The Weekend Recap Part II: Even More Etrain

Part II …

Ocean Breeze

As I alluded to yesterday, this was one heck of a meet for PA. From top to bottom the Vanians represented to the fullest, got some big wins and rewrote the state rankings.

This was especially true in the 800 meters. PA had a total of 12 sub 2 minute performances with 17 guys under 2:01. Pennsbury by themselves had 5 guys at 2:03.0 or faster. In the Varsity Red section, a PA runner won Heat 2 (Luke Everidge), Heat 3 (Cam Christopher), Heat 4 (Marc Motter), Heat 5 (Jake McFadden), and Heat 6 (Sean Brown). We didn’t pull out the victory in the fast heat, but Owen J Robert’s runner Liam Conway did place third overall in a very quick 1:57.44 to help the cause.

Some of the big takeaways for me personally? One heck of a race from Everidge, Christopher and Motter. They won their heats in 1:57 type times and suddenly became household names in the event. Everidge has great speed and has dabbled in both the 4 and the 8 in the past. Christopher ran 1:56 last spring and comes from a strong mid-distance program. And Motter, after some solid sub 2 minute splits last spring, has looked fantastic this year, developing into the leader for a very capable CB East distance contingent.

I really liked what I saw from Pennsbury. The 4x8 is going to be a thrilling race this season at states. You have the powerhouses like State College, Abington and CB West who have all won on the big stage before. You have the super powers of Carlisle and GFS, but it’s unclear what each of those school’s relay plan is at this time. And then you have Pennsbury who had 1:57-2:01-2:01-2:02-2:03 for five runners in the open this weekend. Jed Scratchard has come out of nowhere (to me at least) to become a stud in the 8/Mile. Javier Linares was seeded as Pennsbury’s #5 runner, but he ended up being their #2 when all was said and done as he really rose to the challenge on this fast track.

Michael Clark from Methacton had a fantastic breakthrough race to drop to 2:00.13. He was hovering in the 2:04-2:05 range for most of the season if I remember correctly, but he popped one at the right time on race day. Also keep in mind that Pennridge stand out Austin Howell is back and racing for the first time. The always dangerous Rams now have two guys with open races under 2 minutes at 800.

For those of you keeping score at home, PA also had the winners in Heat 1, Heat 2, Heat 3 and Heat 4 of the White section of the 800 meters (we also won Heat 6). Andrew Crosby ran 2:02.65 for the overall victory, Stephen Kraus followed up a blazing fast 600 with a 2:02.71 victory and Downingtown East got victories from both Dylan McEvoy and Evan Dewey in 2:02.9 and 2:03.2.

See 6 paragraphs in the book and I’ve only covered the 800? In case you were wondering, this is why I had to make the split to 2 different recap sections. Let’s jump to the mile now. PA went to work in this event as well as we had plenty more Heat winners in the Red Section. PA took Heat 1 (Evan Addison), Heat 2 (Matt Eissler), Heat 3 (Ryan James) and Heat 5 (Patrick James). Those were the 4 fastest heat winners of the day. We also had the Heat 6 winner (Bryan Keller)

Evan Addison of LaSalle pulled out a fantastic overall victory surprising for the gold in 4:19.25. That’s a strong indoor PR for Evan and moves him into a small club of sub 4:20 guys this indoor season. He’s in elite company with the likes of Affolder, Hoey and Dahl. He’s now run 4:19 and 8:46 this year making him one of the most dangerous anchors in the DMR. If LaSalle loads it up fresh, they could give a real scare to tired teams. Projected 1200 man Brendan Price dropped an awesome 4:25.55 to finish 6^th overall and 2^nd in his heat.

The PCL was in full force as Cardinal O’Hara, a team that knows a thing or two about the DMR, had 3 sub 4:30 milers and 2 heat winners. Ryan James ran a very strong 4:24 while Patrick threw down a monster 4:29. Gavin Inglis closed out the group with 4:26.

Haverford’s James Abrahams did an awesome job, running 4:23.62 for 3^rd overall. Pennridge’s super sophomore Matt Eissler, who has already run 1:56 this year, dropped a 4:25.75 for a heat victory. He looks fantastic so far for Pennridge and could be a sleeper contender to pull an upset in that open 800. Just to reiterate, he is only a sophomore. Liam Conway added a 4:26.11 for 9^th overall on the double from his big 1:57 run in the 800.

In total, PA had 11 sub 4:30 performers in the Red section with another 8 under 4:34, including two runners from HG Prep and two runners from West Chester Henderson.

In the White section, PA added a few more top times. Sam Early won his heat with a 4:34.18 which was good for 2^nd in the section. Early won by roughly 5 seconds. Watch out for this kid in the right heat. I think he’s won both of his major mile runs by big margins. He also has sub 2 speed from a year ago. Teddy Neckowicz of Lower Merion and Quinn O’Neill of LaSalle ran 4:34 and 4:35 respectively to highlight big days for both schools. O’Neill’s teammate, Vincent Twomey, won the freshman section of the mile by over 6 seconds with a 4:37.99 while, not to be out done, Lower Merion’s Charlie Herrman won the sophomore section in 4:37.01 (just ahead of LaSalle’s Matt Zilligen! What a web!).

In the invitational two mile, PA churned out some likely state qualifying performances. The leader of the pack was Seth Slavin of Pleasant Valley. He took 3^rd overall with a new PR of 9:28.05. That’s an awesome time, converting down to 8:50.05 for the sake of the PTFCA rankings, but worth sub 8:50 by many metrics. It adds to a long list of impressive 3200/2 Miles that Slavin has dropped since the beginning of the year. Keep in mind, he is a returning state medalist from last indoors and, if Nate Henderson doesn’t run, would be the top returner from 2016.

Cheltenham’s Will Griffen, master of the indoor 2 mile from a year ago, cranked it up a notch with a very quick 9:30.41. Griffen, who was on my sleepers for this year, picked up a couple strong scalps as he defeated top 10 state finisher Ryan Campbell (9:31.23 which I think is a PR indoors or out) and sub 15:40 runner Matt D’Aquila (9:35). All of these times will convert to sub 9 minutes for 3k and under the SQG. However, it’s worth noting that all three runners could be on DMR teams that could potentially make them scratch the event to fresh. From the sounds of things in The Commit (shameless plug), it seems that is at least what Lower Merion and Matt D’Aquila have in mind.

In the non-invite section of the event, freshman Carlos Shultz put together his own fantastic two mile. The Conestoga runner dropped a 9:37.64, which also converts to under 9 minutes. After one of the best XC seasons from a freshman in recent history, Shultz is showing no signs of slowing down on the track. He’s right there among the state leaders in the grueling 2 mile distance and may be the fastest indoor freshman PA has ever had (I have no idea who it is in all honesty).

Stephen Paul of LaSalle (9:50), Will Schulz of CB East (9:51) and Peter Borger of Malvern Prep (9:52) all ran excellent races as well to help give PA 6 of the top 9 2 mile spots in the Red Section.

In relay news, Pennridge and CB East ended up as the #2 and #3 PA 4x4 schools in the meet behind only Glenn Mills. The schools dueled to the line, both running 3:27. I was particularly impressed with CB East’s time. Not a traditional 4x4 powerhouse, East is off to an excellent start in the speed category in 2017. Motter, Shahideh and Brophy (all listed for the 4x4) are also 4x8 guys so seeing this kind of speed in action is a great sign.

Speaking of the 4x8, DT East dipped under the SQG in the event with an 8:17.57. The balanced squad really excelled in the individual 800 and still found a way to double up and produce an excellent time. In addition, a doubling group of Cheltenham runners (8:18) and Wissahickon runners (8:22) posted marks that currently slate them in the 16 man roster for states. Definitely keep an eye on this Wissahickon squad down the stretch. I feel like they are starting to put things together. Cam Christopher is obviously a stud, but sophomore Justin Ryan (2:04 open this weekend) and steadily improving Matt Maiale (4:44 to win his section of the mile by 8 seconds) are on fire lately and could be the difference makers they need to make a run.

Susquehanna Classic

State College is really starting to round into playoff form. The defending 4x8 state champs ran 8:10 to defeat Cumberland Valley (8:21) in a flat track duel. This result came shortly after the Little Lions posted open results with all four relay runners at 2:03 or faster. One of the important developments for SC is the return of their lead-off man from a year ago, Owen Wing. After a solid opening 800 performance last week, Wing ran a key leg on the 4x8 and then doubled back in 4:35.92 to win the mile over a slew of strong competitors. He could really be the x-factor in an SC repeat.

SC also had a 2-4 finish in the open 800 from their doubling legs. Nick and Joey Feffer ran 1:58 and 2:02 respectively. Cumberland Valley, the 2012 Outdoor State Champs in the 4x8, look very strong as well. After their 8:21 performance, their top two 800 runners in Josh Higgins and Yahya Soliman both placed well in the 800. They were 5^th and 3^rd in 2:03.54 and 2:02.11.

That open 800 was won by a fresh Sam Affolder of Carlisle. The sophomore went toe to toe with multi time state medalist Nick Feffer in his signature event and rolled to a 1:56.32 victory almost a full two seconds ahead of 2^nd place. This makes the Affolder brothers 1^st and 3^rd in the state by seed time for states in the 800. Noah will make his mile debut alongside Sam at the Millrose Games. Josh Hoey will also be in that race for PA. It’s up in the air what all three gentlemen will chase at states, but they could certainly be factors in either the mile or the 800 as all 3 are top 4 in each event.

A few other notable performances included a couple of XC rivals. Morgan Cupp and Isaac Kole were very familiar with each other during this past fall and both left this meet with strong season bests. For Cupp, he ran a 4:36.50 to finish 3^rd in the mile. Meanwhile, Kole dropped a 9:07 victory in the 3k, pulling out a roughly 13 second win over Western Wayne’s Jacob Pasake. Kole was also featured on Carlisle’s runner-up 4x4. State College got the win by a second in 3:33.

Boston Indoor Grand Prix

First, it’s important for me to mention that GFS runner Nick Dahl had an awesome race. He dropped a 4:14.68 mile to take 3^rd overall in the stacked field. This comes about a week after his 8:30.62 3k officially made him one of our best indoor 15 lappers in state history. Dahl was just two seconds behind 4-flat miler DJ Principe, ran a big indoor PR and made him one of the best pre-state milers we’ve seen.  He deserves some credit for a fantastic performance yet again.

But admittedly, Josh Hoey stole the spotlight from him in a big way. The junior ran a 4:09.26 to defeat a 4 flat miler and heavy favorite in senior DJ Principe. The seemingly invincible Principe led from the tape and, after a fast, busy start to his season, got his first real challenge from a higher school as Josh hung tough in the pack before putting on the signature Hoey kick from 250 out and storming to the victory. Josh closed down the final 800 meters in 2:02.2.

The time of 4:09.26 is the second fastest mark in PA indoor history, ranking only behind Sam Ritz’s New Balance Indoor National performance. It also moves Josh into the top 10 or so milers in PA history. He passes recent stand outs Domenic Perretta, Reiny Barchet, Jaxson Hoey, Tony Russell, and Zach Brehm. It also marks the second major inter-state mile that Hoey has won. He won the Penn Relays mile last year as a sophomore, pulling off a signature upset victory as a sophomore. Now as a junior he wins this meet. A win at Millrose would give him a 3-peat that I suspect no PA runner has ever pulled off. Especially before they even entered their Senior season.

But what Hoey doesn’t have to date is a state championship. Josh was 3^rd twice and 2^nd once as a sophomore. This year, he would arguably be the favorite in the mile, but Noah Affolder would definitely be a lot to handle (the two will face off head to head for the first time since cross at Millrose). However, it appears from a post-race interview that Hoey may opt for only the 800 at states rather than the mile. His PR in that event (indoors or out) is 1:54.11 from last April, but he’s already run 1:54.50 this winter (plus that 4:09) so there’s reason to think he can go a lot faster.

Hoey is also on a top flight 4x4, potentially a 4x2 and, if Bishop Shanahan ends up putting together the pieces, could be a member of a talented DMR.