Wednesday night is not your typical race night, but at Glenn Mills the kids went to work anyway. The track isn't blazing fast, there was no DMR and plenty of top teams kept their key resources out of the line up, but that didn't mean there weren't results to talk about.
In Division One, Donovan St. Louis started things by blasting a 51.76 for a strong Upper Darby crew beating out and Ndiaga Seck (52.34) of rival power Penn Wood. It was a strong showing for Penn Wood all around as Dennis Manyeah, a sophomore, won the 800m in 2:03.01. I'm not sure where Penn Wood's 800m men stack up in the 4x4 picture, but this seems like a reasonably young squad that has potential to grow into a killer crop of mid distance talent. Maybe PW has Cheltenham 2013 potential, a sprint power house that pushes some guys up a bit and churns out an excellent 4x8.
Behind Manyeah, St. Joe's Prep revealed an improving 800m leg for the DMR in Stephen McClellan, who ran 2:03.78 for 2nd. Behind him was CR South's Evan Kutney, who ran a fantastic 2:05. This gives Silverthorn some competition for the DMR spot and a clear 4th leg for a South 4x8 (the event Forrest projects they will run). I still can't see these guys shying away from the DM, but regardless Kutney's improving marks as just as a sophomore are an excellent sign.
Half a week after soloing a 1:56.61 at the F&M meet, Dylan Eddinger stole the show once again and won by almost 20 seconds in the mile. He ran 4:33.53. He's now run around 51.6 and 4:33 to go with his 1:56. That's a sick resume. Sauer, Lewis and Ritz will grab the headlines between now and states (deservedly so) but Eddinger is creeping into a position where an upset is in play.
Neshaminy won itself another 4x8, running 8:30 to edge out Upper Dublin (also 8:30) and CB South (8:36). Neshaminy has been winning or competing for the win in a variety of 4x8s so far this year, an excellent sign in my eyes. They have potential to drop a lot of time and, surprisingly they seem serious about making a states push in this event. That being said, the 4x8 is looking like it's going to be very deep (probably 8:10ish is the last time in by seasons end in my opinion) so Nesh is going to have to land some top competition to slip through.
In Division 2, the 800m was smoking. Kevin James (1:58.93) beat out Julian Degroot Lutzner (1:59.12) and Colin Wills (1:59.46) in one of the fastest 800m of the season, especially considering it was run on Glenn Mills track. This is a huge day for James, who solidifies his speed nicely after a blip at the Armory. 1:58.9 doesn't sound like much, but to give you an idea, in 2010 Luke Lefebure ran 1:58 low at this time of year on this same track. A few weeks later he was sprinting away from Dorian Rumble and Tres Moore en route to a 1:53.9 and a state title.
This is big for JDL as well. The Masterman stud continues to improve every week. He's been carrying his DMR into state relevance (they won Saturday in close to 11 minutes) and he has excelled at every race from the 8 to the 3k. The guy is going to pop off a big mile at some point this year in my eyes and currently he is in a position where he could run mile, 8, 3k at states. And honestly, unless his DMR continues to make serious progress, he's going to be doing at least 2 of those events at states. I think he could be a low 4:20s contender in the mile at states no doubt, but also has the ability to excel in the 8 (at least 1:57ish at PSU) or the 3k (sub 9 potential given his 9:03 over a month ago).
And how about Colin Wills! Speaking of sick range, Wills is now in a position to be competitive in all the events 800m through 3k as well. He's already broke 9 minutes for 3k and now caps off the ends of the spectrum with this 1:59. Unlike Lutzner, Wills will have relay obligations on 3/1, so there's no absurd triple on the horizon and likely he's hopping in the mile (as another serious medal threat). This is a great sign of speed to solidify his 1200m leg as well.
In the mile, Alex Knapp beat out Rob Morro 4:35.0 to 4:38.6. Both guys are probably at their best over 3k (Knapp already sub 9 this year and Morro winning a strong PCL 3k), but showed strong speed on this track. This is very encouraging for Knapp who knows Henderson's DMR spot at states is far from guaranteed. That means Knapp will need to provide a big anchor (or maybe even 1200 leg) to get these guys over the hump.
For Morro he has his own potential relay duties. He is likely the 1200m leg on an A team O'Hara DMR, and that relay is at least in the conversation for a state title. I still think O'Hara ends up toeing the line for a 4x8, but if Morro continues to excel at distances like this it makes things tricky.
Radnor had their best 4x8 showing of the year in a winning effort of 8:21.9 over Wissahickon (8:22.68) and Bishop Shanahan (8:22.88). Normally this would be a moment where I would say something like, "that stings for Shanahan and Wissahickon to be so close to the SQS but come up short. The good news is they have plenty of time on faster tracks to drop that mark." But there's no such thing as an SQS unfortunately and the SQG of 8:22.66 is not even going to be close to accurate unless they expand things back to 2 heats (meaning 20 or 24 teams). I'm not getting my hopes up for that unfortunately.
Radnor gets a nice win, but they will need to continue to drop to make a dent in the state rankings. With Holm and Kelly on this squad, that's a great start. 2 potential sub 2 guys makes things easier. As for Wiss and Shanahan, it's going to be an uphill battle. I think both squads can continue to chip off time and I'm a huge fan of what both programs have been doing. Shanahan has killed it in the DM and now adds a nice 4x8. But they still need that break through performance from the anchor leg to get involved in the 10:50 or under conversation. As for Wiss, they too could, and have, put together a strong DM, but this team may end up at 10:55 and 8:15 and still be on the outside looking in for both relays when all is said and done. That just seems unfair, but that's the system we are operating under now.
I'm rooting for both these squads. They've done a fantastic job getting the most out of their runners and just being gamers when put into a race. That's how you become a good team and that's the hope for both squads as we look ahead to a very exciting stretch run for the relays.
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