State Recap: Mile

State Champion #66 of the etrain era has been crowned: Sam Ritz of Germantown Academy. After one of the fastest Decembers in state history, Sam Ritz was a target for criticism. Even after a state record run in Boston, the doubts were still floating. Could a man with 0 state medals, handle two of the most decorated runners of the era? Would Ritz fall victim to the his pursuit of records? Would a fast early pace leave open to the upset?

But the end, Ritz made all the doubts look silly. Ritz blasted a 4:09 mile to cap off his indoor season, breaking the 2007 meet record by over 3 seconds and cementing his name in the history books. He now has the two fastest miles in indoor state history.

Ritz is not in the PIAA, so we won't see him competing for state gold this outdoors against his fellow sub 4:10 miler Zach Brehm. That being said, with Ritz's win, he became the first official qualifier for the 2015 PA Meet of Champions race at West Chester Henderson this June. Hopefully, he and the rest of the state's elite will agree to compete at this meet (the draw of a professional 1500m hopefully won't steal anyone away), because Paul Vandegrift's legendary 4:03 state record for 1600m may finally be under fire.

Kevin James adds another excellent performance to his resume with his second place finish to Ritz. Again he is under a state meet record and he gets his second straight state silver. The general consensus is that James is best over the longer distance (i.e. 3200m) so this display of speed is encouraging. Outdoors, Ross Wilson's freshly minted 8:56 meet record could possibly be in play (that's #3 in state history). 

Sneaky fast for third was Sam Webb, running 4:13 for 3rd in what was likely the fastest 3rd place finish in state history. Although KJ has been something of a poster child for bad luck pursuing state gold, Webb has had his own share of tough luck. Webb has been sub 15:50 at Hershey, in the 15:20s for 5k, 9:08.11 for 3200m and now 4:13. This was just Webb's first time in the top 5 individually at a state championship, amazing for a man of his talents. Webb too is running down in distance and the thought of a healthy Webb hitting his peak this spring is scary (his 9:08 last spring came off a very late start to training).

It's fitting that these two guys capped off their indoor careers winning state gold in the relays. Well deserved.

McDevitt and Brophy rounded out the group with a pair of 4:17 PRs. McDevitt caps off an excellent year and, although he too is not PIAA, I hope we may see him at Meet of Champs. Although McDevitt showed fantastic speed this season (1:55 to beat a Alek Sauer last week, Sauer ran 1:52 yesterday), I think McDevitt's best event could potentially be the 2 mile. At the very least, I think he could throw down a monster race at some point (maybe Henderson invite?). As for Brophy, he drops his mile PR by roughly 5 seconds and grabs 5th in one of the deepest miles in state history. Despite Brophy's fantastic career, this is by far his best track performance time wise indoors or out. It his first mark in the sub 1:55/4:17/9:20 club that I keep state wide statistics on. Brophy was willing to pass on a realistic shot at state gold in the 3k for the relays this weekend, but it's likely this is the last time. Although CB East has a potentially strong 4x8, the Brophy sub 9 talk might trump it (he ran faster than Wilson did in this race a year ago).

Seneca Valley's Mike Kolor dropped a 4:19 and somehow was swallowed up in this historical group. Kolor, just a Junior, grabbed his second individual medal in a row and broke the school record in the event. His time converts to low 4:18/high 4:17, meaning Kolor is already clicking off times significantly faster than how he ended last spring. Seneca Valley has some pieces looming for another strong 4x8 and Kolor has a chance to be a killer anchor on said relay.

Excellent runs by Kyle Shinn and Sean Weidner to round out the medal positions. Shinn is AA for this coming outdoors, setting him up well for a potential shot at gold (or at least top 3, as Perretta looms large). 



7 comments:

  1. So is this meet of champs a real thing or just something for the blog?

    People with potential for a sub-9, in descending order of likelihood:
    Ritz
    James
    Webb
    McGoey
    Brophy
    Comber
    Hockenbury
    Dahl
    Gebhart

    Hoey, Abert, Molino, and even Brehm can be included here as well, but they are all question marks after their nonexistent or (in Abert's case) disappointing indoor seasons. Power and Marston have outside shots as well, but I see them more as 9:10-9:15 types. Still, PA is unreal right now

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    1. I'm not sure about Gebhart going sub 9, and even if Ritz has the ability to, I'm not sure he'll get enough licks at it to do it.I don't see him running too many 3200's, if any at all.

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    2. I think of your list, James, Brophy, and Webb are the real threats to the 9:00 barrier. The rest will certainly be close but I think McGoey, Comber and Gebhart fall more into the 9:04-9:07 range. Dahl is only a sophomore and I certainly think he will continue to improve and be well under by the end of his senior season. Ritz has 9:10 to his name, but being in the Independent League he doesn't get many chances to run against as many top caliber guys. Hockenbury is kind of a wild card to break 9:00 in my opinion. I don't think Hock necessarily has the speed needed for it. Look at the list of sub 9 last year. Wilson was a 4:15 miler, Russell was a 4:09 1600 runner, and Colin Martin was the "slow" one of the group at 4:18. Hockenbury has only run 4:27. That isn't a mark that leads me to believe he has the ability to break 9 right now. That being said, I hope he proves me wrong.

      -Evan

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    3. I think Comber is a guy who gets over looked a lot, especially being in the same conference as Brophy. He's a guy that has showed a ton of improvement from last season when he still ran 9:17 for 3200m. With a sub 15:50 to his name at Hersey, killer races at regionals and nationals, and now an 8:37 3k, I think a sub 9 is really in play for him. Not to mention he made up a ton of ground at the end of that race yesterday and looked extremely pissed off after. I think he's hungry for a state title and we'll see some really big things from him outdoor.

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  2. Do you think anyone will go after an individual event at nationals? Maybe someone from the 3k chooses the 5k at nats like Martin did last year?

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  3. For the record, the Meet of Champions is 100% real. Coach Kelly has agreed to sponsor a mile, 800m and 5000m at the PA Distance Festival in June as PA Meet of Champions races. He is hoping to get top notch competition for the event. A full list of qualifying information and meet information is available through his website and is also available here on the blog in a post from last month. I'll link it up at some point.

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