Where have you gone Charlie Marsala?
March 11, 2010 - Simon and Garfunkel’s classic song “Mrs. Robinson” is famous
for the verse “Where have you gone Joe
Dimaggio?”.
This is referring to the absence of great American heroes during the 1960s. For the first 10 years of this
century another version of this song could read “Where have you gone Charlie Marsala”, referring to the lack of Staten Island collegiate milers excelling in college, as Marsala did as a many time All American at Indiana University during the 1980s. However, there has been a change to the scene. While there are no NCAA Division 1 All Americans there are a number of top milers from Staten Island running well in college. The following athletes have all run under 4:20 for the mile this indoor season.
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Jeff Brannigan: The junior at American University (Curtis H.S.) has run 4:10 for the mile twice this season. His best event appears to be the 3000m where he has run 8:13 this year.
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Dan Lewis: The senior at Villanova University (Monsignor Farrell H.S.) has run 4:10 this season. A great distance runner he has also run 14:20 and 14:24 for 5000m this year.
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James Cannon: The freshman at American University (St.Peter’s H.S.) has run 4:14 for the mile this year. He was a sub 4:20 1600m runner in high school and has already had big improvements in college.
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Jeff Carbonella: The senior at Princeton University (Monsignor Farrell H.S.) has run 4:18 for the mile this indoor season. He has personal best times of 1:52 (800m) and 3:53 (1500m).
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Joe Gentsch: The junior at SUNY New Paltz (Curtis H.S.) has run 4:18 this year. Joe is running for a school that competes officially as a team only during the Cross Country season. More amazingly he was a NYC PSAL high jump champion in high school.
Additionally:
Vito Cannavo, a senior at Harvard University (Monsignor Farrell H.S.), has a collegiate mile best of 4:19. While Alex Orlando, a freshman at Villanova University (Monsignor Farrell
H.S.), has a mile best from high school of 4:19.
While not officially Staten Islanders I always hope for Wagner College athletes to do well as I consider them temporary Islanders.
This indoor season Wagner has run a 10:03 distance medley led by James Johnston (a 4:19 miler) and Thomas Iannacone ( a 4:14 relay leg).
Moving into the collegiate ranks next year will be outstanding high school milers Dan Zaccariello of St. Joseph By The Sea and Jason Stapleton of Curtis High School. All of this success combined with the talent and hard work of our runners leaves me hope that maybe Staten Island will have the next Charlie Marsala in the near future.
Good Luck to all,
Tom Kelly
