States Recap: Mile

You can see a recap of the 800m in the post below.

The mile race allowed Tony Russell to continue to show off just how much better than this field he was on paper. He ran out front did all the work and ran away from a slew of very talented guys who grabbed the rest of the state medals for PA. Russell looked very smooth throughout, kind of fell asleep in the middle (but again, no push at any point), and brought it home just short of the record. I think he still closed down around 61 seconds or something of that sort.

Yes, Russell looked up at the clock on the home straight to look for the time and I'm sure that could have cost him a little bit of time, but can you blame the guy? Half the field was guilty of clock watching this weekend (which of course drives an audience crazy, but I've done it plenty of times before in my day) and a guy who is miles in front of the field chasing a state record with no push besides the clock is going to be more likely than anyone to cheat a glance up there. I don't blame you Tony, we have all been there.

 Luckily the outdoor states clock is within our normal line of sight.

Tony dominated this race overall no matter how you slice it and had a fantastic season which is one for the record books no doubt. Outdoors I would love to see this guy move up to the 3200m and mix it up in a quality field, but obviously if no one emerges who can challenge him over 1600m (Brehm and Francis moving up?) than why wouldn't you go after a repeat state championship?

Behind Tony in this race we saw the gutsy run from Jaxson Hoey who spent the entire weekend fearlessly going after Tony Russell in both the mile and 1200m leg of the DMR. Hoey showed a lot of guts and ran a solid race. The pace for the mile was probably a tad ambitious for him, but really the opening 400m was what cost Hoey. The middle laps were a perfectly reasonable pace for a guy at his level. When Russell threw down the last 400m, Hoey couldn't hang and losing confidence and someone to chase, the chasers were able to catch up and outkick him. Nothing to be ashamed of here. I'd rather see the guy go for it, especially as just a sophomore who is learnign more and more by the week.

Jim Belfatto ran a fantastic race. He ran very within himself, kept a good spot ready to pick off Hoey and hold off his other competitors. Belfatto set the tone for a second place team finish by O'Hara. Ross Wilson ran a great race as well, probably could have scared second if he went a little earlier in the race and used his strength to his advantage. Wilson is going to be dangerous at 3200m with this extra bit of speed to his name. Looking through the names of these high schoolers Wilson has to be the best runner who has yet to win a state championship (Jeff Wiseman is in the conversation as well). I think Wilson can win the 3200m outdoors if he continues this tear. But more on that later I suppose.

Caldwell came up big, but can you really be that surprised? Yes, I didn't predict him to medal (clearly the wrong move), but I've been driving the Caldwell bandwagon for a while. Last year that guy was a clutch runner and strong doubler in the 4x8 and open 8. Now Caldwell has become more than the sleeper pick guy, he has become a stud and outdoors he will be a very intriguing name. With the 4x8 looming as a top 3 team outdoors, does Caldwell move to 800m rather than 16? And if he does can he hang with those 1:50-1:51 types? It should be interesting to watch unfold.

Bilotta had a very nice weekend as well. He has made quite the name for himself as he adds his name to a list of quality LaSalle milers. Bilotta burst onto the scene last year after a sub 9:30 3200m and I'm hoping to see him get in one of the fast 32s outdoors to see if he can get under 9:20. With the depth at 3200m, I expect Bilotta to stick to the 16 as his main event, but his best distance may actually be at 2 miles.

Can Jeff Groh get some love? He absolutely dominated his heat! That was crazy. I gotta think if he was in the fast heat he would have challenged the top 5 guys and possibly been in the mix for 2nd place. Hard to speculate with certainty but he looked very good out there. He is another one who I think could be 9:12-9:15 at 3200m if things go right. But the depth in the upper distances may keep him down at 1600m where certainly would be a factor in the district championships and state championships. His teammate Sean Weidner had a very nice day as well worth noting.

Matt Willig also ran phenomenally in his heat. Gotta like what he brings to the table.

Outdoors I think guys like Becich (4:20 and no medal? sorry man), Coakley, Smith and Kolor can really develop into their own. The guys outside of District One have a lot of potential to make big progress outdoors with access to bigger, better and more consistent meets.

Props to Ryan Grace who got himself into the fast heat and race fantastically against the top competition. That was an excellent example of rising to the occasion and taking advantage of your opportunities.