Father Stretch My Recaps Part II

Most of the recaps are in my first recap post just below this one, but this should cover the other big meets from this weekend.

Butler Invitational

How about this for an intriguing 4x8 battle. Avonworth, who is AA for track I believe, put together a big win in the 3200 relay to make a statement about their state title potential. The squad ran 8:07.38 for the victory with Tyler Wisniewski and Kenny Azzarello leading the charge. They also have sub 50 second quarter miler Kenny Baurle on the roster. It’s a well balanced squad with nice upside. Finishing just behind them were the teams from Franklin Regional (8:07.78) and Greensburg Salem (8:08.32). AA Winchster Thurston finished 5^th in 8:18.54.

In what may have been the race of the day, Mike Kolor took control and dominated the 1600. He ran 4:15.04 for a 5 second victory over recent 3200m success story Todd Gunzenhauser of Lebo who ran 4:20.43 and Eric Kennedy of Kiski who clocked 4:22.78. Kolor looks strong, fit and focused heading into the Penn Relays championship at the mile. That race is going to be a blast. Winchester Thurston’s prominent 1-2 punch of Forsythe and Loevner both cracked the top 5, running 4:23 and 4:26. Loevner also added a 9:29 3200m for good measure. That’s a pretty sick day for Will. That 3200 featured a strong field that included A XC State Champ Griffin Mackey, who was second in 9:36.

All in all, the 1600 featured 9 guys under 4:30 and 16 at 4:36 or faster. The 3200 included 8 guys under 10 minutes, including Grove City freshman Jonah Powell who ran 9:49. Lebo added a 9:43 from Ian Harris and a 4:26 from Josh Kalapos to TGunz’s 4:20 finish. That’s a pretty strong threesome that makes their 4x8 prospects long term quite interesting. The WPIAL 4x8 is still very wide open.

Speaking of the 800m, Penn Hills’s Isaiah Bailey added to his impressive list of 800 performances with a 1:56.50 at Butler. However, that wouldn’t be good enough for gold as Donovan Myers ended up coming away with the victory at 1:56.21. The AA stand out makes a huge statement about his fitness and becomes an insta contender in the AA 800. With Peretta, Fletcher and no Myers all already having run 1:56 or faster this year and guys like Morris, Kuhn and Leslie showing impressive wheels, the AA 800 is going to be a fiercely competitive race. Don’t forget guys like Joe Cullen of Wyomissing either.

Michael Bove of Fox Chapel had a very nice double with a sub 4:30-1:58 series of races at Butler. Nick Gabrielli of Kiski gave the school two sub 2 800 runners as he clocked a 1:59.05 for 4^th overall.

Twin Valley

Cedar Crest’s Jesse Cruise dropped a 1:58.92 for the victory at 800, defeating Governor Mifflin’s Luke Myers. Cruise and Cedar Crest have been somewhat swept under the rug with all the fast 800s coming in and around the Philly Area, but we can’t overlook this squad who has made a couple state finals in a row and won state gold back in 2010. Nick Blandy ran 2:02.08 for 4^th in this race and Matt Royer added a 4:33 for second in the 16.

That 16 was won, going away, by Phoenixville’s Sean McGinnis. McGinnis clocked a massive 4:20.08 time to win by 13 seconds. He ran 1:55 last year and showcased nice strength during cross, but putting all the pieces together is never easy. This is a big win for Sean who made a statement about his fitness after a battle with Conway last week.

Lock Haven

At the same meet that Griffin Molino ran 4:12 a few years back, Molino’s up and coming teammate Hunter Crawley dropped a 4:28.55 for the victory in the 1600. I believe this is a PR for Crawley and a real nice opener for a AA 1600 medal threat. After his top 10 finish in XC, Crawley has become a legitimate star moving out from under Griffn’s shadow and becoming a strong medal contender in the 16. I’d love to see him give the 32 a shot as well at some point this spring. Isaac Davis of Jersey Shore finished 2^nd in 4:33. Davis also won the 3200 in this one, clocking a brilliant 9:44 to defeat Tyler Lesser of Milton (9:49). That’s a great time for Davis who is still just a sophomore and coming off an absolutely monster fall.

Warrior Run took gold in the 4x8 with Cassidy Hoffman anchoring in a 2:02 to round the team’s 8:20. Warrior Run is AA for track and 8:20 puts them right in the hunt early on with potential for more time to drop off looking ahead. Also shout out to the Lock Haven results for having splits built directly in. Pretty sweet.

CB West Relays

It’s one of the more guess and check type meets of the year: The CB West Relays. I don’t know the splits or who is on the relays (if you got ‘em throw ‘em up), but a good time is a good time. For example, how about that 4x1600? Think of it this way, if you run 18 flat you are averaging 4:30 per guy. LaSalle ran 17:39! That’s an average of under 4:25! That’s a fantastic result, especially in a winning effort. CB East, CR North and CB West all finished in the low 18s as well (in that order) with East pulling things out at 18:02 for second. Must have been an exciting race to watch unfold and speaks volumes about the depth of these schools in the longer distances.

Quakertown picked up the W in the sprint medley, running 3:33.89. They defeated strong showings by CB West, Penn Wood and Pennridge. CB West was the best of that pack in 3:37.11. For reference, splits of 23.0-23.0-50.0-2:00.0 add up to 3:36.0 so Q-town was running under that pace, just a day after Wolfinger and Delisle ran impressive PRs at Warrior.

But Pennridge may have had the race of the day. The Rams, who have been waiting to unleash a full force 4x8, finally showed their cards. They dropped a 7:50.82 for the runaway gold in this one, defeating CB West’s silver medal performance by 16 seconds. Pennridge has been running around 8:04-8:05 in dual meets in the 4x8 and given their resume and history, it’s clear they would have some tricks up their sleeve. But a 7:50 runaway victory is one heck of a statement. They have a lot of depth and a lot of talent on the roster. Don’t forget they returned 3 legs from a 7:40 team last year.

Penncrest dropped an 8:07 for one of their best performances of the season (somehow they always have a strong team in the 4x8) and CR South ran a strong 8:09 mark to take 5^th in a strong performance as well.

CB East, who had top finishes in the 4x16 and 4x8, got their biggest win in the DMR, defeated CR South (11:06) with a 10:38 victory. That’s an impressive solo performance for East heading into Penn Relays. Apparently their star frosh David Endres recently broke 2 minutes in a dual meet and Jake Brophy ran a 4:15.8 in a dual as well (I believe he went toe to toe with Tucker Desko in the Pennridge meet?), so these guys seem to be in pretty good shape. They made the COA last year in the 4x8 and return many of the same pieces (but may not use them all) so I’m excited to see this team try and continue their hot streak.

Great Valley Relays

Continuing on with the relay portion of our show, Great Valley hosted a relay meet of its own this weekend. The boys from Glen Mills went off in their two sprint relays, posting times of 1:29 and 3:21 for a pair of big time gold medals. That 3:21 time wasn’t too far away from the 3:19.55 meet record that belonged to the legendary 2002 Glen Mills School.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Spring Ford won the 4x1600 over Boyertown, likely utilizing their young core to get the job done. They finished with a time of 18:22, which averages about 4:35 a leg. Spring Ford also finished second in the 4x8 behind Methacton 8:15 to 8:19. The SMR was a thrilling race that came down to the wire with four teams within about a second of one another. Neumann Goretti pulled out the win in 3:35, likely getting a big lift from Kamil Jihad. They defeated DT East, Bishop Shanahan and Springside. Bonner, who will compete at the Penn Relays for the 4x8, won the DMR in 10:51, defeating a sub 11 effort from Lower Merion.

Leonard Stephan Invite

While Camp Hill continued to roll at Shippensburg, Wyomissing made a quiet statement of their own. The defending state champs in the 4x8 took a top 2 spot in the 4, 8 and 16 with three different individuals. Herboto Colon earned silver in the open quarter, while sophomore Joe Cullen ran away with the 800 title in 1:57. Jack DiCintio rounded out the strong Wyomissing showing with a 4:35 victory in the 1600 over Jake Underwood of Wilson.

Adams County

The day before he took a trip to Shippensburg, Dan Filler decided to get in a little speed work, dropping a 4:32.46 to win the 1600 by four seconds over AA XC stand out Will Greene, who clocked a solid 4:36.56. Greene doubled back for gold in the 3200 at 10:08.

Hermitage

Noah Curtin picked up a nice 1600 victory, running 4:33 to defeat Chad Grundy and Connor Walsh. Grundy and Walsh dueled over 3200 as well, with Grundy picking up the victory 9:48-9:52. It was a very impressive meet for Grundy in my opinion. The sophomore ran 4:37 and 9:19 (3k) indoors and looks to be picking up right where he left off with a pair of strong PRs on the track and some tough runs against some of the district’s best XC guys. He will be AA this spring for track.