DMR Recap

by Jarrett Felix

The Race (http://pa.milesplit.com/videos/123416/boys-dmr-cardinal-ohara-102452)
The day's final distance event was packed with tired legs and a lot of questions. The lead off leg featured a ton of young talent as well as some familiar faces. Rob Morro and Grayson Hepp, who led off all-state DMRs a year ago, were back to take another shot at gold. On the flip, freshmen like Seth Ketler of Seneca Valley, David Endres of CB East, Matt Eissler of Pennridge and Jack Wisner of Carlisle were all also contesting the 1200.

At the gun, a pack of 14 runners shot off on the first lap. Things were quite crowded around the first turn as a big pack jockeyed for the lead. Grayson Hepp ended up at the lead going through 200m with Morro and Claricurzio just behind around 30 to 31 seconds. But things really slowed down on the second lap, as it appeared no one was incredibly comfortable at the front. That left it to Rob Morro and DT West's Ryan Barton. Morro really started to string things out once he hit the lead with Barton and then Hepp the closest to him. Nick Feffer of State College also made a nice surge to get in the mix at 800m. By the time they hit the 1,000m mark that meant one lap to go, the field was almost completely in a line. Morro had control out front with Barton, then Feffer, then Hepp and then the fresh lead off leg from Unionville Michael DelVecchio. Hepp closed like a mad man on the last lap, but it wasn't enough to catch Morro who handed off at the front around 3:11-3:12, about a second lead over GFS. DT West and State College were the next two through the exchange zone, handing off to very capable 400m legs.

Tamir Jones blasted the 400m leg for O'Hara and dared everyone to chase him. The second leg ran handed off with a lead around 4:01-4:02 opening up the lead for Justin Jones on the 800. GFS and then State College followed close behind. Then DTW and Unionville, who could utilize sub 50 runner Daniel Powers to get in contention. The top three teams were fairly clear of the field, but the race for 4th was on. Unionville, LaSalle, Seneca Valley and West Chester Henderson were all within striking distance of Downingtown at the exchange. CR South and CB East were right in it as well.

Justin Jones got out hard for O'Hara, similar to what he did in the 4x8 earlier in the day. But he kept things a bit more conservative than his furious pace he set on the day's first relay. All the same, a quick opening 200 had to be intimidating to his chasers. Joey Feffer of State College was that primary chaser with Gordon Goldstein of GFS hanging just behind. DT West's Shaun Bullock was running strong in 4th but a monster pack of guys was hot on his tail. LaSalle, Henderson, CB East, Unionville, Seneca Valley and CR South were in a massive group, pushing each other up the track. Justin Jones ultimately handed the baton to Ryan James at right around 6 minutes flat, giving him a sub 2 minute split. The work of the first three legs gave O'Hara a roughly 6 second advantage over State College and roughly 8 seconds over Nick Dahl. A huge finish from CB East's 3rd leg ended up getting CB East barely into 4th over DT West, but there were a ton of teams just behind with medal aspirations, including Seneca Valley's star anchor Mike Kolor. CB West's Carter Zerweck also closed the gap significantly over the last 200m, giving Rock Fortna the stick just behind that medal pack.

Ryan James gunned it out to start the race, feeling excited and probably a little scared of some of the big names behind him. James's first lap was roughly 30 seconds and the pressure that was already on Milligan for SC and Dahl for GFS was increasing. After coming through in about 62 seconds at 400m, Ryan had over a straightaway lead. Nobody else was even in the camera shot they showed at the 7 minute mark. But James was still running completely alone while Milligan and Dahl had each other to work off and try to narrow the gap. And behind those two, Mike Kolor had surged to the front of a huge pack that included three-time state champ Jake Brophy. 4th through 11th was all within just a couple seconds of one another. Regardless, James had a very comfortable lead at 800m, coming through under 2:10. Ryan, who didn't race at all prior to his anchor leg, wasn't afraid to get out aggressively. His tired opponents took a bit more of a cautious and reserved approach, trying to get their legs back underneath them. Milligan and then Dahl were roughly 13 seconds behind at 800m and Mike Kolor was gaining on them from his position in 4th. Rock Fortna of CB West had made up some big ground in his first 800 as he was now in 5th, followed by Kent Hall of Unionville and then Brophy and Spencer Smucker of Henderson. Fortna led the back by in about 8:26, only 3-4 seconds back from 2nd place. DT West and CR South looked like they would round out the medal fight as Joe Maguire and Ben Ryherd hung off the back of this crowded chase pack.

James couldn't help but take a few looks over his shoulder as he started to tire on his 3rd quarter. He came through in roughly 3:18, slowing a bit and maybe giving some hope to his pursuers. Dahl and Milligan were beginning to close, with Nick now taking over the lead. The gap was shrinking, now down closer to 8 seconds, but that would be a lot of ground to make up, even for quality anchors. Clearly the third 400 was a make or break section of the race as Kolor also used a strong couple laps to break clear into 4th place. Fortna had managed to take a strong hold on 5th place, but the battle behind him was still brewing. Kent Hall led it through with Smucker and then Brophy.

At a lap to go, James hit the bell around 9:52-9:53, his pace beginning to slip. Dahl and Milligan, like sharks in the water, had smelled blood and were coming after him hard. Dahl was within maybe 3 seconds or so at the bell. It was a big gap, but we had seen Jake Brophy make a similar gap over the final 200 in the 3k. The O'Hara boys cheered on their anchor, Justin Jones running out to the track to motivate RJ. Sensing things were getting close, Ryan managed to find his second wind and he put his head down and kicked hard. Dahl made a valiant effort to close the gap, closing his last 400 somewhere around 60 seconds, but ultimately he couldn't quite catch up to the determined and fresh O'Hara anchor. Milligan, Kolor and Fortna closed out the next three spots, likely with three of the faster splits of the competition. Brophy kicked his way to 6th, outlasting a mad dash for the final medal spots which were ulimtately grabbed by sophomore Spencer Smucker and senior Joe Maguire, both fresh anchor legs.

Here's the splits I have so far, anybody who can help out please post some splits up below. I'm guessing at a couple orders, so correct me if I'm wrong.

1. O'Hara: Morro 3:11.7, T. Jones 50.6, J. Jones 1:58.3, James 4:24.0
2. GFS: Hepp, Schwemler, Goldstein 2:03.6, Dahl 4:18.4
3. State College: N. Feffer, Degleris, J. Feffer 2:00.8, Milligan 4:23.2
4. Seneca Valley: Ketler 3:18.6, 52.9, Dixon 2:03.8, Kolor 4:17.1
5. CB West: Claricurzio, McIlhinney, Zerweck 2:02.5, Fortna 4:22.7
6. CB East: Endres, Shahideh, Motter 2:00.5, Brophy 4:26.8
7. Henderson: Thompson 3:20.8, Jones 50.2, Richard 2:03.4, Smucker 4:25.5
8. CR South: Zawodniak, Johnson, Kutney 2:02.9, Maguire 4:25.7
9. DT West: Barton, Alleyne, Bullock 2:04.8, Ryherd 4:31.0
10. Unionville: DelVecchio, Powers, Do, Hall
11. Carlisle: J. Wisner, Griffie, Kole, M. Wisner
12. LaSalle: Addison, Nelson, Price 2:03.8, Grant
13. Pennridge: Eissler, Howell, Espinal, Desko
14. Neshaminy: Krimmel, Hebron, Lehman, Krzywonos

Analysis

I’ve already taken some well-deserved ribbing on twitter from the O’Hara boys, but after watching the post race interview on milesplit, it appears even these guys were at least a little surprised by their success. In a meet that was dominated mostly by favorites, Cardinal O’Hara pulled off the dramatic upset and left the state meet as back-to-back champions in the DMR. The upset got me thinking about the last five years or so for the O’Hara boys and how this program has no quit in them. Check out this brief history:

Fall 2011 -> O’Hara loses on a tie breaker at the state championship to North Penn

Fall 2012 -> O’Hara loses again on a tiebreaker, but uses it as motivation and finishes 5^th at nationals
Winter 2014 -> After graduating their top two guys from XC states and listening to countless Henderson hype, O’Hara throws down the second best indoor DMR of all time and wins Nationals
Winter 2015 -> After graduating the back half of the DMR and enduring countless amounts of criticism about the fact that they “didn’t peak at states”, O’Hara comes out and wins a state championship in the DMR
Winter 2016 -> After graduating star anchor Kev James who “carried” O’Hara to the title, the team steals a second straight state title after being something of a foot note during the 2015-2016 year

I mean these guys just refuse to go away. Remember that O’Hara was doubling both their 1200 and their 800 legs from the 4x8 (where they finished 9^th just out of the medals). They raced essentially a full “A” squad in the 4x8 and must have really liked their odds in that race (I know I did). However, they did keep Ryan James fresh and ran a smart order, keeping RJ for the anchor slot. The team gave James a nice cushion, but he still had to run what I believe was a big season best anchor split while running completely solo (and looking back more than a few times). Just a brilliant run and an impressive upset. I suppose that’s what happens when almost every team in the race is doubling a couple key legs. O’Hara was the only team in the top 6 whose anchor leg was fresh.

GFS gets the silver and, although they may have wanted the win, the second place finish is their best ever in the DMR as far as I can tell. Dahl ran a big race, closing in about 60 seconds, but may have waited too long to make his move. It would have been interesting to see these guys fresh. They would have been pretty tough to beat I'd imagine. State College gets the bronze, bolstering their team score. They ran a strong race as well, but their most important championship was clearly the 4x8. Everything in the DMR was pretty much gravy. But they will head to nats next week hoping for big things in that relay (I believe GFS is also loading up a relay next weekend, but I think it will be the DMR?). 

Seneca Valley, who barely got in, really stepped up in a big moment for 4th overall. They were the only team to scratch the 4x8 and Kolor also scratched the open mile and those decisions really paid off when their focused squad took to the track. Kolor's 4:17 had to be one of the fastest splits of the day and he nearly closed the gap on SC and GFS at a number of points in this race. But also have to give credit to his teammates. Their freshman lead off leg ran a 3:18.6 in a super high pressure moment and the rest of their squad kept the team in the front pack, allowing Kolor to utilize his speed. Some of the other top anchors didn't get it in quite as good of position and they weren't as motivated to blast an impressive split as they may have been under other circumstances.

Rock Fortna and Jake Brophy from the rival Central Bucks schools finished side by side. Fortna ran a strong anchor leg after a big leg from their 800 man Zerweck. CB East ran a pretty solid relay as well, but that 3k-DMR double is really hard. Brophy threw down his usual kick, but he didn't have quite the same spark. Maybe the 4x8 would have been the better choice, but it's hard to really say. Both teams made the Championship of America for 4x8 last year and I wouldn't be surprised to see them back there this year (they each return three guys). Lots to look forward to for outdoors.

Henderson and CR South, two essentially completely fresh squads, blasted some killer relays to round out the medal spots. Henderson pulled out yet another state medal in the DMR with just a sophomore on the anchor  (and they will return everyone besides their 1200 for next year). Their sophomore 400m runner also clocked one of the fastest splits of the relay, running a clutch 50.2. The youngsters stepped up huge for this team. For CR South, Joe Maguire's decision to scratch the 3k paid off for the relay, who left the meet with a state medal. Have to respect Maguire's individual sacrifice (his PR would have been right in the medal hunt at 3k) to help his teammates get to the podium. The second half the CR South relay, really closed down hard in this race.

As for DT West, I was really impressed with their run. Without arguably their 3 best runners and four best 400 meter guys, DT West still stuck their nose in it. Ryan Barton is a gamer and handed off near the front and the rest of his team hung tough throughout. Ryherd ran a gutsy anchor leg and, although they ended up 9th, I think they exceeded expectations given their "B" squad status. Unionville also ran an impressive race with a killer front end of the relay. If Hall was just a bit fresher they might have been able to hang on in the final laps for a state medal. All the same, Unionville really impressed with a 10:44 and a gutsy race, taking big strides.

The doubling played an interesting role in this one. There were lots of tired legs and very few anchors really got after it in the early going (same with the twelve legs honestly as Morro split about 61-62 on the 400 after a 2:10ish first 8). The other big factor was the 800m leg. I thought somebody might drop a 1:56 and become something of a game changer on that leg, but it tentatively looks like Justin Jones of O'Hara had the fastest split of the group, completely solo out front at 1:58ish. That split really broke it open, running 2+ seconds faster than the group at large.