Weekend Recap Part Two: How Many Can I Get Through?

No time to waste, let’s keep the recaps rolling …

Jim Kelly Invitational

This looked like a fun meet as spectators had the chance to witness some of the best mid distance talent in the state. A couple of those runners wear Pennridge jerseys as Austin Howell and Tucker Desko had statement victories. Howell dropped a 48.93 for the win, catapulting himself toward the front of the state championship picture. Still keeping my fingers crossed we see him on the 4x8 at Penn Relays. Meanwhile, Tucker Desko ran 1:55.10 to win the 800 over CB West’s Rock Fortna (1:56). We got a strong preview for future championship racing as West and Pennridge combined for 5 of the top … 5 finishers in this event. CB West’s Jake Claricurzio and Carter Zerweck each ran 1:57 low and were split by Matt Eissler, the freshman from Pennridge. I really like the way CB West is rolling right now, especially Zerweck who is doing some quality racing (and they will need him to help them match up with State College who has three monster legs of their own). CB West also ran 8:05 in the 4x8 at this one for 2^nd place, likely either running tired legs or some members of their B squad.

This race was fast top to bottom at Matt Kraus from Tennent also ended up in the 1:57s and Evan Kutney of CR South and Noah Falasco of Upper Merion finished in the low 1:58s.

The 1600 was won by Bryan Keller of CR North, running a very strong 4:25.9 to win over teammate Tim Haas, who ran 4:30. North was a surprise state medal squad indoors for the 4x8, but they now have three guys at 4:30 or faster along with 2 flat man Sam Early. Plus the dangerous Ryan Campbell who excelled in the 3200 at this meet, finishing second to state XC medalist Brian Iatarola of CB West (9:43 and 9:40).

Monster run by Andrew Kawodniak of CR South who dropped to 4:31.44. Kinda wish there was a DMR at outdoor states as this CR South team is really starting to put together some killer pieces for that relay. Of course they got a well deserved indoor medal, but it would be fun to watch them chase a fast time. All the same, great run for Kawodniak who is one of the lesser known pieces of the relay with Kutney and Maguire getting a lot of love.

Abington continues to scorch fast marks in strong fields in the 4x4, cracking 3:20 yet again in this one. Kinda feels like they may be sitting on a big breakthrough type mark. Hopefully it comes at Penn Relays and they can get down around 3:16. Upper Dublin finished with a silver in the 4x4 (3:24), but did take gold in the 4x8 (8:05). They’ve been sitting in the borderline contender spot for a couple seasons now in both middle distance relays. Curious who will step up to jump them onto the medal stand.

Neshaminy Track Invitational

Rusty Kujdych took the victory in the 1600m, dipping under 4:30 after sitting firmly around that mark during the indoor season. He defeated Wissahickon’s Lukas Marcelis who was just south of 4:35. Kujdych, who ran 4:28, joins an elite group of sub 4:30 sophs during the outdoor season. It was a dual between these same two schools in the 800, but in this one, Wissahickon prevailed. Cameron Christopher pulled off a big win against Sean Conway on the later’s home track. Cameron also dipped under the 2 minute barrier in the process, running 1:58.75. I believe this may have been his first trip under and would add to a long list of Wissahickon stand outs to clear this significant barrier.

Viking Invitational

It’s always impressive when we see a sophomore challenge one of the state elite barriers (1:55.0, 4:17.0 and 9:20.0). It’s even more impressive when they can pull it off in April. And, as I sit here on April 18^th, we have two sophomores in the low 1:54s for 800 meters: and neither of them even competed in this event at indoor states. After Josh Hoey ran 1:54.11, Liam Conway dropped a 1:54.27 for the two-lapper to win against a strong field at the Viking Invitational in convincing fashion. Conway, who competed in the 3k at states (i.e. the complete other end of the spectrum), has really impressive range and seems like a state qualifying contender in any event from 8 to 3k. No idea which direction he will lean, but should be fun to see.

Sean McGinnis of Phoenixville, a top 50 finisher during XC and a 1:55 man last outdoors, opened up his track season after a silent indoors with a 1:57 for 2^nd overall behind Conway’s mark. He beat out Jack Armand of Garnet Valley (1:58) for third. Owen J Robert’s also scored a top 10 finish from Ethan Conway who finished 8^th in 2:02.

At 1600m, James Abrahams of Haverford got a strong victory over seasoned veteran PJ Murray of Conestoga 4:24 to 4:26. Just behind Murray, also running 4:26, was Brandon Hontz of West Chester Rustin. Hontz had a big breakthrough campaign during cross country and now carries the momentum through to spring. His training with Jack Carmody (XC stand out as well who ran 4:27 for 4^th) clearly is pushing him. Rustin has a nice squad going early in this season with strong marks across a variety of distance and a sleeper 4x8 squad.

Austin Maxwell, John Conner and Zach Smith rounded out the top 7 finishers, running 4:31-4:31-4:32. Then it was Abe Van Helmond, also of Owen J Roberts, taking 8^th in 4:33.

At 3200m, Rob Moser picked up the win over Jacob McKenna of Spring Ford in a tight 9:44-9:48 finish. McKenna, just a sophomore who was part of a tight Spring Ford pack during XC, picks up a really strong silver here. I still can’t believe it takes 9:46 to make districts now. And there will still be like 30 kids on the starting line  …

McKenna’s fellow sophomore Shane Ainscoe also broke 10 minutes in this race, finishing 4^th. Combined with Zach Smith, who ran 4:32 in the 16, Spring Ford has a killer trio of sophs.

I liked what Boyertown did in this meet as well. A variety of strong performances across the distance events, including some young guys stepping up to run fast.

Hempfield Black Knight

Sometimes meet records aren’t that big of a deal, but when you are breaking a record that used to belong to one of the all time greats like Vince McNally, that’s saying something. J.P. McCaskey Junior Nathan Henderson not only topped McNally’s 2007 meet record, but he demolished it, soloing a 4:14 to defeat the ghost of CV past by nearly 4 seconds. McNally ended that 2007 season running 4:08 for the full mile at Nationals having already pocketed state gold in the 16. This is also a massive PR for Henderson who made a big statement in a weekend where 2 milers were very active (Hock, Wolk, TGunz, etc.). Henderson is still chasing that elusive first state gold, but his odds are getting increasingly better. He now holds a better 1600 PR than Brophy.

Ironically it was a Conestoga Valley boy who won the 800m after McNally’s record went down. Victor Suarez won the 800 over Luke Myers of Governor Mifflin, both men running 2:01 for the two lap race. In the 3200, district 3 XC runner up Zach LeFever and two time top 50 finisher in state XC Nate Becker ran to the top two spots. LeFever posted a very impressive 9:38 with Becker edging out sophomore Jake Underwood of Wilson 9:47 to 9:48. The top 6 finishers all finished under 10 minutes. LeFever was a monster during XC and this year in championship season, he won’t have any appendix to worry about (which if I recall is what kept him out of XC states).

Tim Cook

There was more fast action for District 3 at Tim Cook in Chambersburg. But one of the most impressive and surprising performances came from Williamsport out of District 4 who defeated D6’s Altoona in a 4x8 duel 8:07 to 8:09. That’s a great time for this Williamsport team who has quietly had some high quality relay performances in recent years, including an appearance in the AAA state finals.

Carlisle’s Matt Wisner did what he did best in the 1600, getting to the line first in a mark of 4:24. He defeated a strong field that included Morgan Cupp of Mechanicsburg (another sophomore) and Isaac Kole of Wisner’s Carlisle team. Both the second and third place finishers ran 4:27. With Kole, Matt Wisner and JackWisner, Carlisle has the pieces for a very nice 4x8 if they choose to pursue it. Wisner and Kole doubled down on that opinion when they won the gold and silver medals in the open 800, Wisner running 2:01 and Kole 2:03. Carlisle also won the 4x400.

Artic Blast

The AA 4x800 officially has an early state favorite. And it’s coming from the same district as the defending state championships. The A XC State Champs from Camp Hill, who placed 3 in the top 30 at Hershey this fall, ran 8:06.13 with a 1:56 anchor split from Cooper Leslie to seal the victory and the meet record. In second was a strong race from Eastern York who impressed me with their 8:08 mark. I can’t wait to see a Camp Hill vs. Wyomissing duel at some point in this relay as I believe the Wyomssing boys return 3 of 4 from last year’s championship (which was a runaway victory).

Also, shout out to Camp Hill for tweeting this performance at us on twitter. I’m just gonna be candid with you, for whatever reason I was kinda sad when teams would tweet their great performances at penntrack and not us. So I’m just saying I appreciate the love. We like good performances too!

The Camp Hill boys weren’t quite finished as Cooper Leslie also added meet records in the 1600 and the 800, running 4:23 and 1:58. Blake Behney grabbed 2^nd in the 1600, running a strong 4:35 and Andrew Snyder won the 400 in 50.59. Ian Gabig and Dan Shank added top 5 finishes in the 800 and 3200 respectively. That 1600 I mentioned earlier featured a ton of strong performances as 5 guys cracked 4:40, including a couple from AA XC runner ups York Suburban and one from XC A state medalist Will Greene. Greene also won the 3200 in 10:06.

In the 800, frosh Jarrett Raudensky finished 2^nd in a strong time of 2:03 (he’s also from York Suburban). Kid had a great XC season for YS and was a key member of their top 5. Plus, he’s got an excellent first name, spelled in a real cool way if I do say so myself.

And that’s all I got for now! I’ll finish up the recaps tomorrow, but for now I have to go prep my NCAA/Professional knowledge to prepare for tonight’s episode of TheRoundHouse hear on the blog. You can catch it live at 9 o’clock tonight or watch a replay later on YouTube.

And don’t forget, Wednesday will be our first PA edition at 9 o’clock so get excited for that to go down as well.