800m Recap

by Jarrett Felix

The Race (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNADfa2QSrA)

Peter Cooke’s big surge in the first section and Sean Conway’s super quick opening laps in the second section put the pressure on the fast heat to deliver a fast time and try and snag the medals. The 800 was arguably the most wide open race at the meet’s start with arguably 4 runners having realistic state title dreams before the gun sounded, especially when Jax got to conserve a tiny bit in the mile.

When the gun sounded, the runners jockeyed for position a bit around the turn before cutting in. No one seemed incredibly eager to lead the race out so Peretta jumped just ahead of Kolor headed into the 200m split. Hoey was in 3^rd alongside Wagner in a tight group of athletes. As they rounded the track again, things continued to thin out. Hoey moved up ahead of Kolor to chase Peretta and the top three began to inch their way ahead of the chase pack. The clock read right around 55 seconds or so when the hit the split marking two laps to go.

On the third lap, the order stayed virtually the same, but Matt Wisner began to make the most significant move, going by Wanger and into 4^th overall. But he still had work to do to catch the top three. As they approached the bell, Kolor swung wide to go by Hoey and make his bid for the lead, but Peretta surged ahead to fight off the challenge and keep position on the rail. Peretta carried his momentum around the back straight and into the home stretch, powering away over the last 50 meters and taking the state title. Meanwhile, the hard charging Wisner got by Hoey and then barely Kolor in the race’s final strides. Wolfinger sprinted home in 5^th.

Analysis

Dang, Domenic. Back at it again with the state championships. Peretta has now won five individual state titles, all on the track, and will enter this upcoming outdoor season the favorite to win two more if he’s healthy. The Senior has been somewhat unproven against AAA competition (besides arguably the best race of his career at Baldwin last spring) and after a loss in last race before states at Spire, I was concerned maybe I had overestimated DP. But then he hit the track and I was easily reminded of what a remarkable talent this kid is. He glided smoothly around the track at a pretty quick pace and torched the field over the final 200m (an area where has sometimes struggled in 800s). Against Hoey and Kolor, two of the state’s best in the mile, he out strengthed his way to the finish. I’m very interested to see how he does at nationals, which can get crowded and get crazy (just ask Elias Graca).

And hey, it looks like the WPIAL now can add a state title for the indoor 800m to their list of achievements. I’ve been remarking that I have no clue when the last western 800 indoor champ was all week (still haven’t found any going back through 2000), but now we have a nice easy answer. Dom Peretta in his first year of indoor track. Not too shabby.

Matt Wisner ended up finishing in second, grabbing a PR in the process thanks to a big finishing kick. Wisner now steps into the AAA state championship as the favorite while Peretta moves to AA and Kolor and Hoey likely focus on the 1600. Wisner seemed gassed for much of the early stages of this race before finding enough gears to run down Kolor and Hoey at the end. Peretta’s early pace was just a little too much to handle and he ran out of track to cover any big moves to the finish, but 2^nd place to one of the top mid distance stars of the decade (and ahead of two 4:10 1600m guys) is nothing to just brush off. If Wisner does win the 8 outdoors, it will be the 4^th straight year Carlisle has taken one of the distance events (8-16-32 last three years from Brehm).

Kolor dropped a few more ticks off his personal best as well, finishing just behind Wisner in the final standings. Kolor transitioned well into the 800m this year after focusing much of his energy on the 16 last spring (did he ever run a fresh 8?). I’d imagine that’s where he is headed come outdoors considering he has run 4:12 for a full mile already and now should have a good amount of confidence in his speed. Kolor is headed into the outdoor season with much more momentum than he had last year as well. Keep in mind, due to health issues, Kolor barely made it through last fall’s XC season and didn’t really start to feel good until outdoor track (when the time started falling off in a hurry). This year he comes into the spring off a Tri-States XC win, another medal performance in cross and two 1:53s during the winter (and a 4:15.0).

As for Hoey, he hung valiantly on his second race of the day and was up in the lead back the whole way. He’s got excellent speed, but that double is a very hard one, even with a (relatively) relaxed effort in the mile. He still came within a couple fractions of his overall PR and cut a second plus off his previous season best (which was run fresh).

Brett Wolfinger was one of the surprises of the day for me personally, hanging on brilliantly in this very fast heat and coming away with a 1:55 PR. Wolfinger had looked a little flat in recent meets and didn’t have the same momentum I would normally hope for when selecting a top five, but the senior stepped up under the bright lights and hitched himself into the tight pack for his first state medal.

I was really impressed by the running done in that second section. I was a big fan of Conway, Fletcher and Armand coming in, but watching those three battle it out was still very impressive. Conway hammered the pace from the gun and Fletcher hung tough to his shoulder, priming himself for the kick. Fletcher is AA runner, finishing off his first serious indoor season with another trip into the 1:55s (I think this his 3^rd straight state championships where he ran 1:55). In theory, a fresh Fletcher could have a shot at Dom in the 8 at outdoor states. Fletcher is a great race and a great finisher while Peretta has struggled a bit with the 16-8 double after going out hard at the start and pushing things solo (going for the record). It’s not likely, but I wouldn’t count Fletcher out.

Really nice races out of some lesser known guys in the back heats. Peter Cooke ran a monster race and I think this guy could be real good outdoors in the right race. Radnor continues to churn dudes out for sure. I also thought Matt Kraus had another good race to add to his resume. He was completley off my radar prior to this season, but he's torched almost every race he's had. And Bove had a real nice race, definitely his best of the season. He ran 1:55 last outdoors in the shadow of Graca, but the kid is a real talent. 

Lastly, doubling is hard. Especially the 4-8 double. That one might be the hardest one there is.