Spring Into Recaps

By Jarrett Felix

Well guys, it’s finally time for outdoor track season. Hard to believe we are only two months away from the last state championship of the year and the conclusion of most of PA’s top runners seasons (or careers). The meets in March don’t count for any bonus points when we hit championship season, but building confidence, momentum and team chemistry can all go a long way toward determining the winners at season’s end.

PTFCA Carnival

Let’s jump right into things with the PTFCA Track Carnival. One of the biggest stand out performance in this one came from the Hershey boys. The strong competitors from District 3 won the DMR in 11:09 and also added a gold from Andrew Sullivan in the 1600, where Sullivan defeated 9^th place indoor finisher Joseph Cardie 4:35-4:37. Sullivan ran in the low 4:20s for 1600 a year ago as a sophomore and is fresh off a brilliant XC season that included a sub 16 minute 5k. He could be a big sleeper to break into the top 5 at outdoor states in this event.

The other big winner of the day was Abington. The boys defeated Penn Wood in a hotly contested 4x8 with a time of 8:01. They also dropped a 3:24 to east away from everyone en route to a 4x400 gold. In between, Abington took 1-2 in the 400, led by Aaron Sooknanan and also finished 3-5 in the 800. But the 800 was also where Penn Wood got some revenge. Dennis Manyeah ran 1:58.73 to pull out the victory over Springfield Delco’s Liam Galligan, who was also under 2 minutes.

This was a big result for both of these men. For Manyeah, it was another strong win to add to his resume. After a quiet start to his indoor season, Manyeah has shown signs of returning to the form that helped him run 1:53 for 800 meters last spring at Henderson. Manyeah could potentially work his way into the state title discussion in the 800 meters, however it’s unclear how interested he is in the individual events. Manyeah has yet to contest one at either the indoor or outdoor state championships and has instead gone all in to help his teammates in the 4x8 and 4x4 relays.

As for Galligan, this is his first race since XC after suffering an injury. Liam is one of the top returners in the state at 1600 meters, having ran a gutsy, front-running style at last year’s championships and has the talent to compete for the win when fully healthy (yeah, I said for the win). A sub 2 800 is a nice start, especially in an off event. Let’s keep an eye on how he progresses from here.

Solid result from Connor Hurst of Upper Moreland in that 800 as well, running a strong 2:01.21 and finishing 4^th overall in arguably the deepest field of the day.

Junior Peter Borger of Malvern Prep was the last distance event champion, running 9:46 in the 3200 to beat Thomas Matsumura of Southern Lehigh.

Tim Cook

One of the best parts about outdoor season is getting District 3 back involved in full force. It’s just not as big of a deal out that way. Of course, the best distance squad this past indoor season was from this very district, so, in a rare twist, District 3 is firing on all cylinders from Day One. Isaac Kole, one of the unsung heroes from Carlisle’s national record run this indoor season, dropped a 1:58.15 to set the meet record and defeat Tristan Connor (who ran 1:57.19 last spring). This was not the only record that Kole was a part of as, without Noah Affolder, the Carlisle boys ran 7:57.05 to win the 4x8 going away.

Listed as the leadoff man on that squad was Sam Affolder, who led off both state championship relays indoors for the Herd. Sam won the 1600 in 4:23, picking up a big win over a very strong Quinn Serfass, who came away with the silver in 4:42. Carlisle also won the 4x4 in a sub 3:30 clocking.

Chayce Macknair, a sophomore from Mifflin County, was the top PA runner in the 3200, running 9:56.17 for the silver. He defeated a Wilson 1-2 punch of Jake Underwood and Evan Royko, a very strong duo coming off excellent cross country seasons. Mifflin County also picked up a 400 victory from Seth Phillips and a 4x8 silver in 8:20.06. I really like this MC squad’s upside, especially because their listed line up was two juniors and two sophomores.

The Distance Project

Shout out to Phoenixville for making me pull out the calculator this weekend. It’s not very often you see a 4x600 or a 4x1000, but if you were at “The Distance Project” (also a sick name) then you saw just that. The 4x600 relay came down to DT East and indoor state medalists CB East, with the former picking up a narrow victory 5:45 to 5:47. For DT East, that’s an average of roughly 1:26.5 for 600. Do we know if this is meters or yards? Those times are blazing for meters and could mean big things. Regardless, that’s a great time for DT East who is pointing toward a sub 8 relay in the not so distant future.

For CB East, this was a very interesting line up as they did not have David Endres, John Brophy or Ata Shahideh in the relay, 3 members of their state medal winning 4x8 indoors. Jake Sosulis showed some potential to move up and become a contribution, dropping the fastest split for his team in 1:24.8. Keep an eye out for this kid as an x-factor on the CB East 4x8 looking ahead.

CB East also rolled in the 3200, taking the top 3 spots in 10:05, 10:07 and 10:10. Also, Declan Earles for East ran 2:07.67 to win his heat of the 800 by roughly 18 seconds.

The stand out performer of the day was Neshaminy’s Rusty Kujdych. The junior dropped a 4:21.86 to dominate the 1600 and post an impressive mark at the under distance and followed that with a 2:01.89 for the 800. Kujdych, who ran a PR at Nationals in the 2 mile against the fastest guys in the country, is absolutely rolling right now. After a hard fought silver this past indoor season, I think you can’t sleep on this guy as a title contender in the 3200. Now Noah Affolder is operating on his own plane at 3200, but if he passes on the event for some combination of 4x8, 16 and 800, things get a heck of a lot more interesting for the deuce.

Regardless of whether or not he wins a title this spring, Kujdych is putting together a phenomenal junior season. He looks like he could become an elite two miler in our state’s history if things continue to go well. Really nice start for the Neshaminy junior.

Upper Darby Relays

It’s hard to always understand the story when it comes to relay meets (so feel free to give us a heads up in the comment section with splits or things of that sort), but it looks like the SMR was a race to remember. Quakertown ended up pulling out the victory over Radnor, Roman Catholic, Chester and Bonner in a tight championship battle. Quakertown’s final time was 3:35.97. We likely saw a match up between Hudson Delisle and Peter Cooke, two of the best up and coming 800 meter runners in the state as well as perhaps Sean Brown, the indoor state medalist in the mile and Dave Whitfield at Bonner.

In the 4x8, Methacton took gold in 8:13. They defeated a couple state caliber relays in WC Rustin (indoor DMR qualifiers) and Radnor (indoor 4x8 qualifiers). Also in the mix was Central (8:19), the always dangerous 4x8 squad Penncrest (8:21) and Upper Darby (8:21). Methacton also picked up a huge JV 1600 win out of freshman Matt Varghese. He ran 4:46 to win by 14 seconds. That’s a name to remember.