2017 Is In the Books

Well folks, it’s officially 2018. And not just yet 2018-but January 2^nd, 2018. That means most people are back to school and back to work (unless you are one of those darn college kids) and so you get a new post from me! Obviously, there’s been a gap of recaps during the holiday season, but I won’t be trying to make up for lost time and cover all the specifics that I missed. Instead, as has been my theme in the early goings of the indoor season, I’ll talk in more general sense about some of the action and given an early breakdown of the five distance events: 800, Mile, 3K, 4x8, and DMR.

800m

The fastest time of the holiday break was no surprise to those who have been following the track scene the past two seasons. Kamil Jihad of Neumann Goretti rolled to a 1:56.23 in a runner-up finish at the Armory which made him PA’s leader by a comfortable margin. Prior to his 1:56, Jihad was already the only sub 2 runner in the state so the senior was already rolling before this result.

Kamil was my pick for the state championship last year in a little bit of an upset out of heat #2 of 3. However, the heat winner on that day was Hudson Delisle of Quakertown. Delisle opened up his season with a 2:00.40 800 result at Burdette, picking up the gold. Delisle also ran 4:32.86 over the one mile distance a few days earlier. Delisle is another 1:52 guy with hopes of a state title this indoor season. If defending champ Josh Hoey sets his focus on the mile (he’s current the state leader at 4:12) that opens the door for Delisle and Jihad as the likely favorites.

I say likely because Matt Eissler has to get some consideration. The Pennridge junior joined an exclusive club of sophomore state medalists last indoors when he grabbed an 800 state medal. The last two guys to pull that off were John Lewis and Tom Mallon (i.e. the former and reigning outdoor state record holders in the 800). Eissler ran a sub 4:40 mile in his debut on the 23^rd, but didn’t truly shine until his first 800. In his sweet spot, Eissler dropped a 1:59.51 for the victory over CB West’s Brian Baker (2:00.27) and moved into the #2 position on the state qualifying rankings.

If you are looking for a deep sleeper in the 800, look no further than Lamaj Curry. The Chester senior has come out firing in the early season. He won at the Armory this past weekend and also dropped a 2:00.77 at Burdette (his current state seed time) to finish just behind Delisle. Curry isn’t afraid to get out hard and push himself, has a great speed and could be sitting on the verge of a breakthrough race. Don’t be surprised if Curry dips into the 1:56s or faster before all is said and done.

You also have to like the work by Pennsbury thus far. Pennsbury already has three different guys under 2:01 on flat tracks, led by Jed Scratchard’s 2:00.22 from December 9^th. Aidan Sauer is the newest stand out, winning his association meet on the 23^rd with a time of 2:00.50. Sauer was fastest of the Pennsbury boys last year, splitting 1:54 at the Penn Relays. The always dangerous CB West also has three guys at 2:05 or faster and none of them are Jake Claricurzio or Luke Fehrman.

Tyler Shue, a sophomore from Ephrata, dropped a 2:00.80 at Ursinus this past week. He also helped the Ephrata 4x8 take the gold in the same meet. Shue was a solid 800 runner last year as a freshman and was a big reason why Ephrata ran under 8 minutes and got to states. Considering the District 3 guys usually come on best at the end of the season (or outdoors), Shue could have a big drop in him come February.

Mile

Rusty Kujdych, fresh off an excellent cross country season, returned to the track before the clock struck midnight on the year 2017. The result? A 4:23 runaway victory in the mile. This is a really strong showing for December and, oh by the way, is an indoor PR for Rusty. Kujdych was already run the top returner in the 3k after clocking 8:36 at PSU last winter and this season he’s opening times that indicate he may already be in better shape. It’s way too early to even say this, but I will anyway: keep in mind Kujdych for the 8:22 meet record at indoor states later this year. It’s an absolutely legendary time, but Rusty has the pieces to give it a scare.

From one of the biggest names in the sport, we jump to perhaps one of the most underrated. Collin Ebling of Pottsville (that’s in District 11 for those who don’t know) dropped a 4:29 mile in a stacked race at Ursinus for the top PA spot. It’s also the 4^th fastest mile of the season for the Keystone state. Ebling is legit. He ran 1:55.22 last spring and 4:23 for 1600. He also boasts an indoor 800 best at 1:56.92. This kid has been gaining experience each year and may be ready to shine as a senior in 2018.

There were a variety of other strong results at the end of December (Avery Lederer, Jed Scratchard, Brett Zatlin), but I liked the run by John Zawislak of Spring Ford at Burdette. The freshman ran a 4:40.03 and held his own in a strong field. He was 50^th at states this year as a frosh which puts him in elite company. More on the Rams to come, but watch for Zawislak to continue to make noise and maybe have a big drop in the 3k before season’s end. 

3,000m

It’s pretty early in the 3k season. We haven’t seen many of the expected contenders race yet (besides Mitchell Etter who I mentioned in a prior post), but we did see one of our sport’s brightest stars contest the event. Joe Cullen of Wyomissing, who has great range but specializes closer to the mile-800, dropped a 9:02.66 3,000 at Ursinus to roll to the top of the PA standings. Counting Etter’s 3200 conversion, Cullen is one of just 3 guys to break the 9:10 barrier so far this winter. It looks like the Wyomissing senior is already feeling comfortable on the track and his ability to stretch himself in the longer events is better than ever. Remember, Cullen was a state medalist last year at 800 meters during the indoor season and this was a 3k victory that put him near the SQG.

The Suburban One American conference will always hold a special place in my heart as an Upper Dublin alumn. The conference doesn’t necessarily have the shine of its two siblings in National and Continental, but they have been delivering some impressive performances. Last year, Cheltenham’s Will Griffen represented the league (he ran under 9:10 for 3200 outdoors), while this year his teammate Jason Cornelison is taking up the mantle. The junior arguably ran better than Griffen did last year on the XC trails and now has dropped times of 4:33 and 9:09 within a few days of one another.

Just behind him was Wissahickon’s Matt Maiale. A member of the always dangerous Trojans track program, Maiale dropped a big time 9:10 for 3k to finish right on the heels of Cornelison at Burdette. Maiale has also dropped a sub 4:40 time this indoor season for the mile. He has a great training partner in Ben Hoyer (4:41-9:23 so far) and is looking like a state qualifying sleeper through the first month of indoor track.

4x800m

There’s not much to say here as Bishop Shanahan set the bar very high for the rest of the state when they torched a 7:49.37 4x8 on December 16^th (and Pennsbury blazed their own 8:09 on the same day). In fact, there’s only one team to break under 8:25 on a day that wasn’t 12/16- that’s the Boyertown Bears. The early season state leaders in the DMR clocked an 8:16 to absolutely roll through the field at Burdette last week. By the way, Boyertown also put together a very competitive DMR and had an individual medalist in the mile (Christian McComb) in the same meet. 

We are still waiting for a lot of the big names to put a team on the track in this event. CB West seems like a logical pick to make noise sooner rather than later. Twin Valley has also flashed the pieces to make a run. Don’t sleep on Methacton or Quakertown either.

DMR

This is perhaps my favorite event that track and field has created and the indoor state landscape is the time it’s most prominently featured. Boyertown impressed early in the season, but the Burdette Invitational brought out two prime contenders. Pennsbury dropped a 10:44 to defeat Spring Ford’s 10:46 effort. These two schools remain the only sub 11 programs in PA thus far.

You could see something like this coming from Pennsbury who owns a trio of fast pieces to throw onto the track in Scratchard, Linares and Sauer. However, Spring Ford’s mark really impressed me. The #4 team in the state from XC this past year hung tough with the mid distance powerhouse and showed they had a bit more speed than I expected. Jacob McKenna has been a consistent miler, but Zach Smith is a real x-factor who dropped a 2:01 for 800 already this season. Add in the speed of Milan Sharma and developing pieces like Zawislak and this team could make a big run.

LaSalle is lurking. They’ve yet to really play their hand with no big relay results and none of their prominent XC guys taking on the individual events. But they’ve still clocked an 11:13 time and gotten high quality marks from guys like Griffin Pumilia (4:42 mile) in the same meet. The XC state champs will unsurprisingly be dangerous in the DMR.

The race for the last few qualifying spots is projecting to be tight. Lots of teams have the ability to breakthrough as we’ve got 12 teams between 11:06 and 11:16 bunched tightly together. Penncrest could be a contender as we’ve already seen Avery Lederer showcase his mile speed (4:32) and Billy Angelina emerged as a solid 800 piece during the break. CR South deserves a shout out as one of the sneaky best early season teams. Twin Valley has a ton of potential in my eyes as does Wyomissing.

Of course the biggest name in the potential category is Bishop Shanahan. We already know they are sharp with the Hoeys on the mile leaderboard and their 4x8 under 7:50. However, this team could bust under 11 minutes even without Josh as we’ve seen Jon McGrory drop a 4:36 mile and Keaton Penney unleash a 2:01. Throw in Jonah Hoey or Logan Yoquinto along with a 400 piece (this kid Rick Zink looks pretty legit) and they are looking strong. A Hoey-Zink-Yoquinto-Hoey DMR could be an all-time great squad.