Tuesday Night at the Races

By Jarrett Felix

Although it wasn’t necessarily a flashy night for times, the Chester County Invite on Tuesday night did provide some strong races and intense competition as expected. The night was highlighted by a very competitive mile race, which was won by West Chester Rustin’s Jack Carmody in 4:35.08, a top 20 time thus far this indoor season in the event to couple with his top 20 3k time of 9:16 from back on December 19^th. Apparently, West Chester East’s Rob Moser set the stage for a fast race early, powering through the opening laps and stringing out the field. He faded a bit down the stretch, allowing Carmody to lead a charge of a chase runners and ultimately take the win followed by impressive days from Dylan McEvoy (DT East) and Jeff Montgomery (Perkiomen Valley) who finished under 4:40. Moser just missed his season best in this one (he ran 4:39.0 and his best thus far his 4:38.9 for PA #27 in the mile rankings), but he proved he is not afraid to push the pace and could potentially drop a fast time in a bit faster of a field. Brett Zatlin rounded out the top 5 in 4:40.98, the 3^rd best time by a sophomore thus far this indoor season, according to our running list.

Another highlight of the day was the 4x800m relay, won by the team from Bishop Shanahan in 8:30.74 with a few tired legs on the roster. Shanahan started out the meet with a third place finish in the SMR, winning the slow heat by roughly 12 seconds in 3:55.67 with a relay that included both Logan Yoquinto and Seamus Fromhartz who doubled back on the 4x8 later in the day. Chris Kolimago raced the open 400m as well, taking 6^th in 54.86, before coming back to race the 4x8 with his teammates. Shanahan also got a 2^nd place overall finish in the open 800m from junior Bradley Ingraham, who ran 2:09.16. Based on the relay listed, Ingraham may be Shanahan’s 5^th best 800m runner which indicates some nice depth for this team. The 8:30.74 wasn’t a mindblowing time (they have run 8:20 already this year at Burdette) but they did beat some strong squads from Henderson, Dowingtown West and Spring Ford. Apparently DT West brought back a couple members of their nationals squad including Henry Sappey (not the Hoeys). According to our onsite reporters, Sappey split about a 2:05 and helped bring West’s relay into first place.

I was quite impressed with West Chester Henderson’s 8:34.83. Assuming Smucker isn’t racing indoors (I believe he wrestles in the spring), they didn’t return a ton of raw speed for this year’s team, but they mixed it up admirably with this field for 2^nd, ahead of DT West and Spring Ford. They also got a win in one of the slower sections of the 400m from Myles Cooper at 54.28 (ahead of Chris Kolimago of Shanahan). I’m curious to see what Henderson can string together relay wise to make a bid for states (they also ran 11:31.12 for 5^th in the DM). It’s incredibly rare to have a state meet where Henderson isn’t on the track for one of the distance relays (in fact, I don’t think it’s happened since I started high school), but they will have their hands full trying to get a fast enough time when there are just 12 spots available in both relays and schools can (and almost certainly will) enter both events.

Lastly, props to Spring Ford’s 4x8 which apparently suffered a drop baton early in the race and battled right back to finish among the leaders in 8:43.98, just four one hundredths of a second behind DT West. Spring Ford also grabbed gold in the SMR (running 3:52) and bronze in the DMR (11:31).

I was really encouraged by what I saw from both Perkiomen Valley and DT East in last night’s events. As mentioned, Dylan McEvoy and Jeff Montgomery both cracked 4:40 in the mile (McEvoy ran a very strong 4:37.15, Montgomery strong with a 4:38.07). Montgomery’s teammate Frank MacGregor took 8^th in the mile at 4:51 and, in the 800m, Perk Valley Viking Jon Adams ran a 2:09.03 for first place in the event. Those are some nice pieces for a possible DMR run later in the season. Meanwhile McEvoy’s teammates shined as well. Tim Hogan won the 400m in 53.90, showing some strong wheels to couple with some earlier 800m success. East doubled their pieces back from a win in the DMR, running 11:26 to beat West Chester East, who ran 11:29.

A few other notes worth … um, noting. Ryan Leahan of Coatesville won the 3k in 9:44 over Great Valley’s Everett Beauregard. Kennett Junior Austin Maxwell finished in 3^rd, doubling back from  anchor duty on Kennett’s 2^nd place SMR. Spring Ford’s Eric Leidelmeyer blasted a 4:55 full mile for 2^nd in the slower section, after entering the race with a seed time of 5:08. Right behind him, DWest’s Joseph Chamoun ran 4:56.15 after entering with a 5:10 seed time. Nice run by both of those guys. West Chester Rustin’s Edward Harpstead finished 4^th overall in the 800m out of the slower section, running 2:13.61 to beat his seed mark of 2:20 by nearly 7 seconds.