The Centennial Conference: Just Three Teams, Paul Green, and Nathan Wojick

Ah the Indoor Centennial Conference Championships. So many great memories from this excellent meet. In 2011, Bobby McGetrick almost murdered me (accidentally of course) and then I blew it in the 4x8, 2012 when my Coach was so thrilled with our DMR he just stopped coaching us and put me in charge of the order, 2013 when I sucked in the DMR instead of the 4x8 just to mix it up and of course the epic 2014 meet where I made us lose to Gettysburg. Ah, memories.

But enough about me and my achievements, you didn't come here to listen to me brag. In fact unless you have attended Muhlenberg College in the last 5 years you might have stumbled here accidentally. Welcome! I hope you like the Centennial Conference! Let's get down to some previews.

5000m

This event has typically been where the class of the conference reside. Legends like Stadler, Schillit, Pecora, Hullenberg have set the conference on fire with epic 5k championships leaving the likes of the great and powerful Bock without a single Gold. 

And now the favorite in the event is a dude who's nickname is "Tweedie". As "Tweedie bird". I'm not even kidding ask a Haverford dude. But hey Dave Roza is next in line for the thrown and unless a Hopkins or Dickinson dude is ready to drop a sizeable PR, this bird is going to crap all over their car. He's run well under 15, he's been clutch before and he wears the Haverford White and Black. Nuff said.

Roza is joined by an equally intriguing species in Joel Christian. PA's own from Towanda is repping random sections of the state to the finest with his recent performances. I imagine if I grew up in Towanda working on farms and what not, I probably could pass for Joel's much slower body double. 

The Haverford goon squad will also be joined by Jimmy Gorman, Jeff Duncan and Charlie Hale.

As usual, Hopkins and Dickinson will provide the other 5k scorers. It's like seriously, I don't need to see a performance list. Haverford's top guy will win, Dickinson, haverford and hop get the next 3 in some order and then Dickinson, haverford hop get the other 3 in some order. There's no Drew Mackins in the 5k. 

Hopkins comes in with the faster times but Dickinson comes in with the bigger balls after their clutch showing at XC nats last fall. Weinhoffer, Simmons and Stender are the top seeds for Dickinson, with Hunter Smith also expected to contend. Elias Howard will probably get last. Weinhoffer is my pick to make noise here. He's shown enough to give him 1% Bock status. High praise considering, for reference, Ghandi has 2.6% Bock status.

As for Hopkins, they throw out Kenny's mom's favorite runner Andrew Cerruzzi and the dude that Flank pushed down, Austin Stecklair. Both of these kids are legit and hold realistic shots at a top 3 finish. The problem is Hopkins goes to fast meets more often that J Leit asks questions, so, much like J Leit's aforementioned questions, it's tough to discern which times really mean something in the grand scheme of things.

If you have the misfortune of interacting with Luke Munyan, I'm sorry. I'm sure has already started babbling about the absurdity that is having two heats of a 20 man 5k. 2 heats? This isn't seriously gonna happen right? It's probably already adjusted back to 1 heat, but just for fun here is a group of things more likely to be split in two than a 20 man 5k heat:

Bobby McGetrick and Core

Charlie Kline and Cat SnapChats

Tom McGuire and too much hair

Kenny Wohl and Kirsten Kuchera

An atom

Josh Elkan and Sugar Cookies

(For the record those are in least likely to most likely order)

DMR

So first fun fact of the day, everyone finally caught on that getting 7th place in an open event is worth more than the difference between 3rd and 4th in the stupid relays. Just one year too late, eh boys. Like c'mon, that would be like Trevor Dunbar showing up to do your favorite 9 mile run a year after you graduated from Muhlenberg College AND ALL YOU GOT WAS FRICKIN ANNE KESSERLING AND A SNAP CHAT PICTURE OF HASSAN MEAD.

Yes that was an oddly specific analogy.

But anywho the good news for anyone slotted to endure the first distance event of the month of March, you are all getting at least one point for your school! Congrats Zach Lifman and Forrest Kentewell, the odds are in your favor that your contributions will be more valuable to the team than Josh Elkan, Cody Geyer, Stephen Sroka and John Marrero combined in the open events! 

In all seriousness, what the heck happened here? Where's all the good dudes? F&M could potentially be pulling some "maybe we should try to win both relays instead of just one?" crap, but c'mon, realistically this is probably Vallachio/Generali, Johnson and Michael Whalen (side note, if that is the case is Alex Weiner advising the F&M coach? because Whalen would be slotted for the DMR, open mile, open 8 and the open casket I fell into during the last mile of XC conferences Junior year, conveniently located a few yards away outside).

EDIT: I've now seen a performance list that includes names on the relay entries. F&M IS planning to load up the DMR and win both relays! How about that!

Even Haverford who usually spares a 4:20 something kid to help bring home Gold has said, nah we'd rather have Sam Fujimori try and get 8th.

EDIT #2: Turns out they are sparing Soren Rasumussen! Wrong again!

Like seriously, this might be the year Swat finally gets a relay gold and it's the year THEY WEREN'T EVEN TRYING TO. I actually like their potential Branch, Arbuckle Sullivan line up and I think it's just as good, if not better than the crop of 4:30 something dudes Haverford, Dickinson and Hop appear to be throwing out there. 

EDIT #3: Yeah, Swat isn't getting gold. But still they are closer to the medals than ever.

McDaniel, in class McDaniel fashion, has decided to say screw it to their best ever shot at a DMR medal in favor of Heilman getting 10th and Chris Jones playing rabbit to the middle heat of the 800m (like last year). Not their fault of course, it's hard to predict this sort of rapid change of opinion.

It looks like Gettysburg is content to let Wojick anchor the squad and give Rausch fresh legs for the open (also no Jackson Davis but Horvath running the 12?). Funny considering their DMR was kinda sneaky good, but losing Taber really stings. Gosh did I just write a paragraph about Gettysburg and not make fun of Horvath and Taber's hair and acknowledge Ryan Rausch by name? I've got time, I'll get em later.

The Mules somehow are in position to legitimately compete for 5th in the DMR. I can't imagine them finishing lower than 7th (Sorry Ursinus I've been trying to play nice) and if F&M is declining to enter the triplets in anything before 4 o'clock, the mules could/should mix it up with the Dips (no seriously that's their team name) and Bullets. Heck things look so good, I wouldn't be surprised if Forrest is talking gold medals.

EDIT #4: Yeah screw that thing about beating F&M, the triplets are all in on the relays!

The key will, naturally, be Zach Lifman. Luke Munyan is actually a kinda respectable miler, but he tends to go out a little bit over his head (which I guess isn't say much because he's 5 foot 4). Lifman's gonna need to keep it close (i.e. Don't run 2:20 bro). Either that or hope Kenny blows up worse than the Armory and everyone forgets about you. 

Welcome to the conference meet bud, no pressure!

Mile

I can't wait for this race. Marquardt vs Carey in the first thrilling match up in this event since ... Wait, what? Carey's running the 400m instead of facing Marquardt in the mile? 

Yeah, I'm real pissed about that. Who are you, Jarrett Felix right at that time of the year where you feel disrespected for not being involved in any 4x4 discussions? You're spot on the 4x4 is safe Andrew! But honestly, can you blame the guy? Think about it, what would you rather do, wrestle a Polar Bear or wrestle Zach Lifman? I mean, I would lose both, but at least if I wreslted Zach I'd be able to leave with my arms (just not my dignity). I think Carey will win the 4, but I'm just warning you pal the 4 may look scrawny and weak and have 800m PRs slower than yours by double digits, but if you get mixed up in something that you have little experience in you could end up feeling like total garbage, trying not to puke in the shower.

Worth noting here, Paul Green (i.e. the guy stepping into the #1 Contender spot) is actually real good. He ran 4:14 this year in Boston (admittedly, Marquardt ran 4:04 there) and ran 3:54 last year in the 1500m (although, the Swat kids didn't seem that interested because, paraphrasing here, it wasn't good enough to make Nationals). Here's the most important part of the Green defense: he has excellent speed. If Marquardt (likely trying the mile, 8, 4x8 triple once again) sits around and waits to use his speed (a logical strategy), Green might, emphasis on might, be able to give him a run for his money. Sneaky pun.

A fast pace could leave a few guys in this fast heat bankrupt, which may open the door for some slower heat scorers (especially because the fast heat features just 9 runners, but admittedly no Dan Stackman's). Or what if the fast heat gets super tactical and the slow heat (which went out really fast) opens the door for all of the top three spots to come from the slow heat? Sounds ridiculous right? Impossible you say? Well tell that to RYAN MF RAUSCH THE GRADE A J.A. Steve Sroka if you don't beat him, I want my jersey back.

800m
Carey on the double from the 400. Marquardt on the double for the mile. Depending on how fast that Mile is, it's actually debatable which double is harder. Going up in distance to the 8 after the 4 is going to be tricky. Carey has never been one to sit and kick in his career (despite his excellent speed), so I'm banking on a fast pace in that fast heat. He won't mess around. Marquardt passed on the 3k (an event he could have dominated) to run the 8 and the 4x8 to help his team chase points. Unfortunately, that move has put him against one of the best runners in conference history in an event where Marquardt's sweet is questionable (3k is his sweet spot). Good Luck Chuck.

The fast heat could make for some fast times like this past outdoors and guys like Andrew Mackin and Erick White (another really good Swat guy, finally unleashed individually) should be able to handle things reasonably well and get a fast time (and considering both guys are fresh there is even an outside chance they snag a top 2 spot). But if I'm Ryan Gooding right now I'm kinda like, is there any way I can get in the slow heat?

C'mon Elkan this is your chance! It looks like your Claire Thortonesque temper tantrum got you that scoring chance you wanted!

My nightmare: Elkan takes the lead with 200m to go, makes a move down the back stretch and then ties up on the homestretch, being out leaned at the line by Phillip Johnson like the 2013 exit mile. My Dream: Chris Gardner has a solid run in 1:58.22.

3000m
Tweedie is back! Roza looks poised for the double, barring a surprise twist. Here's the facts about the 3k: it's basically all the dudes from the 5k back again plus a few other dudes (Stefan Arnold, Nick Gandolfo-Lucia) who will compe out and go fresh. That's all well and good, but it doesn't get me excited the same way watching Steph Curry play basketball does (which is probably good considering I'll be in a public setting). Unless Bock comes through the door, I'll probably be taking a nap and penciling in the usual big three results. Blah. There's not even a Muhlenberg kid in here for me to a get a jab at. Swarthmore kids feel free to study right on through this one. I won't even be uspet and John Gagnon probably won't either.

4x800m
F&M looks all set to do their thing: win the 4x8. I think that's how the Olenginskis would like to go out really (although I can't say for sure because I'm not in tune to their twin telepathy). I think it's fun how F&M decided not to run their best guys in the open 8 all season. Were they thinking, "if we are really quiet, maybe everyone will forget about us and it will be just as exciting and satisfying to win the 4x8 as it was in 2012 when no one (besides train) saw it coming at all!"

Admittedly, I love seeing Leo Generali run times like me but run on 7:40 relays (although apparently this year it will be frosh John Vallachi), but I think I will be more interested in what hairstyle they decided on for this year. I'm also determined to figure out which one is Greg and which one is Derek Pawlush.

Haverford, Dickinson, Hopkins, and Swat should put together some contenders on tired legs. Gettysburg will be solid, but not mind blowing. Muhlenberg will be in the race as well! Serious question, has anyone ever done the 5k, DMR, 4x8 triple? Anyone? Well Luke Munyan is about to do it kids so get your popcorn ready.

Seriously man, Muhlenberg is seriously lacking in the depth department. Tom McGuire circa 2011 is rolling over in his grave. This could have been his moment to shine! Think of how different his career arc would be! What would have happened to that Big Show action figure!

Good news for fans of Andrew Mackin: it looks like he's not going to have to run the 4x8 this year! Yeah! That's awesome news for those three Andrew Mackin fans out there!

Look, here's all you need to know about the Centennial Conference. When an 8:44 3k is scratched from that event because he can run 1:59, you are in the Centennial Conference. See you there Henry Woods.

So that's your Centennial Conference Preview! I'll be there ready to cheer and I'm hoping the races will be pretty spicy as well.

Soooooooo