Baldwin vs. Henderson: Which Was the Better Meet?

by Jarrett Felix

If you told me Dom Peretta would be MIA at Baldwin this weekend, I would have expected the meet to be something of a let down. But, quite to the contrary, the Baldwin Invite was one of the greatest meets of the year so far, featuring perhaps the deepest WPIAL 3200m to ever be contested. The most famous west coast meet made a big statement with fast marks across the board: the winning times in the 8, 16 and 4x8 were impressive to say the least.

Of course Henderson was still Henderson. Their 3200m race posted the fastest two times of the weekend and unleashed a huge flurry of sub 10 guys and sub 9:40 guys. The depth was out of control on the track in West Chester and a few new stars gained impressive wins under the big spotlight.

So the logical question is: who did it better? I'll recap the action below and then you can be the judge.

4x800m
At Baldwin, two of the state's premier AA 4x8 talents faced off. Seneca pulled away from Harbor Creek for the victory in a very quick time of 8:04.75, led by the combined efforts of Donovan and Phoenix Myers. Seneca has dropped some quick 4x8s in the past (sub 8:10 at districts last year against Mercyhurst Prep), but they've struggled to advance out of prelims at states. Fingers crossed we get to see them in the finals this year as they could do big things. Meanwhile Harbor Creek, one of the best young squads in the state (keep an eye on them in XC next year) put up a great effort for second. They have young talent like Christian Babo (XC medalist as a frosh) and Ryan Starvaggi, but they get most of their power from Dan Kuhn, one of the best AA 800 runners in the state. Both these schools are from District 10, so get ready for a potentially thrilling rematch in a couple weeks (with some extra teams thrown in).

Chartiers Valley, Cathedral Prep, Norwin and Mount Lebanon rounded out the top 6 schools, all running between 8:11 and 8:13. The AAA 4x8 out west should be one to remember this season. I still think it's wide open.

The Henderson meet has never really been known for it's 4x8 prowess, but teams still put down excellent efforts on race. DT East ended up pulling away for a strong win in 8:12 over Methacton's 8:18. Methacton may have even pulled off the silver without Jeff Kirshenbaum, the team's long distance stand out who has been out of action since indoors. DT East, who made the D1 finals in the 4x8 last year (I think that might be three years in a row?) looks poised to be another sleeper squad in the event this year.

Meanwhile, AA XC champs Dallas ran 8:19 and D12 AA powerhouse Masterman clocked an 8:20. Dallas will run AAA during track and should have an exciting battle with North Pocono (ran around 8:13 at Lackawanna) for the D2 crown. Masterman, on the flip side, will be looking for yet another medal in the AA 4x8 landscape, led by Joe Previdi.

1600m/Mile
Out at Henderson, Delaware took the reigns behind a 1-2 punch of Andrew Hally and John Walker (no, not that John Walker) in 4:19 and 4:21. Both runners competed on the Salesianum DMR at Penn Relays last week. But PA still had it's fair share of top finishes and breakthrough performances. Sophomore Evan Addison of LaSalle led the PA contingent with yet another PR in this event, clocking 4:22 for the bronze. He defeated DT West's Ryan Barton (4:23) by two tenths of a second. Just behind them was Brandon Hontz of Rustin who continues a fantastic spring (and fall honestly) with a 4:23.41 for 5th overall. The mile is pretty loaded at the top for PA (we have 5 guys who have run 4:10 either on a split or in the open), but sorting out the last couple finalists and medalists at states is going to be tricky.

One of the sleeper picks in this field, Hershey's Andrew Sullivan, came through in a big way, winning his section in a 4:25.63 over Joe Angelina of Penncrest. The win gave Sullivan 7th place overall and sets him up among the favorites in the D3 1600. Considering guys like Wisner seem poised for the 800 and guys like Henderson seem locked in on the 32 (although he definitely could double, it's not too tricky at districts), I'm very interested to see how takes down the D3 individual crown with perennial champ Zach Brehm off at West Point.

15 guys cracked the 4:30 barrier including AA stand out Hunter Crawley, who ran 4:28.81. Shout out to Pennsbury's Jed Scratchard who won section 2 of 5 in a 4:38.54, a 4 second victory in his heat and good enough for 26th overall.

At Baldwin, Braydon Pyle of Grove City outlasted the field in the 1600 run, running 4:30. The opening section of the 16 included 9 guys under 4:40, including sophomore Sam Snodgrass of South Fayette who finished 2nd in 4:32 and small school stand outs like Billy Lott, Ryan Starvaggi, Jimmy Zimmerman and Sam Lander.

But the real action came in the famous Baldwin Invitational mile. Traditionally, this race has been an excellent opportunity for the best of the west to show their stuff. Especially the long distance guys. Runners like Ethan Martin, Ryan Gil, Rad Gunzenhauser, and Ian Fitzgerald have come to this meet in the past and shined at the under distance (they each have PRs from this race). Nick Wolk became the next distance stand out on that list, as he clocked a long overdue PR for the 4 lap event: 4:16.71 for the full mile. He defeated a loaded field of speedsters including state medalists Jacob Stupak of North Allegheny (4:19.11 full mile for him is an impressive PR as well) and Tristan Forsythe (just a sophomore from AA who has now clocked a 4:20 full mile).

The top 9 in this event all finished with times of 4:26 or faster for 1609, including sophomore Noah Beveridge (an impressive 5th in 4:24) and AA stand out Ben Bumgarner (4:24.79 for 6th). Mount Lebanon accounted for two of those top 9 (and neither was Todd Gunzenhauser).

800m
If you had told me Friday morning that the #1 contender position behind Peretta in the AA 800m would be secured later that night, I would have been expecting a big statement race from Dave Fletcher at Henderson. However, Fletcher skipped out on Henderson's invitation and, across the state at Baldwin, a new title contender emerged. Brookville junior Ryan Thrush unleashed a jaw dropping 1:52.76 for the surprise victory over a fresh Mike Kolor of Seneca Valley and Michael Bove of Fox Chapel (both ran 1:53s). Thrush, who focused on the 16 in the past, has made big strides at 400 and now finds himself with a 5+ second PR in the 800. If you chooses to pursue the event fresh (he may try the 4-8 double or the 16-8 double, both of which he's tried at state championships in the past), he could really give a tired Peretta a run for his money. Especially if Dom decides to chase the state record in the 16 (not expecting this to happen but still).

With Thrush's win and Fletcher's recent 1:53, the 800 crops in AA are growing quickly. Dan Kuhn of Harbor Creek added a 1:56.16 for 4th in this race and Donovan Meyers (who ran 1:59 at Baldwin) has run 1:56.21 in his own right. The AA 800 is looking incredibly deep right now and is arguably better out front than the AAA field.

North Allegheny put two runners under 2 minutes in this race with Zach Ehling and Bobby Lutz finished 7th and 8th at 1:58 and 1:59. Throw them together with Stupak and one more and they could steal the WPIAL title in the 4x8 in a few weeks time. Of course Greensburg Salem, Chartiers Valley (impressive meet last night) and defending champs Norwin will not go quietly. And heck, Lebo is still a very intriguing team with all their mile talent.

Meanwhile, at Henderson Sean McGinnis of Phoenixville made a big statement with his 80 victory. McGinnis powered away from Colin Wills of Malvern Prep to run 1:54.03 and win by nearly a second, dropping over a second from his PR. McGinnis is now a sneaky pick for state gold in what a remains a wide open AAA 800. A number of different guys could win it depending on if they want to pursue it fresh (my favorites as of now are Milligan and Desko with of course Wisner, Kolor and the Hoeys involved). Sean is really underrated as a talent and it's nice to see him get a win like this in a high profile meet.

Colin Wills ran a killer 1:54.93 to take a ton of time off his PR as well. The 800 had Henderson has been incredibly favorable to Malvern Prep runners. Take a look back. Brian Fulton, Dan Ferraiolo, Billy McDevitt and now Wills have all clocked huge PRs on this stage. Excited to see a possible Wills vs Dahl and Ritz match up at Independents in the 16. Dahl's a big favorite, but maybe they can push each other to a fast mark.

Matt Town comes up with a big breakthrough in 3rd, clocking a 1:56.28 for the strong PV mid distance program. Luke Everidge of CD East comes through one meet after I predicted him for the upset at Ship, running a 1:56.53 for 5th in the strong field. In heat #3 of 7, Joe Previdi dropped a monster 1:58.91. It was the 3rd fastest heat winner (ahead of 4,5 and almost 6) and placed him 9th overall. Also, DT West producing strong performances from all over the place! Chase Semanyk impressed with a sub 2 clocking.

Also be on the look out for Aidan Sauer of Pennsbury going forward. He dropped a 2 flat 800 mark in heat 4.

3200m
In a year where the AAA boys find themselves somewhat in the shadow of the great talents in the other divisions, the Henderson 3200 personified this trend. Independent League runner Nick Dahl battled AA super star Dominic Hockenbury for the second straight year in the 3200 at Henderson. Hockenbury pushed the pace early in classic Hock fashion but ultimately, the 1:54 speed of Dahl proved too much to overcome. Hockenbury was rewarded with a PR, running 9:03.45. He will look for a similar mark at states in the coming weeks, trying to break the AA State Meet Record. Meanwhile, Dahl will likely continue to focus on the Outdoor National Championships. There, he will need to be strategically sharp and fit if he's going to win a national title (has to be on his mind considering his performance last year). His mark once again puts him ahead of his pace from a year ago and this time in came in a win.

Hockenbury is going to be one heck of a 5k/10k guy at the next level you have to imagine and his speed has drastically improved over the past couple seasons. I really like what I've seen from him. That being said, I think he gets a real challenge at outdoor states in the 32. Which is good, as it will hopefully push that race towards a record setting time.

If you go down the line in this race, there weren't a ton of other all time marks (it may not feel like it, but Hock became the #26 performer on my all-time list with his run, just ahead of Dominic Deluca of Dallas, 13 of the marks ahead of him came in 2014 or 2015), but there were an amazing amount of fast marks. 8 guys broke 9:30, including sophomore Liam Conway who ran 9:24 to finish as the 3rd PA athlete in the field (if you don't count PA resident, MD high schooler Dalton Hengst who ran 9:15). Conway just barely edged out Joe Maguire of CR South by one hundredth of a second.  Henry Sappey also finished in the 9:24 range with Kent Hall running 9:27 for 8th (a pretty sizable personal best). Brophy is at the top of the D1 list by time, but then there is a slew of talent around the 9:25-9;30 range this season. It's going to be wild sorting out the rest of the SQS spots.

Also running sub 9:40 from District One in this race were Ryan Campbell, Jack Carmody, Will Griffen, PJ Murray, Rusty Kujdych, John Conner, Matt D'Aquila, Austin Maxwell and Ben Ryherd (with Rob Moser and Carson Reuther ran at 9:40). All of those guys seem highly likely to contest the event at districts (with the possible exception of Carmody) which makes for one heck of a field. Amazing that they may need to consider lowering the District qualifying time again. Meanwhile, the state qual time is only like 9:30. Campbell, the sophomore from CRN, finished 12th overall after winning the slow heat in a tight battle with Lower Dauphin junior Kyler Shea. Both ran 9:32 and were separated by just .07 seconds.

Frank Livolsi of LaSalle had a monster race for 9th, clocking a 9:30.07. Livolsi wasn't necessarily the most talked about member of the LaSalle core, but he has dropped back to back big time 3200s and now has a PR that puts him the mix for state qualifying in District 12. That race is going to be another real toss up, especially with the amazing run Andrew Lombardi just had at Delcos. Owen Ritz of GA continues to drop big time PRs, clocking a 9:30 for 3200 and sophomore Jack Zardecki of Dallas cracked 9:40, running 9:39 for 32. He's likely the #1 contender behind Kravitz (who may scratch) for the 3200 in District 2.

The Baldwin Invite didn't include quite the same fire power in the front 2 spots, but they did post 7 sub 9:20 times and 11 under 9:30, with almost exclusively District 7 talent (only 10th place finisher Noah Curtin was from out of the WPIAL). Nick Wolk pulled off a terrific double gold, dropping his 3200 PR to 9:12.38 for the AAA state lead, defeating Marc Migliozzi (9:13) and Todd Gunzenhauser (9:14). It must have been a thrilling race between the top 3, who all suddenly find themselves right in the mix for the state title in the event. Wolk's double is really remarkable, unlike anything we've seen since maybe Ryan Gil back in 2011. He's in terrific shape. He and Migliozzi both have made massive jumps in PR for 3200 this year and they still have the season's stretch run left to cut off a few more seconds. But Gunz has the advantage of having been under 9:20 for two years in a row and having competed in the WPIAL and outdoor state title races gaining extra experience that could be invaluable come the big races. I also think he will benefit from the state schedule shift where the 32 is before the 4x8 (which he runs a lot).

Just behind the AAA big three, were a pair of AA stand outs. Zach Skolnekovich, who had run sub 2 and 4:23 against Peretta at the MAC, skipped the 9:30s and the 9:20s as he dipped under 9:20 in a time of 9:16.54. The AA XC runner up (who is still just a junior), clocked a sub 9:20 mark to rival Hockenbury (albiet he's still got a solid amount of time to cover to catch him) and join a crowded contender pool. That pool also includes Will Loevner, who finished just .09 back of Skolnek, getting a big breakthrough in the 32. Loevner somewhat stagnated last outdoors after his dynamite indoor campaign. He's flipped that schedule around beautifully this year and is peaking at the right time. Two years ago, he and Kachman were part of a AA sophomore trio that swept the top 3 spots in the 32. This year, he will look to get back in that lead 3. Junior Griffin Mackey, also of AA, dropped 9:22 for 9th and Noah Curtin (9:28) and Ben Bickerton (9:29) further added to the depth of the AA 32. Remember you also have Descavish, DiCintio and Kachman lurking out there (as well as guys like Connor Walsh who finished 14th in this race in 9:34) who I suspect are going to drop a lot of time and end up in the medal hunt. That race is loaded! Curious if anyone will make the switch to the 1600, hoping for a better chance at a medal.

Moving back to the AAA names, Casey Conboy, Jake Susalla and Joseph Westrick dropped 9:19, 9:19 and 9:20 marks to round out the top 8. That's 6 AAA guys at 9:20 or faster. Is D7 faster than D1 right now? That's a pretty deep core contingent and there's still a few more knocking on the door. Eric Kennedy and Sam Belchman both ran 9:32 in this race, AAA XC medalist Mark Provenzo ran 9:40 recently and freshman Mark Brown from Greensburg Salem dropped a killer 9:38 in the same race. WPIALs is going to be a ton of fun.

So that's it for the distance events at these two meets. Which meet impressed you more?

7 comments:

  1. Henderson had like 100 guys under 10, that makes them the better meet.

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  2. More impressed with all those sub 9:20s at Baldwin. Weather was better there, so that skews their times to the faster side, though. Seems like most of the top western guys showed up compared to Henderson. Doesn't really matter, they will meet up on May 28.

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  3. Andrew Lombardi and ryan james had their names switched on the results at delcos. James was second behind Morro

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  4. An individual event win at Henderson is better than any individual win at PA meets outdoors other than states. That includes any county championship, a district individual win or a Penn Relays individual win.

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    1. Would agree on all of that except Penn Relays. If you win Penn Relays, you're beating some of the best talent on the East coast. Winning the 3k typically takes low 8:20's and the mile typically around 4:10. Hoey's win and Henderson's third place finish at PR is still more impressive to me than anything that happened at Henderson.

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    2. The Henderson meet brings out a ton of PR's, from the top guys down to the freshman in the novice mile. The atmosphere is electric and conducive to great performances. The management of the meet is outstanding too given it's size. Since it's high school competition only, it's got it all over Penn Relays for individual events for me. I mean Hoey ran a nice race but I never heard of half the guys he beat and don't care anyway, a team that good should have done the DMR or 4x800 at Penn Relays. And the meet records at WCH are right there with Penn Relays.

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  5. Are you guys doing anything for 500,000 views?

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