Burdette Recap

By Jarrett Felix

I always loved the Burdette Invitational. I was in a break from school, but I was not far enough into my break to go into the sleep spiral, unhealthy eating habits that would make me bomb in a race. I laced up my new spikes for the first time and got a strong test of fitness. It’s how I ran one of the top five races of my life in the 2009 edition of the invitational. The meet is one of the fastest early season meets we see on a flat track and had a nice variety of competition converging on Rauch Fieldhouse yesterday. Let’s take a look at what went down. I’m recapping things in what I believe to be the order of events for the meet just in case doubling comes into play.

SMR

The meet record belongs to Simon Gratz and a relay featuring one Khaliff Featherstone (46-1:52 type). The previous season, Gratz set the indoor national record for the SMR so they knew a thing or two about this relay. Their record of 3:40.44 was not defeated, but I’d say Abington took an admirable shot at it running 3:42.18. To give you a hypothetical of what adds up to 3:42 for an SMR: 24-24-52-2:02 without tenths gets you to 3:42.00. With the exception of Isiah Smith in the open 400m, Abington did not load up anywhere else in this meet, which makes me think they might be running an all-out 4x8 up at the Armory sooner rather than later and that 3:42 may have come with a “B” team of sorts, which makes it even more impressive. Of course, that’s just speculation.

Penn Wood, CB East and Neumann Goretti took the next three spots with 3:45, 3:46, and 3:49 while Wyomissing added a 3:52 for 5^th. That time isn’t particularly fast, but it’s worth noting Wyomissing was in Heat 1 (i.e. the slowest heat) and won their heat by 15 seconds so their lack of competition suggests this relay could have run faster. Combined with some results we saw later in the meet (and the fact that Wyomissing won the AA title last year in the 4x8 pretty comfortably) this likely won’t be the last we hear of their relays.

Mile

This race came all the way down to the final strides as Jack DiCintio out leaned Colin Wills of Malvern Prep for the title. The times were pretty quick (4:26.96-4:27.06) with three guys under 4:30 overall (Rock Fortna took third). Keep in mind the meet record is only 4:25.75 (and that’s been around since 1996) and guys like Jaxson Hoey, Mike Palmisano, Tom Mallon and Paul Power have won this thing in recent years all in that 4:26 range. Those guys each went on to run something like 4:14ish by the time outdoors ended, which would be huge PRs for both top dogs. Here is what the previous best six times translated to for PRs (for 1600m)

Palmisano: 4:25.81, 2008 à 4:13.93 (gold medalist 1600m outdoors)

Mallon: 4:26.22, 2009 à 4:14.72c (gold medalist indoor mile, outdoor 800m)
Huemmler: 4:26.27, 2012 à 4:12.54* (gold medalist indoor mile, outdoor 1600m)
Hoey: 4:26.81, 2013 à 4:10.72c* (gold medalist outdoor 1600m one year later, 4^th place indoor mile)
Scarpello: 4:26.85, 2009 à 4:15h (4^th place indoor mile, injured outdoors)
Power: 4:27.49, 2014 à 4:13.35 (sub 9 for 3200m, D1 Champ at 3200m)

That’s really, really good company. I thought Wills would maybe take this one, but wasn’t expecting DiCintio to be this sharp this early. That’s a fantastic race from him and I can’t wait to see what happens next (maybe in line to follow graduated teammate Kyle Shinn’s shoes from a season ago).

Now apparently this race went out in 69 seconds, but I don’t know if this was at the 400m or the 409m (and yes, it makes a big difference). If it’s at the 400m, then these guys were out in 4:40 pace and closed like animals, making this thing even more impressive. If it was the 409m, it’s still on the slow side (maybe more like 4:30ish pace), but a bit more reasonable and not quite as strong of a cut down. Either way, it looked like some of the speedsters really rose to the top in this field. Wills ran a killer 800m to start the year and has proven his speed through the independent league, DiCintio broke 2 minutes for 800m as a sophomore and Rock Fortna has split in the 1:54s before.

Outside the top three, Cooper Leslie turned in another strong race with what I believe is an indoor PR at 4:30.48. Liam Galligan ran his second 4:32ish mark of the year, this one just slightly slower than his earlier mark, but it’s nice to see some consistency. I also really liked the race from Hudson Delisle, the sophomore from Quakertown. They have some intriguing pieces and I think they can continue to improve that DMR time (and maybe throw a 4x8 together) that could get into the mix relay wise.

Really strong showings in slower sections from Seth Slavin (won heat 3 in 4:38.12) and Jack Wisner (won heat 2 in 4:45.65). Slavin is fresh off a big XC season and an impressive regional performance. I still believe his best event is the 3k based on his strength, so a big win (over strong runners like Lefever and Caruso) is encouraging for his longer prospects. As for Wisner, he’s just a freshman in one of his first big invitationals and he came out of it with an impressive 3 second victory. And if you didn’t notice, his brother ran alright today as well.

800m

What a perfect transition! Matt Wisner ran a big 1:57.52 to win the 800m over Brett Wolfinger (1:58.47). The two leaders ran the first (and only) sub 2s thus far this indoor season. Wisner continues his undefeated streak on PA indoor tracks and does it in one of the fastest times in meet history. Keep in mind, until Sauer ran 1:56 last year, this meet was won in 1:58 at the fastest (Palmisano held the meet record from his junior year at 1:58.20 before Sauer), so 1:57 for this time of year is no joke. The thing is, the events indoors have just continued to hit new levels (perhaps none more so than the 800m), so you have to be constantly improving. I’d say Wisner is a pretty darn big favorite at this stage in the game, but anything can happen. Keep in mind, a District 3 runner has not won an indoor distance title since 2006 (Craig Miller in the 3k and Aaron Kauffman in the 800m). It’s not because District 3 isn’t good, it’s because they usually don’t put the focus on indoors that the east coast/philly schools do. That didn’t effect Wisner last year and this 1:57 might already be enough to get him into the fast heat at states (unlike last year where he was in a middle heat), but there are a few guys lurking.

This is Brett Wolfinger’s second straight season excelling in this meet. He ran a great time last year as well (1:58.99), but he struggled a bit to match that break through. I’m excited to see how Brett continues to attack this season. Behind these top two, it was a very deep group that included an amazing 12 guys under 2:04.00. That’s a great time for this year. Matt Kraus, Heat 3 winner, ran a sweet 2:03.27 for WT that caught my eye. I also liked the performance from Jake Claricurzio of CB West who ran 2:00.81. He’s an x-factor in the 4x8 conversation for West who is trying to break into the mix against State College, Pennridge and Abington who have somewhat stolen the spotlight from this school. I liked the race from Peter Cooke of Radnor as well (2:01.37).

3,000m

PA’s top runners were filed in quite closely in the 2-4 spots in this race. Connor McMenamin, fresh off a very quick 2 mile, runs a strong 9:04.70 (that technically improves his seed time for states) to edge out Joe Maguire (9:05.06) and Brian Iatarola (9:05.43). McMenamin ran two fantastic XC races at Lehigh for 5,000m towards the end of the fall so clearly the speed is there. He’s done a nice job at the under distance mixing it up in the mile as well, so he seems built for a nice season on the track indoors and out. Maguire ran under 9:30 last year for 3200m and had a really excellent cross country season. He also ran a pretty quick mile, so he’s rounding into form nicely. Brian Iatarola doesn’t have quite the same 3200m PRs as the other two, but he was the 25^th finisher at XC states and has one of the best training crews around over at CB West. I’m excited to watch this guy continue to attack.

Nice race also for Avery Lederer of Penncrest. The sophomore ran a solid 9:21 for 5^th place and is yet another impressive early season for Penncrest Track and Field, who I anticipated may have a down year this season after consistently competing for gold in the relays. They are slowly building back up another potent army.

DMR

Bonner ended up taking a bit of an upset victory in the DMR, running a strong 10:57.20 for the W. That time is currently the second fastest mark in PA behind only Pennridge’s early season DMR win within the TFCAofGP. According to twitter, Bonner split 3:22-55-2:09-4:29 for the victory with Sean Sullivan providing the lift on the anchor leg. Spring Ford was second in 11 flat with, I’m assuming, a fresh team, but they may have had John Conner doubling back from the open mile. That could potentially mean they have some room to drop. CB East rounded out the sub 11:05 club by running 11:03.19. Again, I’m assuming (Jake) Brophy did not run on the relay here, which means this team could potentially have a ton of room to drop.

Bonner always seems to contend indoors in one relay or another. They really do a nice job putting out squads and had a team of medalists last year that snuck into the state meet during the stretch run of the season and then, at PSU, proved they belonged. Sullivan was a big reason way as the team’s 1200m leg, but now has taken another step forward to contend on the anchor. I hope we get to see him in a fast 800m soon to see what kind of shape he is in for that event (his best event a year ago). I really like what I’ve seen from CB East in the last two years for relays, but I can never get an accurate sense of their plan. Last year, they took an interesting approach to indoors with a fair amount of doubling at the state meet rather than going all in on a relay. If they really focus up on the DM, I think they are dangerous.

Also worth noting, Easton dropped an 11:08 and CB South was just behind in 11:09. Easton has shown some nice potential in the relays and CB South has a strong history of putting together strong four man teams. Both squads have potentially game changing anchors with Lapsansky and Matt Scarpill from South.

4x800m

In a battle between three of PA’s top 4x800m contenders (this event is looking very deep early on), CB West took down the victory in 8:17.18, despite the fact that at least two of their best legs (on paper) had raced earlier in the day. I’m really impressed with this time (I believe it’s PA #2) considering the doubling that was likely going on and the fact that they were up against two teams that appeared to be close to completely fresh in Bishop Shanahan and Penn Wood. Shanahan defeated Penn Wood for Silver by a nose 8:20.40-8:20.71. I believe these two teams finished right beside each other last districts (7:53-7:54) and return a large amount of weapons each (3-4 guys). Shanahan missed the state finals by a nose last outdoors, while Penn Wood snuck in front of them and ended up taking advantage, breaking 7:50 in the state finals. Penn Wood has a potential star in the waiting in Dennis Manyeah and I thought that might be enough to get them the victory, but they still have a bit of work to do to catch these other squads. The good news is, this team didn’t have the same XC success as their opponents (both 3^rd in their respective state meets) and, therefore, I’d imagine they are more of a sprint oriented team than distance. That could mean their strength will come on later in the season, producing a strong relay.

I’m interested to see what Shanahan can do in the individual events. They’ve had some solid successes (Kolimago, Fromhartz), but, in my opinion, this team has run significantly better as a unit than they have individually. That’s a good thing for a team trying to compete in the relays, but also suggests to me that there is potential for a break out star on this roster once they start jumping in some open events.

Penncrest, Perk Valley, Pennridge and Pennsbury rounded out the rest of the top 7 (with Owen J Roberts at 8^th) each under 8:40. Pennsbury is quietly lurking after their title run last year. They haven’t produced any relay that makes me think they are ready to compete for a medal just yet, but I know this squad has some pieces, most notably Eric Kersten who has yet to make an individual debut. Ari Bortman ran a solid mile and could also contribute to a possible 4x8 run, but only time will tell. Pennridge also seems to be lurking as they didn’t load up individual events or relays this weekend (at least distance wise, Howell and the 4x4 ran excellent), which could mean they are also planning a big trip to the Armory for a distance relay.