Henderson Invite Preview

Link to performance list: http://pa.milesplit.com/meets/157848/attachment/301137
1600m
Although the 1600m is far from the marquee event at Henderson most years with many top distance talents opting for the 32, the 16 should have it's fair share of solid marks. At the top of the PL sits Sam Ritz who is no stranger to having success on Henderson's track as this was the place he ran his 4:10 type mark a year ago. Ritz showed solid speed at Penn on the 4x4 the day after his Mile race with a 51ish split. He didn't really start to drop time until the end of outdoors a year ago so if he plans his peak appropriately we may start to see his times drop in the coming weeks. Kevin Moy of Henderson sits in the 2nd position. This will be a big race for Moy who is coming off his best race of the year at Penn Relays where he split 1:55. If Moy can run well under 4:20 he will likely get the chance to run the 16 at Districts, if he can not he will be relegated to the 800m to make room for Stratman and Collins to run alongside Russell. Alex Knapp is in a similar boat. I'm surprised to see his name in the 16 considering his distance chops. Maybe they are still considering a 4x8 at Districts which would swing Knapp into the open 16 with the extra spots that are freed up.

Continuing on the list you see names like Alek Sauer from Pennsbury, Colin Wills from Malvern, Pat Hopkins from Methacton, Patrick Grant from LaSalle, Brendan Stec from Malvern and Matt Scarpill from CB South. Stec is moving up a bit to test his wheels at 16 while Wills looked very comfortable at 16 when he ran 4:23ish after Penn Relays where he ran an underdistance 2 flat. Sauer is doing some overdistance work here as his sweet spot is 800m. He split sub 50 at Penn on the 4x4 so this will showcase his range. Matt Scarpill is my sleeper of this whole group. He is just a freshman but he runs with a lot of guts. He might be able to drop a strong PR for just a frosh in this kind of field with a fast pace.

Also in the race are guys like Jack Tidball, Chris Kienzle, Simon Smith, Jeff Montgomery, PJ Murray and Jabari Freeman who have solid marks on their resume.

800m
 The 800m is headlined by Jeff Wiseman of CR South who is itching to launch a fast time at 800m after the events of the Penn Relays relagated him to just a 4x4 leg. He has phenomenal ability and won this race a year ago in 1:52. His 1:51 PR is the class of the field, but if he can get challenged, he might be able to find a gear that will allow him to dip under his winning mark from a year ago.

We have lots of guys to pick from to challenge him. There are 25 guys seed under two minutes and guys like Tom Fitzgerald from DT East, Brenden Ehret from Dallas and Grayson Hepp from GFS are not in the group but certainly have a nice shot to go under.

LaSalle has Stefan Sutton and Ian Challingsworth both under sub 2 with Billotta (he isn't entered in anything as far as I can tell so there might be an injury there) and Grant in other events. That's a potent 4x8 if Sutton and Challingsworth can match their seed marks in this quick race. Perk Valley has Dave Garton seeded as the #2 man in the whole thing with a couple 2 flat types in Matt Town and Jeff Montgomery (1600) that may help them build a 4x8. Plus Spring Ford has the likes of Josh Tupper and Joshua Miller entered in the 8 with O'Such and Power featured in other places.

You have to watch out for Billy Caldwell in any field, especially after his 1:55/sub 50 split type weekend at Penn. Caldwell has shown great strength in recent weeks dropping his 16 PR sub 4:17 and now he is looking to get the roughly 800 equivalent of sub 1:55 after showing off his speed at Penn. He is probably the best bet outside of Wiseman to grab the win. Garton is coming off a big 4:20 1600m PR of his own that bodes well for his open 8 this weekend.

Gunnar Sjoreen of Conestoga is going to chase his first fast 800m in this race which should be exciting. Pennsbury's Alek Sauer (currently listed as doubling) and Liam O'Connell should both be able to chase some nice PRs and hopefully establish a fourth leg with Matt Mulvaney and Zach Yeger entered at 2:01 to couple with Sam Webb.

Malvern Prep will look to get another big time 800m performance from Dan Ferraiolo of Malvern Prep who ran 1:55 here a year ago. Graham Allen is another independent league man with strong 800m credentials. Brendan Stec is listed in a doubling role here at 800m as well.

The list goes on for talent in this race as Henderson's Steve Thompson is set up to run a big time PR in this fast of a race. He could be the best sleeper pick of the group out of names that don't jump to mind. James Chappell, Colin McLaughlin and Rob Simmons are all strong 800m guys as well who ar edue for big PRs. I'm very intrigued to see the Kazanjian bros entered in this race. Quite disappointed to see these guys on the outside of the 3200m and instead in the 800, but it seems Penncrest is all in on getting a top notch 4x8 together and they need these two guys to get experience in fast 800m races.

3200m
Don't have time to do this race justice right now as I have class momentarily but feel free to check out Forrest's predictions on padontplay.blogspot.com in the meantime to get your fix.

I will say this, Paul Power, Matt Willig, Alexander Balla, Ricky Waltz, Brian Arita Casey Comber, Jacbo Connors in the slow heat of 3200 .... Unreal quality for a slow heat.

No one really to pull from the fast heat with guys like Stratman, Molino, Hoey, Webb, McDevitt, Diestelow, Russell, Collins, Barchet, McDonald, Marston, Wilson, Dahl, Hockenbury, Deluca, Groh, Perlman and Nissley featured in a 27 man field ...

I'd prefer to have Power, Willig and Comber in the fast heat because I think 2 out of those 3 could end the day sub 9:20 but I guess we will just have to wait until the dance at Districts (oh my goodness that is going to be absurd). The winner of section one will probably be in the 9:22 range. That just blows my mind.

Well off to class, enjoy the performance list