4/5 Weekend

I will be updating this throughout the day, but I have to go do a long run momentarily and that will limit how much I can write at one time.

First off, we will have to talk about what is going on down south at the Colonial Relays where one can only assume the weather isn't quite as crappy. Wind was a factor once again and although rain and cold didn't play a huge role in this weekend's activities, any race over 800ish meters was going to be significantly slower. The 32s especially jump out as being rough conditions after a brief scan through the weekend action.

So that is why it was refreshing to see some good marks at William and Mary. The first thing to take away from those results for me personally, is watch out because here comes Conestoga. First Sjoreen has arguably his best race since XC where he drops a 4:26 full mile. Then Marston follows it up with a big victory in the 3k (8:45) that makes him look very strong going forward. This Conestoga squad was one of the biggest surprises for me during XC, and I think they are going to show some flashes of brilliance this outdoors. Marston is a real factor in the 32, I missed him my last post I believe and that was pretty unfair. This guy is going to be good.

The relays were pretty cool as well down in the W&M. GFS had the top PA DMR running 10:32. Then it was a bit of a PCL rivarly with St. Joe's Prep surprising with a 10:35 to beat Bonner (10:46) and LaSalle (10:50). The next day the squads all met up again in a 4x8 where again St. Joe's Prep got the best of their PCL rivals running 8:03 for the gold in the meet. Bonner ran 8:06, LaSalle ran 8:08 and GFS ran 8:09. All were pretty strong marks for teams that ran hard the day before.

Certainly impressed by Prep and Bonner's emergence here at this meet. St. Joe's has an outside chance at the Penn Relays now as does GFS. Bonner is establishing itself as a relay contender this year for states. The District 12 championships are going to be very competitive for the state qualifying spots in the 4x8. The PCL alone will bring in 4 teams with sub 8 potential in Prep, Bonner, LaSalle and O'Hara. Plus any other team that emerges from the Philly area. I think O'Hara will ditch the 4x8 at states (maybe they try some 4xMile, 4x8, DMR stuff at outdoor nationals) and will go after the individuals. I also believe that LaSalle is going to ditch out on the 4x8and let Bilotta get after it in the open 16. He will be a factor in the medal conversation in that race.

I am very excited to see what the Prep individuals start to run in the opens as there must be some strong runners waiting to become household names. Or perhaps Prep just runs strong all season and ends up a suprise 7:50ish team by states like O'Hara, Kiski and State College ended up doing a couple years back. Only time will tell.

Jeff Groh was the main highlight of Bruce Dallas. He ran a dominate 1:56 at an event which may be a bit down in distance for him, although his mile chops are looking stronger every week. His teammate Cole Nissley added a nice 9:40 win by about 20 seconds in the 32. That was pretty strong in those elements which makes me think he may be able to run a decent amount faster by seasons end. Interesting to see Austin Cooper come out for this meet and grab the victory in the 16. That was a pretty stacked field with Groff and Coakley and Perlman and the up and coming second place finisher Stetler from Penn Manor. The times weren't fast, but there is no way to know if this race was tactical or the wind and weather played a factor. Regardless, it's a nice win for Cooper who continues to get quality wins on his resume. He just needs a PR under 4:20 to make himself a top 5 kind of contender at states. In the 4x8 Cedar Crest always finds a way to stay relevant on the top stage. They may be a sleeper looking ahead. Central Dauphin who ran 8:14 to Crest's 8:13. They have had a few strong teams the past couple years and should mix it up nicely on the D3 level.

At Council Rock we saw a nice line up of talent admist the elements. Belfatto got another big win at the overdistances. He won the 5k in 15:42 with limited competition. Watching the O'Hara guys contest serious overdistance this weekend makes me wonder what their plans are going ahead. I think they are looking to hit their peak more at states and nationals time rather than Penn Relays time. This is a well coached squad and I think they may be willing to sacrifice a little bit of the fast times early in exchange for big marks in May. Heck, maybe they are trying to build up strength to try and double with the 4x8 at states or run all three of the big distance relays at nationals and run strong. Only time will tell.

Ross Wilson had a very nice win in the 3k, just to remind everyone that he was a force to be reckoned with last year at 3200m. He was fantastic a year ago and it took a great kick from Ethan Martin to pick up the W. If conditions were different maybe it could have been Wilson's day. He is hungry to get his first state gold before he graduates. But I'm sure Kevin James is hungry as well. He has been close plenty a time as well and ran a nice 8:39 3k PR that got him the runner-up spot to Wilson. Those two were just on another level amiss crappy weather. Smart had a very nice run at serious over distance as well with that 8:54. He outlasted Casey Comber who ran 8:56 for 4th. Comber has run a lot of longer stuff in the past month or so including a brutal 32 last week at PW. Brian Arita ran 9:06 on his home track for 5th. He will be an interesting guy in XC next year following in the line of the great CRN boys of the past.

The 800m showed Jeff Wiseman in prime form. He ran a 1:54.13 in crappy weather to break the meet record. That's a nice sign of things to come. He handled competition that included Jaxson Hoey and Alek Sauer who are no slouches at 800m. Hoey put up another nice mark at under distance. I'd love to see him get in some competitive 3k/32 type stuff, but it is probably good for his confidence to put up competitive marks at 800 as just a sophomore.

In the 1500m it was a resurgence for Colin Abert (4:04). He had a flat out dominating win over Joey Logue (4:10) and Kyle Francis (4:15). Ryan Grace ended up right behind Francis with his own 4:15. It's crazy to see Abert handle 3 of the guys who I see as top contenders in the state after a somewhat underwhelming indoor season. I'm really impressed with the way he opened up his season. I'm also curious about whether or not Francis was doubling off the DMR, although it's possible he wasn't. The 1500m is an odd event for 800m specialists. Really what's impressive to me is seeing Sam Webb right near these guys in the 1500m just off his injuries. I mean he was at 4:16 just off the Grace and Francis (both coming off some nice performances indoors) and I heard that Webb was also featured on the 4x8 (not sure where in the order of meet events that was). With Webb coming back, Pennsbury is a serious 4x8 sleeper. Especially if they can develop a 4th leg (Snorweah possible move up to 800?).

The 4x8 was pretty intriguing with the aforementioned Pennsbury finishing a hard fought 3rd in 8:06 behind Pennridge (8:02) and CB East (8:00). CB East is an ultra-intruguing team in the 4x8. They have the Brophy bros leading the way who are both very strong runners but Jake is very closely tied to that 3200m in my opinion and that 32-4x8 double is very hard for a sophomore (unless you are Sam Webb apparently who did a nice job with that last year). But all the same it is cool to see three teams that will have strong teams for districts showing some of their power. CB South a dominating 10:48 win in the DMR over Bensalm's 11:02.

Out in District 7 we got to see some of the key names surface once again. No Colin Martin but a big win for McGoey in the 32. He ran a dominating 9:26 and helped drag his teammate Hunter Wharrey to a real nice 9:46. Dominic Stroh from Altoona was third in 10:00. McGoey is clearly in great shape right to run that close to his PR in this kind of race but it is also worth noting that Wharrey is showing some nice potential to improve down under 9:30 and get to states in the coming weeks. Nice mile win for Andrew Koryak over Wilhoite and Brad Foust who are both strong runners. Wilhoite trying the same overdistance strategy that Baily used during his state championship year at 800m. It will be interesting to see if he has similar success at season's end. James Smith had a nice win at 800m. He ran 1:56.2 to get the W and looks to be very comfortable at 800. That is likely what we will see from him at states. I will be interested to see how he and Wilhoite develop going forward and to see if either of these guys is ready to challenge for a state title against the big big dogs of D1.

Lots of other big action I didn't have time to address but feel free to throw down your thoughts below.