This past Sunday marked FLRC’s first indoor meet of 2019, and it was a rousing success, with 198 runners and 436 entries across 5 events. We had so many kids—even a 2-year-old!—running the 60m that it was the most popular event of the day with 121 finishers across 18 heats, although the 400m wasn’t far behind, with 104 finishers in 21 heats. 17 hardy souls gritted out 25 laps in the 5000m, and the 1 mile once again drew strongly, with 88 finishers across 7 heats.

A lot of the kids came from our youth club and school teams: the Auburn Pulsars, Candor CSD Club Runners, Chenango Forks, Corning-Painted Post West, GIAC Navigators, SOAR, and Watkins Glen. As usual, it’s great to see so many teams at our meets, and we anticipate even more at the next two meets. Onto the results!

The 5000m was mostly a warmup race this month, with Roy Wedge winning it in 17:44 for the men, 8 seconds ahead of Jake Pusey, and Megan Luckner the first woman across the line in 18:57, 35 seconds in front of Amelia Kaufman.

In the final heat of the 60m, Lance Jensen of Candor ran a 7.4 to best Patrick Skinner’s 7.5. For the women, Haley Dean of Watkins Glen took the crown with an 8.9-second finish, outpacing Emma Frost of Corning by .2 seconds.

Lance Jensen tried to repeat his win in the 400m, but couldn’t catch the speedsuit-clad Henry Gilbert, who laid down a commanding 51.1 time for the win, notably faster than Jensen’s 53.9. The first woman was Marissa Silba in 1:06.9, well ahead of Sophie Stewart’s 1:10.2 for second.

The 1 mile is often our most contested race, and this month looked like it was going to be another nail-biter, with James Felice leading for a number of laps before 2018 MITHACAL MILE SERIES champion Adam Pacheck took the lead in the middle of the race. But Pacheck wasn’t able to hold on past six laps, and Felice cruised in for a 4:30 win, 9 seconds ahead of Pacheck’s second place 4:39. For the women, 16-year-old Alyssa Walker ran a strong 5:29 for the win, followed by Megan Luckner in 5:37.

We closed with a relay, a 4x200m this time, which was won by a team anchored by 400m winner Henry Gilbert, just barely outpacing the Candor A team anchored by Lance Jensen, 1:43 to 1:44. Impressively, Adam Pacheck and his brother Ethan (who also ran a 4:49 mile) doubled up in the 4x200m to run a 1:52 for fourth, just behind Candor’s B team in 1:51.

As always, this meet was made possible by the superhuman efforts of a dedicated cadre of volunteers, and I can’t express how appreciative I am for their help. Jullien Flynn worked wonders with a new meet management app, despite its ancient Windows interface causing her flashbacks to middle school. Josh Brockner was quick and accurate as head timer. Newcomer Bill Watson stepped into the demanding clerk-of-course role and handled it with aplomb. Tom Rishel once again did a great job as starter. Adam Pacheck, before and after his excellent races, recorded finisher bibs, a job picked up by Bree Zogaria of Candor when he was running. Rod Weeden of Watkins Glen helped with lap counting. Tonya Engst and Jesse Koennecke ensured that registration and bib pickup moved smoothly all day long. Jesse, Bob Swizdor, Aaron Proujansky, Carl Franck, and Shannon Oakes of SOAR all helped manage heats. And many of the people above, aided by Emily Funk and Casey Carlstrom, were key in timing the lane-based 60m and 400m.