Track Meets Are Chaotic

Chris Langer

There’s an Ithaca athlete vaulting a pole, two guys in RIT jackets high-stepping in unison, six girls intently maneuvering in a relay, coaches shouting from the sidelines, and dozens jogging or practice running, all ringed by on-looking family and encamped teammates. Every so often a muffled loudspeaker announcement is followed by a starter pistol’s deafening bang, and a new competition begins. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. And it was at the Empire 8 Indoor Track and Field Championships held early on a freezing Sunday morning, January 31, in the climate controlled Gordon Field House. Right at home in the relative chaos is John Holleran, a squared-jawed third year Mechanical Engineering student and competitor in two of the morning’s events. Although the meet includes teams from six schools, including Alfred, Nazareth, Stevens, and Utica, he singles out just two.

“It’s a rivalry between us and Ithaca,” he says. “We lost to them by one point last year. It’s kind of a heartbreaker, so we’re hoping to get back at them this year.”

Ithaca took the first event of the day; the women’s distance medley relay. Then an RIT team including Holleran beat Ithaca by an impressive twelve seconds to win the men’s distance medley event.

Chris Langer

A lot of practice time goes into the 10 minutes and 30 seconds the RIT men’s team spent running the medley relay, or even the two minutes of the 800 meter run. Holleran says the team trains for at least two hours most days of the week since the fall, plus the time spent weightlifting and preventing injuries. The NCAA restricts team practice, but that doesn’t stop them from staying in shape, says Holleran “Some people run, do a regular maintenance run.”

Ithaca dominated the next nine events, winning seven of them, before the Tigers swept up the next heat by beating Ithaca in the men’s 800 meter run by about a second and a half.

Holleran, who also ran that event, says some consider it almost a sprint. “With the 800, you’re always on your toes,” he says. “If you’re not ready to make your move, you can get lost in the pack in the back.”

As he ran the 800 meter race, Holleran stayed in the middle of the pack. With the end in sight, he broke free from the group and dashed across the finish line, barely behind Ithaca’s athletes. As he came in across the line, in ninth place, disappointment momentarily clouded his face, before he moved to congratulate the runners who came in before him.

Chris Langer

The rest of the day followed a similar pattern. RIT placed strong second often and won three more events, but Ithaca proceeded to snatch first place in eleven more events.

Second year Mechanical Engineering major Mike Kurvach provided a bright spot for RIT by winning the men’s 5,000 meter run over Ithaca with 10 seconds to spare.

The final tally was 181 points for Ithaca in men’s events to RIT’s second place 138. It was 222 points for Ithaca in women’s to RIT’s second place 97. This is the third straight Empire 8 win for both Ithaca teams.

The Tigers will just have to live with a modest two broken records and a silver medal to remember this championship.