Penn Relays Preview: 4x8 Large Schools Heat 3

State College
State College is PA's best hope for a 4x8 Championship of America run. They had a very nice indoor season where they dominated a tired O'Hara squad at both states and Nationals and ran one of the top 5 or so times in state history with their 7:46.81. I think State College has proven enough to make me believe they will advance to the finals at the Penn Relays. The question for them is how high up can they finish. In order to take that next step from contender to champ on a national type scene, Will Cather needs to take the next step to a 1:51ish type guy and Mason Post needs to continue to improve to become a 1:55ish type. Plus you need Adams and Golembski to be consistent and running 1:57ish type legs to keep them in it. I believe all of that is possible so get your popcorn ready.

State College is deep and they have a fantastic set of guys. Indoors they had a 1:54.0, 1:57.0, 1:57.2 and 1:57.9 in the open 8 with faster splits for Cather and Post. They have fantastic speed with a 3:21 4x4 to their name already this year. Cather has shown range from 9:25 to 1:54 to whatever he split on the 4x4 in the same meet. Like for real? That's bonkers range. I like this team a lot and can't wait to see if they can take the next step at Penn.

Pennridge
Here's what amazes me about Pennridge. They somewhat can run low 8 minute type 4x8s consistently without Joey Logue. Now you are adding Joey Logue onto the squad and they instantly are a contender. Their 7:53 was against very little competition and you are unleashing Joe Logue to chase a ton of teams at Penn and that could lead to a 1:51ish type mark. Logue has somehow managed to fly under the radar this year despite running 1:52 indoors just because Francis and Wiseman are two of the best we have seen. Logue is a 1:50 guy this outdoors if things break right and he makes this Pennridge squad very dangerous.

And it's important to note this team has other legs. They have run near state qualifying teams without Logue on the line. Matt Schulberger has broken 2 in the open 8 indoors and is a nice running mate for Logue. Noah Trueblood and Dan Williams ran 2:03 and 2:04 already this year and are nice 3-4 guys for a team that has a stud anchor and runs well on relays. Pllus Pennridge has lots of 400 guys that could potentially move up and try their hand on the 4x8 like Nick did a couple years back as a key 1:56 leg.

Bensalem
Bensalem is a lot like this Pennridge team just without the 7:53 mark that makes you feel confident. Bensalem has Kyle Francis on the anchor who no doubt could split under 1:50 at the Penn Relays if he is in anything near the shape he was indoors. This guy won't have to hammer from the lead for once, he can just guys the entire way around the track and see how much ground he can make up in 2 laps. This is a gift for Kyle Francis for sure and I am excited to see if he takes advantage. And oh yeah, Bensalem won the state title indoors and outdoors last year in the 4x8. I know they lost 3 guys from that team, but state championship teams don't usually just fall off the map, they usually have a few quality guys waiting in the wings to rally one more time.

Now the question is which guys are waiting in the wings. I'd love to see Kerron Holley toe the line at 800m and move up (probably wishful thinking). They also have a sub 60 400m hurlder who runs 50.9 in Hamzah Massaquoi. The key to a good 4x8 is probably convincing 400m guys to move up. Ask the great Abington teams of years old. Charles Ross, Will Taylor, Macey Watson and Tevin Smith were all guys that bought into the system and moved up and then became studs at 800m. Ultimately, you need speed to be able to run quality 800m and Bensalem may have a system that can convince these guys to jump up.

In terms of true 800m guys they do have 2:01, 2:04 and 2:06 legs in Rahi Shah, Alex Ramirez and Tyji Mays. And Bensalem was just 12 points away from making states in XC. They are clearly well coached and have pieces that if they all fall together will make a nice team.

CB East
Ah Central Bucks East. This is a cool team to root for. 8:00.34 is the time that they ran to get into the Penn Relays and I think they have major potential to drop. Last year this CB East team maxed up at 7:55 and they return most if not all of those guys and they have been improving nicely.

If you look at this team on paper, you have the Brophy bros (fantastic name), who have both been gamers this year. Frank seems to be sold on the 4, but he is best at 800m and has a PR of 1:58. He ran 50.11 indoors and has broken 2 each year for the last 3 years. He's an underrated piece in my mind. Then you have Jake who is quite good in his own right but just doesn't have quite the same speed as his brother. He does, however, have amazing strength (which he will showcase in the 3k Friday night). He could be a Sam Webb type sophomore for CB East this year and I think he is probably actually a bit faster foot speed wise considering the kick he has showcased in recent races. I think Brophy is a sub 2 leg at Penn.

Then you return 1:58 man Donello (although he hasn't raced much so might be suffering from injury) and their new best 800m leg is Oliver Boucher who ran 1:57 not too long ago in a great race at Coatesville. If Donello isn't 100% there is a bit of a drop off but if this team can click on the right day I believe they have 1:56, 1:57, 1:58, 1:59 within their reach and that puts them in the 7:51ish with the decimals in there and that is no slouch of a mark. I'm not saying it will happen, but don't sleep on CB East.