Bill Fusco: Bookend Events Saturday Leave Lasting Impression

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first post of the 2010-11 school year by Bill Fusco, Senior Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at Sonoma State University.)

I knew Saturday, October 2 was going to be a long day.

SSU CROSS COUNTRY INVITATIONAL
Up at 5:40 a.m. without the help of an alarm, I was off to Spring Lake for
SSU's first invitational cross country meet in two decades. The minute I
arrived at the Boat Dock area of Spring Lake, I could sense the great wave of energy that was taking place before me. Our student-athletes were out in force with SAAC members leading the way offering "Blue Crew" T-shirts (for a donation of course) and also providing the tailgate buffet of juice, fruit, coffee and bagels for all of us brave enough to venture out on a foggy, wet morning. (Lobo T. Seawolf must have slept in).

As our Women's Cross Country team was warming up, I tried to imagine how exciting it must be for them to run in a real "home" event. Student-athletes from many of our teams came out in force to cheer them on and offer their support. Our Seawolf runners did not disappoint dominating the women's race and posting a perfect team score of 15 ahead of NCAA Division II and III opponents CSU Monterey Bay, Mills College and Dominican University. Every SSU runner posted a personal best time in the meet which was an impressive feat in itself.

Our coaching staff (Mark and Chandra) did a wonderful job hosting the meet. The SSU Admin staff (Yvonne, Megan, Michael, Tyler and Bo) were also in top form carrying out all the details necessary to make this race a reality. This was important for our intercollegiate athletics program as we are scheduled to host the CCAA Cross Country Championships in 2011 here at Spring Lake. This was a test run for next year and everything went exceptionally well giving us the confidence and enthusiasm to host next year's big event.

Pulling away from Spring Lake after the event, I couldn't help but feel this was a great start to a long Saturday.

Back to the office for some work time then home for the requisite Saturday yard work, I found myself (after a shower)heading back to SSU for the next event on the agenda.

11th ANNUAL SSU ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME INDUCTION DINNER
If you haven't been inside the Green Music Hospitality Center, you need to make it a priority to stop in and check it out. The restaurant and bar area where we were hosting our 11th Annual Hall of Fame Dinner is an elegant, five star environment. This was a perfect setting to honor our
four inductees in the class of 2010.

Three of the four inductees, Ed Beaulac (Football), Fehlandt Lentini (Baseball) and Patricia Carrillo (Women's Soccer) were there to celebrate with friends and family. The fourth inductee, Tim Walsh, SSU's former head football coach was busy coaching the Cal Poly SLO Mustangs against Fresno State on ESPN at the same time our dinner was taking place.

Each of the four inductees (Walsh via DVD), in their own unique way spoke emotionally of their experiences as a student-athlete (and coach) at SSU. They all described how much their teammates, coaches and friends still made an impact in their lives today and how much they cherished the experience of being a student-athlete. This event never ceases to amaze me hearing the inspirational and sincere messages from some of the greatest student-athletes in the history of our program. Next year, when we induct our class of 2011, I hope we will be able to invite some of our current student-athletes to attend and experience a very special evening. Thanks to our great administrative staff of Megan, Nancy and Tyler, the dinner was a huge success and was one of the best ones I have attended since we started in 1998.

By the way, while we were enjoying the Hall of Fame Dinner, across campus, our Women's Volleyball team was dismantling the #21 nationally-ranked CSU Monterey Bay Otters 3-0. I was following the match during dinner via iPhone Live Stats and was impressed how quickly the Seawolves took care of business at The Wolves' Den.

By 10:00 p.m., the last of the rowdy Hall of Fame Dinner crowd was on it's way out the door. I headed back to the office to make some notes from this year's Hall of Fame Dinner and the Cross Country meet to make sure I remembered all the great things that were accomplished by hosting these two significant events.

Driving home, I reflected the events of this long day and how fortunate I am to be associated with our exceptional student-athletes and coaches (past and present). It is a privilege to have an administrative support staff that is dedicated daily to making our intercollegiate athletic program the best it possibly can be. I look forward to more days like this one.