There is something different
about Fayetteville-Manlius NY this season.
New York squad regroups after loss to York at 2004 Nike Team Nationals - will look for faster top 4 and wider spread this year.

by Don Rich, PennTrackXC/Milesplit

Quietly, Northeast pre-season #1 and 2004 NTN #2 Fayetteville-Manlius has been mapping out a plan for 2005. As is their nature, this team doesn't get into show, talk or bravado. They just train. Analyze.
Focus. Train some more. Race. And with the exception of one run at the end of the 2004 season.... all they do is win.

Gone is Jared Gurdick. Their # 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 guy in 2004 – depending on the week – Jared is now at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Running, of course. And cheering (quietly) for his former teammates.

The 2005 season will definitely be different, so a different strategy will be needed says head coach Bill Aris. "Our dream world compression of last year, well... it's too early too tell. Our cluster will try to keep the gap (between one and five) under a minute. The guys behind our top four are greatly improved."

For those of you who missed what he's talking about with a dream compression, try nine seconds at the 2004 New York Federation Championships. On that day, this remarkable team (my description, not his), placed their scoring five in the top 16 of the race, with the best in all of New York XC represented. That was an improvement on their 27-second gap a week earlier at the New York state meet. And both those followed the 1-5 finish with a 12-second compression at the October Manhattan Invitational.

F-M at 2004 Manhattan Invitational

photo by Don Rich, PennTrackXC/Milesplit
F-M at 2004 sectional

photo by TullyRunners.com

But in Portland, coming in as the #1 team in the country, they ran into tradition and the very fast, very talented boys of York, Illinois. That day, after finishing 2nd, the Fayetteville-Manlius guys accepted their 2nd place awards with class. They weren't happy.
But they accepted the cheers. They did every interview. With two seasons and a summer between that muddy December race and the promise offered by a new season, Aris hasn't changed his opinion on what occurred. "We did not run as well at NTN as we did at Feds. I'm not saying York wouldn't have won, but we would have liked to have represented ourselves, rather than have an off day. We know we were better than we ran. And yes, York deserved to win."

That was then, and this is now.

It was back to open voluntary runs three days a week this summer.
There were a few weekend mini-camps. And of course, a return to Stotan Week (see Meet the new 'stotans' ), a week of team- building, reflection, focus, and running. Because of conflicting schedules, not every member of the team made the week. But the top four returning from last year – Tom Gruenewald, now a junior, and seniors Owen Kimple, John Heron, and Andy McCann, were there. The group trained in town, and then used the Tromptown Half Marathon on August 11th as a litmus test to see what their training had produced.
This was actually Litmus Test #2. At Litmus Test #1, the Utiica Boilermaker 15K on July 9th, Owen Kimple had run 52:56, about a 5:40 per mile average. They didn't race the half marathon, but used it as a training run, taking four of the top five places (with grad Burdick winning, and taking the other spot.

As Aris explained to TullyRunners.com, "the 1/2 marathon was nothing more than a strong training run for ALL FM'ers. That was their instruction from me, and that's what they did. Each could have run faster if I let them, but that would have been pointless at this time. In Lydiard vernacular, it was between 1/2 effort and 3/4 effort for all; in Daniels terminology the run for each was between marathon pace and tempo pace effort. Nothing more than a verification (to ourselves) of the effect of our summer base work thus far."

In fan language, Aris translated: "Guys were talking through most of the race."

Then it was off to their favorite training ground in the mountains for a few days of Stotan fine-tuning.

What's more, if pre-litmus tests are any indication, the Fayetteville- Manlius Distance Medley team ran 10:14.1 in April, and Kimple went 9:14.05 for 3200 meters at the NY state meet.

And now the journey to try to return to the form of 2004.

This season, FM raced first at the South Jefferson Invitational September 17th, site of their Section 3 meet. The FM boys went 1-3-5-6-7 for 22 points. Owen Kimple won in muddy conditions in 16:39 with a 58-second compression. They will train through the 24th, and then follow the plan that worked in 2004, race at the McQuaid Invitational on October 1, followed by the Manhattan Invitational on the 8th. Then it's back to training before leagues and sections October 29th and November 5th, followed by States and Feds.

So what is Aris' strategy for this team for this season?

"We will rely on front four running significally faster."

All results from TullyRunners.com

2004 Manhattan Invitational
1       Tom     Gruenewald      Fayetteville-Manlius    12:41.9
2       Owen    Kimple  Fayetteville-Manlius    12:48.4
3       Jarred  Burdick Fayetteville-Manlius    12:49.5
4       John    Heron   Fayetteville-Manlius    12:50.7
5       Andy    McCann  Fayetteville-Manlius    12:53.2
27      Jeoff   King    Fayetteville-Manlius    13:47.0
83              Bayes   Fayetteville-Manlius    14:47.4


2004 NY Federation Championships

   1.    34  Fayetteville-Manlius           (16:15.2  81:15.6)
=============================================
      1      3  Tom Gruenewald     SO    16:09.5  6
      2      4  Andrew McCann      JR    16:12.8  7
      3      8  Owen Kimple        JR    16:16.8  14
      4      9  John Heron         JR    16:17.7  15
      5     10  Jared Burdick      SR    16:18.8  16
      6   ( 44) Danny Marnell      JR    17:14.6
      7   ( 72) Geoff King         SO    17:32.4


2004 NY State Championships
------------------------------------------------------------------------

7   3   7  315  Jared Burdick-12         Fayetteville Manlius      16:11.1
8   4   8  317  Owen Kimple-11           Fayetteville Manlius      16:14.9
13   6  13  318  John Heron-11            Fayetteville Manlius     16:23.8
15   7  15  319  Tom Gruenewald-10        Fayetteville Manlius     16:26.9
23  12  23  316  Andrew McCann-11         Fayetteville Manlius     16:38.3
51  28  51  321  Geoff King-10            Fayetteville Manlius     17:13.8
52  29  52  320  Danny Marnell-11         Fayetteville Manlius     17:14.4



August 11, 2005 Tromptown Half Marathon

Place  Name                Age  S                      Half     Pace
=====  =================== === = ====================  ======= =====
     1  JARED BURDICK        18  M   FM - grad          1:14:53  5:43
     2  OWEN KIMPLE          17  M   FM                 1:15:15  5:45
     3  TOMMY GRUENWALD      16  M   FM                 1:15:42  5:47
     4  JOHN HERON           17  M   FM                 1:17:24  5:55
     6  ANDREW MCCANN        17  M   FM                 1:18:38  6:01
     9  ROBIN WHEELESS       45  M   Westhill coach     1:22:17  6:17
    10  GEOFF KING           16  M   FM                 1:22:36  6:19
    11  DANNY MARNELL        17  M   FM                 1:23:36  6:23
    13  KRIS BARNES          15  M   FM                 1:25:23  6:32
    17  BEN KIMPLE           15  M   FM                 1:26:51  6:38
    18  ANDREW SARGRAD       15  M   FM                 1:27:36  6:42
    24  DAVID RICCARDI       17  M   Westhill           1:29:32  6:51
    26  GREG PALLOTTA        16  M   Westhill           1:30:15  6:54

            

 

 

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