Almost 90 colleges and clubs combined sent partial or whole teams to Princeton University’s outdoor facilities at Weaver Stadium for the annual Larry Ellis Invitational Track and Field Meet, and for some teams it marked their first big meet of the season. The long term coach at the university piloted some tremendous athletes and teams and built its program. His teams won numerous Heps cross country and indoor and outdoor titles. He eventually served as president of USA Track and Field for four years and for numerous years as a member of the United States Olympic committee.
This two-day meet drew colleges from all over the country and many clubs from the metropolitan New York-New Jersey area.
One of the early events on the program on Saturday morning was the 4 x 100, better known as the 400-meter relay. The Central Park Track Cub ‘A’ team which comprised Jeremy Bascom, Paul Williams, Andre Marcano and Kevin Thompson clocked in at 40.87 for first place, won the event.
This elite team had a well known runner, Marcano, who anchored the squad. A coach of a middle schools team in New York, Marcano was a former standout athlete at Long Island University. This former standout student athlete hails from Trinidad & Tobago.
“My goal this summer is to qualify for the Commonwealth Games and represent Trinidad,” he said.
“My ultimate goals are to represent Trinidad & Tobago in 2016 in international and regional meets and have personal best performances this year. I train in Brooklyn on the track and at the old Boys & Girls High School.”
The 27-year-old Marcano has been living in New York since 2005. He attended Queens Royal College high school in Trinidad where he started running in his junior year.
Marcano said that there is a difference in running here in the United States and running in Trinidad and Tobaggo.
“At home it (the weather) is actually hot (where as it’s cold here in New York at times),” he added after his relay race at Princeton. “Everything else is still the coach’s. Everything else is still the same.”
While at Long Island University, he was coached by Simon Hodnett, who is still the head coach.
“When I came out of high school, I had many injuries and I wasn’t that strong mentally and physically,” he said. “He prepared me for the future and to be a better athlete and to be strong.”
Meanwhile, Monroe College’s Katleho Dyoyi timed in at 3:58.93 for first place in his heat of the 1500-meter race and overall placed eighth. Troy Lawson ran a 22.12 in the 100-meter dash and Analoni Davis clocked in at 43.42 in the 400-meter run, and 15.0 in the 110-meter hurdles.
