DMR Lives Up to the Hype

Really after a race like that all you can say is wow. I heard people throwing out numbers like 10:05 for the winning team's time and I thought there was no way we would see something that quick. I thought it would take a big effort for any lead off leg to run under 3:05 and for an anchor to break 4:10. I thought it would be impossible to have 4 guys run PRs on the same day.

But when the dust finally cleared, the Henderson v. O'Hara match up had once again produced a legendary and historic result. Easily the #1 and #2 times in PA history were run at the armory last night as O'Hara claimed a national championship in 10:00.75 and Henderson clocked 10:04.45 for a close 3rd. O'Hara's mark was also a National Meet Record and #2 All-Time. Henderson's mark will slot them in at #8 all time, ahead of legendary teams like West Windsor Plainsboro (the Rosa's squad) and South Lakes (Alan Webb's team). In the last two years (not including the results of today's 4xMile and 4x8) both of these teams have produced top 10 all time marks in the DMR and the 4xMile. Pretty impressive stuff. We are witnessing one of the best eras for PA track and field that may have ever been.

First let's talk about Henderson. The splits from the Armory website say they split about this:
Moy 3:08.44, Thompson 51.54, Stratman 1:57.31, Russell 4:07.16

Unreal split by Russell who ran incredible to get his team back into the mix and finish in the top 3. But really, all of these guys had strong days. The Henderson guys somehow managed to turn a 58 leg into a 51 leg just by switching in Thompson who has run some 400s. Stratman ran 1:57 which is faster than I expected for sure. On paper a 1:57 out of Stratman would have been huge. Moy had a solid day as well and his 3:08 is much better than the 4:25 he ran at states in my opinion. Overall, four very strong performances. If you had shown me this splits ahead of time I 100% would have believed Henderson beat O'Hara and likely won the meet. Great running by these guys and they ought to be very, very proud. We will see what they have left today, but keep in mind Russell is making his way into pretty historic territory with this split. I really hope we get a chance to see what he can do at 2 miles outdoors.

As for O'Hara, they just ran perfect. Kevin James has a lot of guts. He went straight to the front, he pounded the pace, and he never looked back. I gotta give this kid credit. I would not have expected a 1200m PR for this guy at this meet, it just hasn't seemed like he has gotten all his fitness back after his long XC season, but he put it all out there and came up big for O'Hara to help them stay in the mix the whole way. James just runs with a lot of heart out there. Strong 400m leg (possibly a PR?) from Cooper and then Nick Smart took over. O'Hara's biggest advantage coming into the race was the potential of up and coming 800m stud Nick Smart. He didn't disappoint and ran a 1:53 split that put all the pressure on Belfatto to keep the lead.

So keep this in mind, Belfatto gets the baton probably about 8ish seconds up on Henderson. If Belfatto runs the 4:15 equivalent for 16 that he ran at indoor states (which was already a fairly sizeable PR might I add) he gets caught by Russell at the end of the race. Instead Belfatto, with no push and competition runs an incredibly smooth 4:11 for yet another MASSIVE PR. The list of guys who have 4:11 for 1600m indoors is quite small. You're looking at probably only Springer, Russell and Mancini who have better marks than that indoors and I'd imagine all those guys had a tad more competition than Belfatto did out there. Here's the thing about Belfatto. For a while there he had the school record in the 3200m because he time trialed a blazing 9:22ish mark at the Henderson meet. He could also run 1:54 on relay splits with a good amount of consistency. So the potential was always there for paths to cross at one mile and for him to break out. But who could have seen this coming? Dropping your PR by roughly 10 seconds in a three week span just in time for two of the clutchest performances of his life? That's pretty crazy. He closed down in about 30 for his last 200m of this race too. The clock had just hit 9:30 when he went through the line and the national record chase was on.

Outdoors both of these teams could be sub 10. O'Hara needs to find a little less than a second to drop from the following splits:
James 3:03.83, Cooper 51.72, Smart 1:53.69. Belfatto 4:11.51

Henderson needs to get about 5 seconds of time from their relay which I think is quite plausible.

Here is what each team will need to run to be within the top 10 all time performances in the 4xMile and DMR later today.

4 x MILE
17:20.20		Chariho, Wood River Junction, Rhode Island	2012
17:21.56		Shaker, Latham, New York	2012
17:21.58		West Windsor-Plainsboro North, Plainsboro, New Jersey	2009
17:22.12		Memorial, Haddonfield, New Jersey	2010
17:22.67		Christian Brothers, Lincroft, New Jersey)	2013
17:23.43		Henderson, West Chester, Pennsylvania	2013
17:25.38		O’Hara, Springfield, Pennsylvania	2013
17:25.98		Shenendehowa, Clifton Park, New York	2004
17:27.31		Saratoga Springs, New York	2013
17:28.47		Danbury, Connecticut	2008

4 x 800
7:36.99		Albemarle, Charlottesville, Virginia	2009
7:41.10		Boys & Girls, Brooklyn, New York	2012
7:41.53		Christian Brothers, Lincroft, New Jersey	2012
7:42.22		Syosset, New York	2005
7:42.67		York, Elmhurst, Illinois	2000
7:42.84		Shaker, Latham, New York	2005
7:43.64		Cherokee, Marlton, New Jersey	2012
7:43.84		Kellenberg, Uniondale, New Jersey	2012
7:43.91		Morris Hills, Rockaway, New Jersey	2009
7:44.07		John XXIII, Sparta, New Jersey	2012

O'Hara is looking to match Albermarle who, back in 2009, ran 10:02 and 7:36 back to back days at Nationals. At Penn Relays, Albermarle broke the outdoor national record when they dropped a 7:30.67 (now #3 all time). No one has even been close to the mark set by Albermarle in 09 indoors as you can tell from the list, so a sub 7:40 indoor performance is truly spectacular.  The 4xMile record has been on assault for years so it will be interesting to see if Henderson can snag it this year. To break 7:40 you need to average faster than 1:55.0. To break 17:20 you need to run an average of 4:20 for a full mile (about 4:18 for 1600m).

Truly a fantastically fun Day 1 of NBIN for PA. Shout out to Colin Martin and Tessa Barrett on some very good 5k marks as well.

More to come on the various national meets throughout the week!