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Iona Dominates MAAC XCPublished by
By ELLIOTT DENMAN
HOLMDEL, N.J. - Call them a cross country version of a flash mob - defined as a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place.
That was the nationally fifth-ranked Iona College men's XC team Friday at Holmdel County Park.
Nowhere to be seen a minute before the finish of the men's 35th annual Metro Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships, there they were mini-moments later, the mob of nine Gaels running in virtual lockstep down the homestretch of the eight-kilometer route (just over miles), and the top seven crossing the line within a space of precisely 82/100ths of a second.
For insurance, Gaels No. 8 and 9 were right behind, all of
3.59 seconds arears.
That's just the way Iona College coach Ricardo Santos planned it and just the way the coaches and runners of the 10 other MAAC teams feared it would come down.
The Iona men - putting a Halloween-style fright into all their rivals - thus locked up their 24th consecutive MAAC XC men's title, generally reckoned to be the longest NCAA Division I conference winning streak in America. And it was their 30th all
told.
"Yes, we executed the game plan and got the job done," said Santos.
"There are a lot of other good teams in this conference but we just wanted to go out there and prove how good we are.
"We have a very solid team. Pack running, helping each other out, that's what it was all about. We have a lot of big races coming up (next up is the NCAA Northeast Regionals Nov. 14 at Van Cortlandt Park) so we wanted to make sure we didn't do anything too crazy and just get the win.
"Now we'll have a good problem - picking our first seven to run at Regionals."
Breaking up the Iona pack - for the purpose of determining official
places - would have been impossible in the old hand-scoring days. But in this electronic age it was no problem at all.
The official win went to Jake Byrne (25:30.38) over Otis Ubriaco (25:30.40) and Gilbert Kirui (25:30.44) with Kieran Clements, Brandon Allen, Mike O'Dowd,
Chartt Miller, Andrew Tario and Nickolas Lachman hard on their teammates' heels.
Once again, this Iona lead pack is a global gathering - Byrne hails from Ireland, Kirui from Kenya, Clements from England, Allen from Canada and Miller from Australia. But New York Staters Ubriaco (Glenville), Tario (West Sand Lake) and New Jerseyans O'Dowd (Colts Neck) and Lachman (Robbinsville) deliver some home punch.
"It sure takes the pressure off, when so we have so many guys we can rely on," said Byrne. "Everybody's on that same wavelength. We're all in it together."
Canisius College (with 66 team points) ran second for the second straight
year with Quinnipiac (94) third, Marist (113) fourth, Rider (143) fifth and
Fairfield (144) sixth. Monmouth University, the MAAC's 2014 indoor and
outdoor track and field champions, played the role of gracious host for the
first time, but wound up seventh at 161.
Trailing were Siena (212), Manhattan (279), Niagara (294) and St. Peter's (365.)
In the MAAC's 35 years, just two other men's teams have ever won it - and that was a century ago, so to speak. LaSalle did it in 1984-89-90, Army in 1986-87, and neither the Explorers or the Cadets remain in the league.
On the other hand, the women's 6K MAAC title was hardly as one-sided.
Yes, Iona - led by the flying feet of English internationalist Kate Avery, who blazed around the course for the overwhelming win in 19:16 - won it for the 10th straight year but the Gaels could not do it by the shutout method the way the Iona men did.
"Kate is a very special talent," said Santos, of the junior who owns track PRs of
4:38.16 (mile) and 8:56.20 (3000 meters) and capped her big 2014 by running a brilliant 32:33.35 PR fourth in the 10,000-meter final at August's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
A late call-up to the English team after veteran star Joe Pavey elected to focus on the 5,000, Avery came through sensationally as her nation's best in Glasgow.
She just edged rival Beth Potter of Scotland for fourth with a last-second burst of energy and when it was over became a post-race poster girl for the "no" to
the Scottish devolution (from the United Kingdom) campaign.
She and Potter became symbols of the "Better Together" plan that eventually
won out in the September voting.
"This was Kate's first race of the (XC) season, she had a long summer of racing, so we wanted to make sure she had plenty of (XC-specific) training underneath her before she started racing. It made the most sense to hold her out until now," said Santos.
Avery teammates Tara Jameson (20:58) and Rosie Clarke (20:59) ran
2-3 but the shutout bid was gone when Rider junior Emily Ritter claimed fourth
in 21:21.
Iona then completed its winning 20-point score with Melissa Hawtin fifth and Marline Delices ninth.
Quinnipiac, second in 2013, was second again, this time with 73 points.
Marist, the last team to beat the Iona women for the MAAC title (back in 2004),
ran third this time at 93. Monmouth, fourth in its 2013 rookie MAAC year, ran fourth again (with 136.)
Following were Rider (151), Canisius 156), Siena (181), Manhattan (207), Fairfield (208), Niagara (278) and St. Peter's (365.)
Avery ran third in the 2013 NCAA XC final, clocking a 20:05.4 on the
Terre Haute course, so obviously becomes a top national gold-medal threat once again.
"She has the drive and the dedication to do that," said Santos. "Yes,
I wouldn't be surprised to see her on the world stage, on that elite level,
sometime in the future.
"We'll just see what happens."
"I just wanted to get in a hard run, to test myself," said Avery. "This course
(with a long uphill start) is very tough. I was just running it a bit blind.
"Yes, this was a confidence-builder.
"The Commonwealth Games, that was just phenomenal, the best experience I ever had in the sport. The crowds were just unbelievable, they really got behind us."
With her easy-flowing stride, some already consider her a "young Paula," as in Radcliffe, the world marathon record-holder.
"But there will be no marathons for me," she said, smiling.
"It's not going to be me."
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Despite the Iona dominance, named MAAC coaches of the year were Canisius's Nathan Huckle (on the men's side) and Marist's Peter Collaizzo (women.)
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