Lisette Hautau - Tappan Zee 1978
When Lisette Hautau harks back to her running career at Tappan Zee, she remembers the grueling 20-milers she did on Sunday mornings with teammate Louise Formon. She remembers younger sister Monica asking her “Are you gonna catch me today?” as they traveled to often-rainy Van Cortlandt Park on the team bus. She recalls the pungent smell of Ben-Gay permeating the stale air at the New York City Armory, back in the day when its track was an unbanked wooden-board oval and its broken clock was frozen in time at a quarter to 5.
Rockland track followers also remember something else about Lisette: She didn’t lose very much. Three straight years she won the Rockland County cross country title (1975, ’76 and ’77), one of only four girls to win three or more County XC crowns. She was MVP of the 1977 Rockland spring championships, sweeping the mile – in 5:08.5, a County and Section 9 record – and two mile.
Lisette’s legacy was secured when she clocked personal-best times that stood as indoor County records for 29 and 28 years , respectively – 10:11.5 for 3,000 meters, en route to victory at the 1977 Region 1 AAU Senior Women’s Championships, and 11:00.9 for two miles, tying for first with rival Brenda Saunders of Clarkstown South at the ’77 AAU indoor meet. The clocking just missed qualifying her for the U.S. Junior Olympics, as did the 10:37.0 she ran to win the 3,000 later in the meet. Yes, she ran a two mile and 3,000 in the same meet – you know those crazy distance runners.
As the first two superstars in girls’ distance running in Rockland County, Lisette and Brenda Saunders (who was a year older) hooked up in many a memorable duel, each claiming an equal share of the battles. “She was faster, so the way I could beat her was to try to burn her out with a faster pace,” Lisette says. “When I raced her it was pretty even.”
Lisette swept the mile and two mile at the 1978 indoor County meet, and captured the two mile at the second annual Rockland girls’ spring championships in 1976. She won the mile at the 1977 St. Francis Prep Games at the Armory in a meet-record 5:16.9, and her indoor mile best of 5:10.2 is ranked eighth on the all-time Rockland list.
In cross country, Lisette finished fifth in the 1976 State meet; won the 1977 Albertus Magnus Invitational by 1 minute 15 seconds, a record victory margin; and clocked 17:57 at Bear Mountain, No. 6 on the all-time Rockland list. On the roads, her peak performance came at the 1977 New England Relays in Manchester, Conn., where she won the open three-mile road race in 16:21 – an average of 5:27 per mile – and came back the next day to win the scholastic mile in 5:29.
High mileage was in vogue for distance runners in the 1970s and Lisette championed that approach, running five miles every morning in addition to after-school workouts. She absorbed heavy-duty workouts like 20 x 440 yards in 80 seconds apiece with a short rest. “I always had a strong will,” she says. “When you will yourself you can do repeats on the track like that. The fastest I could do for a quarter was 72, but I could do eight of them at 72.”
Bob Zucker, Lisette’s coach her first three years, kept scrupulous records of his athletes’ training, having them maintain running logs, implementing morning runs, monitoring pulse rate, diet and weight, and customizing the workouts based on this cumulative input and his observations. Zucker’s assistant, Mark Morris, took over during Lisette’s senior year, and Gibby Sweet and Linda Gerbracht also coached her for short stints. “I was fortunate to have the coaches I did,” she says, also citing the strong support and “great inspiration” she received from Bob Eckert of the TZ boys’ team, which trained with the girls’ squad in cross country.
Lisette earned a full-tuition scholarship to Connecticut and competed every season for the Huskies, garnering 11 varsity awards in 12 seasons and captaining the cross country team for three years. After graduating from UConn with a bachelor’s degree in economics, she obtained her master’s in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson and fulfilled the rigorous four-part requirements to become a CPA.
Lisette worked for an accounting firm in Blauvelt for five years, then spent 18 years as an accounting financial manager for a direct marketing firm in Rye. The past two years she has served as national accounts funding manager for Pepsico, working out of a satellite office in Valhalla.
An Ossining resident for 18 years, Lisette has volunteered with the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department for the past 15 ½ years. She holds the distinction of having been the first female captain of the Scarborough Engine Company, one of three companies within the fire department. She’s also treasurer of that company, president of the fire department’s benevolent association and administrator for its service awards, which are 401K-type plans for firefighters. “It’s a good feeling giving back,” says Lisette, who also has served as an emergency medical technician.
After an almost decade-long layoff from running, Lisette is working build back up to a competitive level, doing 3- to 4-mile runs five days a week. A troublesome left knee (IT band) injury prevents her from doing the longer runs that came routinely in her younger years, but her goals these days are more modest.
“Now I compete against a shadow of myself,” says Lisette, who is 48. “In high school it was more rigorous; I pounded out the miles. Now I do it because I love it. If I don’t do it, I think I should be out there.”
Rockland track followers also remember something else about Lisette: She didn’t lose very much. Three straight years she won the Rockland County cross country title (1975, ’76 and ’77), one of only four girls to win three or more County XC crowns. She was MVP of the 1977 Rockland spring championships, sweeping the mile – in 5:08.5, a County and Section 9 record – and two mile.
Lisette’s legacy was secured when she clocked personal-best times that stood as indoor County records for 29 and 28 years , respectively – 10:11.5 for 3,000 meters, en route to victory at the 1977 Region 1 AAU Senior Women’s Championships, and 11:00.9 for two miles, tying for first with rival Brenda Saunders of Clarkstown South at the ’77 AAU indoor meet. The clocking just missed qualifying her for the U.S. Junior Olympics, as did the 10:37.0 she ran to win the 3,000 later in the meet. Yes, she ran a two mile and 3,000 in the same meet – you know those crazy distance runners.
As the first two superstars in girls’ distance running in Rockland County, Lisette and Brenda Saunders (who was a year older) hooked up in many a memorable duel, each claiming an equal share of the battles. “She was faster, so the way I could beat her was to try to burn her out with a faster pace,” Lisette says. “When I raced her it was pretty even.”
Lisette swept the mile and two mile at the 1978 indoor County meet, and captured the two mile at the second annual Rockland girls’ spring championships in 1976. She won the mile at the 1977 St. Francis Prep Games at the Armory in a meet-record 5:16.9, and her indoor mile best of 5:10.2 is ranked eighth on the all-time Rockland list.
In cross country, Lisette finished fifth in the 1976 State meet; won the 1977 Albertus Magnus Invitational by 1 minute 15 seconds, a record victory margin; and clocked 17:57 at Bear Mountain, No. 6 on the all-time Rockland list. On the roads, her peak performance came at the 1977 New England Relays in Manchester, Conn., where she won the open three-mile road race in 16:21 – an average of 5:27 per mile – and came back the next day to win the scholastic mile in 5:29.
High mileage was in vogue for distance runners in the 1970s and Lisette championed that approach, running five miles every morning in addition to after-school workouts. She absorbed heavy-duty workouts like 20 x 440 yards in 80 seconds apiece with a short rest. “I always had a strong will,” she says. “When you will yourself you can do repeats on the track like that. The fastest I could do for a quarter was 72, but I could do eight of them at 72.”
Bob Zucker, Lisette’s coach her first three years, kept scrupulous records of his athletes’ training, having them maintain running logs, implementing morning runs, monitoring pulse rate, diet and weight, and customizing the workouts based on this cumulative input and his observations. Zucker’s assistant, Mark Morris, took over during Lisette’s senior year, and Gibby Sweet and Linda Gerbracht also coached her for short stints. “I was fortunate to have the coaches I did,” she says, also citing the strong support and “great inspiration” she received from Bob Eckert of the TZ boys’ team, which trained with the girls’ squad in cross country.
Lisette earned a full-tuition scholarship to Connecticut and competed every season for the Huskies, garnering 11 varsity awards in 12 seasons and captaining the cross country team for three years. After graduating from UConn with a bachelor’s degree in economics, she obtained her master’s in accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson and fulfilled the rigorous four-part requirements to become a CPA.
Lisette worked for an accounting firm in Blauvelt for five years, then spent 18 years as an accounting financial manager for a direct marketing firm in Rye. The past two years she has served as national accounts funding manager for Pepsico, working out of a satellite office in Valhalla.
An Ossining resident for 18 years, Lisette has volunteered with the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department for the past 15 ½ years. She holds the distinction of having been the first female captain of the Scarborough Engine Company, one of three companies within the fire department. She’s also treasurer of that company, president of the fire department’s benevolent association and administrator for its service awards, which are 401K-type plans for firefighters. “It’s a good feeling giving back,” says Lisette, who also has served as an emergency medical technician.
After an almost decade-long layoff from running, Lisette is working build back up to a competitive level, doing 3- to 4-mile runs five days a week. A troublesome left knee (IT band) injury prevents her from doing the longer runs that came routinely in her younger years, but her goals these days are more modest.
“Now I compete against a shadow of myself,” says Lisette, who is 48. “In high school it was more rigorous; I pounded out the miles. Now I do it because I love it. If I don’t do it, I think I should be out there.”