2017 Penn Relays Recap

So the Penn Relays is officially in the books and I feel that I’ve given you all adequate time to digest the events. Now I guess it’s time to jump in myself and share my two cents. Let’s start with the 4x800 trials from Friday morning.

4x800m

Man, this was a fast opening round. The boys from Penn Wood dropped a 7:52.77 in the second heat of small schools and ended up 6^th in the heat! I would have thought 7:52 might have been enough to sneak into the finals, but turns out not so much. Still, lots to be proud of for Penn Wood who had three splits under 2:00.10 and a 1:54 lead carry from Dennis Manyeah that set the stage. Look, I’m not trying to brag or anything, but I pretty much called that one exactly for PW in my preview. Yes, I will sign autographs. Definitely one of the best performances I’d say.

Seneca proved they could handle the big stage with an impressive back half of their relay that included a really nice 1:55.91 split from Adam Hanes. With Hanes and Donovan Myers on the back half of the relay, this team is going to be near unbeatable in the AA ranks. Time to start thinking about the 7:44 record from Chris Spooner’s Lewisburg team at states. It won’t be easy, but they ran 7:50.12 here at Penn, meaning they are within 6 seconds with basically a month to go. They can, in theory, get 3 seconds from Phoenix on lead off and a 1 second from Donovan just based on their splits from last year. That gets you within sniffing distance. Props to Jacob Schneider who is developing into the #4 leg they will absolutely need under 2 minutes if they want the record. His 2:00.48 was critical to keeping Seneca in it early and allowing them to use their back legs to make the COA.

So I’ll be honest, I almost didn’t recognize Pennsbury in the prelims. I was watching the race and looking for a more obviously orange jersey, but for whatever reason their unis looked red to me on my screen. So I completely missed Aidan Sauer producing the best split of any PA athlete in the 800 this weekend. Yes, that’s right. Sauer produced a 1:54.18 split that helped Pennsbury’s 1-2 punch get out to a lead. Honestly, Sauer was solid indoors but you could make a case he was the third or fourth best guy on his team if you didn’t have access to relay splits. Now he drops a 1:54 split after a 1:58 open 800 PR and becomes a threat to make serious noise this year. Not just as a relay guy, but an individual too. I know I’ve said this probably too many times by now, but Sauer is the brother of current sub 1:50 Columbian Alek Sauer who ran 1:51.00 while in the PA circuit.

Gotta say, I really was impressed by Pennsbury’s strategy in this meet and their performance was excellent. Somehow their time of 7:50.23 ended up being cut out of the finals, but I think they ran a very smart order and nearly snuck into the COA. Jed Scratchard on the lead off delivered a great leg with a 1:56.44 time and Kersten and Mink both ran solid legs. Pennsbury will be a contender outdoors for yet another state medal. They won hardware in 2013, 2014 and 2015 at Ship.

Of course the wildest thing about this heat was Nick Feffer’s last 100 meters. For those who didn’t get to watch the race, Feffer closed like an animal for the final straightaway and it ended up being pretty darn important. He ran down multiple teams in the final straightaway and snuck ahead of Pennsbury and got the last spot in his heat for the COA. His split was 1:54.63. He was seemingly too far back before the burst delivered. Its worth mentioning that Owen Wing ran an excellent lead off leg and Joey Feffer and Chris DiPerna chipped in sub 2 splits as well. That team is doing what they do and will be a state title contender.

That leaves Heat 4. PA put 4 teams under 8 minutes in this heat, including their fastest performers of the day in CB West. The yellow jackets ran 7:47.52 with a well balanced attack. Their slowest split was lead off Brian Baker who “only” ran 1:58.48 (he’s run 1:56 from scratch this year). They have to be the favorite for the title as of right now in AAA I’d think. They aren’t a lock or anything (for reasons I will outline soon enough), but they are really good with no weak links and, considering their still fairly young, they could really grow over the final stretch.

North Penn and Abington did what they do every year and delivered a strong effort in the 4x8. North Penn is rounding into pretty good form as Tariq Baines dropped a 1:56 form to emerge as a strong #2. Horton can potentially slice some solid time off his 2:01 time from this race and Santiago is a stud. Knowing the NP system, 1:53 seems very much in play for him before the Ship finals is finished.

As for Abington, I thought they might sneak into the final, but they would have needed a crazy good day to get there considering the cut offs. As it stands, they run a nice season best, dip well under 8 for the first time. Cameron Mitchell had a really nice lead off leg. Although the split was “only” 1:58.22 that was right at the front of the field and ahead of the other PA teams. They have 4 sub 2 splits, a ton of speed and history has been on their side before as well. Sooknanan had a 48 second carry this weekend so if he can put it together for a two lapper, look out.

Lastly, round of applause for CR South. I’m a huge fan of this team and see a lot of upside. Evan Kutney had a monster second leg, again indicating a really nice line up choice. 1:55.43 is a great split, putting him up there with the elites. Andrew Zawodniak’s 2 flat carry also really impressed me. Geroge and Ochs have dropped really nice performances as of late, but I wasn’t expecting a 2 flat carry out of Zawodniak. Props to them for really holding their own against 3 of the all time great PA programs.

Based on the finals results, it seems like the PA boys may have left a little too much in the prelims. CB West was fastest in prelims but in the finals, Seneca and State College got the better of them. CB West will have to be ready to run two hard races come states if they want the title. As for State College, they were bested by Seneca because Seneca had three guys under 1:58 while the Little Lions only had Feffer dip under. If they want the state title, they will need someone else to step up for a sub 1:56 split.

DMR

This certainly seemed like our best shot at a title. I figured Bellarmine Prep would be solid, but I also knew it would be tough to travel all the way across the country for a race. Meanwhile, we had two stud teams from indoors in Carlisle and GFS.

I picked GFS beforehand, thinking that Carlisle would struggle just a tiny bit rejiggering the line up to account for Noah Affolder’s injury. But boy was I wrong. Isaac Kole stepped up brilliantly in the 1200 leg. Fresh off a 4:18 mile, the Carlisle senior made not just the state, but the region aware that he wasn’t just some throwaway on the great Carlisle teams of the fall and winter. He clocked a 3:04 split to hand off in first place for the Herd.

But the team that bested them in XC was lurking not too far behind. Bryan Keller of CR North handled the final lap sprint well and held close to the front before handing off to Mike Welde. The 400 x-factor clocked an absurd 47 second 400 which allowed him to eat up a ton of track real quick. It looked like everyone else was standing still honest (which is saying something since Griffie ran a 51.3 split).

Both North and Carlisle got 1:57 splits from their 800 meter runners Early and Wisner, but the real PA action was happening behind them. GFS knew they had to make up some group to get their boys back in the hunt and Jonnie Plass got on his horse. Plass split a 1:54 to really make an impact on the field and get Dahl in reasonable chasing position. It certainly wouldn’t be easy, but there was some hope. Plass also split a 48.99 400 this weekend so the kid’s speed is on point. We will miss him in the PIAA.

Jumping back to the race, CRN’s Ryan Campbell got the baton with a solid lead and had to solo his way to a big performance. The North junior was in a really tough spot with some of the nation’s best milers in a massive chase pack. Among the group for PA was Sam Affolder of Carlisle and Nick Dahl for GFS. But also in the mix was the pack from Bellarmine Prep.

Campbell kept his lead for about 1,000 meters before the trailing trio caught up to him. Dahl went to the front while Affolder perched on his shoulder heading into the bell lap. Down the backstretch, Sam tried to sprint home for victory, really cranking things up and even creating a gap, but Bellarmine found one heck of a finishing kick to supersede the super soph right at the finish. Hard to argue that Sam could have ran a better race, just a herculean effort by the competition.

Meanwhile, PA held on for #3 and #4 as well for a phenomenal finish, even if it didn’t include a wheel. GFS ran 10:11 and CRN ran 10:15 for a pair of excellent times.

LaSalle ended up in 10^th and O’Hara ended up 18^th, but O’Hara did have a dropped baton right off the start that disrupted the team’s rhythm and left Inglis in a really tough spot. The field gets so crowded at the start, tough things happen every once in a while. Bad luck for O’Hara, but I hope they use this and bounce back.

This sets up an interesting discussion about Carlisle’s chances to win the 4x8 outdoors. Yes, they lose Noah, but Isaac Kole is rapidly developing into a potent #2. I’m starting to think Kole might be a 1:53 guy by season’s end which is no joke. I’d say under perfect circumstances 1:55-1:53-1:51 would be the top 3 for Carlisle which is enough to compete within anybody else in the state. Let’s see what #4 looks like (I’m assuming Griffie) and if they really want this 4x8 relay or if individual events make more sense.

Mile & 3k

Not a ton to say about the mile. PA only had two entrants, Josh Hoey and Tristan Forsythe. Although Hoey was the defending champion, he knew he would have a tough battle against Dalton Hengst among others. Hengst fearlessly went to the front early and then closed late to runaway with this one as yet another underclassmen takes the Penn Relays mile (Hunter, Hoey, Hengst were junior, sophomore, junior). Josh was fourth in 4:15 and Forsythe was twelth.

Somebody pointed out that Hoey seems to do better as the underdog than the favorite and that might be true (very interesting insight). It also helps to have a relatively smooth run and he didn’t quite get that on the backstretch of the third lap and that left him a little out of the mix when the real kicking started. I’m curious if this race could encourage Hoey to take his talents to the 800 outdoors rather than the mile. Maybe he feels more comfortable in that event this year given his 1:51 already this spring and his indoor state title at 1:52.

Or hey, maybe he just needs us to talk up the competition so he can be an underdog again.

Meanwhile, PA had a big contingent in the 3,000. 5 PA athletes began the race, including 3 top tier runners from both XC and indoor states in Nate Henderson, Zach Lefever and Connor McMenamin. Ben Bumgarner probably would be in the double all state category as well had he not suffered a tough fall at PSU. Those four along with Seth Slavin filed in to the tight pack of runners with lots of jostling and jockeying for position. Bumgarner was closest to the front early while Slavin used his classic start at the back and work his way up strategy which has been pretty effective in big moments.

Watching this race back it’s wild to me that Nate was able to finish so well. He was doing a ton of bobbing and weaving just trying to find running room in this group and seemingly should have been tripped or fallen down at some point considering the flying limbs. Fortunately, he stayed a foot and battled his way to the top PA spot by some six seconds in a time that converts to about 9:02 for 3200 according to milesplit conversions. That would be his fastest 3200 ever. I also think his last lap was in the 59ish second range.

Lefever too had his fair share of running wide and moving up as he fought furiously to stick with rival Henderson. In his first Penn Relays appearance, Lefever was impressive in a new PR of 8:31, finishing one place behind Henderson, but 6 seconds away. Lefever’s final time converts to about 9:08 which would be a pretty significant PR for him as well. He could definitely be the AAA state champ this year if things break right. Henderson’s 100% the favorite, but sometimes things don’t go perfectly for the favorite on race day. Just look at the past couple years for evidence. It’s the most grueling event for a reason.

As for Bumgarner, he won’t get another shot at these AAA guys this year. Instead, Ben will have a potentially legendary match up with Zach Skolnekovich on his radar. Skolnekovich has already run 4:16 and 9:18 this spring with both performances coming in impressive gold medal races. Bumgarner’s time from Penn converts to about 9:11 for 3200, so he clearly has the wheels to contend. But don’t forget that Skolnekovich has some extra motivation as he stays on the hunt for states title #1.

McMenamin’s mark was a new PR himself and converts to faster than his best 3200. His official was 8:36 which converts to about 9:14.52 for 3200. Meanwhile, Seth Slavin held his own with an 8:42. Although he was the last of the PA boys, he ran the equivalent of a 9:21 for 3200 out there. That’s the kind of time that gets you in the medals.