FALL 2015
Coach James:
Every August the days get just a bit shorter, the evenings occasionally crisp, and though it’s still hot we can feel the season shifting. Cross Country is coming. Ron starts talking about how there must be something wrong with him, that he gets this excited to watch the team run and be a part of this. My truck gets filled with field paint, cones, posts, flagging, stop watches and a bunch of students’ sweaty shirts and stinky spikes. The track office becomes a flurry of setting up recruit visits. While we all know the big races aren’t until October and November, we also can’t help but be excited with the arrival of preseason, the early races, and the start of another year of VCXCTF.
This year was no different, and when the teams returned on August 18th for preseason we brought in young teams with lots of enthusiasm. Three quarters of both teams are comprised of freshman and sophomores, and the dream to build upon the strength of our VCXCTF history, while creating a new chapter and legacy, was and is palpable.
In our first scrimmage two-miler with New Paltz and Stevens, the women pulled out a dominant win. The following weekend, the men edged out RPI, Stevens and New Paltz to bring home the Mug at the Vassar Ron Stonitsch XC Invitational for the first time since 2011. While we have not yet raced top returner Meghan Willcoxon ‘18 who is building back from a spring injury, the women have proven to be a formidable team. Senior and Captain Ava Farell has developed into our front-runner. Ava, along with co-captain and consistent top-5 scorer Jemma Howlett ‘17, have inspired a regular rotation of great runs from freshman and returners alike. The men’s team has been a tight pack team, intent on improving over last year’s bitter finish to the season. At VCRSI the men won with a 19 second 1-5 spread, and if we can maintain that same density as the races are longer and faster it will be a huge asset for them. Michael Scarlett ‘18 has been our steady front runner, while captains Colin Hepburn ‘16 and Gabe Fishman ‘17 have been in scoring positions and making sure everyone is ready to jump in and do their part. Both teams’ backed up their early success with good races up at Saratoga Spa (a course we have team data on ranging back to 1985!) before struggling a bit at the Geneseo Pre-Regional where some aches and colds left us short staffed.
Now the mornings are feeling properly cold, the leaves are turning out at the farm and up in the Shawangunks, and we are about to enter the real crux of the season. With mid-terms behind us (and hopefully the mid-term colds!) the men head off to Conn College and the women to the 7-Sisters Championships this weekend. After that, the next event will be the Liberty League Championships up at Saint Lawrence. The championship season is upon us, and we look forward to seeing how our young teams will perform at the big races.
Just as I was inspired by Ron’s tales of Tim Leshan ‘88, Alex Perfido ’88 and Tracy Nicols ‘91, the first teams I coached at Vassar were inspired by the teams of Steve Money ‘03, Avi Kramer ’04 and Clodagh Rafferty ’00. Likewise our current teams are inspired by the great success of our 2011, 2012 and 2013 graduates like Jon Erickson, Johanna Spangler, Elizabeth Forbes, Sammy Creath, Hannah Ziobrowski, Melissa McClung, Roni Tiech, Justin Rupert, Sam Wagner and so many more who contributed to close, committed and awe inspiringly successful teams. Even more important is that the current runners continue to learn to take inspiration from each other, and actively work to inspire each other. Not only does every generation of the team build upon those who came before, they most importantly feed off each other in building the legacy they leave for those to come.
The vision for our program is the NCAA Championships, my dream is to see the Vassar XCTF program perennially on the national stage as a team season after season, and we are heading there bit by bit. Of course, it’s really the process of getting there is important. That means creating an environment where everyone wants to succeed, believes they can succeed, and loves the hard work of creating that success together. Everyday, getting just a little bit better. A little more attentive, a little bit faster, a little more encouraging. It means making Vassar XCTF a second family for all of us, a place where we are all supported, challenged to grow, and cared for. A place where we all aspire to test ourselves at the highest levels of our ability, and strive to thrive there. And of course, the process also means finding the right people and the right means to support that vision.
As all of you know, the school and the XC/Track programs have gone through some big changes since Ron hustled out of his Department of Labor office, changing in his car down by Sunset Lake, or just coming over to us stopwatch in hand and tie slightly ajar. The team now meets for practice after changing in their own locker rooms, where their running gear is washed for them. We no longer need to gather at a TA or ACDC, after donning the shorts we showered in the day before. We no longer pile in vans or run through the farm to get to a track to train on, we have the best track in the Mid-Hudson Valley right here on campus. The Vassar Athletic department as a whole is not surprised at the occasional stand out success of a team or individual, rather we are creating a legacy of success together with teams regularly making the play-offs. In the past two years alone VCXCTF has brought the department the honor of four national qualifications, three All American honors and Vassar’s very first National Championship Title of any kind. Good changes indeed.
I started as the first full time cross country coach at Vassar in 2004, and the team now knows there is a coach waiting to meet them at practice (or nearly any other time they need to connect) every day. Ron continues to offer his astute observations of a runner's well being or performance, as well as his good humor and excellent sandwiches. In 2008, we started the varsity track program on a shoestring, and worked to transition the small track club to a complete Track team. Coach Justin (primarily responsible for the development of our speed/power events on the track side) first started with us part-time in the early spring season of 2012 and is now a full time colleague and partner in building our programs to new heights.
As the programs and the Athletic Department continue to grow - now under the guidance of our new Athletic Director Michelle Walsh - it is exciting to see how far we have come as well as to know there is still much to be done. All this growth is happening in a manner true to our roots. At it’s heart, Vassar is a school that dares to think differently, and that encourages us all to explore what a meaningful life is. The VassarXCTF Family is here to support us all in that same quest for a meaningful, successful, purposeful life. The race track is our canvas to express this, our classroom to explore and discover this together.
As the seasons turn from the heat of the summer to the cool crisp air of the fall, and then the cold snowy days of early track and to the windy sunny days of the spring - each season brings a new chapter in the life of the team and the story of our Family. Thanks for being a part of VCXCTF and contributing your part to the growth of our teams. I look forward to our programs reaching new heights, and to keeping the Family connected to the current teams with each season of the Vassar XCTF Quarterly.
- James
