April 17, 2009

Garden City, N.Y. - Sean Harte has dedicated himself to training and competing. That perseverance has allowed him to gain a wealth of new experiences. Harte has been part of the Cross Country team and Track & Field for the past four years at Adelphi University, competing at track meets and striving to be the best.

Sean Harte is a native New Yorker, living in Queens Village and an alumni of Francis Lewis High School, in Fresh Meadows, NY. In his senior year, Harte decided that Adelphi University was the right pick for him. "[Adelphi] was not only was it close to home, but not far from the city," Harte explained of his decision to attend. He recalls four years ago what attracted him to Adelphi. "I fell in love with the campus at the time. I thought it was a beautiful campus and the small class sizes are what I was looking for in a university."

Harte was a runner before he got to Adelphi, as a member of his high school's Indoor and Outdoor team and Cross Country teams and awarded with Most Improved for both Cross Country and Indoor track. From that point on, he could only keep going and keep improving.

Harte's personal best times were achieved in the 2008 season. In cross-country, he completed the 8K with a time of 26:30 and the 10K, finished with a time of 34:01. On the track, Harte completed the 800m with a time of 1:59.58 and the 1500m in a time of 4:04.50. Not only did he achieve personal best times for 2008, but Harte also received honors as an All-Collegiate Track Championship (CTC), indoors in the 4x800 and outdoors in the 4x800 and 1500m. As part of a team, the Panther 4x800 relay was named Indoor MVP. He credits his team for putting him in the right direction when it came to training and studying, stating "[they] helped push me to become who I am today."

The values that he has learned from running on the track team, have influenced Harte's everyday life. The work ethic of training, teamwork, striving for the best, and always keeping a step a head builds the character that not only he embodies, but his team members as well. Through recollections of the past seasons, Harte describes not only his best, but the team's achievement. He fondly remembers the 2006 season, "[i]t was the conference championship and during that season the team was slowly improving but we were still being put down by the rankings. After a hard race we were able to beat them for the first time in years."

Not only does Harte recall all the things he has done as a member of the track team, but some of the benefits of it as well. One of Harte's main goals is to improve on all of his personal best times from the first year as an Adelphi Panther to now. The benefit of being recognized as a hard worker and an accomplished athlete from the Adelphi Community has added to personal recognition of success. Being able to also train in the new Center for Recreation and Sports has allowed him, and his teammates, to become stronger runners. They hope that once the facilities are completed there is room for more personal enhancement for each of the team's members.

As a graduating senior with a degree in Business Management, Harte is looking to the future with memories and accomplishments of the seasons' past. For most seniors, such as Harte, the four years have had their ups and downs, but there are so many lessons learned and applied to make them the people who they are today.

Well wishes for success to the new members and returning members of both Track & Field and Cross Country teams.

Lauren Bochat is a senior business management major at Adelphi University.