Quick Nationals Recap

by Jarrett Felix

The Nationals season isn’t usually one that is well populated with PA athletes. It’s a long ways off from states (which feels like a lifetime ago now) and it requires a good amount of discipline to train those extra weeks and a well-timed peak to make sure you don’t burn yourselves out before you get there. But this year, PA had a very nice showing at the championships as many of our best and brightest traveled to compete.

One of the most impressive performances of the weekend came from a program that most readers have probably forgotten about: Germantown Friends. The GFS boys don’t compete in the PIAA so they don’t get a fair shot at many of the state’s best runners. On the flip side, they can focus their energies on peaking for the National Championships. After a solid start to the weekend with a couple new sub 2 performers, GFS got an All-American Performance from Nick Dahl in the 2 mile, as he placed 5^th overall in 9:11. But the real magic happened on Sunday. The DMR (which featured at least 3 runners who had already competed the night before) stuck their nose in the loaded field and ran a brilliant time of 10:03 for 5^th. They had splits of 3:08.06-51.37-1:55.60-4:08.96! I believe that’s a big PR for Jonnie Plass on the 800 split (assuming Hepp lead off) and a monster carry for Nick Dahl on the anchor.

Dahl’s last four anchor carries in the DMR (as I remember it) 4:14 at Yale indoors, 4:18ish on the double to bring GFS to second at states, 4:10 at indoor nationals, 4:08 at outdoor nationals! Reminder: the kid is still just a junior (and Plass is too I believe).

One of the other bright spots of the weekend came from Seneca Valley’s Mike Kolor. Although Kolor ran the 1600 at states (and placed second), he has focused a lot on the 800 this year as well, really cutting a lot of time from his PRs. He competed in the emerging elite mile, but ran just 4:21 and finished mid pack. EDIT: One of our readers pointed out this wasn't actually PA's Mike Kolor. Makes a lot of sense looking back at it now. Hoping for redemption, he came out in the slowest of 3 heats of the open 800 and lead the race essentially wire to wire, running a huge PR of 1:51.22! By winning the first heat, he ended up 7^th overall and tops in PA over Jaxson Hoey (strong 1:52.00, second fastest 800 of his career) and Matt Wisner (1:53).

State College, the PA State Champions as a team and in the 4x8, brought their star studded relay to nationals to compete. They ran a time of 7:39 to take 3^rd in the nation in the relay with splits of 1:58.71-1:54.55-1:54.22-1:52.01. It was SC’s second fastest time of the year and PR for anchor Alex Milligan. Milligan also competed in the open mile on Sunday. In a tactical affair, Milligan held his own, placing 4^th in his heat and 5^th overall with around a 58 second final lap. His time, 4:12.88 for the full mile, converts to around 4:11 for 1600 and is easily the second fastest mile of his career (4:10-4:11-4:16 appear to be his top 3). Overall, Milligan and Kolor both made big strides up the PA All-Time lists to close out their seasons. Milligan has established himself as one of the clutchest perfomers in the state and a versatile mid distance athlete. Meanwhile, Kolor is in the 1:51-4:10 club now, a pretty exclusive group. In the last decade it's just Kolor, Jax Hoey, Drew Magaha, Sam Ritz, and Domenic Perretta.  

Lastly, shout out to the boys from Camp Hill who capped off their season with a strong showing in the DMR. CH ran 10:28.28 with splits of 3:14.38-49.26-2:03.65-4:21.01. That kind of time would be good enough to medal in the always competitive indoor state championship (and usually puts you in contention for all state). Considering Camp Hill is one of the smaller programs in the state, that’s a very nice relay team and speaks volumes about the schools distance progress this season.

Let us know what else we may have missed from the weekend. And be sure to stay tuned to the blog over the next few weeks. We will be making our picks for the US Olympic Team, breaking down the NCAA recruiting classes, continuing with The Etrain 11 series and opening up the voting for the Etrain Oscars!

 
Plus, on July 25^th, we start the countdown for the 2016 XC Season with the staple of the etrain brand: the XC Top 50 Rankings.