Track Attack is Back

By Jarrett Felix

It’s still relatively early in the season, early enough that the weather is a little chilly (or windy as heck as it was for me today) and the fast times are few and far between as teams get back into shape after a long winter. I was barely able to pull myself away from Facebook Basketball (shout out to Evan Hatton who is having quite the basketball related week) to sit at this computer and type up some talk while cooking some salmon burgers. Yes, that’s a real thing. Now on to business.

PTFCA Track Carnival

Just a few days after racing at Rustin, Peter Cooke of Radnor came back with vengeance in his rematch with Neshaminy’s Sean Conway.  Cooke blasted a 1:57.63 for gold, marking a 5 second drop from Thursday night. Conway clocked yet another sub 2 minute mark and then Mike Sheptuk of Notre Dame ES rounded out the sub 2 marks. Sheptuk is at a AA school and hitting an early season 1:59 low sets him up quite well for a run at the medal stand down the road. But I think Cooke is the story here. After winning his heat at indoor states, Cooke is picking up where he left off and dropping a big PR. Radnor has turned Connor Holm and Andre Kelly into stars while also boasting a state medal winning DMR and a 7:51 4x8 in recent years. This is a program on the rise and Cooke may finish as their most successful guy yet when all is said and done.

At 1600m, Patrick Donahue won by nearly 7 seconds over Hershey sophomore Andrew Sullivan, clocking an impressive 4:24.47. Donahue has never been afraid to go out hard and run from the front and that style likely paid huge dividends on race day. The 4:31 out of Sullivan, just a sophomore, is also an excellent mark for a District 3 guy with a limited indoor campaign. Charlie Scales of the Haverford School took the W in the 3200 after running mainly the 16 and 8 indoors, showcasing some nice range. His winning mark was 9:58.

Loved what I saw from Penn Wood today. Not the big name guys, but some strong performances. Kenneth Johnson, just a sophomore, won the 400 in a quick 50.34. Meanwhile Todd Jackson, the team’s 4^th member of their indoor 4x8, continues to show improvement at 800, running 2:06 for 6^th in the 8. They also took gold in the 300m Hurdles thanks to Sekou Kanneh.

If you like relays, CR South and Abington may have had the best performances of the day. Abington ran 8:04 and 3:21 to put a stranglehold on both events, while CR South continues to show promise in the DMR (could they make a late run at a Penn Relays time?). The real story, however, may be Penncrest. The 4x8 powerhouse is taking strides toward another postseason run (and possible Penn Relays appearance) after running an 8:17.39 this weekend. In a deeper race with more competition, this team could cut some time and make a low 8 minute mark feasible.

Brother Jerome

It wasn’t a particularly crowded meet on the guys side, but we did see some nice marks. Noah Chandler of Springside ran 4:38 in the full mile and then came back to run 2:02 at 800m, taking gold and silver in his two efforts. Joe Previdi of Masterman took the 800, running a 2:01.55. It’s a nice display of range for Previdi, whose last indoor race was a sub 9 3,000m.

Pirate Invitational

Pennridge comes out the gates absolutely firing this spring. Oh my. Austin Howell won both the 400 and the 200 clocking 49.78 and 22.88 in the two gold medal runs. He had teammates all around him as well as Pennridge took 4 of the top 5 spots in the 400 and 3 of the top 4 in the 2. Josh Pinkney clocked a 22.98 for 2^nd in the 2 and John Nash ran 51.22 for silver in the quarter. Pennridge also took 2-4 in the open 800 (without Tucker Desko). Jeff Espinal led the way at 2 flat followed by Luke Eissler (2:03.57) and Soloman Araneta (very strong 2:04.82). Eissler is just a frosh. James Masgai added to the Pennridge point total in the event with a 7^th place finish. That performance came after Masgai had already helped contribute to a 2-3-5-6 effort for Pennridge in the mile. The team was led by Matt Eissler (another frosh) in this one. He clocked a 4:36.70. Eissler also won the 3200, getting revenge on Dylan Bucior who had defeated him in the 16. For added fun, the Rams won both the 4x8 and the 4x4. All of this appears to be done without 1:53/4:18 man Tucker Desko so stay tuned.

But there was more than just Pennridge to note in this one. Brett Wolfinger of Quakertown got the victory in the 800, cracking 2 minutes yet again (1:58.16). He is carrying his momentum nicely from a fantastic state meet. Another Quakertown teammate, Nicholas Yeatman, ran 2:08 for 5^th place. I’m curious to see what they can throw together in a relay when you add in Delisle looking ahead. I also really liked the run from Dylan Bucior in the 1600. He’s a state medal winner from XC, but I believe Jim Thorpe jumps up to AAA during the spring so his road back to the podium gets a bit trickier come May. Still an excellent start for him at 4:34.79.

Raleigh Relays

Chasing some early season fast times, the Hoey boys went down to North Carolina to compete against a strong field in the Mile. The loaded field was won 4:13.20 by Frank Pittman from Marist who apparently closed in a last lap well under 60 seconds. Josh Hoey finished 7^th at 4:19.94 (about where he started off last year at William and Mary, but also about where he finished the regular season as he didn’t drop his PR until June) and Jaxson finished 11^th in 4:25.