Robbo's senior XC season is upon us!  But first a little update on some summer running...

During our family vacation to Hawaii, Rob and his dad decided to run the 5K race as part of the the Kona Marathon race day.  Robbo WON and set a course record!!  It was a gorgeous course and he led from start to finish!

And, of course, it's always about the hardware.  ;-)  Congratulations, Robbo!

Bishop Guertin Takes 3rd at CMI

Rob ran a strong race to help BG take third at the 2011 Catholic Memorial Invitational, running a muddy 17:44. A fellow Westford runner, Chris Cogliano, led all BG runners with an overall 14th place finish in a field of 238.

State Champs!

Bishop Guertin edged out Pinkerton to take home the Division 1 state title! Held at Derryfield Park in Manchester, Rob ran a 17:23 5K (a 42-second improvement over the same course he ran only 6-weeks earlier at the Manchester Invitational!).

Teammate Chris Cogliano led the way, finishing 3rd in the state. Little brother Austin came dressed as the mascot Cardinal and posed in the pics. :-)

BG Bound!

Rob transferred to Bishop Guertin in the fall to begin his sophomore year. He is now being coached by Steve Hunt (who was the NCAA cross country champion in 1979), and running with a great group of guys who are both excellent kids and elite runners. He is looking forward to a great year!

Rob made the varsity cross country team (not an easy task!) and they won their first meet... the Souhegan XC Relays at Amherst Farms. A great start to the season!

Silver Medalists!

At the end of June, Rob and three of his friends competed at the USATF Youth Outdoor Championships down in Myrtle Beach, SC. They placed second in the Intermediate Boys 4x800 relay with a recorded time of 7:50.16, earning each of them All-American status.

Pictured are Arthur Whitehead, Thomas Ellis, Patrick Turpin, and Rob. Congrats, guys!

A Year Later

Wow, how time flies... Robbo has almost completed his freshman year in high school. It is hard to believe. He ran varsity cross country at Westford Academy last fall, finishing 21st in the DCL league meet - a very strong showing, especially for a freshman. His team finished second in the Eastern Mass class meet, qualifying for All-States.

During the winter, he played point guard on the freshman basketball team. They almost pulled off an undefeated season, finishing 16-1!

He most recently wrapped up his spring track season at WA. He ran the 2-mile, mile, and 800 at random times, but most frequently ending up running on an all-frosh/soph 4x800 relay team, which qualified for states!

So now it's on to training for USATF Nationals at the end of June...

Successful Middle School Track Season

Robbo just completed his final middle school track season, leaving Stony Brook Middle School with a couple of new records: 5:02 in the mile, and 2:15 in the 800M run. His dad helped coach the team this season as a volunteer and together they had lots of fun.

Many of the Rob's teammates from the Stony Brook spring track team have joined his club team and are now NiteHawks training for the AAU and USATF summer circuits. Exciting times are just around the corner, as this coming Saturday is the AAU New England District Championship meet.

12th Place at Cross Country Nationals

Running in cold, rainy conditions, Robbo placed 12th with a time of 14:30.30 in the sub-youth 4K race at the Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World. Below is a picture of the start:

And then Robbo and Austin when the weather was much better!

Congratulations, Robbo, on a great cross country season!!

USATF New England's

Robbo ran a 15:01 in what turned out to be a tough, muddy, hilly, New Hampshire course. Placing 6th in the Youth (13-14 year-old) Division, Robbo led his team - which was made up entirely of 8th graders - to a second-place finish!

Below, Robbo's little brother Austin and his buddy wrestle while waiting for the race to begin:




The start. Nitehawks are in red w/black shorts:



Robbo at the 3.5K mark. He picked off 3 guys between here and the finish line!




Next up? AAU Nationals on December 5th! In the meantime... travel basketball season is underway. :-)

AAU New England X-C Champion!

Robbo competed in the New England District cross country championships last weekend, setting a new course record in the Youth division 4K race of 13:52. He and his club team, the Nitehawks, advanced to the National Cross Country Championships in December at Disney's Wide World of Sports.

Mickey Mouse, here we come!

Middle School X-C Career Completed

Robbo finished out his 8th grade middle school X-C season undefeated. Yes, you read that correctly... UNDEFEATED!! He set new course records on every course this season, except one (and there's a story about that one)!




He leaves Stony Brook Middle School cross country with an existing course record of 11:46, and a lot of great memories and fun times with friends on the course.

Wayland XC Festival

This year, rather than competing in the 3K for his 11-14 age group, Robbo chose to run in the open 5K race to better prepare for the 4K race in the upcoming JO competition.

He ran very well with a time of 18:47, finishing 32nd among some very tough and elite x-country runners. He placed 4th within the 19-and-under age group.

Race for the Cure - Boston

Wearing her pink hat and running in memory of Lynne, Robbo ran in his first Race for the Cure last weekend. Out of a field of thousands of runners and walkers, he came in an amazing 22nd place!! His time for the 5K was a personal best of 18:52. Here is a video of parts of the race:

New Course Record

This afternoon was the first meet of the season for the Stony Brook Middle School cross country team. They came up short against Carlisle Middle School, finishing 1-3 but the Carlisle team filled the rest of the top eight places.

Rob showed great improvement over his last year's time, running a 12:03 -- cutting well over a minute off of his time and blasting away the old course record of 12:38!

The kid loves to run...

Little Bit 'O Press

The Lowell Sun ran a brief article about Rob yesterday... :-)

The Hardware!

Yeah, go ahead and smile... you earned it!

Medalist in 3K!!

Robbo made it to the medal stand with a 7th place finish in this morning's 3K race! Fighting through a cramp that hit about a mile into the race, he gutted it out to a 10:21.17 finish. So not only is he a fast runner, he's also a tough one, too.

Congratulations, Robbo! A great finish to a fantastic outdoor track season!!

10th Nationally in 1500M!

Robbo ran a great race this morning, finishing a strong 10th place in an amazing race of elite runners! He ran a 4:40.51, eleven seconds faster than his previous best time. Below is a video of the race:




Congratulations, Robbo!! Next race is Saturday morning, 3K.

Next Up: Nationals

As the countdown to the Jr. Olympics continues there are a few links that may be of interest. The first is the performance list that has just been released. Robbo will be running the Sub-Youth 1500M and 3K. Another is the link to the AAU Junior Olympics site itself.

Additionally, Rob's two races are among those that are available for live viewing via the internet (Thursday, Aug 6, 8:15am; and Saturday, Aug 8, 8:15am). There is a fee, however; and I will be posting results and video after the race. So unless you are like our friend Kevin Lynch who is a "live-only" viewer, you may choose to save the money and wait for the movie!

Robbo has been training hard for this event and his enthusiasm is evident. I will pass along any comments and well-wishes that you choose to leave on the site, as he continues his countdown to Des Moines!

Fun in the Sun!

Robbo and Austin both participated last Saturday in the annual Needham Youth Classic Track Meet here in the Boston metro area. The under-6 crowd is for ribbons and medals, and the 7+ athletes compete for points for their team. Rob's team, the Nitehawks, garnered 6th place.

Rob used this local meet as a sprint workout, running the 400M (62.1) and a half-hour later, the 800M (2:20). He also threw himself over the high jump bar and into the long jump pit, and tried his arm out in the softball throw and turbo jav throw. It was a fun family day!

Here is a picture of Robbo and Matt (his teammate, training partner, and good friend) during the meet.