"Spring" Track Continues

By Jarrett Felix

Although we are still searching for spring weather here in the Northeast, it’s not hard to search for fast times in Pennsylvania. Let’s see what I’ve uncovered …

Kiwanis

This is always a cool meet, featuring the rarely contested 5,000 meters and the 1500 meters among others. And those two events proved to be remarkable races. Starting the day was junior Ryan Campbell of CR North who cruised to a 15:10 5k victory, breaking the meet record previously held by his brother, Chris. Although Ryan had a solid indoor campaign, this 15:10 is on a different plane that what he was dropping during indoors. We saw this guy’s long distance potential during XC and I think he could be a real force in the 2 mile this spring with DMR duties no longer on his resume (except for maybe Penn Relays?). Will Schulz of CB East and Ethan Koza of CR North also dipped under 16 minutes in the event.

In the 1500, Quakertown’s Hudson Delisle continued to build momentum after a phenomenal close to his indoor campaign. Delisle, who ran a new 1:54.99 800 PR at indoor states, dropped a 4:05.08 to win the 1500 over Bryan Keller and Will Griffen (4:09 and 4:12). According to our trusted milesplit conversion calculator, this time converts to roughly 4:23 for 1600, which would be a nice PR. I really like the way this junior is trending to start the year and I could see him running 1:52 before all is said and done. But we are a long way from that point in the year.

In our more traditional event, the 800, CB West’s Jake Claricurzio left with the victory, running a time of 1:57.62. Keep in mind, Claricurzio has proven before that he is at least on par with Delisle, one of our brightest ascending stars in 2017. The junior ran 1:55 at Suburban One’s last year to defeat both Delisle and his teammate Brett Wolfinger (eventual state medalist) and the two finished side by side at the TFCAofGP Association Meet #8, with Claricurzio holding a slide edge, during the last marquee fresh match up.

Also involved in that head to head battle was CB East’s Ata Shahideh. The 400/800 type ran 1:58.09 in the indoor showdown and now bettered his mark in the spring, dropping a 1:57.93 for the silver at Kiwanis. In total, 5 runners bested the two minute barrier, including CB West’s up and coming junior Brain Baker, who clocked a 1:58.58 after little to no individual marks indoors (although he did split about 1:57 at states). Cameron Mitchell, from the 4x8 champs Abington, also had a strong day, running 1:58.88 on what was likely the double.

Kevin Rodriguez of Bensalem won his section of the 800 in 2 flat, joining a strong stable of 800 runners in a good program (AKA sleepers to contend in D1) and sophomore Nicholas Yeatman of Quakertown ran a 2:03.85, looking to potentially follow in Delisle and Wolfinger’s footsteps moving forward.

In the last distance event of the day, Sam Early of CR North won the 3,000 meters in 9:01 over 3200 state qualifier Brian Mass. Early, who has done a lot of strong work in the 800 in his past track seasons, showed some serious range with his 3,000 victory. Early was well under 16 minutes in XC and also a state medalist on the cross trails so clearly he has the tools to do some big things with his strength. I’m very interested to see what happens next with his (and CRN in general) outdoor season. They have a lot of talent and, although they could put together an excellent relay, may be better suited for individual runs across the board.

Bruce Dallas

I’ve discussed this before, but after a monster cross season, I’ve got big expectations for District 3. At Bruce Dallas, we saw glimpses of their potential, especially in the relays. Milton Hershey, a team that ran 3:16 last season, picked up two big wins in the 4x8 and 4x4, running 8:08 at this invite for a 16 second victory. They also took 1-2 in the 400 with Austin Padmore, who ran 1:56 low last year, dropping a 49.98 for the victory.

Mechanicsburg is another squad to watch. After a breakthrough in XC, the Mechanicsburg boys got off to a nice invitational start. Morgan Cupp took 3^rd in the 1600 and teammate Andrew Sulon took 6^th. A short while later, Cupp and Sulon took 3^rd and 5^th in the 800. They were joined by teammate Shay Roundsville, who finished 9^th overall. Perhaps their best track athlete, Andrew Tomasko, ran the 3200 meters and left with the silver, running 9:48. He finished just ahead of District 3 rivals Colton Cassell and Kyler Shea of Lower Dauphin.

Earning victories in the 3 distance events were Patrick Jacobson (1600), Evan Dorenkamp (800) and Matt D’Aquila (3200). D’Aquila was an active participant in the indoor season, running strong times in the 2 mile and the 1600 (as an anchor for Lower Merion’s medal winning DMR). He ran in the low 9:20s for 3200 last spring and is trending in the right direction to get back there. Jacobson and Dorenkamp are starting to work back into the fray after quiet winters. Jacobson is an experienced, strong 1600 runner, while Dorenkamp, as just a sophomore, is an interesting up and comer. Dorenkamp ran 16:22 during XC and is now flashing some speed with his 2:01 victory.

South Hills

The move to spring season should also bring to light some of the smaller schools and districts who are overshadowed indoors. Most notably, the 4x800 squad from Seneca will be looking to jump to the front of everyone’s mind. Although the Myers boys were on the active side of things during indoors, their teammates (most notably 1:56 man Adam Hanes) are back and ready to go for spring. How do we know? Well, the Seneca boys did what many AAA programs have struggled to do to start the year, running 7:58 to win the 4x8 at their invitational opener by over 30 seconds. Watch out for this squad as they pursue the 7:44 AA State Meet Record and perhaps much more.

Also notching notable marks were Baldwin’s Casey Conboy (1^st in the 1600, 3^rd in the 3200 and member of 2^nd place 4x8), Amadou Diallo (1^st in the 3200 in 9:46), Shaun Hay (2^nd in 3200 in 9:50) and Greg Nutter (1^st in 800). Nutter, who runs for General McLane, ran 2:02 in his opener. He’s hoping to follow the meteoric rise of Justin Miller, who dropped all the way to 1:53 and a state medal last season as a member of the GM squad.

Knoch Relays

Zach Skolnekovich is back. The 2016 Footlocker Finalist from Quaker Valley is still on the hunt for his first state championship. After a runner up finish in the 3200 and a terrific XC campaign, Skolnekovich seems poised for a big year. He started things off with a 4:21.13 victory in the 1600, a win that was 24 seconds ahead of the next closest competitor and featured a 62 second last lap. Skolnekovich was also a member of QV’s winning DMR.

Selinsgrove

Most people (myself included) aren’t jumping straight to the District 4 results after a given weekend, but the area has been heating up over the past few years, including top level marks from guys like Isaac Davis, Quinn Serfass and Tyler Lesser during the 2016 XC season. Lesser, a very strong 800 meter runner, won the 1600 at the Selinsgrove Invite, running 4:35 to defeat Serfass, who ran 4:40. Serfass was the 3200 champ in this meet.

Keep your eyes out for Williamsport over the course of this season. The program is one of the best under the radar mid distance programs we’ve seen. They were a very strong squad a year ago and have started off the 2017 season with an 8:20 runaway victory.

Haverford Invitational

A year ago, Dave Whitfield of Bonner was the breakout star of the spring, running 1:53 in the 800 and winning his district championship. This season, another Bonner junior is off to a big start on the outdoor oval and looking to duplicate that breakthrough. Anthony Harper dropped a very strong 9:41 season opening 3200 at the Haverford Invite to defeat multi time state medalist Connor McMenamin of Souderton (who ran 9:48). The time is already 11 seconds better than Harper ran last spring as he clocked 9:52.95 at DELCOs last May.

Also having a strong showing was Episcopal Academy, who ran 10:58.58 to win the DMR got a sub 10 performance out of Elias Lindgren in the 3200. Upper Darby also had a nice 1-2 finish in the open 800 behind Jarnail Dhillon and a doubling Syed Shah.

Mount Lebanon Invitational

Greensburg Salem, one of the strongest AA programs in the state during XC, followed up their excellent fall with a strong winter. They got 2 800 runners through to the state finals in the 800 and those same two half milers likely played a big role in the squad’s 8:06 opening 4x8. The bested state qualifying 4x8 squad Mount Lebanon in the process (8:15). Dylan Binda and Frankie King then took 1-2 in the open 800, running 2 flat and 2:01 to pull away from Silas May of South Fayette (2:05 for 3^rd). Sophomore Mark Brown also added a runner up finish in the 3200, clocking a 9:50.

The winner in that 3200 was Sam Snodgrass, the junior from South Fayette. He dropped a 9:38 to pick up the victory and now quickly jumps up among the state leaders in the event. Snodgrass, who was already a beast as a sophomore, has taken a big leap forward in his 3^rd high school year. He was a state medalist indoors for the mile and clearly has a ton of strength (terrific XC season). I was really impressed by this 9:38 and I think he could do big things in this event by the end of outdoors. Maybe sub 9:20, an all-time kind of mark.

Out of State News

I’m still waiting on the results of the Colonial Relays, but in Florida Relay news, Josh Hoey of Bishop Shanahan cut another few ticks off his 800 PR from this indoor season. He became the second Hoey in as many years to run a 1:51 for 800, as Josh officially stopped the clock at 1:51.91 for 2^nd. He also won the 1600 in 4:13. After a terrific and history indoor campaign (that featured his first individual state gold), Hoey became the 27^th fastest performer in the past 11 years for the 800 in Pennsylvania. His indoor mile is the 2^nd fastest performance we’ve seen over the same time period behind only Noah Affolder.