States Recap: 800m

I watched the state meet live with Forrest this past weekend and I have a few thoughts on what I saw out there that I will share with my readers out there.

First off, I apologize for all the tweeting this weekend, I get excited, but for those of you who were reading my tweets you know how historic this 800m was.

Kyle Francis, leading wire to wire and never looking back, rocked a 1:50.55 800m! Francis went into the race flanked by two of the best 800m kickers in the state and set himself up earlier as a potential sacrificial lamb to Logue or Wiseman's state record run. But he flipped the script on that and never let his competition get within striking distance. His 1:50.55 not only gives him the All-Time State Record, but it also places him tied for #4 US AT Indoors!

Only Robby Andrews, Ben Malone and Zavon Watkins sit ahead of him on that list. Andrews, in his post high school career has gone on to run 1:44.71 and 3:34 for 1500m. Ben Malone had a fantastic senior season and has run under 3:50 for 1500m on multiple occasions in high school. Zavon Watkins finished his high school career with a sub 3 1200m split, a 1:47.99 4x8 split and a variety of sub 1:50 open marks.

Francis tied Mike Granville on the all time list. Granville is the outdoor high school record holder who set the mark with a blazing 1:46 mark in 1996. Clearly Kyle Francis has put himself in some very elite company.

Jeff Wiseman's mark shouldn't be overlooked either. His was the #3 indoors for PA behind only Francis and Ned Willig and Wiseman is somewhere around #12 on the All-Time High School Indoor list which is extremely impressive. Wiseman gave it a fantastic effort against Francis and looked a few times like he could go get him during the race, but was just a tiny bit away. Great race by Jeff for sure.

And Joe Logue ran a time that would have won the state championships almost every year. Only Francis, Mallon and Endress would have beaten his 1:52.02 mark. Logue's time would have been a PA record not too long ago before Mallon busted his the first ever 1:51 indoors back in 2009.

Rarely does a race live up to the hype, and perhaps never does the race exceed the hype! These guys made for a one of a kind event. I'm not sure if any of them will try their hand at a national championship, but all should at least consider it. I wouldn't blame Francis at all if he decides he wants to end his indoor career on this note. That would a phenomenal way to end it. I'm not sure any of these can top their mark from this meet just because all the elements seemed to click at the right time, but all of these guys could be All-Americans no doubt.

Keep in mind, I would bet everybody at the national level wants Francis to get on the track at the Armory and race for a national title. Anybody willing to take it through in 1:21-1:22 sets up the field to go after a sub 1:50 mark if they can hang around and kick. He is like a perfect rabbit. That being said, this rabbit doesn't let people hawk him down. He gets after it and he goes for broke. If he can beat the best in the nation with that same strategy, the legend of Kyle Francis will be forever cemented.

Now there was plenty more to this race than the top 3 guys, although those 3 clearly deserve their praise. Worth noting, Nick Smart had a fantastic day to drop that 1:54 PR. Smart has been due for a nice PR and despite the fact that I had high expectations for the man, he still exceeded mine with a 4th place finish in a very strong field. O'Hara, through the efforts of Smart, Belfatto, James and Nolen, proved a lot this weekend and I think they earned a lot of extra respect from not only me but from much of the state.

Looks like a new chapter in the O'Hara v. Henderson story is beginning .... But I will get to that later

Will Cather had a nice day, but unfortunately the pace that Kyle Francis set was naturally going to send guys out of their comfort zone. I think Cather was definitely capable of 1:53.5 if he ran that race to try and run 1:53.5, but he ran to try and mix it up in the 1:51 range and that took guts. I think Cather is going to continue to improve as he adjusts to being one of the biggest names in a marquee event and by the end of spring I believe his added experience should get him down around 1:51. He also has some of the best training partners in the business over at State College.

That first heat was really gutsy as well. It was a group of guys who were barely under 2 minutes this season (or in some cases not even sub 2 minutes) and a lot of guys got PRs. Connor Holm ran a gutsy race out front and helped keep the pace quick and everyone else stuck their nose in it and tried to hang on. Massive PRs for guys like Stewart and Williams who were suddenly in the 1:57s, Holm ran a 1:56.88 that got him a state medal and Austin Cooper ran a fantastic double. Austin Cooper ran a really nice double this weekend with that 4:23-1:56 double. Cooper is quickly getting a reputation as a great doubler. If you remember back to districts last year he had a double much like this that featured a huge PR at 800m once again. I like Austin Cooper going forward, he is going to be a factor in district one in whatever event he chooses.

As we look ahead to outdoors think about these guys ending up in a state final outdoors:
Kyle Francis
Jeff Wiseman
Joe Logue
Will Cather
Nick Smart
Jim Belfatto
Zach Brehm
Billy Caldwell
Dylin Wilhoite
Kevin Moy
Jon Lewis

This would make for a very intriguing final with a fantastic group of runners. You have a front group that include 4-5 1:50 types plus a slew of 1:52-1:53 types. Plus it is more than likely a new runner off the radar will emerge as a sub 1:55 guy. An assault on the state records and the fastest times in the state would be truly exciting. We saw a phenomenal, legendary 800m final this past weekend, but the outdoor final, 100%, could be even better!

I hope this race, too, can live up to the hype.