Another Week, Another Recap

by Jarrett Felix

Bears Invitational

After a long cross country season that stretched all the way into the new year, Noah Affolder has jumped on the track and sported the Carlisle uniform for the first time indoors. And the transition went off without a hitch. To start the day, Carlisle won the 4x800 in a PA #1 8:01.1. The mark was good enough to win the race by 24 seconds and featured the school’s top 4 XC runners: Noah Affolder, Sam Affolder, Isaac Kole and Jack Wisner. Next, Sam Affolder ran 51.70 to finish third overall in the 400. Then Noah ran his first individual track event as a PA runner. He won by nearly 5 seconds and dropped a 1:54.72 which converts to the #1 time in the state. Also worth noting, that mark is listed as the fastest 800 Noah has ever run according to Milesplit. So he may have just PRed a few days after returning from Europe to finish off an XC season.

To cap off the day, the Carlisle boys ran the DMR, an event many have speculated they may break the national record in later this winter. A relay that featured four runners, all of which were at least doubling, dropped a 10:21.45 to roll to the victory. It was a PA #1 time and a 28 second victory on tired legs.

Now obviously they still have some 22 seconds to drop before they can call themselves national record holders, but the Carlisle boys are off to a terrific start. O’Hara, with fresh legs, ran a similar (but slower time) about a month later in the year in 2014 before going on to run a 10 flat at nationals. If Carlisle has a reasonable progression, the benefit of fresh legs and the right competition, big things are certainly possible.

But a lot can happen. Last year, our best squad was DT West, but they ultimately decided not race the event at the state championships. Similarly, Carlisle will have plenty of individual options as both Sam and Noah Affolder will have realistic shots at winning state titles. Isaac Kole and Jack Wisner may both end up as individual state qualifiers. Or if they don’t, the two can team with a third distance runner to build out a very competitive DMR at the state level. But based on the triples we saw at this meet, we can’t rule out a 4x8-800-DMR triple from Noah again. That could make things very interesting. It’s definitely going to be something to monitor looking forward.

A few other notable PA performances were clocked in this meet as well. Edward Harpstead of West Chester Rustin became the school’s second sub 4:40 miler with a very strong 4:38. Spring Ford bolster their mile contingent as well with a 4:42 mark. In the 3,000, Southern Lehigh Junior Thomas Matsumura took the title in 9:10, defeating Jacob McKenna (9:16) and Jonathan McGrory (9:18) who helped complete the PA sweep. Masumura has been awesome this year on the track and is a real sleeper this winter. District 11 in general has been fantastic to start the year with Slavin, Matsumura and Ebling among the big early names. McGrory has been a really nice emerging piece for Shanahan who, by the way, has a great stable of juniors. Josh Hoey, Logan Yoquinto and McGrory are juniors with a sophomore in Jack Ettien and a freshman in Jonah Hoey also on the roster.

Molloy Stanner Games

At the Armory, Pleasant Valley Senior Seth Slavin dropped a 9:30.33 for 3200 meters, a mark the PTFCA will convert to 8:55. That should be good enough to punch Slavin a ticket for the state championships to defend his medal winning position from a year ago. Nate Henderson, the state’s top returner, hasn’t raced yet this year (long XC season that stretched to Footlocker) which moves Slavin into a great position to maybe compete for a title. The 3k is still pretty wide open on paper and Slavin has been excellent running the long distances.

TSTCA Indoor Meet #2

Out West, PA’s talented runners took to the Edinboro Oval again (at least I’m assuming it’s an oval, I don’t really know how things operate on a 237 meter track or whatever it is). Brookville Senior Ryan Thrush, who sparked a very exciting range debate here on the blog, threw down a 200-800 double, picking up a huge 1:56.86 victory. That was about 3 seconds ahead of North Allegheny stand out Zach Ehling, who also put his name on the short list of sub 2 800 men this winter. Isaiah Bailey of Penn Hills, who ran 1:54 last spring, dropped a 2 flat for 3^rd. Bailey ran the mile-800 double for the second straight contest.

Thrush has been very creative thus far with his racing which makes him a really fun watch from week to week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed we see him attack the 800 fresh at states, but I think that’s probably a pipedream (the 400-800 double is my guess). He’s a huge talent who could probably go for the shot put-long jump double next week.

In the mile, Seneca’s Phoenix Myers ran 4:31 to pick up the victory. It wasn’t quite as fast as his Armory mark, but it was a strong win by over 7 seconds against a solid field. In the 3k, Noah Beveridge gave the race a fresh attempt this week and the decision paid off. Noah dropped an 8:56.20 for a big win. He’s on my short list of contenders for the 3k title this year. The junior has been excellent on the track in limited action and finished his XC season on fire. He and junior Rusty Kujdych are probably the guys I would give the best odds to at this stage. A junior hasn’t won the indoor 3k since 2005.

Seneca Valley, the darlings of the WPIAL this fall, had a big meet as well. Trey Razanauskas, the team’s senior leader, ran 9:19 to finish second in the 3k, just ahead of A WPIAL XC Champ Ben Littman of Winchester Thurston. His Seneca Valley teammates become the first western team under 11 minutes in what was a huge week for DMRs across the county. They dropped a 10:59.94 to defeat North Allegheny (11:18.97) and AA 4x800 champs Seneca (11:29).

Milesplit Presents the VA Showcase

You may have heard me mention that this was a big weekend for DMRs? Well GFS would have been the story of the weekend thanks to their 10:23.15 clocking that briefly held the honors of PA #1. At a loaded meet, GFS finished a tight second to Brentwood of Tennessee. I don’t know the splits, but the relay was listed as Colin Riley, Eli Schwemler, Jonnie Plass and Nick Dahl. The Tigers decided to abandon the individual events the past two season to load up on relays. It will be interesting to see what they decide to do this year as Dahl enters his senior season, still chasing that state indoor gold. Especially considering Carlisle looks like a very formidable foe.

Dickinson

The State College boys were back at full force this weekend as the Feffers returned to the line-up. The Little Lions dropped an 8:22.34 in the first race of the day to pick up an easy victory. Then Nick and Joey doubled back in the open 800, taking 1-3 with marks of 2 flat and 2:03. Feffer’s time wasn’t too far off the track record from Trinity Gray who, if you check the archives, went on to break 1:50 outdoors. In other words, it’s not the quickest track we’ve ever seen. For reference, Nick Wagner opened up on this track with a big victory down around 2:04 in December. He’s now running consistent 1:56s on faster tracks.

The Cumberland Valley boys looked very strong as well. Yaya Soliman and Josh Higgins finished 1-2 in the 1600 meters before doubling back to take 2^nd and 4^th in the 800. Higgins time of 2:01 on the double is a strong mark. Caleb Schultz finished 5^th in the 800 for CV. Keep in mind the Valley was outdoor state champs in 2012 and runner-ups in 2013. They have a pretty impressive history in putting together a relay. Last year, they qualified for the state finals outdoors with a sub 8-minute performance. Don’t sleep on this team looking forward.

Both schools ended the day with a 4x400 battle which State College managed to win 3:37.07 to 3:37.99.

TFCAofGP #5

Division I

The TFCAofGP Meets are heating up as we start to plunge deeper into January. In the Division I section, Pennsbury had a big day. After their impressive start to the season in the relays, Javier Linares finished 3^rd in the 400 (52.42), Jed Scratchard took 1^st in the mile in the SQG (4:29.65) and Eric Kersten finished 4^th in the 3k (9:22.69). Scratchard’s performance was the second sub 4:30 mark of the year for Pennsbury to pair with Kersten and marks a big breakthrough for the junior. His mile win was about 6 seconds faster than 2^nd place finisher Connor McMenamin of Souderton, an indoor state medalist last year. McMenamin is just coming back from an XC season that extended to Footlocker Regionals. The Falcons also ran 11:12 in the DMR with their remaining depth.

While we are on the subject of depth, we should mention the LaSalle Explorers. In a wild DMR weekend, LaSalle dipped into the conversation for the first time with a 10:45 clocking for the win in a very strong field. They also had top 10 finishes in the 800, Mile and 3k. Also placing well in the DMR was Cheltenham (10:52.14), CB East (10:55.04) and CB West (10:59.33). The Central Bucks schools were each missing some of their best runners for those sub 11 performances. East had David Endres in the 800 (2:03) and Ata Shahideh in the 400 (52.28)/ Both were members of the team’s Lavin Relays squad that dipped under 11. Meanwhile, CB West did not have Jake Claricurzio (2:02 to win the 800) and Alec Hofer (4:37 for 3^rd in the mile). Another member of their usual 4x8, Luke Fehrman, ran the open 400 as well (54.42).

CR South had a really nice day as well. They won the 4x4 in a very quick 3:32, they ran a solid 8:31 in the 4x800, which would currently be a state qualifying mark, and they had a 2:04 open performance from sophomore Collin Ochs. This team has the pieces to do something strong in the coming weeks.

Division II

In Division II, the highlight of the day came from Lower Merion. In a much anticipated debut, LM dropped a 10:56.15 in the DMR to win the meet by 27 seconds. I like the potential on paper that this team had, but it’s always encouraging to see a school actually put it together. HG Prep won the 4x800, the other distance relay, in 8:36.

Individually, Kamil Jihad picked up another 800 gold, Twin Valley’s Dylan Servis took the 3k and WC East’s Harrison Mazurek had a nice victory in the mile. WC East had top 3 finishes all of the individual distance events as Daniel Brennan put up a nice fight against Jihad in the 800 and Matthew Clarke took home a bronze in the 3k.

LVC Dutchmen

Cedar Crest mid-distance specialist Jesse Cruise picked up a pair of golds at this meet in the 1600 and 800. He ran 4:36 in the 16 to defeat a field that included 3 XC state medalists (Jared Giannascoli who was 2^nd in 4:38, Colton Cassell and Tyler Lesser) as well as two sub 800 runners from this winter (Derin Klick, Collin Ebling). In the second race, Cruise just barely edged out Less and Milton Hershey’s Austin Padmore to win the 800, all 3 men ran 2:09. Lesser ran 1:55 last spring and Padmore ran in the low 1:56s.

Nathan Kaplon of Central Dauphin, one of the breakout XC stars this fall, ran 9:32 to pick up a big win in the 3k. Derin Klick won the 400, defeating Luke Everidge from a separate heat.

PCL Regular Season Meet

Cardinal O’Hara, fresh off a sub 11 DMR, stretched their distance chops out to the 3,000 meters. The team swept the first 3 spots with Gavin Inglis (8:58), Ryan James (8:59) and Patrick James (9:19) taking things home. The O’Hara core is looking strong and hungry after the end of the XC season and my guess is they won’t give up easily on their DMR title streak.

Spire

Eric Kennedy picked up a narrow 1600 victory over Logan Lukonic of Sharpsville. Kennedy and Lukonic each ran 4:31 to beat out the Hudson duo from out of state. For Kennedy, this a nice win in his signature distance, which he excelled at en route to a state medal last year. For Lukonic this is a big PR. The small school stand-out is setting himself up nicely for a run at a AA medal come the spring when we go back to classifications.

Cathedral Prep’s Derek Jones ran 2:02.45 in the open 800 to finish as PA’s top runner in that event while the aforementioned Logan Lukonic won the 3200 in 10:13. South Fayette, the 3^rd place finishers in AA for XC, ran 8:34.11 in the 4x800 to pick up the gold.