Iona Prep catching some heat
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- May
- 19
I noticed that people were not to happy about Iona Prep winning the county title. I figured I’d give you my opinion on the blog and see what you think.
I completely understand where the public schools are coming from. Iona is a Catholic school that can get students all throughout Westchester and the Bronx to attend its school. While these other teams are relegated to its specific area. Scarsdale can only get athletes from Scarsdale, New Rochelle from New Rochelle and so on.
However, when Iona Prep is bad or Kennedy is bad no one cares. It’s only when these teams are good that people knock them. The Gaels have a good team, but they’re not unbeatable. This past weekend the team had a great meet. They dominated from beginning to end. The indoor season was real close, and New Rochelle or Scarsdale could have easily won that meet.
Should Iona be allowed to compete in the county championships?
I would have to say yes. They are located in Westchester, it’s only fair. Do they have an unfair advantage over other schools? Maybe a slight one with having students from throughout Westchester and the Bronx on its team. But recruiting athletes? I find it hard to believe that Jan Mitchell is out in Scarsdale trying to find the next great distance runner or scouting through Ramapo to see if he can convince a sprinter to cross the river and join the Gaels. As one coach told me on Saturday, it’s cyclical. One year a team might have the athletes to win counties and other times it’s just not your year. This year it was Iona Prep’s year.
I feel in track, yes you can have that great athlete, like a Julian Sheinbaum or a Mike Hickey or a Mike Abelard or Kevin Malivert, but you win because a team develops OK runners into good runners and good runners into very good runner, to maybe not win the race, but at least score.
And this year Mitchell did a good job of doing that. Some years Iona might fall short and not have the athletes to compete, but that wasn’t this year. And the knocks on Jan Mitchell aren’t fair. Every coach wants to win. I don’t think there was one coach at the county meet who didn’t want their team to win either the class or open. Maybe Mitchell might be more vocal about it, but they all want to win. His job is to squeeze the most amount of points out of his athletes. This past weekend he did. He had the athletes to compete and he did a good job of maximizing their abilities.
It might be unfair that Iona competes in the county meet, but they do. You don’t hear this about Kennedy or Albertus Magnus or Stepinac competing at the county meet, only Iona. Because if the catholic schools aren’t winning then no one cares. They might have a slight advantage over some of these other schools, but not to the extent where the Gaels should win every year. They could be competitive most years, but I don’t think they should be expected to win every year. I mean look at the girls, New Rochelle wins every year. Is that fair? They are the largest school in the county. You can say they have an unfair advantage because they have more athletes to choose from than other schools. I think the only thing you can do is tip your cap to Iona and hope you beat them next year.
This entry was posted
on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 7:31 am by Dan Marra.
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I am doing this for the first time – I am not a fan of this type of Anonymous communication but many of my athletes have come to me concerning the comments made about our Track and Field Program, their win on Saturday and me as a Coach!
First of all – everyone has a right to dislike me – not a problem I can live with that – I do my best for my athletes both at Iona Prep and Ursuline [FYI – I also have been a Section I coach for 18 years] and running two very successful programs is a difficult task [there are very few coaches that run two Teams of this size for three seasons each year] – but it is a labor of love!
I am sorry that my fire and enthusiasm rubs individuals the wrong way! Perhaps that’s why we perform well on a regular basis.
Those who have issues with me [Coaches] should come and speak to me directly rather than speak harshly in an Anonymous manner – there is never a championship meet that we attend that I don’t go up to the winning coach to congratulate him/her and their athletes! I wish all coaches in Westchester would do that but sad to say they don’t! My athletes live in towns all over Westchester and are friends with many athletes [many since early childhood] – my Teams win with class and lose with dignity – I am always proud of them – win or lose!
I have coached at Iona Prep for 33 years and hopefully have many years still left!
Iona Prep has never given athletic scholarships – we do give academic scholarship [competitive exam] and we give financial aid to deserving students! The parents of Iona Prep students live all over Westchester County – they pay taxes into their towns school budgets and yet they elect to pay thousands of dollars to have their children get a Catholic education – so in reality those in public schools benefit as you have less students in your classes!
We do not recruit athletes – 99% of my athletes have never been on a Track Team when they arrive at Iona Prep in the 9th grade. As we know track and cross country are the ugly stepchildren of high school athletics – it is harder and harder to convince teenagers and their parents to commit to this great sport – years ago we would have 120 to 150 athletes on our Spring Team now we have about 70 to 80 – there is a lot of work that takes place behind the scene to get this done at the same level as I expect!
The Westchester County Championships is a tremendous opportunity for the Track athletes of Westchester to get together and actually see who is the best in each event – how incredible is that – in no other sport is that done – but three times yearly a County Champion is crowned in Cross and Track – Amazing! As we know times and distances don’t lie – large – medium or small schools we get a County Champion – individually and as a Team [during this century Somers – Irvington and Hendrik Hudson have all won the boys Open Team title]! The meet has absolutely nothing to do with Section I [many writing into this blog need to do their collective homework] – this is a Championship solely sponsored by the Coaches Association [every coach needs to be a member and every school pays an entry fee] and has always been open to all schools physically in Westchester – All Catholics – Privates etc. – this is not a public school championship – every public will be having their Class Championships this week! Congrats!
This was the 55th Annual Outdoor Championships which makes it one of the oldest meets in NYS. Iona Prep has competed almost every year [I have found archived results of Iona Prep from the 1950’s! We have lost many more times than we have won! In certain years this meet conflicts with our CHSAA Sectionals [equal to a Class Championship] – we have made every effort to compete in both events – even holding the CHSAA on Sunday with my athletes competing on back to back days and in the Fall we run the CHSAA meet two days after the County meet [very difficult task]. This year we had a conflict and last year we missed out on our State Qualifier – but that was our choice! We truly value the opportunity to compete against the best in Westchester! Also our seniors had their prom on Friday night and it was certainly much easier for them to come to Byram Hills then to get to Staten Island – as far as the CHSAA is concerned – Iona Prep has won more Sectional titles then any other school in our Section and we are very proud of that achievement!
Lastly – mention has been made of disqualifications etc. – what a pleasure it was to have a meet where the athletes decided the outcome not officials – we do have too many DQ’s at many of these Championships! One of my sons who was a 13’6” vaulter and 57 Intermediate Hurdler got a DQ in 1994 when he let out the F word when he and another Iona athlete were the only two competitors remaining – he was then out of the Hurdles also – so we have more than our share. So it was great that nothing “bad” happened on Saturday!
I wish everyone continued success in their athletic and academic careers – I will also tell my athletes to discontinue the Anonymous blogging – I apologize for anything offensive that they wrote – this means of communication really serves no purpose at all!
Jan Mitchell – Head Coach – Iona Prep and Ursuline School
You know, the whole “heat” thing began with a simple question, only to be answered by a really rude, arrogant kid from Iona. That did not help matters. A simple explanation like the one from TrackCoach would have sufficed. That is the problem. To win is one thing. To compete is wonderful. To be arrogant and stuck up and extremely rude, is another. Iona kids and their coach are well known for their really rude comments both on the track and off. I personally have overheard Coach Mitchell insulting one team or another, with his loud comments clearly meant to be heard by everyone around him, and I have witnessed him screaming to get other teams’ kids DQ’d. So, his comment about it being a shame to have kids DQ’d flies in the face of his conduct at more than a few meets. Nobody complains about other teams that win because they do it so much more gratiously. They don’t walk around acting as though they are so much better, and so much brighter than everyone around them. So, please stop acting as though people commenting are upset that Iona won this year. The real problem seems to lie with how they act, how they compete, and how rude they are to other athletes. Go back and read what the kids from Iona had to say. Read slowly and understand the arrogance and insults. Then tell us again that we should “tip our cap” to them.
Noone complains that Ursuline is in a league with 5 other public school teams. Noone should complain about iona.