Weekend Recap Part 1: West Side

by Jarrett Felix

So with so many meets going on each weekend, I've come to the conclusion that, rather than trying to blast through all the meets in one post, I should try spreading them out a bit. I want to get stuff out quickly, but I also like providing analysis and sharing intuition and what not and that stuff takes up time, paragraphs and mental effort. So I hope you will agree with my decision to, hopefully, improve the quality of some of these recaps even if means some schools will have to wait a couple extra days for my thoughts on their performances.

And with that, I move on.

The Western part of the state never gets as much love as the east coast so I figure it makes sense to throw them up first this week, especially considering some of the monster performances they had this weekend. We start at the GL Wildcat Invitational, where many of the top WPIAL schools threw down top marks.

Kiski's Eric Kennedy in his 800m run where he dropped a 1:58.9 to take the victory. He won by roughly 3 seconds over second place, Zach Ehling of North Allegheny. NA's Ehling (2:01) and Lutz (2:03) finished 2nd and 5th for the XC runner ups and, along with Stupak and their two 400 runners who placed well (and their 300 hurlder who ran 38.76 which is moving), make an intriguing middle distance core. However, we haven't seen a ton of 4x8 dedication from NA over the years and, amazingly, I'm not sure they've grabbed a state medal in this relay in the last decade or so. That being said, they killed it last year at WPIALs and they are always in the mix for the relay title. Norwin, the defending WPIAL 4x8 champs if memory serves, also had a strong day with Tyler Laughery running 2:01 for 3rd and Matt O'Neil adding a 2:03 for 6th. O'Neil and Laughery were fresh off the 1600 (assuming your typical meet order) where O'Neil was second in 4:32 and Laughery was 6th in 4:39.

That 1600 was won by Jacob Stupak of North Allegheny in a time of 4:27. It's a big win for Stupak who was absent from the indoor season this winter. Happy to see that he is healthy and clearly in great shape as the top 10 finisher from XC and returning state medalist in the 1600 will likely have big goals for this spring. I think he's in the type of position to drop a lot of time gradually over the course of the year and peak perfectly for WPIALs and states. Keep an eye on him in an interesting 1600.

Also posting strong marks in the 16 were Samuel Lenze of Indiana (3rd in 4:32.46), XC state medalist Mark Provenzo of Franklin Regional (4:33.46) and sophomore Sam Cunkelman from Homer Center (4:33.64).

It was a big weekend for the WPIAL 3200 which might end up overshadowing the monster race we saw at GL. Marc Migliozzi won the deuce in a time of 9:29.62, winning by roughly 10 seconds over Ben Bickerton, a runner who had an excellent XC season this past year and was runner up to Skolnekovich at districts. Migliozzi's teammate, Sam Blechman, returned to the track as well after a quiet (don't remember him racing) indoor campaign. Blechman ran 9:42 for 3rd place.

Migliozzi had a huge break through in XC, dropped a ton of time in the 3k during indoors, and is now a 9:29 guy. Really like what I've seen from him and, as I've done before, I think he has a lot of potential to have a season like his now graduated teammate Hunter Wharrey did a year ago: sub 9:20 type mark in the 3200, top 5ish at WPIALs and in the mix for a medal at states. But those won't be easy as the fields are looking strong.

Also having a really nice day for the Tigers was Mark Hartigan who ran a 9:52 to take 5th in this race, just ahead of Provenzo, the 3rd place finisher from WPIALs in XC. Jonah Powell, the super frosh from Grove City, finished 4th in 9:50 for 32. Not too shabby for Powell. Remember, GC has produced guys like Jaskowak, Kildoo, Benka and Budnik in recent years, some absolute studs. Powell is off to a nice start to maybe join their company one day. No pressure of course.

The 4x8 gold went to Kiski, making two 800 related golds for Eric Kennedy. They ran a time of 8:17.02 to beat Hempfield Area (8:21), who had a very well balanced meet overall with lots of fast times in every event.

Switching gears to some small district action, at the Harbor Creek Invitational, Dan Kuhn of Harbor Creek, one of the top returners in the AA 800m, picked up a dominating win in his season opener, running 1:58.99 to take the victory. His time was roughly 6 seconds ahead of the next fastest competitor, Lakeview senior Chris Drozynski. At 1600m, XC stand out Sam Lander of Cranberry took the victory in 4:34, defeating North East's Trent Leonard and XC medalists Connor Walsh and Phoenix Myers, who both ran 4:37. Walsh, a top 4 finisher during XC in A, also finished 2nd in the 3200m with a 9:54. The winner in that one? Mercyhurst Prep's Noah Curtin who ran 9:47 for the win. Curtin is an interesting sleeper looking ahead to outdoors. I'm not sure what exactly his best event will be, but he's a clutch runner and a real talent. He finished 2nd at states this past fall in XC as a junior.

The 4x8 was one of the races of the day as District 10 powers Harbor Creek and Seneca dueled to fast times of 8:14 and 8:15. These schools are both AA squads and these kind of early season times match up great for the long term, especially considering the limited work these guys did indoors. Another great sign? Christian Babo, who medaled at XC states as just a frosh, looks to be back and healthy and contributed a leg on the team's winning (and meet record) 4x8. They also have Kuhn who we know is a stud. But Seneca is loaded as well with both Donovan and Phoenix Meyers (Donovan was sub 2 indoors if memory serves) and a strong XC group. They raced 4 juniors in this one and, considering this young team has been to states in XC and track for a number of years now, I like how their ever increasing experience projects towards Shippensburg long term.

Of course arguably the meet of the weekend came at West Mifflin High School for the TSTCA Outdoor Championships. In this meet, we had another impressive win for Penn Hills 800 stand out Isaiah Bailey, who won the 800 with a 1:58.91 and 4+ second margin of victory (Upper Saint Claire's Christopher Adamo took second overall in 2:04.17 from one of the slower heats). Bailey's win likely came after he won the 1600m in a very strong 4:25.37. Pretty strong double. We also had a couple strong marks from Winchester Thurston's Tristan Forsythe (2:04.38) and Gordon Pollock (2:05.07). This team's 4x8 is going to very interesting (they also have Loevner and Littman available although those guys may be more 2 mile types) as sleeper contenders for the 4x8 in AA.

As mentioned, Bailey won the 1600 in 4:25, but in second was Mount Lebanon's Josh Kalapos, who ran 4:28. Kalapos, Harris and Gunzenhauser combined for a killer 1-2-3 at XC states, helping propel Lebo into a top tier group. Now Josh and Harris (in a reported dual meet time) have both cracked 4:30 for 1600 and Gunzenhauser ... well we will get to him. But that trio plus one more piece could definitely make a strong relay if they want it. If not, they will have plenty of chances to individually qualify guys for Ship. At this meet, Lebo finished 2nd in the 4x8 with a time of 8:16.71, narrowly being edged out by Cathedral Prep, who ran 8:16.58.

Sophomore Noah Beveridge finished 3rd in the 1600, clocking a 4:30.04. Not a bad day for the sophomore who continues to bolster the much talked about class of '18. His Butler teammate Brett Brady won the 2nd section of the 1600 as well, clocking a 4:44 and finishing 11th overall.

But the race I was most excited about (and so was our own Evan Hatton) had to be the 3200m. In what was likely an epic battle, Peters Township's Nick Wolk defeated Mt Lebo's Todd Gunzenhauser in a 9:13-9:15 duel to the finish. The times are PRs for both men (Todd ran 9:16 last year, Nick had a seed time of 9:55 so this was likely a massive drop) and, amazingly, continues Wolk's winning streak in the WPIAL (on fresh legs at least). These times also look to slot these performers as two of top 25 WPIAL 3200 runners in it's history (of course my database isn't fully up to date, but that's what I have for now). It's a killer time for April and has to put them in the conversation for state title contention. Apparently, Gunzenhauser also split a 1:56 earlier in the day (Wolk may have split something nice as well as Peters ran a pretty solid 8:20s mark in the relay as well).

But behind these two front runners, we also had Jake Susalla PRing at 9:21 and Ben Bumgarner of Waynesburg Central adding a 9:28. Rounding out the top six were Casey Conboy at 9:30 and Joseph Westrick at 9:32. Susalla had a huge day after he missed qualifying for states indoors. He came back with a strong vengeance and seems to have a real plan for peaking at the right moments. His light racing schedule paid off big time in XC and perhaps a quieter winter will lead to big things this spring. This is a great start.

I believe Bumgarner is AA for track and, after a very strong indoor season in the 1600 and 3200, he takes another big step forward with a 9:28 mark. That puts his best right up there with the best guys in the state and his finishing speed make him an intriguing element in a load field of 9:20 type guys (Mackey, Kachman, Descavish, etc.). Baldwin's Junior Casey Conboy was a WPIAL 3200 state qualifier last year and clearly feels very comfortable in this event. He could do big things this spring. So too could Joseph Westrick who didn't have many opportunities for fast times indoors, but should pick up a lot of steam from this 9:32. Westrick was a top 50 finish at XC states this past fall and a top 10 finisher in the WPIAL.

A few other closing notes, at the Kane Invitational, Brookville's Ryan Thrush won the 400 and 800 with times of 52.68 and 1:59.09. Thrush, who has tried the 16 and 8 in years past, seems to be switch gears on the AA scene. His 400 times have been excellent (running sub 50 will put him in contention for a state final) so it's hard to say the decision isn't a good one. His 800 victory came over New York's Owen Barber who has run 1:54 and 4:15. Barber did run the 1600 at this meet as well, winning with a mark of 4:33.

At the Bedford Invitational, multi time state medalist (I think he has at least 5 now) Will Kachman won the 1600 and 3200 (4:33 and 10:07) and finished second in the 8 (Adam Zook of Tyrone got the W in that one). His teammate Zane Baker won the 400 in 50.8h.