Not criticizing, just stating the obvious. D West was too conservative, just like at Chesmonts, and as a result didn't win either when they could have won both.
Joe Espinal! I've seen him run for the last 3 years in D11. Smooth and determined, but never went to big invites, never ran indoors, kept under the radar on the state level. I could see he was ready for something big this year (1:53 split 4x8, 1600 win (slow pace), 800 win (slow pace) 50 flat 4x4, all in one duel meet!!!). He earned and deserved that 800 state championship.
Since Etrain is probably recovering from that graduation I’ll throw in some filler on the team result until his in depth wrap up arrives. This state meet reminds me so much of the 2012 XC champs when WCH came up big and nipped OH for the championship. OH was the favorite and ran great that day, WCH just ran better. Same thing yesterday, many had DTW as the favorite and they were great, SC was just better.
I had DTW the favorite and if I knew beforehand what their performances would be I’d have bet the ranch on them:
Alston - Triple Jump – 48’.1”, Outdoor PR Alleyne – 200- 22.07, .05 off of PR Sappey – 1600-4:17.53 PR Josh Hoey – 1600-4:11.36 PR (though Penn Relays mile converts better, this is technically his 1600 PR and also proved Penn Relays was no fluke) Jaxon Hoey – 800-1:51.58 PR McLemore – 400-46.82 PR, 200-21.41, .05 off of PR 4x400 – 3:15.50 PR
With performances like that I’d have guessed about 60 points and another state championship. So how could they lose? Well State College just came up bigger. Their pole vaulter set the tone on Friday with a huge PR to break out of a three way tie. They picked up points in the triple jump and long jump. Their 100 meter guy surprised taking 4th. The 4x800 won as expected. Feffer and Deglaris PR’d in the 800 for 6 points. The 4x400 overcame a really bad break because they had to take 2nd to win the meet and they had the big disadvantage of going against the clock for 2nd instead of racing Milton Hershey directly, who ended up 3rd. But destiny was in their favor as they squeeze by to beat Hershey by .09.
But without a doubt the surprise of the meet was Milligan taking the 1600. I don’t think anyone could admit they saw that coming. You gotta figure even his coach instructed him not to get crazy, just hang in the pack around 5th or 6th and try to pick up some points for the team. He was giving up 3-5 seconds on PR to Hoey and Kolor coming into the race. Hoey/Kolor were fresh but a little more than an hour earlier Milligan ran what I hear was a 1:52 leg in the 4x800. And it was like, 90 degrees out. Sub 4:20 milers just don’t drop 6 seconds on PR, it practically never happens. But he did it. That was probably the single most big-time, step up, clutch performance for a team championship from a distance guy in recent memory. And for good measure he had a hand in that 4x400 too running a strong leg where every .10th of a second mattered.
I have to admit I was biased towards DTW because I considered them more of the distance team. But the reality was SC got 26 points out of the distance events to DTW’s 14. With a state championship decided by one point it’s so tempting to look through the results and do the what-ifs on each performance to wonder how things could have gone differently. But this one is easy to find the difference in the meet between DTW and SC yesterday: Milligan!
West probably got outcoached. They left points on the table by not running the 4x800. State College went all in with Milligan, Feffer and Degleris. That's how championships are won.
Haha I like how everyone is guessing the decision. They were one point away and it took a near perfect day from SC to even make it that close. If Kolor doesn't out lean Hoey or Espinal doesn't come out of nowhere or just 1 other team beats SC in the 4x4, everything flips. That's what made this team race so special to me.
Personally, I don't think the 4x8 would have helped. I don't think Josh and Jax are taking 3rd and 4th in that kind of field with tired legs. Heck, Jax took 3rd on fresh legs! Let's not discredit SC for putting together a really hard double that not everyone could have pulled out.
But to be fair, it would have been fun to see DT West in the 4x8.
#DerailedTheTrain
ReplyDelete- Jake Susalla
As an East fan, it was a rough day.
ReplyDeleteEast got #1 800 and #1 3200! Surprise wins!
DeleteYou got to go all out through the finish line.
ReplyDeleteIt's safe to say that the train is not anywhere near the track.
ReplyDeleteNot criticizing, just stating the obvious. D West was too conservative, just like at Chesmonts, and as a result didn't win either when they could have won both.
ReplyDelete#RodeTheTrain
ReplyDelete- Todd Gunz
Joe Espinal! I've seen him run for the last 3 years in D11. Smooth and determined, but never went to big invites, never ran indoors, kept under the radar on the state level.
ReplyDeleteI could see he was ready for something big this year (1:53 split 4x8, 1600 win (slow pace), 800 win (slow pace) 50 flat 4x4, all in one duel meet!!!). He earned and deserved that 800 state championship.
Since Etrain is probably recovering from that graduation I’ll throw in some filler on the team result until his in depth wrap up arrives. This state meet reminds me so much of the 2012 XC champs when WCH came up big and nipped OH for the championship. OH was the favorite and ran great that day, WCH just ran better. Same thing yesterday, many had DTW as the favorite and they were great, SC was just better.
ReplyDeleteI had DTW the favorite and if I knew beforehand what their performances would be I’d have bet the ranch on them:
Alston - Triple Jump – 48’.1”, Outdoor PR
Alleyne – 200- 22.07, .05 off of PR
Sappey – 1600-4:17.53 PR
Josh Hoey – 1600-4:11.36 PR (though Penn Relays mile converts better, this is technically his 1600 PR and also proved Penn Relays was no fluke)
Jaxon Hoey – 800-1:51.58 PR
McLemore – 400-46.82 PR, 200-21.41, .05 off of PR
4x400 – 3:15.50 PR
With performances like that I’d have guessed about 60 points and another state championship. So how could they lose? Well State College just came up bigger. Their pole vaulter set the tone on Friday with a huge PR to break out of a three way tie. They picked up points in the triple jump and long jump. Their 100 meter guy surprised taking 4th. The 4x800 won as expected. Feffer and Deglaris PR’d in the 800 for 6 points. The 4x400 overcame a really bad break because they had to take 2nd to win the meet and they had the big disadvantage of going against the clock for 2nd instead of racing Milton Hershey directly, who ended up 3rd. But destiny was in their favor as they squeeze by to beat Hershey by .09.
But without a doubt the surprise of the meet was Milligan taking the 1600. I don’t think anyone could admit they saw that coming. You gotta figure even his coach instructed him not to get crazy, just hang in the pack around 5th or 6th and try to pick up some points for the team. He was giving up 3-5 seconds on PR to Hoey and Kolor coming into the race. Hoey/Kolor were fresh but a little more than an hour earlier Milligan ran what I hear was a 1:52 leg in the 4x800. And it was like, 90 degrees out. Sub 4:20 milers just don’t drop 6 seconds on PR, it practically never happens. But he did it. That was probably the single most big-time, step up, clutch performance for a team championship from a distance guy in recent memory. And for good measure he had a hand in that 4x400 too running a strong leg where every .10th of a second mattered.
I have to admit I was biased towards DTW because I considered them more of the distance team. But the reality was SC got 26 points out of the distance events to DTW’s 14. With a state championship decided by one point it’s so tempting to look through the results and do the what-ifs on each performance to wonder how things could have gone differently. But this one is easy to find the difference in the meet between DTW and SC yesterday: Milligan!
- RJJL
West probably got outcoached. They left points on the table by not running the 4x800. State College went all in with Milligan, Feffer and Degleris. That's how championships are won.
DeleteThey probably could have taken 2nd in the 4x800, passed on the 1600, taken 3-4 in the 800 and still won the 4x400.
DeleteHaha I like how everyone is guessing the decision. They were one point away and it took a near perfect day from SC to even make it that close. If Kolor doesn't out lean Hoey or Espinal doesn't come out of nowhere or just 1 other team beats SC in the 4x4, everything flips. That's what made this team race so special to me.
DeletePersonally, I don't think the 4x8 would have helped. I don't think Josh and Jax are taking 3rd and 4th in that kind of field with tired legs. Heck, Jax took 3rd on fresh legs! Let's not discredit SC for putting together a really hard double that not everyone could have pulled out.
But to be fair, it would have been fun to see DT West in the 4x8.
After Owen Wing's 1:57 lead off in the 4x8, the race was all but over. #thisonesinthebooks
ReplyDelete#DerailedTheTrain
ReplyDelete- Bryce Descavish
#DerailedTheTrain
ReplyDelete-Ben Bumgarner
Wyomissing 4x800 splits- DiCintio 2:01.3, Colon 1:57.3, Keim 2:01.3, Cullen 1:54.6
ReplyDelete