PA Distance Festival Recap

by Jarrett Felix

The Henderson post states meet is always a pretty cool event. The meet has a great feel, a relaxed atmosphere, yet a super talented group. There's community athletes, high school runners, collegiates and post grads. In the same meet that I watched some of my readers and subject matter over the past year chase that final PR, I also got to see what one of my old high school teammates, one of my current writers and even one of my friend's parents compete on the track. Always a fun experience and shout out to the fans who showed some support for the blog out there. I had fun meeting you guys.

Mile
Although there were plenty of top flight PA guys, it was actually an out of stater who won the mile. The top Keystone finisher ended up being Matt Wisner of Carlisle who dropped a massive PR of 4:14.37 (for a full mile) to kick down almost the entire field on the final lap. Even with 300m to go, he was well out of it before turning on that 800 speed to nearly steal the whole race. He only needed another couple meters for gold.

GFS's Nick Dahl dropped an open PR of his own in 3rd, running a decent amount faster than he did last year at this meet and definitely running much more competitive at the front. That's a good sign considering Dahl ended up running about 9:02 for a full 2 miles at last year's New Balance Nationals. So sub 9 over the same distance is very much in play. I believe that would put him in a club with just Chris Spooner and Paul Springer in PA history.

One of the most impressive under the radar performances of the entire meet was Colin Wills of Malvern Prep. The senior raced to a 4:15.52 full mile (pretty strong PR) and kicked right with the top group down the home stretch. He's run 1:54 and the equivalent of 4:14 this year, but, as an independent leaguer, he's probably not as much of a household name as some of the other guys with similar (or slower) PRs. First McDevitt, now Wills put together very underrated seasons. Shout out to those guys.

Rock Fortna of CB West added a 4:16 full mile PR while the LaSalle duo of Patrick Grant and Evan Addison also set big PRs, each running 4:17. That's a pair of well deserved individual accolades for a couple guys who gave up their open races to help LaSalle grab a team medal in the 4x8. Small shout out to Rob Morro for running a strong race to win heat 1 in 4:22. Also, really strong race from Joe Cullen of Wyomissing in the open section of the mile. The sophomore ran 4:26 and was right in the mix for the win after a 1:54 split at states for the runner-up DMR.

800m
Mike Kolor capped off an impressive PA career by clocking a 1:52.57 to cruise to gold. It was a PR for Kolor, but also a pretty dominant and smooth looking effort. I was quite impressive with Kolor's run and many considered it the most impressive mark of the meet. Worth noting, Kolor's recent rival, Josh Hoey, got tripped up a bit coming through the 400 and lost some momentum. I'm not sure he was the only one either as there was a decent amount of jockeying.

The WPIAL swept both heat 1 and heat 2 of the elite 800 as Eric Kennedy ran an incredibly strong 1:56.04 to runaway with the heat 1 victory and place 4th overall from the slower section. Kennedy, more of a miler this year, showcased some very nice speed and looked powerful on the second lap. Kid is just a junior. Also, a very nice showing from Jonnie Plass of GFS. Plass ran 1:57.40 to finish second in that section and ended up 6th overall. Plass is also returning next season. When you add in Grayson Hepp's 1:55, it was a monster day for GFS who's top 3 open runners ran 1:55-1:57 and 2:01. None of them were Nick Dahl, who holds a PR around 1:54. They could put together a nice 4x8 at Nationals (although schedule may interfere with Dahl's 2 mile).

EDIT: Also, completely forgot to mention Dennis Manyeah! He ran in the elite section and dropped a big PR, running 1:53.52 with a gutsy, front running tactic. He's still just a junior and will mix in with a very interesting group of returners who have a ton of mid distance talent and raw speed. When Manyeah is on, he's definitely one of the biggest 800 talents we have in PA.

5,000m
There aren't a lot of chances to race 5k on the track in high school, so a few PA runners took advantage of the opportunity on Friday. DT West raced XC returners Jake O'Neill, Drew Alansky and Patrick Blair, who ran 15:58-16:00-16:41. That's a pretty strong sign for this squad as they look ahead to a possible title defense in 2016. They will also have Josh Hoey, Ryan Barton and Jonah Hoey in the mix for varsity spots.

The top PA high schooler in the field was Brian Iatarola who clocked a 15:55 for 6th place overall.

What's Next?
Besides our NCAA and Professional coverage (which will still go strong), we will be moving into recap mode for the PA HS season. I did see the comments regarding an "etrain awards" which I think is a pretty cool idea. Maybe I can bring back the Etrain Oscars from a long, long time ago. Personally, I'm also planning to start work on "The Etrain 11", similar to last year. I'll be dropping the first post in the series this coming Friday.

Have more ideas on how we should celebrate the PA season? Feel free to comment, email, etc. and we will incorporate your ideas as best we can!