2018 Indoor State Recaps: The Relays

4x800m

CB West came to play once again the 4x800. They started the day with a stacked relay and took on all challengers with what ended up being a fairly comfortable margin of victory-nearly five seconds. It’s clear this team was ready and focused for this attack and they once again posted an all-state performance. And I think there’s more room to give here-especially by outdoors. It’s encouraging to see Luke Fehrman dropping a big 1:56.28 split (third fastest split of the day) and with a bit more competition, I think there could be a nice drop for Brian Baker on the anchor (he ran 1:57.32 but his season best was 1:57.00 open). Plus, Jake Claricurzio is continuing to get healthy and drop time. By outdoors, they may be able to flip Baker back to lead off (would be very helpful for somewhere like Penn Relays) and Claricurzio back to anchor where both guys had success a year ago and may feel more comfortable.

Pennridge is going to be dangerous this spring. The team was off my radar as a 4x8 for a solid couple months before they suddenly became a force. They won the Meet of Champions and then took second in the state. Over the past few seasons, Pennridge has got consistently better in the 4x8 as we move ahead to outdoors. It’s not hard to remember their district champion squad in 2014 or the 7:40 team in 2015. The 2016 team was one of the best in the state despite missing Tucker Desko. Last year (and I forgot about this completely) they took 3^rd in the state! After a relatively underwhelming indoor campaign. In 2018, they will be starting the year at 7:57. They already have a game changing anchor in place with Matt Eissler and they have three other guys right at the 2 minute barrier. They just need a #2 to step up and they are in a great spot.

CR South and Ephrata both really went for it in this race. They weren’t afraid to change up the traditional 4x8 order strategy as Ephrata ran their fastest leg 1^st and CR South ran their fastest leg 2^nd. Those strategies were effective in keeping these squads out of traffic as Ephrata had a 5 second lead to start the race and CR South was on CB West’s hip at the last exchange. Those aforementioned fastest legs were the 1^st and 2^nd fastest guys in the field.

The top two teams in Heat 1 may have been my favorite story of the race. Mount Lebanon had been consistently excellent against WPIAL competition. They were rolling as a relay and seemed poised for something big at states. Well, they delivered on that with three sub 2 minute legs and a total time of 8:03.83. Only CB West, the state champs, had more sub 2 minute legs than Lebo. They nearly led this thing wire to wire as well as Lebo was in 1^st after the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th legs. By outdoors, I think this team could be a real force (they’ve got enough inter-squad competition to really speed the guys up). Meanwhile, LaSalle showed once again why they are the deepest team in the state. Without their #1 guy in Evan Addison, the LaSalle boys entered the state championships an underdog. But the Explorers set to work with a consistent, balanced attack and hung tough in the pack until the moment to strike came about. Their final time of 8:05 got them 6^th in the overall standings.

Abington is still hanging around as a 4x8 force. They always put the emphasis on the relays and it’s paid off with yet another medal. I’d like to see Cameron Mitchell unleashed in the open 8 this coming outdoors. I think he could do some big things. DT West showing some real range in ability as they know have a district XC championship and a 4x8 indoor medal in the same season. That’s not something you see every day.

Lastly, I have to give a huge shout out to Boyertown. They had two guys under the 2 minute barrier and did an awesome job taking 12^th in this race and mixing it up on the big stage. I’ll continue to be rooting for this team into the spring as they inspire with their determination and perseverance.

DMR

As I mentioned in another post already, I’m excited to see Seneca Valley go all in on the DMR and come away with the gold. I thought their first three legs ran excellent races, especially Owori who had an awesome 3:07.72. Ketler, of course, is a beast, but I think he could have done a lot more if pressed. It’s ironic as Ketler was a little bit in the shadow of Owori and now things may have flipped after Seth’s clutch close to the XC season and his mile breakthroughs this spring. Of course, whoever is faster doesn’t matter as both guys are fast, leading to a Ben Simmons and Joe Embiid situation for SV. Let’s hope we get to see them at Penn Relays in this event representing the state and then it’s time to transition to the 4x8. They ran 7:46 last year with this exact same squad and there is no doubt in my mind they are better. I could see 1:55-1:57-1:56-1:53 kind of splits from this team which would put you in the low 7:40s and definitely be in the mix for state gold. They will be CB West’s toughest test looking ahead.

I also already touched on Spring Ford who, although I thought they would race well, I didn’t see leaving this meet with the silvers and a blazing 10:23.11. They put themselves in a great position with the best 4-8 punch in the meet. And McKenna is just a gamer on that anchor leg. He was surrounded by some of the biggest names in the state and raced unfazed. We will likely see these guys in the DMR at Penn (assuming the time gets them in), but after that I think the magic of the Spring Ford team will dwindle and it will be time for individual dreams to come to fruition.

CB West and LaSalle left the meet with two medals in the relays-the only squads to do so. Both were lurking dangerous on the anchor leg with Brian Baker and Evan Addison at the helm. Baker’s split of 4:19.10 was the fastest of any runner and he brought his squad from 6^th to 3^rd during his carry. Addison had the 3^rd fastest carry and also jumped his team up a spot.

Bishop Shanahan led the race heading in to the anchor and held on for a 5^th place finish. That’s pretty darn impressive considering they were without their #1 runner in Josh Hoey. How many other teams in the state could run under 10:30 without their best miler (and with multiple legs on the double)? A 3:07 on the double from Jonah Hoey is a pretty darn good lead off leg and sets the stage nicely for a potential DMR run at nationals (if Shanahan wants to go after it). In theory, if you swap in Josh’s 1600 best, they drop roughly 25 seconds to 10:02. Of course from a 4x8 perspective they can do pretty well considering they have a 1:47 guy.

Wyomissing put together one of the best small school DMR’s we’ve seen with a 10:29.01 for 6^th, CR North posted another DMR medal for their growing stack-running 10:32, and the boys from Butler helped the WPIAL snag another set of medals with a 10:35. That’s a pretty fast medal group which, unfortunately, left the boys from Penncrest just off the medal stand. They ran an awesome 10:38 time and pushed late in the race to get back into it, backed by Avery Lederer’s 4:25 anchor carry.