High Jump
Some time between the men’s 5000 and the 800s Ben and Sophia finally had the chance to compete in their field events. Ben’s goal coming in was to break 15 feet. After warming up, cooling down, and warming up again Ben achieved his goal and jumped 4.71m which is 15.45 feet. After her strong performance in the women’s shot put yesterday Sophia looked to continue her success today. Unfortunately, the high jump and long jump were not close in proximity. So as I spectated Ben’s long jumps I did not see many of Sophia’s early attempts. However, as I walked toward the team area I saw one of Sophia’s attempts from afar. As she cleared the jump all her teammates watching jumped up and cheered. So I figured I should keep walking and see what happened. The commotion was caused by Sophia matching her PR of 1.60m. There are no outdoor women’s high jumps listed on the record list so either Sophia matched her own club record or set a new club record! Regardless, Sophia scored 10 points for the women’s team and was the 2022 NIRCA High Jump Champion.
Women’s 800
Next up were Rachel George and Diana Liepinya in the women’s 800. Rachel enthusiastically ran a time of 3:07 which was faster than her goal of 3:10. Going into the race Diana’s goal was to run sub 3:30. Diana smashed this goal by running 2:41. This puts Diana 8th in club history for the women’s outdoor 800.
Men’s 800
Similar to the men’s 1500 yesterday the men’s 800 had seemingly endless heats. Andrew Scalese ran a time of 2:37. With no strava to stalk I don’t have much to say about his performance. Nate Lieske was the next finisher. Running a time of 2:27 Nate set a new 22 second PR in his second ever open 800. Zach “I’m Going To Ignore The Seniors In The Dining Hall” Kiedrowski described his 2:26 as, “Ouch.” Frankie Andrews ran a solid time of 2:24. Similar to your Mom, Frankie finished just after Jacob Bush. JB ran a solid time of 2:23. However, on strava JB said there were no excuses for such a bad race. After not a lot of training Matt Sebsibe was happy to run a time of 2:17. Cap LaBuff had another strong race finishing his 800 in 2:12. After a massive PR in the 5000 yesterday Sam Fields looked to continue his dominance into today’s 800. Despite running a faster time trial and leg of the 4×800 before this was Sam’s first time running sub 2:10. With a time of 2:09 Sam was another PR on the day. While having an up and down season thanks to some weird health issues Konrad Shire looked to finally turn the corner in his open 800. I know running a 2:08 was not what Konrad was looking for, but everyone knows if he just keeps his head up and keeps working he will get to where he wants. For the next two 800 runners I have to talk about them together.
Brian Lau and Chris Scalzi worked together in their heat of the 800. Both were very pleased with their races and the progress they have been making. Brian ran a time of 2:06 and Chris finished just ahead in 2:04. Jake Muma was our next finisher with a new PR of 2:01. He was hoping for a little faster time, but this race definitely trended in the right direction for Jake. Brian McCullough finished 14th overall with a time of 2:00. I will let the following meme describe Max Worley’s 800.
Heading into the final two events the men’s team with 25 points trailed Ohio State with 26 and Pittsburgh with 29 points.
Men’s 3000 Steeple
Gray weather and the chilly steeple pool perfectly matched the all black uniform and black gloves Matthew “Best Drip” Stasiukevicius sported for the final distance race of the meet. In the men’s 3000 steeple Stas looked to close the gap with Pitt and Ohio State. Finishing in a time of 10:37 Stas ran the 5th fastest steeple in club history, placed 7th, and scored 2 points for the team. This sunk Ohio State to the bottom of the steeple pool and put our sights on Pitt with just the men’s 4×400 to go.
Men’s 4×400 Relay
We had two teams in the men’s 4×400. A freshmen team consisting of Brian Lau, Lucas “Cap” LaBuff, Sam Fields, and Jacob Bush was inexcusably disqualified after running outside of their lane. However, there were some unofficial PRs run. Cap ran a 57s and unofficial PR of one second. Jacob Bush also ran an unofficial PR of 63s. The Maryland “A” team ran the 5th fastest men’s outdoor 4×400 in club history! Max Worley, Konrad Shire, Dom Cardone, and Clay Buckman ran a time of 3:30.52 to place 5th and score a very important 4 points. These points moved the men’s team past Pitt.
With the final events run the women’s team finished in 10th with 14 points and the men’s team finished 6th with 31 points. Regardless of points, place, or time Maryland Club Running had an extremely successful weekend. Everyone cheered, laughed, and shivered together in support of one another. There are not many college students that would willingly return to campus at 1:30am on a Monday strictly for the purpose of running. But there is a lot more to it than just running. Equally and if not more important is the friendship and comradery that club running gives us. Thanks to these friendships I know many of us would do this all the time if we were given the chance. Running is very important to all of us. But, there is just something about the friends we have met through running which makes it truly special. I want to say thank you to the officers for all their hard work. I also want to thank my teammates and friends for such a fun weekend.
Now that my emotions are sufficiently in ruin it is time for some meme reviews.
By Lillian – There was a collective sigh of relief when we passed the border into Michigan. Good points for accuracy and good points for creative use of a common template. 7/10
By Max – I assume covid hit some clubs pretty hard. Other clubs are flat broke. Accurate, funny, and common template are all a plus. 7/10
By Nate – This refers to Konrad’s milk addiction. Konrad would eat when we stopped, but then would consume a half gallon of milk in between stops. The quickest took about 20 minutes. Konrad would be my favorite for a milk mile or milk challenge. Accurate, funny, not a common template therefore I give it a 8/10.
By Sohan – We all waited for Max to meme himself before we made memes about him. Funny, accurate, common template = 7/10.
By Sohan – By far the greatest carbon footprint of any 5000 ever ran. This is one of those memes that makes me blow air out of my nostrils at an accelerated velocity so I give it a 8/10.
By Max – The throwers and jumpers really did carry the meet. An accurate, funny, and fairly uncommon template gives it a 7/10.
By Stas – The Time Bandit herself. This one was highly original so I give it a 9/10.
By Konrad – Context for this is that Brian Lau pranked Sohan with a fake email on April fool. It almost escalated to something worse. Since it roasts Sohan I give it a 8/10.
By Gabe – Olivet was a primitive, yet charming little town. I believe Gabe made up some rumors about Olivet not having internet until 2013 or something along those lines. This meme has been flagged for disinformation so I rate it 5/10.
By Nate – Another meme about Max. I keeled over on the bus when I saw this one. Most likely due to having binged Impractical Jokers, the show the meme is from, a few years ago. Because I can imagine the guy’s voice in my head saying this I give this a 10/10.
Lillian Hsu says:
I’m so glad my meme made the cut
Sohan Ganatra says:
Instant classic. Can’t wait to re-read this and cry in 10 years.
eallsopp says:
Your narrative writing has improved!!