When the sun rose on Saturday, May 17, Xavier runners of all ages were hopeful and optimistic, but few knew the day would begin with banner performances by the Xavier faculty in the Brooklyn Half Marathon and end with the Xavier Track and Field Team capturing the Archdiocesan championship in a thrilling showdown with Fordham Prep.

Lining up at 7:00 a.m. outside the Brooklyn Botanical Garden with over 25,500 other runners for the annual running of the Brooklyn Half Marathon were Xavier faculty members Aidan Byrne, William Martino, Jack Raslowsky, Colleen Rober and Jen Unger. They were joined at the starting line by Susan McNicholas P’15 and Danielle Kelly, wife of Xavier trustee Bill Kelly ’91, Greg Goldberg '05 and, we suspect, a host of other alumni and parents for a 13.1 mile romp through Brooklyn. Passing the Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Museum, the race took our runners through Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park and then down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island for the finish and post-race celebration in MCU Stadium, the site of Xavier at the Cyclones on June 26.

Ms. Rober had never been a prolific runner prior to roughly a year and a half ago, and this was her first half marathon ever. "A half marathon seemed like the right way to challenge myself and see how much distance I was really capable of," she said. "The past three months of training were time consuming, but I'm so happy to have participated in this event...It was well worth the weeks of blisters and sore hamstrings, and I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't be my last race."

Ms. Unger, with an outstanding time of 1:34:30 (7:13 miles) topped all of our Xavier runners edging out Mr. Martino (who completed the 2013 NYC marathon along with Mr. Raslowsky in November) at 1:34:42, while Mr. Byrne at 1:37:35 and Ms. Rober at 1:54:42 followed. More info on the Brooklyn Half Marathon can be found at www.nyrr.org. Please see This Week in Sports for a full run down of the track championships.