District One Live Discussion

4x800 Prelims

It’s always interesting to see which teams go for it and which teams do not. The biggest surprise for me was CB East who looks like they will lean toward individuals instead of the relay. That makes Motter an interesting name to watch later in the day alongside Endres and Shahideh. Motter is the best bet to make a final in my opinion, but all three are ultra talented.

It didn’t take a lot of fast times to get into the final as 8:12 got you in (Henderson). Heat 1 was significantly faster than Heat 2 with all the auto qualifiers at 8:01 or faster vs 8:06-8:08. But in Heat 1, Henderson and Spring Ford were relatively off the back. However, it doesn’t matter as they are through to the finals and once there, your preliminary time means squat. But do these schools decide to invest heavily in individuals or do they like their odds enough to stay fresh and conserve energy for Saturday?

One of the big surprises here for me was Lower Merion who jumps out as the one team I was truly surprised about seeing alongside a capital Q. Their time of 8:06 isn’t mind blowing, but they stuck their nose in a heat with North Penn, Pennridge and CB West and came out looking good. I honestly didn’t expect this squad to load up the relay, but now that they have, they could be really dangerous. A couple 4:20 milers, a 400 guy who has shown the ability to move up and the pieces from a medal winning DMR indoors. I think they don’t need D’Aquila for this event either, so he can focus on the 32 without it having negative effects on the relay.

Penn Wood absolutely rolled. Makes sense that they would be far ahead considering their typical strategy is to get ahead with Manyeah early and then hold on. Interested to see how that strategy looks in the final when everyone else is racing all out. Penn Wood is no joke of a 4x8 squad and the back part of their relay has been steadily climbing.

Looks like Pennridge will contest this relay with some firepower. Howell and Eissler are fantastic, but I honestly couldn’t tell you who rounds out the relay (I think there is another Eissler in there maybe?). Do they have two other sub 2 legs? They won’t need them to make states, but to compete for a state medal, it’s almost impossible without 4 guys under 2. You’re other guys would have to be really good.

Also looks like CB West got to coast along pretty easily. Claricurzio probably got to save a bunch to run the open 8 and the 4x4 (both potential gold medals). Is CB West going to load up the individuals a bit more to make a run at a team title at states (and districts)? They are a dark horse with Manetta and this mid distance corps, but how do they balance all their goals? Should be fun to watch.

1600m Prelims

Only 20 guys lined from prelims in the quest for a 12 person final on Saturday, meaning there would be only 8 cuts. Plus the majority of this field was doing a 4x8-16 double and conditions don’t appear to be too ripe for that. So a 4:32.11 kind of time got you to the final.

It looks like Abrahams, Kersten, Scratchard, and Hassman may have all been on the double and ultimately missed out on a finals spot. Some other potential doublers in McKenna, Smucker, and O’Toole survived.

The biggest surprise for me was no Koza and no Haas for CR North. I thought those guys were locks to go in this event (alongside Early), but it appears they will focus on the long distance 3200 with Campbell tomorrow. Haas was the #3 seed on paper. With some of the other top seeds missing out in the prelims, this is a pretty wide open final. Will we have 8 guys even hit the standard? That’s up in the air to say the least. But our three biggest names in Galligan, Scarpill and Conway all advanced through with seemingly little issue. Based on the way Scarpill has been closing his races recently and the fact that this race looks like it will be on the tactical side, he is a sleeper for the victory as things stand.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Smucker is not on the 4x8 tomorrow in favor of the 1600 where he has just as good a shot as anyone at making it to states. Not sure if he was on the trials squad. Same could potentially go for McKenna who may pass on the 3200 now as well if he likes his shot in this race.

I like Austin Maxwell as a breakout candidate. I could see a 4:19 out of him. Early too is in my sleeper box. Really surprised to see Keller in this event over the 800 (maybe running both), but he’s a super strong runner with state qualifying experience. 

800m Prelims

Another stunner here as just 16 runners ended up toeing the line! That’s pretty wild. Perhaps a sign that District One has made their qualifying standards too hard? Or maybe this is the size meet they want where prelims are not much more than an annoyance rather than an actual dual to the death like it has been in the past. In the 1600 and 800 prelims combined, just one guy hit the SQS. We had more in the 4x8, but we’ve also seen people hit the SQS in each of these events and not even make the final. That didn’t happen today. Again, I’m not there and I’m not experiencing the weather, but it seems like there just aren’t as many guys around or trying doubles because of the heat.

I’m really surprised about some of the names missing from this group. For starters, Liam Conway appears to only be focusing on the 1600. At first, I was a little disappointed, but thinking about this may end up being a really good move. If Sam Affolder is trying some combination of 3200 or 4x8 with the 16 (and maybe an extra 800 or 4x4 trials in there), he’s going to be tired. And with Hoey only in the 800, Addison potentially running the 4x8 for LaSalle, Forsythe in AA and Abrahams out in the heats, Conway has a real stake in the ground for #1 contender.

Teagan Fortna is the only CB West runner to go in this event even though Claricurzio and Baker have faster times on paper. Fortna is a senior though so perhaps they wanted to save the other guys for the relay and give Teagan a last chance to grab an individual medal. He’s on to the final as one of the auto qualifiers and, depending on how doubling goes tomorrow, he’s very much in the hunt for some hardware.

Chris Cameron scratched for the 400, Abrahams chose the mile, I mentioned the CBW kids and Conway and now suddenly you have removed 5 of the top 8 seeds from this event. Austin Howell of Pennridge didn’t run the 4 or the 8 which I found surprising (but means they must definitely be going all on in the 4x8 relay) while Pennridge’s other top dog Matt Eissler got into the final on time.

This final will be really interesting. In terms of open races, out of the 12 guys who made it to the final only Josh Hoey, Delisle, Craig, Sauer and Motter have run faster than the SQS so far this spring. Zatlin and Yoquinto made finals with the 32^nd and 35^th seeds out of the 37 original entries and final themselves in the qualifying picture (although they will be underdogs). Shanahan has three guys in this final and that will be big in the team standings.

Based on the 4x8 results, it looks like Sauer and Fortna will be the only ones doubling in the final, so lots of fresh legs. Hopefully that results in some nice PRs for this group.