I Love College: Part 1

By: Garrett Zatlin

Sadly, it's that time of the year again where we as readers and fans must say goodbye to our graduating PA seniors who have given us so much to cheer about over the past few years. Luckily, many of them are going off to college to compete at the next level. So what can we expect from them in college and their respective programs? I addressed the same question last year and decided to do it again.

Although I can't address everyone, I like having as much information as possible available to the readers. You can check out the compiled list of PA seniors college selections below! See anyone I missed? Feel free to comment below and let me know.

*Thanks to everyone who commented and kept the list updated!

2016 PA Seniors College Selections

Part 2 coming in a couple days...

Penn State: Dominic Perretta & Jaxson Hoey

The Program:  For the past few seasons, Penn State has climbed within the level with teams like Oregon and Stanford. Their mid-distance program is (arguably) the best in the nation and doesn't show any sign of slowing down with young talent constantly emerging. It's also nice to see that the McGowan brothers and Colin Abert are reestablishing PSU's presence in the longer distances.

How They Fit: Penn State is factory that consistently pumps out some of the best 800 and 1500 runners in the nation. Luckily for Perretta and Hoey, that's also the area they are best at. Perretta has such raw speed, and we've seen that at multiple state championships as he has won races from the front or in the final 100 meters. After such a strong mile race at New Balance Indoors, fans were yearning for him to hop in a fast mile and see what kind of time he could drop. Although we never got to see it, I wouldn't be surprised to see him under 4:10 multiple times next winter.

Hoey, on the other hand, reminds me a lot of Abert. They both prefer to take it hard from the gun and are still able to maintain a strong finish (a crucial ability to have especially in the 1500/mile). Plus, they both have pretty impressive range. I could see Hoey being just as effective in XC as he is in track. We've seen tremendous improvement and times from Abert this past year and I could see Hoey doing the same.

The Bottom Line: Like every freshman entering a collegiate program, Perretta and Hoey will need some molding and adjusting time. That said, these two are perfect fits for a Penn State program that will almost definitely turn these mid-distance studs into the next Colin Abert, Brannon Kidder, or Isaiah Harris.

Syracuse: Dominic Hockenbury

The Program: Everyone who follows the NCAA knew that Syracuse was a very solid program coming into the 2015 season. What they didn't know is that they would be the eventual champions of the NCAA. Syracuse developed their young talent and polished their experienced veterans to create a championship team. Little known names such as Philo Germano and Colin Bennie became the saviors of a Syracuse team that would eventually take down the Colorado Buffalos. The Syracuse distance program is tough and filled with high mileage as well as high expectations.

How They Fit: Luckily for Hockenbury, high mileage and high expectations is something that has already been a part of his running career. In an interview with milesplit, Hockenbury detailed his training which showed that he was more than capable of handling a high mileage program. Personally, I'm not a fan of high schoolers doing the mileage that Hock has been doing (85-90). I don't believe it leaves a lot of room for improvement and may cause burn-out later on their career. That said, a lot of high schoolers aren't going to a program as intensive as Syracuse, so for Hockenbury to already be comfortable at that level of training is a huge plus. It also seems that he understands the importance of cross-training and strengthening, something that is extremely undervalued. If anyone is ready for the jump it's going to be him.

The Bottom Line: There isn't a question as to whether or not Hockenbury can survive the training (he definitely can). But how much will he be able to improve? The good sign is that he seems to do better the longer the distance is. Put Hockenbury in the 8k/10k along with an elite group of training partners, and we could very well see him in Syracuse's top seven by his sophomore year.

Harvard: Mike Kolor

The Program: Unfortunately for Harvard, they are in the "Golden Age" of Heps distance running. Columbia and Penn have become nationally recognized distance programs while schools like Yale and Brown have started to produce some national contenders (like Randon and Willig). Still, Harvard has some strong talent of their own especially with Myles Marshall making a name for himself as just a freshman.

How They Fit: If I'm being honest, I didn't initially see a great fit for Kolor at Harvard's running program. I would've thought that an Ivy League program like Columbia or Penn would be a good choice for someone who is mid-distance focused (like Kolor). However, there have been a lot of positive signs as of late from Harvard, the biggest one being Myles Marshall running 1:48. Other guys like Jonas Aranda (sophomore) ran 1:50 during indoors, sophomore Gabe Montague has run 3:48 during outdoors, and freshman Kieran Tuntivate has run 2:28 for the 1000. Kolor will be entering a program that is developing a lot of young talents and that may make the transition to the collegiate scene a lot easier.

The Bottom Line: As we all know, Kolor is beyond talented. Having run 4:11 and 1:52 immediately makes him one of Harvard's top runners already. Luckily, he will be able to learn and train with Myles Marshall as well as a lot of younger guys at his talent level. The fact that he was still able to drop time towards the end of this past season gives me reason to believe that he can continue to improve and compete with some of the best Ivy League half-milers throughout his career.

Oklahoma: Tucker Desko

The Program: Historically, Oklahoma has consistently pumped out solid mid-distance talent. Top level professionals like Riley Masters and Patrick Casey are products of the Oklahoma system and are now being followed up by All-Americans Jacob Burcham and Dylan Blankenbaker. The mid-distance group has always been deep, and with Coach Dunn's ability to develop mid-distance guys into XC contributors (like Burcham), the future is bright for the Sooners .

How They Fit: Throughout 2016, Desko was one of PA's top and most consistent mid-distance runners. With PR's of 1:53 and 4:18, he will mesh well in a program that typically has their top guys running around 1:49 and 3:44 (1500). Yet, what I feel like many PA fans don't know, is that Desko actually has PR's of 8:51 (3k) and 9:32 (3200). The guy has some pretty solid range and seems to resemble Jacob Burcham who has earned All-American status in the mile and in XC. It may take a while for Desko to gather a base, but give him enough time, and he could be a major factor in XC, something that I don't think many are expecting.

Another interesting piece of info that I noticed is that Desko never ran a race shorter than a 3k until 2015. That's right, Desko has only been running the 800 and mile for just a touch over a year. Already, he has put up some incredible times and has taken down some of the biggest and best names in the state despite being so new to the shorter distances.

The Bottom Line: To think that Desko still has an entire collegiate career ahead of him to further develop his speed makes him a very intriguing recruit. Those base marks of 1:49 and 3:44 seem like very reasonable times for him to hit. I would even go as far to say that times such as 1:47 and 3:42 aren't out of the question by the time he ends his collegiate career.

Navy: Jake Brophy

The Program: During XC season, Navy has been a pretty strong force to be reckon with. Their pack running is outstanding, they had strong front runners in nearly every race, and they have won the Patriot League title 3 of the past 4 years. But when it comes to the track, the Navy distance program hasn't impressed me. The one bright spot has been their national contender, Stephen Schroeder who has led their program since Cody Rome graduated in 2012. Unfortunately, now it is Schroeder who will graduate and leave the team looking for a new front-runner. Enter Jake Brophy.

How They Fit: In many ways, Brophy and Schroeder are a lot alike. Schroeder had a huge positive impact on the Navy team from a young age and led them to multiple Patriot League titles. Meanwhile, Brophy was a state qualifier as a freshman, and led a CB East team to a state championship by his senior year.

Now, Schroeder is leaving a void that needs to be filled. Who better to do that than Brophy? His leadership experience makes him invaluable and he could even be the one to finally lead Navy to an NCAA championship. He did, after all, do the same thing with a young and inexperienced CB East team.

As for the track, it will be interesting to see how he does. Brophy has PR's that would occasionally be the fastest 3k times for the Navy depending on the season. Rarely did Navy ever have someone under 14 minutes for the 5k or 30 minutes for the 10k.

The Bottom Line: Right now, there aren't a lot of signs from the Navy program that indicate Brophy can qualify for an NCAA championship on the track. Historically, the times from individuals just aren't there (then again, Navy has never had a recruit as talented as Jake Brophy). It's when we get into cross country where I see Brophy having the most success. He is strong over the grass and has a proven ability to cruise through the exhausting hills of Hershey at meet record pace. With the strength of Navy's XC program and Brophy's proven leadership skills, I see Brophy running in their top seven as a freshman and even making NCAA's by his junior year (and bringing his team with him).

Alabama: Patrick Grant

The Program: Alabama is a difficult program to gage. In XC, they don't really make too much of a splash, but on the track they have some very underrated individuals. Antibahs Kosgei has been wrecking havoc in the longer distances like the 8k and 10k. He was even the SEC and South Region champion during XC this past fall. Yet, the real power of the Alabama program lies within their 800 runners where they have developed studs like 1:45 man Alex Amankwah (now graduated), Jacopo Lahbi (1:47 PR), and Robbie Farnham-Rose (1:49 PR).

How They Fit: Quite frankly, Grant's decision to go to Alabama really surprised me. Alabama isn't a huge name in the distance events and is pretty far south from PA (but then again, so is Oklahoma). So his decision to go there wasn't expected. Still, Grant's recent success in the mile and 800 are pretty good signs. Grant may not have the super flashy times of other top-tier D1 recruits, but he is incredibly consistent and can get wins.

It also helps that Grant is still dropping a lot of time and getting big PR's. With 800 studs Lahbi and Farnham-Rose returning for their final year of eligibility, Grant will be able to learn from the experienced national contenders and continue his rapid rate of improvement.

The Bottom Line: I honestly don't know too much about the Alabama program or it's legacy, so it's pretty difficult to say what we should expect from Grant. While the future is never clear for anyone, we should still be very excited about his potential. He'll be learning from some of best mid-distance runners in the nation while he is still refining his talent.

Out of all the recruits I'll mention throughout this post (and throughout Part 2), Patrick Grant probably has the most upside.

Lehigh: Matt Kravitz, Joe Espinal, David Fletcher, & Ryan Paradise

The Program: Lehigh University is a familiar place for plenty of runners in eastern PA. Maybe that's why we so often see our PA graduates head there. Whatever the reason is, Lehigh has been recruiting some of PA's most underrated runners for the past few years. PA alum Patrick Reilly is only a sophomore who has already found his place within the Lehigh program. He's been one of the top runners on that team. Lehigh has also been known to produce names like Ryan Mahalsky, a top collegiate runner often seen competing with guys like Tiernan and Awad in the Mid-Atlantic region. Yet, while a few individuals have prospered in the Lehigh program, the mid-distance program hasn't been as strong as it could be.

How They Fit: If we're looking at this from a cross country perspective, Matt Kravitz will be a big addition to the team. The two-mile state champion has shown that he can handle nearly any type of course, hilly or flat. He took advantage of Lehigh's Paul Short race and PR'd with a time of 15:36 this past fall. Later, Kravitz would end his XC season with a third place finish at AA states with a 15:57. Add on PR's of 4:17 and 9:08, and this kid is maybe the biggest "steal" in terms of recruiting.

As for Espinal, Fletcher, and Paradise, they will give the Mountain Hawks some much needed help at the middle distances. If we look back at last spring, Lehigh didn't have a half miler faster than 1:55. Espinal's 1:51 along with Fletcher's 1:52 speed may make them the best pair of 800 runners to be recruited this year (ok, maybe Perretta and Hoey were). Regardless, Espinal and Fletcher will be complimented by Ryan Paradise who has run a 1600 PR of 4:23 and will give a lift to a middle distance program in need of more depth.

The Bottom Line: Kravitz will now be entering a program when Patrick Reilly will be in his prime. If Kravitz can learn from the two-year Mountain Hawk and train with him, we could see Reilly and Kravitz push each other to become national qualifiers on the XC course, and/or regional qualifiers on the track.

As for Espinal and Fletcher, they will need to push each other for a bit until Lehigh can find them more support. If Lehigh is able to find other strong recruits or develop the guys they already have, then both Espinal and Fletcher could be under 1:50 at some point in their careers...something that has never been done by anyone wearing a Lehigh uniform.

We then finish with Ryan Paradise who's 4:23 PR will still make him one of the better milers on the team. His impressive range from the 400 up makes him a very versatile addition which could be useful for Lehigh in future relays. For Paradise, this may be the perfect time to be entering the Lehigh program as a miler. He may not start off as the best four-lap runner on the team, but he'll be close enough to the top guys that he will be pushed hard from the beginning of his training. Like Patrick Grant, I see of upside in him.

Notables...

• Marc Migliozzi (Akron)- I wouldn't have picked Akron as his first choice, but with Migliozzi's large jump in improvement and an experienced coach who has training Clayton Murphy, I'm sure Migliozzi will continue to progress and prosper as a Zip.

• Brett Wolfinger (John Hopkins)- Hopkins is one of the more decent programs in D3 and Wolfinger will be an excellent addition to a group that is already filled with a slew of 1:54 guys. Strong training partners and a PR of 1:53 makes him someone who could qualify for nationals as just a freshman.

• Todd Gunzenhauser (UNC-Charlotte)- Gunz reminds me a lot of PA alum Aaron Gebhart who actually runs for UNCC right now. Gebhart had a fantastic year at UNCC and got left out of my Zatlin Awards as a nominee for the 'PA Don't Play' Award despite running 14:27 as a freshman. The UNC-Charlotte team is low-key loaded and the amount of talent constantly around Gunz will allow him to grab big PR's. If he's as much like Gebhart as I hope he is, then we will see big things from him early on.