Henderson-Baldwin Recap

by etrain11

Not a lot of meets can get sponsored. But these two can. Let’s recap them.

Baldwin Invitational

The Baldwin mile has become a signature event for the western part of the state’s best distance runners to PR. In 2009, Sam Havko broke onto the scene in this race, before crushing the rest of the AA state landscape. In future years, other state champions like Rad Gunzenhauser, Ryan Gil, Ethan Martin, and Domenic Peretta all grabbed the title at this meet with what would end up being their high school PR in the event. Even 800 specialist Wil Bailey snuck in there for a win in 2012 shortly before winning a state championship.

So it’s fitting that the signature event of the meet featured the WPIAL’s three top runners in 2017, all racing for small schools. Zach Skolnekovich, Tristan Forsythe and Ben Bumgarner took 1-2-3 in the mile with the Quaker Valley senior Skolnekovich ultimately owning the victory. His time was 4:14.00 for the full 1609, worth 4:12 for 1600. He doubled back with a 9:17.77 for yet another sub 9:20 performance. Skolnekovich, a Footlocker finalist and the 2016 3200 state runner up, looks poised for a gold this outdoor, especially after defeating his biggest competition with an impressive final lap. The question becomes, which event does he want to pursue? And can he possible win both the 16 and the 32 at states? It suddenly seems very much in play as it’s rare to see a AA runner down around 4:12 at this point in the season.

For Bumgarner, this is a nice PR in the mile and follows a big 3k best. He still has great strength and his speed is improving. Skolnekovich has the intimidating kick to worry about, but Ben was able to eliminate that with a carefully planned race strategy during XC. He’ll need tactics just as good if not better this outdoors to topple Skolnekovich. For Forsythe, the time of 4:19 isn’t his best, but is up there with his fastest ever miles. If Skolnekovich doesn’t run the 1600 fresh, I’d say it’s still Tristan’s race to lose. There’s not a long list of sub 4:20 milers in the state across all divisions, let alone in AA.

In the AAA ranks, it was a big night for Butler junior Noah Beveridge. Beveridge ran a reported 1:54 split on his team’s silver medal winning 4x800 and then followed that up with a 9:26.64 for 2^nd in the 3200 behind the aforementioned Skolnekovich. In the process, he defeated Casey Conboy of Baldwin, who has run under 9:20, along with a number of other top caliber WPIAL stars. Butler’s 4x8 time was 8:03 and put them just ahead of another elite team in Mt Lebanon, who ran 8:04. The AAA 4x800 in the WPIAL has to be the deepest it’s ever been. Both of those teams could get under 8 minutes before Shippensburg, plus you have Greensburg Salem, Seneca Valley and Franklin Regional who have all been under 8 already. And of course, obligatory comment about North Allegheny.

However, the best team out west in this event has been Seneca. They won another major relay thanks to a 7:57.75 time here at Baldwin. Their big names also delivered individually as Adam Hanes ran 49.6, Phoenix Myers ran a 4:23 mile and Donovan Myers added his best ever open 800 in 1:54.7. The open 8 in AA is another fun event to look at. Obviously Ryan Thrush, having run 1:50, deserves favorite honors, but I really think a 400-800 double would be too much to handle at states. That opens the door for the guys chasing him including most notably Kamil Jihad (1:52, silver last year) but also Donovan and a ton of other names (go back and look at how deep that final was a year ago).

Behind Myers in the 800 was Nick Gabrielli of Kiski who, after a solid 1:57 PR, took it to a whole other level with a 1:55.39. That’s an excellent time out of him and makes him an individual contender for a state medal. It’s been an exciting rise for Nick in recent weeks and I’m hoping he isn’t done busting through barriers.

Also worth noting: we got a Nick Wagner sighting in the 400 (could he factor in to the 800 picture this year?), Aaron Pfeil seems to be back and racing for South Fayette who also had a sub 2 runner not named Snodgrass (could they be 4x8 contenders too?), and Cambridge Springs’ AA stand out Connor Walsh ran a strong 4:27 at what may end up being under distance for him (watch out for Walsh as a 3200 sleeper).

Henderson

Sean Brown, indoor state medalist in the mile, is continuing that positive momentum in the outdoor season. Sean was nice enough to talk to us after his slow heat victory indoors, a race where his kick was on full display, and since then has not lost a step. The senior is now down to 4:20.12 and defeated XC state medalists Bryan Keller and Sam Early as well as sub 16 runner Austin Maxwell en route to a victory at Henderson. It’s going to be exciting to see how Brown handles some faster races. Is he a top 5 contender at states this outdoors? That would probably take a time in the 4:15 range (assuming it’s not too tactical), so he’s dropping in the right direction, but may have work left to do. That being said, I really like the way he’s racing. That’s what I think is most important right now.

The GFS related commentary has been dominated (rightfully so) by Nick Dahl for most of the past three seasons, but now Jonnie Plass is getting his due. A big win at Henderson in 1:54.39 gave Plass a 3^rd straight 1:54 run in the half mile. It’s a real shame we won’t get to see this guy mix it up with the PIAA elites at states, but I’m looking forward to probably seeing him at Henderson’s June Meet as well as Nationals. How low can he drop? He has a lot of talent and raw speed (split 48.99 at Penn) and the more he continues to bottle and control it, the faster he gets.

Speaking of talent, Aidan Sauer was able to prove that his 1:54 split from Penn Relays was no fluke. The Pennsbury junior ran a 1:55.22 to take 2^nd behind Plass. I believe Sauer PRed not that long ago in the 8 with a 1:58 open time. Now he’s running 1:55 low. Look out for a potential 1:52 anchor leg out of him at outdoor states for a Pennsbury team that could be a real factor toward the front.

The signature event of the Henderson meet is typically the 3200, but with the meet on a Saturday this year, it lost a bit of its previous shine. Well, I guess technically it did. Sure there was only one sub 9:20 mark, but there were still 27 guys under 10 minutes with a “slow heat” winner at 9:29! Ryan Campbell of CR North and Tim Haas of CR North were both victorious in the 8 lapper, with Campbell getting the win overall in 9:15.65. For both guys at CRN, this is a cool redemption story. Ryan had the lead at Penn last weekend and, although he couldn’t quite hold on, proved his fitness is right where it needs to be. His 9:15 time with an 8 second margin of victory puts him in a league with basically all the other top guys in the state. Meanwhile, Haas has been a little under the radar as Early and Keller grabbed headlines most of the track season. But he found his groove in a big way and reminded us why he is a low 15:40s 5k guy with a 9:29. That’s under the SQS for outdoors and putt him in the mix to qualify for that event.

However, he will have plenty of company. Tyler Rollins of DT West emerged emphatically with a 9:28. He has a couple teammates who will be gunning for the SQS as well in Alanasky, O’Neill and Bullock (not all of which can run at districts). Heck, even Ryan Barton could jump in the mix after a strong 9:37, however he has qualified for states in the mile each of the past two seasons and probably stays there. Matt D’Aquila ran 9:30 at this meet and was a state qualifier a year ago. Jack Downing has been running great and just dropped to 9:37. Even frosh Josh Lewin of WC East is making noise after going 9:41. Unsurprisingly, making states out of District One will be near impossible.

In non D1 news, Independent leaguer Owen Ritz dropped a very nice 9:23 for 3200 to take second by a nose over Evan Addison (9:24). That’s solid marks for both miles, especially Ritz who continues to show great strides from his previous seasons. There had to be some serious pressure on Owen to live up to Ben and Sam’s previous times and, although he isn’t running a state record, he’s really earned the respect of the running community beyond his name.

DT East will be a factor in the 4x8 at some point I have to imagine. They just need the right race, but I think they could pop off a time around 8 flat in the near future.

Shout out to the commenter who shared their thoughts on this meet. They had some good thoughts on it and piggy backed on some of their ideas. Feel free to jump on board other readers!

More recaps to come, but I’ll let you guys digest and discuss this a bit as I type up the other meet info.