After coaching the Eastern men’s and women’s cross country teams Ohio Valley Conference Championships Saturday in Nashville, Tenn., Eastern head cross country coach Geoff Masanet prepared for his own race: the New York Marathon.

Masanet admits his time of 3 hours, 24.2 seconds wasn’t his best, but mostly in part because of a tight right hamstring.

Masanet finished in 3,940th place, according to unofficial results among the almost 44,000 competing, making it the largest field ever.

For the second consecutive year, Masanet wore an American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals racing jersey and gave the organization a lot of visibility.

“Seriously, 1000’s of people must have cheered ‘Yeah, go ASPCA!’ when I ran by this year, just like last year,” Masanet said.

His right hamstring has been giving him fits for the past month and limited his training. He also had a knee ligament issue. He tried to get into racing form for the past month before the marathon.

“I approached the race very conservatively and just tried to run 3:16,” he said.

Masanet was on pace during the first 19 miles, but had to slow down because of the hamstring injury.

“If I took a normal stride, it would seize up or cramp or simply hurt too much, so I was forced to run with a short stride and go slow that final (seven or eight miles),” he said.

He had to stop and stretch, but he did finish the race. Masanet is confident for next season. As long as he stays healthy, he said he could run about three hours flat.

Rucker starts business, awaits NFL

Former Eastern wide receiver and NFL practice squad member Micah Rucker still is in contact with his agent.

But for right now, the former All-American is in the gym a lot after being cut by the New York Giants’ practice squad in July. He was on campus last week.

“It’s just tough because I missed a whole training camp and preseason,” Rucker said.

He doesn’t want to rule anything out, but he might not get a look until the end of season.

What hindered Rucker before were injuries, and New York’s draft picks.

“I’m a little older, a little smarter knowing the nooks and crannies of the league,” Rucker said. “I know I can play in the league.”

Rucker was with the New York Giants on their practice squad. He also had stints with the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He did have a chance to compete in the United Football League and a tryout with the California Redwoods a couple of weeks ago, but only had a chance with special teams and didn’t get any reps with the wide receivers.

“That was disappointing because I kind of knew that was going to happen,” Rucker said.

In the meantime, Rucker and a friend are trying to start a business around high school athletes’ skills with sports training in Southwest Florida.

Rucker and his friend are assisting high school athletes and developing their skills.

Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.