Briarwood Invitational
For those of you unfamiliar with this meet, it's the one where LaSalle has like 50 dudes in the mile who break 5 minutes. A year ago, led by Patrick Grant's 4:26.9 victory, the Explorers dropped 14 sub 5 minute performers, sparking a "The11" article about the army.
In 2017, with Grant graduated to Bama, it was junior Evan Addison's turn to lead the armada. He did no disappoint, winning both the mile (4:25.9) and the 800 (2:02). It was a huge week for Addison who also had a monster 3k (we will get to that). Behind him, LaSalle posted 15 sub 5 minute mile performances.
Among the notable performances was Brendan Price, the runner up to Addison with a quick 4:30.23. Matthew Zilligen also broke 4:40 for the explorers, emerging as a key contributor despite being outside the team's varsity 7 in XC. Freshman Vincent Twomey, who emerged as a clutch contributor during the stretch run this fall, won his section of the mile with a time of 4:53.
In non LaSalle news, the reigning XC state champs also competed in this meet. Ryan Campbell and Bryan Keller both dipped under 4:40 to take 3rd and 4th respectively in the meet. State medalist Sam Early won his section of the mile in a very quick 4:42. He won his section by roughly 16 seconds. Early was a sub 2 800 meter runner last year as just a sophomore.
HG Prep, who was leading the state in the DMR at the time of this meet, had a nice showing of their own. Kevin Dineen led the way with a sub 4:40 performance while Mark Featherstone (4:41) and XC medalist Callahan Lennon (4:43) also placed in the top 13 finishers. Prep also had the second place finisher in the 800, Sam Huslin, who ran 2:04.35.
TFCAofGP
Division I
Let's jump right back to LaSalle! The boys continued to show their fitness just a few short days after their appearance at Briarwood against a slightly depleted TFCAofGP (thanks New York). Brendan Price ran away with 800 gold, running 2:01 to win my some 8 seconds. David Kennedy (4:45) was 3rd in the mile and the team won both the 4x8 (8:30) and the DMR (11:14) without their two best relay guys in Price and Addison (we will get to him).
James Abrahams of Haverford came away with the win in the mile, running 4:30 to absolutely roll to a SQG. Abrahams was a state qualifier in the 1600 last spring and bounces back in an impressive way from his 800 last week. The kid looks fit. The increasingly intriguing Boyertown squad showcased another impressive piece as freshman Christian McComb ran 4:41 for second.
But the 3k was the race of the day. Perhaps even the performance of the weekend for PA distance fans. Rusty Kujdych of Neshaminy has been brilliant so far this indoor season so we knew that the junior would have something fun in his back pocket when he inevitably contested his best event. But Kujdych also received his best challenge of the year as LaSalle's Evan Addison rose to the challenge in his first major 3k/3200. Kujdych dropped a viscously quick 8:44.73, putting him under 8:50 for a second consecutive season, while Addison hung on for an 8:46.99. Those marks are easily the top 2 in the state.
Hard not to like what we've seen from Rusty so far as he backs up some of the speculation I put into my December State of the Union post. The District One XC champ is rolling right now and, with the exception of states, I believe he is undefeated dating back to Paul Short. But Addison really surprised me with this performance. I think I've floated out the Tom Coyle comparison a couple times and it's hard not see how things line up for the duo. Addison's track times from last spring are very comparable to Tom's sophomore performances (Addison a little faster in the mile, Coyle popped a 1:54 split) and both were district champs during XC. Now Addison drops an 8:46.99 for 3k, almost identical to Tom's 8:46.88 PR. But that strength didn't show itself until he was a senior (8:55 indoor PR as a junior).
Keep in mind Coyle's junior track seasons included a silver at indoor states and a gold outdoors in 4:11. Addison needs to prove he has the same clutch genes that Tom did if he is going to match those marks, but talent wise he's in the conversation. That's nice company.
Division II
Twin Valley's stand out sophomore Dylan Servis continues to stand out in the mid distance events. He ran 2:04 to beat out LM's Teddy Neckowicz (2:05) in the 800. West Chester East's Daniel Brennan was third, also in 2:05. The East boys also picked up a gold in the 3k behind a nice run from Harrison Mazurek, who won in 9:34.
The mile was the individual event of the meet as 400/800 specialist Kamil Jihad picked up a big time over distance victory. Jihad ran 4:33.8 to edge out Lowe Merion's Matt D'Aquila by about half a second. I've mentioned it before, but I really like the approach Jihad has taken to this season. The junior has phenomenal top end speed, but since XC he's been building his strength. This 4:33 is a big season best as he rose to the competition that included 4 sub 4:40 performers. Wagner has been the consistent PA #1 in recent weeks, but I still think Jihad would be my pick as of today for 800 state champ.
Patrick James (4:35) and Avery Lederer (4:36) were 3rd and 4th in the mile, each turning in excellent performances in this meet to back up their strong XC showings.
Lower Merion grabbed the gold in the 4x8, despite having their two top guys in open events. They ran 8:38 and won by nearly 25 seconds. Don't sleep on a DMR from this team. I'm pumped to see how it looks when they throw it together.
Speaking of DMR's you shouldn't sleep on (yes, I am the king of transition sentences), Cardinal O'Hara is back at it. The two time state champs in the event ran their first sub 11 of the season, clocking 10:59 for the gold ahead of The Haverford School who ran 11:23 for silver. O'Hara could potentially even bolster this relay with Patrick James or at least keep the pressure on the relay runners to keep their pedal to the metal during practice to keep their spot. Over the last three seasons, O'Hara has won nationals, states and states. They will contend in this event.
TSTCA
I'm happy to say that the TSTCA had a meet this weekend! It snowed out here on Long Island and I was nervous the TSTCA's bad luck with snow would continue in 2017. But the meet went off without a hitch (I think) and some top westerners opened their season in style.
The WPIAL's biggest breakthrough performer in the last weeks of the XC season was Butler's Noah Beveridge. And apparently the cold weather hasn't cooled off the junior. Noah won both the 3k and the mile at this meet, dropping a 4:35 mile time to defeat Seneca's Phoenix Myers and also dropping a blazing 9:04 3k (not sure of the order of events). The 5th place finisher from XC states looked excellent in his debut and reminds me a bit of Nick Wolk's performances this time a year ago. Wolk finished as a state medalist in the 3k and the state runner up at 3200 last spring.
In the 800 meters, Donovan Myers improved on his debut at the distance with a strong 1:59.95 victory over Penn Hill's 1:54 man Isaiah Bailey and North Allegheny's 1:56 guy Zach Ehling (both of which ran 2:02). Don't sleep on the AA stand out this season who, in all likelihood will get a shot at PA #1 Nick Wagner at some point during this season out here at a TSTCA meet. Also running 2:02 in his indoor debut was Eric Kennedy of Kiski. Like Ehling, Kennedy ran 1:56 last spring. Kennedy also boasts a slew of sub 4:20 mile performances from last May.
Amadou Diallo, Allerdice's state medalist, ran 4:40 and 9:29 for 3rd and 2nd respectively in both events. The NA Tigers won the 4x800 in 8:30, racing the exact same team that ran a blazing fast 7:50ish 4x800 at Shippensburg last May.
Lavino
After Abington opened up with an 8:07 PA #1 their counterparts in yellow decided to response. The CB West 4x8 powerhouse rolled to the victory in an 8:04.75. The mark is reasonably in line with last year's 8:06 victory and sets up the squad to compete for yet another top 3 state finish. CB West also won the 4x2 and the SMR.
Bensalem clocked a very nice 8:18.03 to dominate their section. Keep an eye out for this sleeper school. They also won the 4x4.
In the meets other distance relay, a couple national division rivals went toe to toe as CR North battled with Pennsbury. North got the better of the two, running a quick 10:44 to Pennsbury's 10:45, but it was a very tight match up between the two programs. Making things even more interesting was the fact that Pennsbury's top runner, Eric Kersten, ran 4:28 on the same day at Kevin Dare out at PSU. He was listed as the 400 leg on the DMR, but would be interested to see if he actually competed in both meets. He could really swing any rematches as it's clear he's a pretty big talent. North is a strong team and 10:44 is very solid, but Pennsbury may be the distance relay squad to watch this year through the first weekend in January.
The boys over at CB East, the top PA squad a year ago at this meet, ran fantastically for 4th overall and 3rd in PA this year. East clocked 10:50. Looks like David Endres, their talented sophomore, may have been on anchor duty.
CB West had a strong showing in the relay as well. Without their best 800 leg (Claricurzio ran 4x8, SMR), West dropped a 10:57 to join the sub 11 club. 3200 stand outs Ben Bunch and Brian Mass were listed as key contributors to the relay.
I'll keep an eye out for splits in the coming days, but feel free to post if you've got them.
Youngstown
I've talked a lot about the 800 landscape already, but one obvious name I've neglected to mention is Brookville senior Ryan Thrush. The XC state medalist ran 48 and 1:52 last year and opened his indoor season with a 50.4 victory at Youngstown. He also ran a 2:06 800 on a tough double. Thrush has seemed pretty enamored with the 4-8 double, trying his hand at it each of the past two state meets. Maybe he will master it, but it's a near impossible double, especially indoors where the events are so close together. Will be interesting to see what he picks to focus on.
In cross country, the Greensburg Salem boys quietly emerged as state title contenders, in large part thanks to two ultra talented sophomores. Well those two boys, Cameron Binda and Mark Brown finished 1st and 3rd in their 1600 opener. The times were 4:30 and 4:36, with Binda taking gold by less than 3 tenths of a second. Cameron also ran a 9:59 for 3200.
That 3200 title, however, belonged to a familiar name for AA WPIAL fans. The reigning XC state champ, Ben Bumgarner, ran 9:33 in a pack of WV club teammates, grabbing gold and finishing less than 6 seconds away from the facility record. He also contributed a leg on he winning 4x8, reportedly in the 2:03 range.
Hispanic Games
It was a big day for the Affolder brothers. While Noah was winning the junior crown of the Edinburgh meet in Scotland, little brother Sam clocked a 4:19 mile and punched his ticket to Millrose Games. He joins Josh Hoey of Shanahan as the second PA athlete to qualify. Noah may get a wild card/auto entry to the meet as last year's runner up and a sub 4:10 miler.
Some of Sam's Carlisle teammates, Isaac Kole and Jack Wisner, also opened their seasons with miles at the Armory. Kole ran 4:33 while Jack ran 4:40, closing in 30 seconds for the last oval. Quakertown's Hudson Delisle dipped under 4:30 in the invite mile and freshman Jonah Hoey of Bishop Shanahan clocked a 4:33.98. HIs teammate, Jonathan McGrory was also under 4:40, running 4:39.
In the meets 800 meter contest, the aforementioned Josh Hoey continued his hot start to the track season. The Junior dropped a very quick 1:54.5 to jump up to PA #1 in a second event. That's pretty close to his outdoor PR at 1:54.1 and sets him up to maybe try the mile-8 double like his brother did a year ago. I think he's got a shot to win both the way things currently are looking. But the Affolders (and a strong 800 crew) will make things fun. Hoey also likely provided a key leg on Shanahan's awesome 4x4. The squad ran 3:23 to defeat Abington (3:24) and take over PA #1.
William Tennent's Matt Kraus also dipped under 2 minutes for PA. Kraus was a state qualifier last indoors and is a featured play on a strong Tennent squad that ran a nice 4x8 (8:26) at this meet. I'm excited to see them give a DMR a shot sometime soon.
Will Griffen and Andrew Crosby of Cheltenham both had great days in the 2 mile and 800 respectively, continuing to build their strong DMR core. Griffen was PA's top finisher in the duece, running 9:40.12. Sean Rahill and Evan Hutton also placed top 7. For the record, Griffen's 9:40 will convert to a 9:02. His last 3k, according to the splits, was run in 9:01.
Ocean Breeze
In the non Armory NY meet, a few other PA stars dipped their hand into the cookie jar of fast times. Bonner's mid distance stand out Dave Whitfield ran the off distance of 1k, pulling out a 2:37 mark and taking top PA honors in the 5 lap event.
In the similarly odd distance of 600 meters, Germantown Friend's Jonnie Plass clocked a blistering 1:22 to finish as PA's top dog. Plass, who won his heat, is far from the biggest name in his locker room (Nick Dahl has that honor) but the talented junior clocked a massive time on the track, indicating he might be ready to carry the momentum he picked up from a year ago (1:55ish split at outdoor nats) into 2017. Plass and Dahl are two dynamite relay pieces to toy with.
Speaking of relay pieces, West Chester Henderson threw their 800 core into this event as well. The 600 is no stranger for Henderson, who clocked some very quick marks in this distance last spring. Speed oriented Kavond Jones was the top Henderson runner in 1:26, while Josh Richard (1:27), Spencer Smucker (1:29) and Will Gamble (1:29) also dipped under 1:30. Looks like we may see a 4x8 from this team in the not too distant future.
In the 1600, PA's Seth Slavin ran 4:26, contending well near the front of the field. Slavin is off to a fantastic start, having already run 9:37 for two miles on this same track.
Kevin Dare
This meet, contested at the home of the state championships, is always a great mid season report, signaling some of the contenders for states. Guys like Wade Endress, Joey Logue and Jack Huemmler have asserted themselves on this surface in the past. Now a few more names look to amend the list.
Brandon Hontz of West Chester Rustin made a big statement, winning the mile in a quick 4:24. He defeated Joe Cardie and Joe Cullen of Springfield and Wyomissing respectively, each of which ran 4:26. Cardie had a big PR in this race, firmly moving out of the large shadow cast by Liam Galligan while Cullen becomes Wyomissing's third different sub 4:30 miler in as many years. As for Hontz, I was a big fan of his heading into outdoor states last year. He just missed out on the state finals, but that may be the perfect motivation for him to run hard this year. The mile has the potential to be loaded this year so it could be hard for Hontz to grab a marquee medal, but he's got a ton of talent and has shown some strong racing savvy thus far.
Pennsbury's aforementioned star Eric Kersten dropped a 4:28 to win the slow heat by over 20 seconds. Kersten, a state medalist during XC with 1:55 chops, looked awesome in his open debut. He's a game changer on a relay.
Brendan O'Toole of North Penn and XC standout Sam Snodgrass of South Fayette were next in 4:30 and 4:33 with Conestoga super frosh Carlos Shultz rounding out the sub 4:40 crew in PA with a 4:35.
In the 800, Penn Trafford's Nick Wagner bolstered his PA #1 status (briefly), defeating the best field we've seen thus far with a 1:56.38 (he finished 2nd overall, but tops in PA). Wagner didn't run away easily from a trio of top PA athletes. A group of runners who finished just behind Kamil Jihad at Burdette all dipped into the 1:56s in their first trip under 2 minutes this indoors. Peter Cooke of Radnor, Matt Eissler of Pennridge and Collin Ebling of Pottsville all finished within .05 of one another, some 6 tenths of a second behind Wagner. In a rematch, it makes you wonder how the dice may roll.
North Penn's Daniel Santiago dropped a 1:58 and Derin Klick of Lebanon ran 1:59 to round out the PA sub 2s. Santiago was a key leg on North Penn's medal winning 4x8 relay last spring while Klick ran 1:53 for 800 meters on two separate occasions last spring in the open. Watch for Klick as the season heats up and the D3 guys get a little extra seasoning.
In the 3k, the top finisher also came from outside the PA border. However, the top guy with a Vania jersey was a surprise to most. Coatesville's Colin Mihalak dropped an impressive 9:05 to defeat a loaded PA XC trio of Andrew Sullivan (sub 16 this fall), Aaron Pfeil and Isaac Davis (top 5 finishers in AA) plus Colton Cassell (state medalist) and Owen Isham (top 50 State finisher on his "home track"). Mihalak and teammate Ryan Leahan (9:23) both had strong days and have now doubled down on the DMR potential they have flashed in recent weeks.
Side note, is Caleb Sneller, the A XC stand out, now running at JP McCaskey? Sneller ran a solid 9:27 and may really benefit from a few runs with footlocker finalist Nate Henderson in the coming months.
In the 4x800 meters, North Penn absolutely rolled through the meet, dropping an 8:19 and winning by a 24 second margin over State College. NP dropped the time without Santiago (4x4) who had run sub 2 earlier in the day. The 4x8 dynasty program is flexing its muscles yet again.
Interestingly, no Feffers for the Little Lions of State College at this meet. No Feffers and no Wing for SC on separate occasions in recent weeks. Hopefully everyone is healthy.
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