Better Later Than Never?

Top 5 Takeaways from Indoors So Far

5. Everybody’s together indoors

After a fall filled with under appreciation for our friends outside the PIAA, the PTFCA welcomes them home with open arms. Malvern Prep’s Peter Borger threw down a strong 9:12 3k to win at TFCAofGP and move to the #2 spot on the adjusted state rankings. His independent rival, Elias Lindgren, was not far behind with a 9:17 mark. Both of these two strike me as sub 9 types before the year ends. But that’s no guarantee of a state birth in a notoriously cutthroat event (still capping it at 12 entries according to the website).

Beyond the independent league implications, it’s also important to remember that AA and A guys during XC are thrown head to head against the AAA boys. This is arguably most important when looking at the resume of Mr. Kamil Jihad. The senior (who holds a 1:52 outdoor best from 2016) has already run 1:59 for the victory at Ursinus. Jihad is a big talent who earned his first XC state medal this fall, speaking to his consistently increasing strength. However, he never really had the big breakthrough some were projecting for him last indoor track season. This could be the year. Jihad has also smoked a fast 600 meters in New York.

4. The sneaky DMR teams are at it again

CB East, Boyertown and Twin Valley have each had a habit of producing strong DMRs during the indoor season. They aren’t always at the very top of the competition, but they are strong medal contenders in a lot of years and are usually good bets to overachieve relative to expectations. Boyertown has already received some love for their DM potential and they’ve got two golds to show for it. However, Twin Valley picked up a nice result at the TFCAofGP meet with a time of 11:06 and is just behind Boyertown on the leaderboard. CB East is also under 11:10 after their strong debut. East put together an impressive 4x8 squad the past two indoor seasons as well so they could end up with some choices.

Don’t sleep on Penncrest. They had a nice XC season where they mixed it up in a loaded D1 (could they have been a top 10 team in the state had they qualified considering D1 had 5 of the top 7?) and Penncrest is notorious for putting together excellent middle-distance relays on the oval. Throw in Avery Lederer as a potential stud on the anchor and you have to like this squad’s sleeper potential. I could see this guys in the 10:30s by season’s end if things click.

3. Mitchell Etter emerges as a 3k contender

Before Etter was district champ in XC, he was an emerging star in the 3200 on the track. After running in the 9:20s last spring, Etter dropped a 9:40 for 3200 to start this winter. That’s a pretty fast mark for this early in the season, especially on a track like Dickinson’s which isn’t known for being fast. I think Etter could be a sub 8:50 guy by season’s end in the 3k which will put you in all state contention. I’m interested to see if he develops 800/Mile speed to help State College with their inevitable 4x8-DMR attempts that are sure to come during the winter. They lost everybody from last year’s squad, but as we’ve seen before, the Little Lions have a knack for reloading.

2. Sophomores finding their footing

By the end of XC season, the sophomores are usually starting to run with a lot more confidence and are finding their footing among the high schoolers. That’s already beginning to translate to the track. There’s the obvious standouts like Jonah Hoey (4:23-1:57), but there’s also a few less known names like Christian McComb, Noah Demis and Patrick Theveny who have impressed already. McComb and Demis were two of the biggest surprises at XC states as each cracked the top 50 overall. McComb has already run 4:32 in the mile and Demis just added a 9:21 3k to his resume. However, Patrick Theveny had one of the most impressive early runs this season. He mixed it up with Borger and Lindgren in the 3k at TFCAofGP and was rewarded with a 9:14. Remember, Borger and Lindgren were the top two XC guys from the independent league this fall and are sub 9:30 3200 types from outdoors. That’s good company for this sophomore to put himself in.

1. Josh Hoey and Bishop Shanahan

If you thought Josh got off to a fast start last year, take a look at his blazing 4:12.60 from the Armory this past weekend. Not only did he run one of the fastest PA mile times ever in December (and win the race), he also dropped splits of 2:15-1:57 with about a 55 second last lap. That’s incredible, polished championship style racing before Santa has even brought us presents. It’s astounding honestly. We could see times like 1:50 and 4:07 this indoor season from Hoey if he keeps this pace.

If that wasn’t enough, Hoey also added a solo 1:53 anchor split on the 4x8 for Shanahan’s PA #1 7:49 relay. I was really impressed with Pennsbury’s opening mark of 8:09 (which, not to brag, I did mention was a possibility in my first indoor post way, (way) back now), but Shanahan has floored me with a 7:49. Based on the results, it appears they were pretty uncontested after that first leg and still split 1:57-2:00-1:57-1:53. Keep in mind the state record is “only” 7:45 during the indoor and that came at the state championship meet. The list of PA schools that have even cracked 7:50 is probably pretty short. But 7:49 in December makes Rudolph’s nose look boring (yes, I’m in a festive mood).

Hopefully, the Shanahan squad can hold this form through this indoor (and outdoor) season. It will be interesting to see how they attack the year as the Hoey boys are already in good position to have 2 of the top 5 or so seeds in the mile and/or 800 meters. I don’t see them trying an Affolder-esque quadruple (they will be looking to extend their season well into June I’d guess) so they will have to make some decisions at the state meet. If they go for the relays, they could attack a couple meet records at states (one of which is an overall state record in the 4x8).

If the first two weeks are any indication, it’s going to be a fun indoor season. Get your popcorn ready.