Weekend Recap: Part 1 (of probably more than 2, I'm in a rambling mood)

I'm getting a head start on my weekend recaps this week. I was strongly debating going for a nap instead, but I figured I'd drop a post for you guys instead. I hope it's worth it.

I'm starting things off this week with the TFCAofGP meet over at Coatesville High School, a meet that is always expected to be one of the biggest of the year. I ran today in a road race here on the island and it was quite windy out despite the fact that weather was actually warm. I'd imagine conditions were similar in PA but if I've got a wrong read on things feel free to let me know (I currently live on an island so it's certainly possible things were extra windy up this way).

Assuming I've got my meet order correct, things started out with the DMR, usually a loaded event at this meet with a few teams trying to lock up a Penn Relays spot. This year, Bonner came away with an impressive victory over their PCL rivals LaSalle, running 10:40 to LaSalle's 10:52. Unfortunately, this is likely the last team we will get to see Bonner's DMR squad this year as I don't think their seed time (the mark they ran at indoor states) will sneak them into the meet. They have had a phenomenal year and have excelled tremendously in this event, making huge strides in recent weeks. Even if they don't get in, they should be proud for their work in this event. I'll be intrigued to see if their skills transfer to the 4x8 this season or if they make a shift to individual goals.

I'll keep this short because I feel like I say it every week. CB East ran to third in the DMR and I'm assuming (might be incorrect on this, but I'm pretty sure) that it was with a completely different squad than their sub 8 4x8 (we'll get to that). The season this team has put together, dating back to an underrated XC year, is tremendous. Is it time to start working them into the XC team talks for next year? Quite possibly.

In the 1600m, Kev James ran a 4:22 to take the gold in the same event he set a meet record in a year ago, outdueling Tucker Desko of Pennridge to the line (Desko ran a PR of 4:23). Not sure if James took it out hard or just decided to sit and kick, but regardless this is an excellent race for Desko who continues to crush his PRs every week. Seriously, his progression is awesome and now that he is down at 4:23 in sub-optimal conditions, he is an individual state medal threat in the 1600m (potentially one of the states less deep events with Ritz in the independent league and Brophy, Webb and James all projected to be moving back up to the 3200m). At this rate he will be running 4:15 by Districts (not saying I think that's what is going to happen, just trying to give you a feel for how quick he's cutting time).

In 3rd was john Daly of St. Joe's Prep, running 4:24.0. That's a nice mark for Daly, but there is certainly more here considering he had splits of 4:17, 4:15 and 4:15 on DMR anchors this indoor season. My biggest question with him though, why is it always "john" and not "John"? Like literally always. Seriously, check every result. Does his legal name start with a lowercase "J". If so I'm probably naming my son "jarrett" and we can call him "little j" and it will be a great nickname.

Huge day in 4th for O'Hara's Rob Morro. The 1200m leg for the indoor state champs and the XC state medalist ran a very strong 16 today, dropping his PR to 4:24.57 and staying neck and neck with James, Daly and Desko. That's good company. This is big for a number of reasons. First of all, it gives additional confidence in the 1200m leg for PA's best DMR squad. Morro ran a 3:10ish split at Nationals in a fantastic race and he is still improving as proven by this run. That extra confidence could be the difference between James running the 3k and James scratching for one last ho-rah in the DMR. Plus, when O'Hara likely switches to individual events Post-Penn, Morro has a great shot to be an individual state qualifier in the 16 (or maybe he makes a move to the 32 where I think he could have potentially just as much if not more success). Regardless, it's a great race for Morro and keep in mind he is being into the senior leader of an O'Hara team that is losing it's key stud in Kevin James next fall. The Morro and Ryan James (who will likely develop the nickname RJ just like KJ in a matter of weeks) duo has big shoes to fill and they are taking valuable steps towards that goal in recent weeks (RJ put down a real nice 3k at Kiwanis last weekend).

The 16 was loaded all around with Colin Wills putting down a strong 4:25 showing, Liam Galligan hanging tough as well in 4:25 and Joe Maguire running 4:27 for 7th. All those guys are Juniors at the oldest (Galligan is a soph).

In the 800m, Billy McDevitt continued his fantastic year with a monster 1:56.91 win. McDevitt has been studly in the individual events this year including his excellent indoor mile and his 1:55 win over Sauer at MoCs. I'm starting to get slowly depressed about the fact that in a matter of weeks the super talents of the independent league will become less and less talked about as they get pushed aside for the PIAA state madness that will inevitably consume me and the blog. But there is hope: we have a MoC this year at Henderson and I am optimistic that McDevitt will be there to contribute. The question at this point is likely what event does he choose to focus on the rest of the way? He was a 3k/mile guy last year, but now the 800m has become arguably his best event. He has excellent range and is probably underrated/undertalked about considering how much impressive stuff he has done this year.

Small side note: is Malvern Prep getting into Penn for the DMR? I thought their time was sort of on the bubble/not going to make it and I'm not sure if they have a 4x8 seed time as back up (they are a small school though so they don't need quite as fast of a time as the large schools if memory serves). Interesting to see how that plays out because, if they get in to either race, they are dangerous.

Dan Williams took 2nd for Pennridge in 1:58 and his teammate Justin Musco took 4th in 2:00. Chester took the 3rd and 6th spots with a pair of 2 flat runs from Jihad and Rucker. Strong showing for Jihad who is having a killer freshman season. Unfortunately he is running at the same time as guys like Josh Hoey and Smucker and kind of getting lost in the shuffle a bit. That being said, it's a really strong freshman class across the board (Conway, Cupp, the 3 I mentioned above, Delisle, etc.) which is cool for the future of PA.

For the record, I've been doubting Pennridge for a while now as a true contender and it looks like my dinner tonight is going to consist of me eating my words (and also probably tacos). Pennridge was fantasitic last year after winning the District 1 Championships and making the Championship of American heat of Penn Relays. But when they graduated Joey Logue last year (probably one of the best middle distance relay runners I've seen in the past decade), I thought they were in for some trouble. What have they done since? Only broke 8 indoors yet again, getting themselves some more state hardware. And now they start off the indoor season with Williams 1:58, Musco 2:00, Desko 4:23? And oh yeah, last night they ran an invitational meaning that today's performances were glorified doubles. Alex Masgai (with Williams, the returners from last year's relay) ran 2:01 against Wolfinger from Quakertown last night, Williams won the mile by 15 seconds in 4:35 and Desko won the 32 in 10:21.

Going forward towards Penn, they have two experienced legs and a rapidly improving set of supporting legs. And let me just point out that Desko wasn't even a part of the team's 4x8 indoors, meaning that this team is once again loaded with depth. Looking forward, they can keep Desko in the open 16 fresh and still have a potent 4x8 for leagues/districts/states, but for Penn Relays you have to at least think about trying Desko somewhere on the relay. If he can run 4:23, logical says he can run under 2 minutes and I'm always in favor of putting your most talented guys on the relay and seeing what happens (especially if they are on fire like Desko is). That being said, at Penn Relays you want an experienced leg who has already delivered for you at states and is familiar with the process of running a hard-nosed 800m. Tough decisions for the Pennridge squad that I'm glad I don't have to make.

A new other notes from the open 8: strong showing by Nolen in 2:03.0. It may not be a jaw dropping mark, but it's one of his best open times I can remember (possibly ever) and shows he, like Morro, is developing into a reliable piece for the DMR. Nolen and Morro both ran strong today and that may just shift O'Hara onto the starting line at Penn. Nice run by Kevin Hong from Upper Darby in 2 flat and keep an eye on the winner of one of the slower sections Dante Watson from North Penn. North Penn knows how to coach 800m guys. Watson may be the next guy to emerge as a stud.

Julian Degroot-Luztner put on a powerful performance in the 3200m, running 9:44 to win the title. He beat Jeff Kirshenbaum (9:54, possibly on the double from a strong Methacton DMR that ran 11:09) and Matthew D'Aquila (9:57). D'Aquila is a sophomore from Lower Merion who is starting to pop up on my radar. He had a nice indoor season and starts off his outdoor season quite well. He's still young and showing great improvement, keep an eye out for his name in the longer stuff.

One final note on the 32, strong race by Frank Livolsi of LaSalle who ran 10:01 to finish 4th in the 32. What's crazy is I'd never heard of Livolsi before and now he pops up and runs 10:01. That sounds like a typical sentence that probably happens all the time but a) I follow this stuff a little too intently and b) LaSalle seems to do this with a new kid every day! LaSalle has incredible depth this year, they have a huge slew of dudes who continue to post strong marks (and a lot of them are underclassmen, Livolsi is a Junior). LaSalle has had a bit of trouble getting things to click at states, but there is just a ton of talent here and clearly some strong coaching as well. When you have this many good guys, usually a couple things happen: 1) somebody naturally breaks out into a star from the super competitive practice environment and 2) you get a really good XC team with a really good JV team. Just something to keep in mind. Good run by Livolsi, hope to continue to see strong marks from him and the rest of his LaSalle stampede going forward (for the record I don't know if LaSalle high school is also the "Explorers", but at this rate I'm probably going to start calling them the "Stampede" it seems to fit. If you haven't noticed I kind of just make up team names to fit my own personal liking. It's the same journalism tactic that turned the Muhlenberg Cardinals into the Muhlenberg Mules).

Now onto the big show: an absolutely loaded end of meet 4x8 that did not fail to deliver. CB East struck gold, leading the way with a win in 7:58 over Wissahickon (8:02), Abington (8:03), Strath Haven (8:06), Twin Valley (8:07), Bishop Shanahan (8:08) and GFS (8:11). Wow that is a loaded end of the year run. In the final opportunity to get Penn Relays qualifying times out, this race was HUGE for a lot of these teams. If memory serves (and it doesn't always) Strath Haven, Bishop Shanahan and GFS would all be "Small School" eligible for Penn Relays in the 4x8, meaning their 4x8 times can be a bit slower and still get in (i.e. all those times might get in). CB East seemed to come to this meet with just this relay as their goal and now they are basically definitely in (I can't imagine a sub 8 team being left out. Abington and Wissahickon become bubble teams (I'm not sure about the last few years, but I know I was on an 8:04 relay that was the 2nd or 3rd to last team in back in 2010) and each has a decent to strong shot of getting in (and both of those squads have historically excelled in this event). I'm not sure where Twin Valley lands in this mix, but all the same that was a great run by their team.

It's weird to be proud of people i don't know, but you have to love the effort that some of these teams have put into this track season (indoors and out). I mean Wissahickon has been on an absolute tear in the 4x8 this season and continues it hear with a huge run (Johnson splits 1:57.0 to continue his hot streak and Harmon and Christopher at 2:00 and 2:01 respectively). Johnson is kinda starting to remind of 2010 Hong Cho. He had the 1:58ish splits indoors just like Cho and Johnson continues to be finding a rhythm in the 800 this outdoors. Cho split 1:58ish indoors after being a 2 flat guy as a soph, then dropped all the way to 1:53 by the end of spring as a junior. He capped off that whole stretch as senior breaking 1:51 twice and winning a state title. Again, not saying Johnson is running 1:53 next week, but I'm just extrapolating on a feeling.

 Bishop Shanahan had to deal with the heartbreak and outrage that was the indoor states 4x8 qualifying process, clawed their way to some excellent relay times and now continues their hard work this outdoors, possibly culminating in a bid to Penn Relays. Other interesting pieces to this: GFS now has a back up plan if they decide to let Dahl run the 3k/ don't get excepted into the DMR (although I think they will). That's smart maneuvering from Coach Hewitt. Strath Haven comes roaring back to life as well, this is the best race they've run in a decent chunk of time and hopefully a sign everyone is healthy and clicking again.

And of course, there's the CB East squad leading the way. Despite CB East's excellent depth, I've been unable to get a read on them all season. I was off during indoors on what their plan would be for states and I thought they may try for the DMR this outdoors and they flopped for the 4x8 (which seems to be a smart move). I'm a big fan of this team and I'm interested to see how they approach their starting spot in Penn. Not to harp on this too much, but last year in a somewhat similar situation, according to the online splits, East decided to leave Brophy fresh for the individual 3k and not run him on their 4x8. Brophy (who split 1:55.9 high at season's end), probably could have split in the 1:58 range, a time that would have been enough to catapult East into the COA alongside Pennridge and State College. Obviously they don't want to risk the same thing happening again this year, so they have some tough decisions (Brophy has made his fair share of sacrifices in many peoples mind, but there is also a long block of time between 4x8 trials and the 3k).

What I'm thinking/hoping for is a big redemption moment for Brophy and Ata Shahideh (the anchor of East's PR 4x8 last year). Shahideh was awesome during indoors, including a big midseason win against Dan Williams. I was always high on Williams, so the victory made me a believer in Shahideh as well. He's been relatively quiet since, but I think he could have a huge day at Penn. Shahideh, Boucher, Brophy and plus one more from the deep crop of distance talent over at East makes for a big potential sleeper in the 4x8. Fun fact last year's TFCAofGP champion at this meet was Pennridge. They ended up being the surprise of Saturday at Penn, beating State College in the prelims and qualifying for the COA. This year? Maybe CB East keeps the tradition alive.