4/19 Weekend: Ship Invite

I decided to separate a post for this meet. Not sure if they ran AA and AAA together in these races, but I assumed they were run separately. If you want to read about another meet from this past week, feel free to scroll down to the post immediately below this one.

First let's run through the AA performances.
Dominic Hockenbury followed up the impressive marks from Griffin Molino with a dominating 3200m run that earned him a 26 second victory and a time of 9:22. A Molino v. Hockenbury match up looming in the future makes the AA meet pretty interesting. Will Kachman, another sophomore, ran 9:46 for a solid second place behind DH and was clearly the second best guy in the race, finishing 30 seconds ahead of 3rd.

Jon Goodson won the 16 and the 8 at this meet, winning the 16 in a time of 4:27 over guys like Brady Wilt (4:32) and Cooper Leslie (4:33). Lakeland's Nathan Morgan popped a 4:35 off which makes his Lakeland team intriguing as a 4x8 title contender. They also have Mark Arzie who ran 1:57 a year ago. Arzie was second to Goodson in the open, 1:58-2:01. Arzie was likely very busy with the open 8, the 32 and the 4x8, and the 4x4 (Lakeland won in 3:31).

Not sure exactly where the 4x8 fit into this meet, but the AA 4x8 was hotly contested. Lewisburg took the title in 8:20 edging out Boiling Springs, Goodson's squad, that ran 8:22 and Lakeland who ran 8:25. Trinity who is always a contender in the 4x8, ran 8:29 for fourth.

AAA results were quite exciting as well.
The 3200m was filled with top tier talent. Patrick Reilly, as predicted by correspondent GBC came out on top of the great field with Colin Abert flanking him. Reilly ran a blazing 9:14 time to beat out Abert, who ran 9:20. Both marks cement these names as serious state title contenders at this event. Reilly has been just a notch behind guys like Wilson, James and Martin in recent months, but is slowly bridging the gap to the point where he is on fairly even footing with these guys. Excellent start to his competitive racing season. I'm really excited by what I have seen from Abert in recent weeks as well. He can likely run sub 4:20 and sub 9:20 by seasons end which makes him dangerous at the state level. As I have said before, his best event is most likely 3200m and this is a huge PR for him at that distance. I look forward to watching him continue to develop in this event. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he finishes the year under 9:10 in the ultra competitive state meet race.

Also in this field were Will Cather, who added nice strength to his resume with a 9:25 (Range from 9:25 down to 1:54 in one meet? That's pretty darn impressive), Cole Nissley (9:26), Ryan Grace (9:28), Aaron Gebhardt and Aaron Lauer (9:30 for each). Jeff Groh added a 9:38 for 8th just ahead of Alex Balla. 14 guys finished the race under 9:50 including 3 sophomores.

The 4x8 was a cool race as well as Whitehall helped District 11 represent with a surprise win in a time of 8:07. They beat a State College team that I believe was a complete B squad that still ran 8:13 for 2nd. Very compelling depth.

In the 1600m, Dominic Deluca returned to the track and made a big statement with a 4:17 mark to beat out Zach Brehm who ran 4:23 for 2nd. Austin Stetler of Penn Manor continues to improve, running 4:25 for 3rd. Deluca has really developed some nice speed at 3200m. Although he was clearly strong indoors, I still feel like he may be underrated. He got caught going out a little too fast indoors, but this year outdoors he may be on the verge of some very surprising results. He ran 9:13ish last year and can better than significantly this year if he gets in the right race. Sean Weidner ran a solid 4:26 and Matt Kravitz also ran a 4:26 mark. Carlisle had Brehm (4:23), DeAngelo (4:30) and Wisner (4:34) who are all underclassmen and make a strong 4x8 when combined with Jon Carroll. Whitehall had a pair of underclassmen run 4:31 and 4:33, Gabe Lamm and Calvin Schneck. Dallastown also had 3 guys at 4:35 or faster.

In the open 8, State College made a big statement. Kyle Adams ran the steeplechase and won fairly handily, while his relay mates had big time performances in the open 8. Will Cather ran 1:54.36 to win by 3 seconds over his teammate Mason Post who clocked a 1:57. Brehm's 1:58 broke up the sweep as Golembski ran 1:59 for 3rd. Stetler doubled nicely in 2 flat for Penn Manor. State College finished off the day flat out dominating the 4x4 in 3:21. This 4x4 outdoors has a lot of very strong teams involved. I will be interested to see who can get through to the finals as there is a lot of depth.

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