By Tommy Mulvoy and Gabe Morden-Snipper Upper Division Track coaches
The 2015 MMFS track season was successful on numerous fronts. Many team members ran personal bests and a few were close to qualifying for the state meet. Also, the team made school history with an outstanding Boys Varsity victory in our first race of the season at Red Hook. The boys ran in every race we entered them into, methodically added points to our total, and at the end of the day we edged out Birch Wathen Lenox by two points!
More than 30 runners gathered in late February to begin training. While we were forced to practice in the gym and stairwells of 23 Sidney Place, the runners worked hard building strength and team spirit. Upon our return from spring break, mother nature finally relented and we headed to Cadman Plaza and Brooklyn Bridge Park to get in some more serious training. It was there that the runners got to work on sprint technique, put in some longer training miles, and do repeats to build strength.
As usual there were some disruptions to the schedule including a sojourn to Germany and Paris for the freshman, thespians working on Annie, and some perfectly timed rain storms, but the team took the disruptions in stride and continued to push themselves.
We had some attrition throughout the year, but we showed up to the championship meet with 15 runners focused on pushing themselves to new heights. While we didn’t win any championship races, the runners gave their best effort. Some of the more outstanding performances during the championship were Sam’s 5:23:37 in the 1600m and Jill’s 1:24:52 in the 400m. Other notable performances during the year were Ian’s 2:29:02 in the 800m race on 4/9,Tae-Chul’s 28:06 in the 200m on 4/9, Ian’s 5:25:90 in the 1600m on 4/9, Shira’s first place time of 16:34:88 in the 3000m on 4/16, and Sam’s 2:25:34 second place finish in the 800m on 4/30. Finally, we were so impressed with Loren’s desire to race in almost every scheduled event during each meet!
We would like to thank the runners who worked hard and stayed committed all season long. Your trust in the program and your dedication to improving your times made both of us very proud. Finally, we would like to thank the many parents and faculty members who came to support us throughout the season.
We look forward to another strong season next year as the runners continue to build on the sturdy foundation they built this year.