Rolling on with Race Recaps

By Jarrett Felix

Surprised Henderson got so much love relative to Baldwin in the comment section of the recap. Baldwin was an absolutely monster meet. I either have all D1 readers, or the WPIAL boys are being a little shy ....

In other news, I'm jumping back on the recap train. Let's chug right along.

Stan Morgan

Carlisle made a big statement about their 4x8 chops, jumping up into the elite tier with a 7:52 victory in the 4x8, defeating a couple out of state squads. 7:52 is the clear cut top time in district 3 and puts them on the CB West, Pennridge tier in terms of time. Wisner likely played a big part in that kind of time and I'm keeping my fingers crossed he continues to pursue the event with his teammates. Imagine a Wisner- Milligan-Desko show down on the anchor leg with 3 dudes already holding PRs in the low 1:53 or better (Milligan's being a split).

Wisner backed up his relay squad with a big 800 win over David Fletcher, both guys in around 1:55. Fletcher, like Wisner, was on the double from an earlier big effort. Fletcher clocked a shiny new 1600 PR, finishing first among PA athletes and 3rd overall in 4:19.51. Jesse Cruise finished 3rd in that race at 1:57, also doubling off a strong 1600 (4:22). Worth noting, two Lower Dauphin sophomores were up in the mix in the open 8, running 2 flat and 2:01. 

Despite the fast times in the 2 lap races, the breakthrough performance of the day may have come in the 1600. Alex Tomasko of Mechanicsburg dropped a big 4:21.06, second only to Fletcher in terms of Pa talent. Tomasko was a solid runner within the district throughout his early years, but this time puts him in an entirely new, state caliber tier. Mechanicsburg also got a big finish from Andrew Sulon in the 16 and Morgan Cupp in the 32 (9:37 for 2nd). All three of those guys return next year. After Nicewicz last year in the 800 (9th at states) this program continues to show big improvement in the distance events and is a sleeper squad for XC yet again.

Dan Filler and Zach Seiger, a couple 2 mile types, dropped very strong 1600 PRs to get under the SQS in that event (although you have to run the time at districts to qualify, unlike the indoor system). Both runners were in the 4:23s and will be exciting to watch in their next 32 effort. I'm especially interested to see how Seiger does moving forward, as he seems healthy after a rocky XC year and is showing big time speed improvement.

Wisner's individual gold wasn't Carlisle's only home W, as Isaac Kole came through in a big way in the 32, clocking 9:35 for what I would call an upset win over Cupp. This was a pleasant surprise as Kole had mainly focused on the open 8 this year, but showed the true extent of his range with an impressive victory. He led the way for 11 sub 10 performances.

DELCO

Cardinal O'Hara, the reigning two time distance medley state champs, put up an impressive set of performances at the DELCO championships. The 10:19 squad showed depth across the board, starting with an impressive 4 runners under 9:50 in the 32 (3 of which return next year). We've been told Andrew Lombardi and Ryan James were switched in the results, so we will credit him with a big 9:25 PR. He and Morro (9:25 is faster than he ended last spring) are rolling at the right time and could be medal contenders like Savage-Pitone in years past. 

Considering Patrick James also clocked an impressive PR of 9:39 (plus a 4:25 for good measure) the LaSalle vs O'Hara match up on the distance side at PCLs and districts is going to be a spectacle.

After Morro and Ry James took 1-2 in front of him in the 32, Haverford's James Abrahams came back with a vengeance on Saturday, clocking 4:20 for the win in the 16 (with Morro and James taking the next two spots). Abrahams is a very dangerous runner with 1:56 range through 9:34 strength (and sub 16 XC) so don't sleep on him when it comes to the D1 champs.

Nice fun by independent leaguer Jakob Jorgensen of 4:25.27 for 5th.

In the 800, we saw the crowning of a new star from Bonner. Dave Whitfield, who had yet to drop any serious 800s at a big invite (although he had run 1:55 in a dual I believe), dropped a 1:55.94 victory in the 800 field to run away from O'Hara's Justin Jones (1:56.71) and 9th place indoor finisher Jack Armand (1:56.77). With Whitfield and Sullivan on the roster for Bonner (both holding 1:55 PRs) the team could do something cool in the 4x8 looking ahead. However, I'm more interested to see how state qualifying plays out in D12 when the Bonner boys, St. Joe'a Preps McClellan (just ran a season best 1:57 after a 1:54 last year at districts), the LaSalle army and O'Hara's contingent of stand outs. I believe the district sends just 2 guys automatically, so sorting out the rest of that final could be laborious.

Let's hit some other meets and try and go quick.

Blue Streak Relays

Really sick DMR at this meet. Ephrata took the win in 10:39 just barely edging out Manheim Township who also finished in 10:39. Just behind them were McCaskey and Hempfield who each ran 10:47. Have to like what you've seen from Becker and Lefever for Ephrata (the later may end up in the low 9:20s at districts), but Manheim Township is quietly putting together some sick marks.

Neshaminy 

Bensalem wins the 4x8 with a nice, fairly uncontested 8:09. They lurk as a potential dark horse, having won indoor and outdoor state titles as recently as 2013.

CB West continues to just roll, they posted a slew of fast times led by Fortna (4:20 in the 16) and Claricurzio (1:57.10 in the 8). Iatarola ran a nice 4:26 which should set him up well for a nice run at the 32. Remember he's an XC state medalist. 

And West just pulled guys out of nowhere all weekend. Sophomore Ben Bunch ran a 9:43 for 3200 with a big statement run and they had 3 guys at 2 flat or under at Helman, none of which was on their PR 4x8 last weekend. Their top runner was frosh Luke Fehrman in 1:59.75 in that one.

WCC

Alex Milligan rolled to a solid 1600, Owen Wing won the 32 and SC looked solid all around. However, the performance of the day might belong to Altoona's Brett George who ran a solid 4:28 and followed it up with an impressive 800 victory of 1:57.65 over SC's Tony Degleris (1:58.32).

Shaner

Wyomissing reminded us all why they were state champs a week ago. The AA 4x8 race is incredibly interesting to me right now as Wyomissing makes a big statement running 8:01 and adding a 3:25 for good measure in the 4x4. They will chase gold in both relays outdoors.

Shout out to Daniel Boone for a nice 8:06 4x8 run. Really impressed me.

Pine Richland

As I alluded to in the Baldwin preview, Mark Brown, a frosh, dropped a monster 9:38 in the 3200 to win a tough fight with Mark Provenzo of Franklin Regional (9:40). The WPIAL 32 may be better than District 1's right now. They are doing sick running over there.

Soph Chad Grundy of Hickory added a 9:44 run for 3rd. He's an intriguing watch in the AA landscape for the long distances. 

Also shoutout to North Allegheny for continuing to produce studs. Two more returners for next year's XC squad dipped under 10 as Hartigan and Greco dropped nice marks in the lesser known 32 out west.

Trojan

Love this meet. It's awesome for me because of some amazing memories. A few guys made their own pleasant memories on race day including sophomore Hudson Delisle who killed the open 8, running away in 1:56.99 to defeat studs Andy Harman (on his home track) and Dante Watson, who both ran 1:58.

Noah Falasco looks like he is rounding back into top form (he ran about 4:21 indoors) with a big win over one of the breakout stars from Penn Relays, North Penn's Daniel Santiago. They one went down to the wire Hunter style, with Falasco barely taking the lean by less than a hundredth of a second.

Shout to frosh Justin Ryan on his strong heat 1 victory of 4:45. 

Helman

As alluded to, CB West put on a nice depth display in this meet, dropping some nice 8s, but the champ of that 800 was Tucker Desko. The Pennridge senior ran 1:54.77 to absolutely dominate the field. I think this guy could win the outdoor title in the 8 if he pursues it (especially on fresh legs) and I think Pennridge could make some very big waves in the 4x8 if they so choose. Especially if their Frosh Twins the Eisslers continue to roll. Matt dropped a 4:27 16 at this meet for the win.

ASD

Yes, this meet was technically last week, but I never got around to covering it so here I am! This is always a fun meet (one of the few I've personally attended) and the district 11 boys showcased some killer closing speed in the 1600. Joe Espinal won the race in 4:24 over Calvin Schneck of Whitehall and Will Alpaugh of Freedom who all closed in 62.0 or faster. Espinal has run 1:55 and Schneck recently clocked a 1:56 in a dual. Espinal also clocked a sub 50 split on Wilson's winning 4x4.

Sam Morgan from Parkland also killed it with a 4:26 of his own (just a soph I believe). He's a real talent.

Parkland won the 4x8 (possibly with Morgan) and clocked an 8:13, including a sub 2 minute carry by their third leg.

It was a big day for Parkland as Dan Kyvelos won the 3200 over indoor medalist Seth Slavin, making up roughly 11 seconds on the last lap (according to the online splits) in what must have been a race to remember. Looking forward to a rematch at districts (with Lapsansky thrown in there as well).