ST
AWARDS - INDOOR TRACK - 2004 |
| The ST
Awards* are here! Although the season is still in progress for a few elite
runners, the rest are enjoying some down time. Athletes are also looking
for some renewed motivation for the spring. The indoor ST’s are just
what they needed! Motivation is provided in two forms. Some of the best,
the most venerable, the newest, and the brightest stars in the Hockomock
will be overjoyed to receive the most elite award in the league. Unfortunately,
there are many deserving athletes who will be left out. Either the categories
didn’t quite fit their characteristics, they were bumped by even more
elite athletes or northrunning.com showed total ignorance. Whatever the
reason, these athletes have now received the added incentive of proving
me wrong.
*disclaimer: northrunning.com takes a semi-serious
but often light-hearted look at track and field. It is not the goal of
nr.c to besmirch athletes. Therefor, if any runner, jumper or thrower
feels unjustly portrayed, northrunning will be happy to accept blame.
Contact me for an official northrunning.com apology certificate. If, on
the other hand, northrunning made a judgement that is in opposition to
your own opinion, the track is the place to make your point.
Before I start,
there are four indoor track seniors that stand out among the rest. They
are Marcus Vaughn, Drew Harrington, Katy O’Brien and Meredith Leenhouts.
They are the finest group of athletes any league would want to have. I
originally thought I would skip over Drew and Katy because they were honored
in the fall. But they have had such outstanding seasons that they will
make it again. Marcus and Meredith were named in the spring. They also
have to be recognized. At the risk of being redundant, when you see them
receive their second ST Awards realize that they are just too special
to ignore. They could easily be interchanged between the three awards
of Fiercest, Best Hockomock Role Model and Long Haul Award. |
Fiercest
Competitor - Marcus Vaughn |
 |
| A
trip to Webster’s New World Dictionary has provided me with a new
outlook on this award. Definitions of fierce hold a mostly negative connotation.
But it need not be so. Intense and ardent are part of the definition and
two of the positive qualities held by this year’s winner. Marcus Vaughn
is ardent. He is intensely enthusiastic and devoted to the sport. Marcus
is track and field. His passion for the sport and especially
his events has brought him to the highest level of his craft. I’m
not sure athletes are afraid of him – they just don’t want to
compete against him because it isn’t a fair contest. The outcome of
any hurdle race is certain and so is the winner of this award. Marcus Vaughn
is officially the fiercest. |
Long
Haul Award - Meredith Leenhouts |
 |
| It
seems like she’s been at Franklin forever, and the Franklin coaches
wish she would be. They can heap any responsibility on her shoulders. It
is tough enough to compete at her level, but it seems that she’s also
looked to as the first answer to Franklin's team success. She hasn’t
let them down. Meredith would carry her team across the country and back
if they asked her to. In fact, you don't even have to ask – she just
senses what the team needs. She’s been doing it for four years and
to the rest of the league it seems like fourty. Next year she’ll attempt
to do the same at Yale. Guess what Meredith – there you’ll only
have to do your share. Northrunning will also be there to watch! |
Hockomock
League Role Models - Drew Harrington and Katy O'Brien |
 |
 |
Who can dispute giving it to Katy O’Brien and Drew Harrington. Would
anyone not want these two on their team? At the end of a race they show
the ultimate in humility, you’d almost forget that they just ground
the opposition into submission. They have talent, composure and likeable
personalities. What more would you ask of someone to represent the league.
They are this year’s poster children of Hockomock League excellence. |
Most
Surprising Performer at the Hockomock Championship - Jen McNamara
This
was a hard one. There were a lot of surprising performances at the Hockomock
League Championships. I admit that I was swayed by the response of coaches
and athletes. |
 |
| Walking
into the meet Jen McNamara’s mother asked me how I felt the hurdles
would go. I said “Interesting!” I thought ‘probably third
with a chance at second’. But the slightest let down could have meant
5th. Coach Espinosa was also walking in with us and he remarked about the
good week of practice she’d had. Jen shocked nearly everybody by winning
the league. Who knew? The best part of it is that she used this success
as a springboard to even better things, placing in the Class B meet and
grabbing 8th in the state finals with a PR 8.88 in the semis and a 9:01
in the finals. This is an award no one can win twice. Jen – nothing
you do will surprise us anymore. |
Most
Surprising Performer at the Hockomock Championship - Brian Dundon |
 |
| I
owe Brian Dundon this one. Sitting on the cusp of placing 6th in the league
meet, I felt Brian was one of the most likely athletes to get bumped. I
pictured him gamely placing 7th. Instead he roared to second place and nearly
pulled off the upset. One more meter and the race would be his. If my prediction
of 7th had held Oliver Ames would have been team champion. So Brian grabbed
this award because it was not only unanticipated, but it also helped Mansfield
secure the team championship. |
Most
Talented New Athlete - Shanika Pitts |
 |
|
I
really didn’t need much help with this one. But I asked the audience
anyway and they said “Shanika Pitts”. “So Regis, I’ll
go with the audience – final answer!” Shanika came streaking
out of nowhere and has blown by the competition. I became convinced when
she shook off her false start DQ at the Hocks and came back to claim #2
in the state meet. How many times over the years have we seen an athlete
that everyone wants to see run get bumped from the race with the “one
false start rule”. Although I’m not sure that the “field
false start” rule is perfect – it would help insure that the
best athletes make it to the finish line.
|
The
Appentice Award - Matt Gannon |
At
the time of this award Matt was headed for the boardroom
and
was not in the mood to have his picture taken.
|
| The
Apprentice Award needs clarification. The intent is to find someone who
isn’t great yet, but will be someday. In other words – they
have the tools but they’re not sure how to plug them in. Many of the
nominations don’t really meet the criteria. There was a huge list
of good recommendations and it would be hard to dispute them. I have to
go with Matt Gannon on this one. A year ago he could barely walk and chew
gum – certainly not both at the same time. The only thing that kept
him from the Clark Kent Award is that when he goes into the phone booth
he still has to call collect. Then, when he comes out he’s Jimmy Olsen.
But a year’s worth of determination has brought him down to a 4:50
mile. Can he be one of the best in the league by the time he’s done?
If not – he’s fired! Now if Lois Lane would only notice him
. . . |
Bookend
Awards - Mary Shea and Holly Heinricker |
 |
| Bookend
Awards was not one of my original categories. But a coach wrote me with
the suggestion and northrunning aims to please. The award caught on and
based on the last three weeks it appears that Mary Shea and Holly Heinricker
get the nod. When it comes to the 4X4 Foxboro is a good read cover-to-cover.
Mary grabs your attention right away and Holly leaves you breathless at
the end. They were a large volume of Foxboro’s 5th place 4:07 at the
state finals. What more would you want from a best-seller? I'll post Mary's
picture when available. |
Rodney
Dangerfield Award - Tricia Harrison |
northrunning
apologies to Tricia Harrison for not having her picture. If by the end
of the New England Meet I haven't taken her picture, she has every right
to put me in a headlock until I say "You're the best!" |
| The
Rodney Dangerfield Event of the Hockomock is the shot put. It just don’t
get the respect. Maybe because at the outdoor Hocks at Mansfield it was
hidden far from the track. Then indoors over half the fans don’t
even know where it’s held. Enough is enough! Good shot putters blend
the power of a weight lifter, the speed of a sprinter and the footwork
of a dancer – a smooth glide across the circle blended with an explosion
that hurls a steel ball far out into the sector. The Hockomock League
provided exactly half of the top 6 in the state. The best of the best
is Tricia Harrison. One of only three girls in the Hockomock League that
I know has eclipsed the 40’ mark. Tricia gets the RD-ST Award. |
Clark
Kent Award - Matt Hart |
 |
| The
Clark Kent Award has become one of my favorite to debate. For the most part,
Hockomock League athletes don’t look like Olympians. They only perform
like them. The one I have in mind is so inconspicuous that not one person
nominated him. I would love to put him in a line-up with a bunch of freshman
basketball players and see if anyone could pick out this track and field
league champion. He is the one who not only is “faster than a speeding
bullet” but can also “leap tall buildings in a single bound!”
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Matt Hart! Matt is too
short to be a high jumper but is league champion after a duel with Terry
Young. He doesn’t have the muscle definition of a sprinter but he
is one of the top 55M runners in the league. At the league meet I was talking
with one of the officials. I turned around and pointed to Matt and said
“Watch this kid jump.” The height was 6’2 and when Matt
went soaring over the bar the guy nearly swallowed his whistle. Matt sends
the rest of the league looking for kryptonite. |
Coach
of the Season - John Finn and Julie Collins |
 |
The only picture
northrunning had of Julie was during her recent training run in a blizzard.
She appears in the bottom - right. If I get a more suitable picture it will
be added here. |
| Now
that the awards are done I’m sure there are many people out there
shaking their heads. How about Guy, Oberlander, Graham, McCune, Young and
Lyles? Surely there must be something for Cuozzo and Lancaster. Then there’s
Clayman, Hopkins, Brague, Collins, Lyon, Dint etal. They all deserve something!
So much talent – so few awards. Maybe in the spring. |