OK, I Made It Through All The Recaps For This Week

Shippensburg Invitational
Yes, this warrants a good old fashioned subsections within the meet style recap. I’m assuming that the order for this one is the same as the state championship so if I’m wrong I apologize now.

AAA
We start with the 3200. Sam Affolder of Carlisle rolled to a 9:25 and the gold in a strong showing for his first time on the future state track. Amazing that a 9:25 performance from a sophomore seems like he was just taking it easy and trying to get the win, but that’s kinda how it somehow feels.

The big performance that caught my attention was that of Mitchell Etter. Etter ran a 9:27 for State College and finished not far behind Affolder and ahead of a host of other talented dudes including XC state medalists like Zardecki, Cassel and Norton. 9:27 is in the same league as guys like Alex Milligan and Will Cather ran at this meet in recent years which is pretty legit company for an SC kid. The guy flashed some talent in XC but an injury kept him out of the important stuff. Now the talent is resurfacing and you gotta wonder if he’s just scratching the surface of this one.

In total, 12 guys cracked 10 minutes including 3 guys from Lower Dauphin. The last of those 3 was another in the talented distance class of 2020, Mark Walsh. The fastest of those 3 was 4th place finisher Kyler Shea who clocked 9:35. Shea has been a monster in XC but hasn’t managed to leave a state meet with a medal. He has a ton of talent and I’m hoping he puts it together to get on the podium. He’s got excellent training partners for strength and speed this spring.

Yes, that was a subtle set up for a transition! Good catch! The Lower Dauphin 4x8 didn’t take down the gold this past weekend, but they did run an 8:00.18 and mix it up with the likes of Carlisle (7:59 FTW) and Cumberland Valley (8:04). The win for Carlisle came in the middle of a very busy schedule for a team hoping for district and state titles and again seems like just enough to claim gold. So the story here is 2nd place as Lower Dauphin tries to emerge as a contender in the 3200 relay. District 3 will have lots of quality teams involved, but LD did qualify for states a year ago and has a similar group of studs manning the baton for the repeat attempt.

The 1600 was an epic finish as Carlisle’s Isaac Kole helped the Herd grab yet another gold. I don’t know for sure, but Kole may have been doubling off the 4x8 (he’s not listed though) which would make this win even more impressive. But as it stands, Kole outduels speedster and Mid Penn rival Nick Feffer of SC to the line with both guys running new PRs of 4:18. This is just another reminder that Kole has been underrated big time this year. He has been buried a bit behind the Affolders, but the kid was top 15 in states for XC, soloed a quality 800 leg on a pair of record setting DMRs and now is a 4:18 1600 guy who finds himself as a medal contender in the event. Looks like a more than capable 1200 leg at the Penn Relays as Carlisle likely reshuffles the deck for a run at a wheel.

How about Tyler Wirth from Wallenpaupack? 4:19.04! Where did this guy come from? The sophomore ran 4:50 indoors and now opens up in 4:19 outdoors? Wow, that’s pretty wild. Keep an eye out for this kid as he may be the next surprise superstar of the outdoor state championships.

Ultimately this field ended up looking pretty deep as well with Patrick Jacobson, Owen Wing and Morgan Cupp all running under the SQS and I believe all PRing. Jacobson becomes the 4th different Dallastown runner to clock 4:20 or faster in the 1600 over the past decade, putting the school on an exclusive list.

And finally we have the 800 meters. Derin Klick of Lebanon, who ran 1:53 at states a year ago, handed Nick Feffer his second silver medal of the day as he outdueled the SC senior 1:56.22 to 1:56.82. These are two of the top returners from outdoor states a year ago so it’s no surprise they rose to the top of this field. However, this has to be a big confidence booster for Klick who, although qualifying for states indoors, was a mid pack type guy. Considering his speed boost he put in down the stretch last year, expect the time to fall off this kid pretty easily down the stretch.

Behind Feffer, the rest of State College’s 4x8 posted marks that should make the team feel good about their COA odds. Owen Wing ran 1:58 on the double, Joey Feffer clocked 1:58 and Chris DiPerna closed things out with a 2 flat. Those times right there add up to easily sub 8 minutes and could dip down even further with a running start. SC made the COA in both 2014 and 2016 and is riding a streak of 3 straight seasons at 7:41 or faster and an outdoor state medal streak that dates back to 2012.

Lower Dauphin had 3 guys at 2:01 or faster, none of which were XC state medalist Jared Giannascoli who might be their best leg. That being said, none of their guys cracked 2 minutes in the open 8. If they want to make the leap, they will need a superstar to develop, but the fact that they have no weak links is not something to undervalue.

By the way, Yahya Soliman on his third race of the day runs 1:58.19? That’s pretty quick. Very talented kid in a system that knows a thing or two about developing 800 guys. Stay tuned.

AA
Tristan Forsythe looks ready for the Penn Relays mile. He ran away with the 3200 title at this meet, running 9:38 to defeat Jacob Shulte, an indoor state qualifier in the mile. Forsythe also finished second in the 800 with a time of 2:02.

Trinity has historically been a powerhouse of the 3200 relay in AA. They look like they could have another crop of medal contenders after their 8:23 victory over their fellow D3 squad, Camp Hill (8:28).

I’m not sure, have we have discussed the talented class of 2020 yet this post? Oh shoot, we have? Well, dang. The class is so talented that a 1600 victory out of frosh Garrett Baublitz (4:27) isn’t even the first freshman performance measured. Keep in mind, for AA, 4:27 in April is a very respectable time. This freshman is a realistic medal contender and, if he can get down to say 4:19, he could be top 4 in the state. It’s possible folks. Don’t sleep on runner-up Morgan Morrison going forward either.

CB West Relays
The LaSalle boys look ready to roll, picking up a strong win in the 4x800 behind a 7:56.99 time. They defeated indoor state medalists CB East and DMR rivals CR North who ran 8:04 and 8:08 respectively. I don’t know the specifics, but if someone has the time and interest to look it up, I wonder how many seasons in a row LaSalle has put together a sub 8 4x8. Maybe not consecutively, but they must have a ton of sub 8s in their history, always churning over a new crop of studs.

The boys from Pennsbury won the other signature distance event, the DMR, with a time of 10:44. That was enough to outlast CR South and host CB West (who each broke 11 minutes). Pennsbury is a really interesting team as we look ahead to the Penn Relays. With the emergence of Sauer in recent weeks, Pennsbury has 3 sub pieces to boast about and a couple guys who can step in at the 4 spot and make noise. But PA’s top school from the COA in 2015 needs to prove they have the clutch factor needed to rise to the occasion in Philly.

CB West won the other big relays with wins in the SMR, 4x4, 4x2 and 4x1600. As I’ve already alluded to, they are my #1 pick for the 4x8 COA. They made it the past two season and have at least 5 guys who could crack 2 minutes on race day. But they also have a ton of depth in the longer distances, something they have really cultivated in recent years. Most notably, Brian Mass, a state qualifier in 2016, but also guys like Ben Bunch.

That 3:30 in the SMR is pretty quick (meet record I believe) and likely featured a big carry from someone like Claricurzio (Quakertown and CR South were the next two behind in 3:33 and 3:34). Interested to know if Delisle, fresh off a big 1600 PR the night before, was involved in this one as well. Claricurzio and Delisle are kinda budding rivals right now as juniors who are state title contenders in the two lapper.

Blue Jay Invitational
The Ephrata boys 4x8 is really starting to come together. It’s wild to think that this weekend three of the top flight 4x8s in the entire state were Seneca, Greensburg Salem and Ephrata. Not sure most people who read this thing have even heard of those schools and here they are dropping sick times. Ephrata ran 7:56 for their first sub 8 and a nearly 12 second victory over Manheim Township (who ran a very respectable in their own right 8:08). Tyler Shue and Alex Morales went 1-3 in the open 800 as well, running 2 flat and 2:02. Zach Lefever, the team’s most accomplished individual performer, will run the Penn Relays 3k this Friday night.

Great Valley Relays
Lower Merion, one of PA’s top DMRs in a very deep 2017 season, ran away with the DMR title in 10:41 to defeat very game challenges from Episcopal Academy (10:53) and home team Great Valley (10:59). Episcopal was active in this one, also running 8:06.90 to win the 4x8 gold. Really nice pair of relays from an Independent school that we will likely forget about once the action really heats up in the PIAA. Gotta give credit while we can.

Spring Ford also had a strong showing in the 4x8, running under 8:10. It gets swallowed up among all the amazing 4x8s in District One, but that’s a strong time. There’s usually a team that sneaks into the district final after flying under the radar in the early season. Could be Spring Ford. Could be a number of other teams thanks to the whole “swallowed up in amazing 4x8s” thing I mentioned earlier. But, hey, it could be Spring Ford.


Peter Cooke from Radnor is a talented 800 runner who has shown the potential to be up with guys like Delisle, Claricurzio and Conway (i.e. the guys rolling right now in D1). He had a solid double, winning the 1600 and coming within 0.06 of Kamil Jihad who, I think, was fresh in the 800. The times weren’t mind blowing, but I like the way the kid is racing. 

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