Coaches lose their hair
By Christopher Hunt
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Just before the Warwick Valley girls took the track for the distance medley relay their coach Rich Furst wanted to give them a last word of advice.
“Whatever you do, don’t break any national records,” Furst said.
Call it self-preservation. Either way, they didn’t listen. The national record is gone and so will the mustache that Furst has been sporting for the last 20 years, along with assistant coach Ryan Candia’s full head of hair.
Tori Pennings, Kristen Jados, Claire Pettit and Lillian Greibesland trounced the national record in the distance medley relay in 11:31.81 at Nike Outdoor Nationals, topping Bay Shore’s record of 11:33.42 set at the same meet in 2004.
The four of them walked off the track and cried together.
“We figured we could break the national record months ago,” Furst said after fingering his graying mustache. Yet he still agreed to the bet. “I wanted to help motivate them.”
It didn’t help that Greibesland forgot her racing spikes. So once Pennings finished on the leadoff leg she needed to rip off her Reebok spikes with “Pennings” snitched on the side and toss them over to Greibesland. But Pennings first got caught up in the moment and forgot that Greibesland was waiting at the side of the track shoeless.
“I screamed her name so loud,” Greibesland said.
The change of footwear made no difference in Greibesland, who anxiously sat on Hannah Davidson of Saratoga Springs on the anchor leg. The way she inched up on Davidson’s shoulder showed she was antsy. She wanted to make her move but knew the smart thing was to wait.
“I just screaming at her to wait,” Pettit said. “She just had a wait a little longer.”
When Greibesland hit the back straightaway with 300 left, she saw the green light and booked it. She powered around the curve and barreled through the last 100, closing the fastest DMR in nation’s history just a day after the same girls captured the 4x800 national title in a US #2 time.
“This is everything we ever wanted,” Pennings said.
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.