District One: Alive and Kicking

by Jarrett Felix

I may provide some predictions for the district one meet once I take a look at a full qualifiers list, but for now I’ll just highlight some of the action from leagues and what that could mean for the upcoming championships at Coatesville. District 3 and Miscellaneous still to come. Shout out to those competing at District 2 right now as well!

District One

3200m

Jake Brophy made a big statement about his fitness this weekend. Choosing to focus on just one event, the reigning XC and indoor state champ dropped a 9:15.39 for an impressive meet record. He also won by roughly 14 seconds over Brian Mass of CB West (who had an awesome race for 2^nd). Although Brophy has a variety of up and coming competition in the state’s other districts, he still has a bit of a stranglehold on favorite status in D1. And he reminded us all of that this weekend.

Outside of Brophy, there were not a ton of jaw dropping marks in the 32, however we did some intriguing performances. Unionville, who has produced 3 state champions over 3200m since 2006, seems to have their next great runner in Kent Hall. Although Hall isn’t quite at 9 flat pace, he did run 4:23 and 9:42 at Ches-monts for a pair of runaway gold medals. Sophomore sensation Rusty Kujdych dropped a strong 9:35 for the victory at his league championship, pulling away from CRN’s duo by roughly 16 seconds. And Spring Ford Senior John Conner may have had the most impressive meet of all, winning the 3200 in 9:42.02 and adding a 3^rd place finish in the 1600 and a close 5^th in the 8. Spring Ford also ran 8:11.88, possibly with Conner. The Rams took 4 of the top 6 spots in the 3200 with 3 sophs filling in the spots behind Conner (McKenna, Smith and Ainscoe). Watch out for this team next cross season.

4x800m

It was an interesting weekend for the 4x8 as the favorites dropped some fast marks while some sleepers put in work as well. In the Suburban One League, we saw District One’s top team continue to excel. CB West ran 7:46.70 for the victory over Pennridge (7:49.82). Both teams are faster than they were this time last year and have an estimated 5 or so guys under 2 minutes. West’s #2 man, Jake Claricurzio, also had a big individual performance, pushing Tucker Desko all the way to the line in the 800 with a 1:55.22 PR to Desko’s 1:55.19. Desko was, admittedly, on the double from the 1600 in which he defeated West’s #1 Rock Fortna 4:19 to 4:20.

In the National Division, Abington, West’s long time rival, won with a 7:52 time. It’s Abington’s best time thus far this outdoor season. Worth noting, CR North was disqualified from this race, but apparently ran a 7:52 of their own to finish right with Abington. CB East and CB South were also disqualified in the Continental 4x8. I don’t know what East’s time was, but it will be interesting to see if missing the shot at a fast 4x8 time could influence Brophy’s decision looking ahead. Although CRN didn’t technically drop a massive season best as a relay, it’s clear this team is clicking at the right time. After an impressive showing at Penn Relays, CRN went toe to toe with Abington again and then followed it up with a 1-2-3 sweep in the 1600. They also picked up the gold in the 800 as Bryan Keller left with a pair of individual golds.

The American Division supplemented the sleeper category for districts as Wissahickon showed some strong upset, winning the 4x8 in 8:06.98 and adding the top 2 spots in the 800: 1:57.06 from Chris Cameron and 1:58.37 from Andy Harman. I’m not sure if this team has any interest in the 4x8 long term, but they ran away from a strong UD relay in the relay this weekend and also got a solid individual 1600 performance from Lukas Marcelis.

Joining the sleeper party were Pioneer League Champs Perk Valley (8:03.79) and Chesmont runner ups Rustin (8:03.73). Rustin pushed Bishop Shanahan, a solid sub 8 minute squad, to the line on race day and have Jack Carmody and Brandon Hontz (1:58 for 2^nd in the open 8) to lead the way. They’ve also got a little extra experience in their back pocket from strong efforts at districts a year ago and state championship trips in XC. Perk Valley took 3-4 in the open 800 after their victory and have a very realistic shot at breaking 8 minutes at Coatesville.

We haven’t seen anything jaw dropping on a relay from West Chester Henderson, but the always dangerous program did have 8 guys between 1:24.65 and 1:29.51 for 600 meters at their recent invitational. Led by Kavond Jones, Spencer Smucker and Josh Richard, Henderson could potentially throw together a well-balanced team with multiple sub 2 minute legs. They have terrific footspeed on this roster, having won the 4x4 recently at Ches-monts with a 3:22.

Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the defending champions. Pennsbury is gaining steam at the right time and, although they still have a ways to go to get into state qualifying position, Pennsbury did get a killer performance from Eric Kersten in the open 800, winning the slow section and running a big season’s best at 2 flat. Kersten is the last tie to Pennsbury’s state championship squad last year and ran 1:55ish on the lead off leg of the team’s 7:38.

1600m/800m

It’s unclear which events certain guys will chase at districts this year. My tentative guess is that Desko will go after the open 8 as opposed to the open 16 (easier double with the 4x8 and arguably his better event). I’d also wager Sean McGinnis, who had quite the match-up with Liam Conway this weekend, will be thinking 800 over 16. McGinnis ran 4:18 for silver and then doubled back with a 1:58 victory while Conway ran 4:16-1:59. I think both McGinnis and Desko will be state qualifiers and atop the list of medal contenders for district one in the event. Both runners have had terrific seasons and should be hard to stop down the stretch.

Like both of these athletes, Owen J Roberts sophomore Liam Conway has a ton of range and, therefore, a ton of options for districts this coming weekend. I’m think Conway goes with the 16 over the 8 and the 32 (1:54 and low 9:20s, but 4:15 for 16). Outside of the Hoeys, few runners have been as consistently strong at the mile this season in district one (and quite frankly the state in general). Plus this most recent victory over a strong finisher like McGinnis should give him a little extra confidence in his mile fitness.

We may see Rock Fortna in the 1600 this coming weekend. He raced the 4x8-16 double last year at districts (it’s really hard) and I’d imagine the plan will be to give him another shot at it. It’s probably his better event and it also seems like West will throw 3 other guys in the open 8 (Claricurzio, Zerweck and McIlhinney perhaps?). Of course, West may also push all their chips into the pot for the 4x8 to maximize their odds of beating State College (who will likely be doubling a ton of guys in hopes of challenging DT West for the state title).

James Abrahams and Liam Galligan will both be factors in whatever event they choose. Galligan is an indoor state medalist in the mile and an XC medalist who just pulled out double gold at Central Leagues. He’s a strong contender for a top 3 spot in the 16. Abrahams has great speed with 1:56 ability, but could also run low 4:20s in the 16 as he proved against the O’Hara boys at DELCOs. I’m thinking he throws his hat in the ring at 1600, but it’s hard to say for sure which event is more open to grabbing a state qualifying spot.

Despite all the fast times the past couple weeks, one of the most intriguing developments so far has been the emergence of DT West’s “other” monster sophomore Chase Semanyk. Semanyk came out of nowhere in recent weeks to become the surprise Ches-mont champion at 800 and followed it up with a 1:24.15 victory in the 600m at the Warrior Inviational. While he’s only sitting at a 1:58 PR, it apparently came off a negative split at leagues and his momentum is outstanding heading into districts. We’ll see if he gets tied up in the 4x8 at all (can you imagine if DT West suddenly threw us for a huge curve ball going in on the 4x8), but I think he could be a 1:55 guy by the end of next weekend, depending on how he handles the spotlight.

Quakertown’s duo of Brett Wolfinger and Hudson Delisle dropped 1:55.39 and 1:56.44 times at leagues, pushing them up the standings in the district. Delisle is just a sophomore (with strong mile chops as well) and Wolfinger is an indoor state medalist for the 800 who has only gotten stronger in recent weeks.

Shout Outs

Here’s some performances I wanted to highlight even if they didn’t necessarily flow in the initial body of the post. Joseph Cardie of Springfield DELCO. He’s had a terrific season alongside Galligan and dropped a 4:27-9:53 double at Central League’s for the bronze-silver double.

Ben Ryherd continues a terrific season as well with a 4:28 run at Ches-monts for third. We will likely see Ryherd in the 3200 (Barton-Hoey-Hoey would take up the 3 spots in the 1600, and yes there is a max 3 per team which makes literally no sense to me) which I think is a good thing as he could maybe even surprise and sneak into the top 8. I could see him running in the high 9:20s and jumping in with that crowded pack around that zone.

Big run by freshman Matt Eissler from Pennridge. He finished 3^rd in the 1600 with a 4:27.28 and then added a 1:58.98 mark in the open 800 on the double (likely 3^rd race of the weekend counting the 4x8). Crazy to see freshman doing such big things for the second year in a row. It’s going to be a crazy couple years for PA in the future with all this talent in the freshman and sophomore class.

Guess I won’t be having my third retirement anytime soon. Or if I do, I’ll probably be un-retiring real quick.