PIAA 800m Recap

by Jarrett Felix

AA
You ever watch the London Olympic 5,000m Final on YouTube? Well, I do about once a week so I can tell you it's a fun one. Why is this applicable here? Because when Mo Farah comes sprinting down the home straightaway and pulls away for gold, the announcer says (in a fantastic British accent), "Mo Farah's got the double!" and for whatever reason that's what I imagine for announcing when Perretta came sprinting down the straightaway of his last state championship. I'm sure the PCN announcers had something equally memorable to say of course.

After three years of trying, Perretta finally got his record that he had been chasing: he moves into the top 8 800m runners in PA history and takes the state meet record from Paul Vandegrift with a clocking of 1:50.10. He just barely missed the 1:50 barrier, but I'm thinking he extends his season to chase it. For whatever reason, Perretta wasn't invited to Brooks PR (are they really that many 800 types more deserving), but I would love to see him at a national championship of some sort chasing his long coveted 1:49 time.

But beyond the time (shout out to Dan Kuhn of Harbor Creek for setting the stage for the record run with his fast early pace), Perretta completed an historic double when he won the 1600 and the 800 for the third straight year. It had never been completed before in the long history of the PIAA and has to put Perretta on the short list for greatest PA distance runner ever. Especially if we are just talking track achievements. If you count his recent indoor track victory, he has 7 individual state golds, has run 1:50.10 and the equivalent of 4:10.0 for 1600m (as a junior).

I can't wait to see Perretta and Slagowski at PSU next year. I was telling some of my fellow writers that I think this pair could do big things indoors. I was even so bold as to call sub 4 for Perretta indoors (I still am in the camp that Perretta's best event will be 15/mile) and the indoor 1k collegiate record for Slagowski. It's bold, but it's not like PSU holds back during the indoor season and their track is super quick.

But I'm getting side tracked. With Perretta and Hockenbury graduating this year, we will have a new state champion next year in the AA distance events for the first time since 2013! And the front runner for AA star of the future may be Kamil Jihad of Neumann Goretti. Jihad dropped a 1:52.23 for the silver medal, just ahead of last year's state runner up and indoor medalist David Fletcher of Mount Caramel (also a terrific race in 1:52.60). Both of those times would have been good enough for AA state gold every year since 2006.

With Thrush moving to the 400 (proved to be a smart choice as he won gold), some might have been worried about the depth in this race. However, the AA field was absolutely on fire. The top 9 runners all ran under 1:56 which is fairly unprecedented for this race. Everyone had to run under or at least near their PR just to get on the medal stand and some guys had huge life time bests. Junior Ben Heim of Washington, who finished in the nine spot, dropped a very impressive 1:55.95. From 2010 to 2013 the state championship for AA at 800 was won in 1:55.18 or slower including a 1:58.25 in 2013 (the windy, cold, miserable state championship).

AAA
A few years back, when I was at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, I attended the famous ASD invitational. A couple of my friends were familiar with the boys at Wilson Area and told me about a young sophomore who was dropping strong times. We watched him run on the team's 4x8 where he dropped a very impressive 1:56 carry. Because of my Wilson connection, I kept an eye out for the kid in results. He qualified for states a couple times out of District 11 in the 1600, but couldn't find a way into the state final. So when he qualified for the third straight year this season, I wasn't expecting much. I knew he was talented, but lots of guys in the state are talented.

I predicted Espinal to make the final, but that was a happy accident. I only put him in because I accidentally had Brett Wolfinger taking both an auto spot and an at large spot in my original post. He made the final with an impressive PR (1:54.50 was about a second drop from his previous open best), I was happy for him, but I thought that the prelims could have been something of a final to him. Just getting to the finals might be enough. Then, in a wild moment, I got a message from my writers telling me that Espinal had just won the state title in the 800m.

Huge shout out to the commenter who called that one pre-race.

Espinal's final time was a fantastic 1:51.09. Not only was that a massive PR, but it places him among the all-time elite in PA. He passes Ned Willig of Great Valley, Tom Coyle and Andrew Stone from LaSalle, Will Bailey from Penn Hills and some 200 plus others on the PA all time list with his results this weekend. Joe Espinal matched Joey Logue of Pennridge's PR this weekend which is crazy to me considering where this guy was even a week ago. What a tremendous run with a ton of heart for the Wilson senior.

With Espinal's win, Lehigh University has to be feeling pretty good. They have state champs Espinal and Kravitz committed there next year. How about that for a recruiting class? It's also worth noting that with Espinal's win District 1, District 3 and District 7 were completely shut out of the distance state titles this weekend. They belonged to Districts 2, 6 and 11. Considering the 800 alone has belonged to the big three districts for over a decade, this is pretty darn unprecedented.

But this race wasn't just about Espinal. It was filled with PRs across the board as the top 8 finishers all ran open PRs in the final. Matt Wisner ran a blazing quick 1:51.49 for another silver medal and a school record for Carlisle. It was a terrific run for Wisner who had looked at times like he would struggle to eclipse last season's outdoor PR after some tough mid season losses. But he regrouped beautifully and ran a gutsy race for silver.

Jaxson Hoey switched events and didn't miss a beat, clocking a big PR of his own at 1:51.58. Despite sickness that caused him to drop down the depth chart, Hoey survived the hot weather and the stiff competition to finish a well earned third. He's overcome a ton of adversity this year just to get on the track and make the final, let alone to finish things off with a district title, a big PR and a bronze medal.

The State College boys came to play this weekend as well. How about a roughly 4 second PR for Feffer in the open 800 (he'd split faster a bunch, including earlier that morning) and an overall PR for Delgeris as both guys finish in the medals. Man, this is one heck of a relay. It's very rare to see two guys from the same team on the medal stand. Let alone two guys who don't even run anchor on the team's relay. I've been comparing SC to CB South a bit recently because that is the record they are chasing, but really they are much more like the 2007-2008 back to back state championship North Penn squad. That team had three indoor medalists in the 800 and two outdoors (although those guys took 6-7 outdoors). Their lead off leg was their "weakest" leg (although he was a 1:56-1:57 guy as well) and they absolutely dominated the state championship, breaking well clear of the field after leg 2 (ironically, the team that put up the best fight through two legs that season was also CB West).

To add intrigue, Feffer is the top returner for next year's 800 final.

The number 2 returner is Derin Klick of Lebanon. Klick came out of nowhere this season in his own right, dropping from 1:57 to 1:54 and then 1:53.66 for 6th in this final. Also dropping a ton of time at the right moment was District 10's Justin Miller. I had never heard of either of these guys this time last year (which is saying something, cause I've heard of a lot of people) and now they are both 1:53 guys with state medals. Heck, I didn't even know about Miller prior to districts when he dropped a crazy 1:56 for the big win. Which he promptly followed up with a 1:56 in prelims and a 1:53.78 in the finals. What a monster.

Lastly, shout out to Brett Wolfinger. At the end of a crazy year for the 800 meters, one of the few constants was Quakertown's senior Brett Wolfinger. I doubted him indoors and he impressed with a strong medal winning performance in a very fast heat. He mixed it up at the District championships and stuck his nose right in it again at his first outdoor championships with a 5th place finish and a shiny new PR of 1:53.50. Wolfinger also helped lead his sophomore teammate Hudson Delisle to the state championships in the 800 as well, setting up his younger teammate to carry on the tradition.

Just like this year, the 800 is setting up to be a crazy final. I didn't exactly get my dream final of 6 guys within a second this year. But that's because I somehow got a final that was even better. Yes, it was that kind of state meet.