Some More Big Questions

3. Sub 9?
So I made a big long post about the 3200 and then it didn't save. The moral of the story about that one is that the 32 is going to be stacked this year. Deluca's mark puts him in a territory over sub 9 guys and if you convert his 3k to a 3200m he is the 4th fastest guy at that distance in PA history. That's incredibly impressive. Brophy's time converted to 9:20.17 and he ended up at the back of the pack. That's unheard of. Ross Wilson ran a time that converts to about 9 flat. Also incredibly impressive. He is around #12 ever with that kind of time.

At Henderson last year there were 14 sub 9:20 guys. This year that field could include some combination of Russell, Barchet, Stratman, Collins, Knapp, Power, Kazanjian, Kazanjian,  Webb, Hoey, McDevitt, Wills, Marston, Wilson, Deluca, the GFS guys, Billotta, Comber, Perlman and much, much more.

Outside of this race you have guys like Brophy, Kennedy, Martin, Reilly, Abert, James, Belfatto and so many more that can be in the top mix. Plus probably a bunch of dudes I included in the original version that I missed in this one. Hockenbury and Molino are a couple guys who can make the AA race very, very interesting. There are 11 sub 9:20 guys returning and that makes this year's state meet very exciting.

4. There were other meets this weekend?
You bet there were. Here's a brief recap.

Dominic Peretta of Beaver Falls won the 8, 16, 32 and his team won the 4x8 at MAC. He ran 4:28, 1:58, 9:58 and the relay ran 8:24. He is just a sophomore.

Joel Espinal from Wilson, another up and coming sophomore, ran 1:56 split, 4:27 and 1:58 for two silvers and a gold (1600). This race took place right in my back yard. Whitehall got another 4x8 win, running 8:04 and winning by 6 seconds. Sleeper alert people. Serious sleeper alert.

At the Mars Invite, Nate Sloan got another impressive 16 win on his resume. His 4:21 beat out Brett Foster of SV. Foster's teammate, Mike Kolar, was 4th in 4:26 just behind North Hills' Jacob Heinauer. Foster and Kolor took 2-3 in the open 8 behind a man from Fox Chapel, Elias Graca. Graca's winning time of 1:58 makes a Fox Chapel 4x8 an interesting sleeper pick down the road at WPIALs. Luke Regan picked up another solid 3200 win in 9:49 over SV's Tanner Quiggle.

In District 2 news, Brenden Ehert of Dallas ran a 2:00.74 to win the 800m at Wyalusing. He's a nice teammate for Deluca to have looking ahead. Scraton Prep's Ryan Burke beat out Dominic Hockenbury, both runners ran 4:31. Jack Tidball probably had the race of the day as he clocked a 9:29 to dominate the 3200m. We might see him run this race again at Henderson in the coming week. Northeast Bradford is still a 4x8 factor. They ran 8:29 and picked up the victory.

At Unionville, Matt Willig got after a fast 3200m and ran a 9:35 mark. Maybe he will also hop in the Henderson 3200m. We may also see him go after a fast 1600m. Knapp was second in 9:41 beating out sub 9 3k man Billy McDevitt of Malvern Prep who ran 9:46. The 1600m at this meet was very fast as Dave Garton likely tuned up for a fast 800m run at Henderson with a 4:20.11 2nd place finish behind a Delaware man, Ben Boswell. Eric Diestelow continues a positive stretch of momentum with a 4:22 PR run. PRs continued to roll in after Diestelow with Colin McDonald of Unionville (4:23), Colin Wills of Malvern Prep (4:23) and Ricky Waltz of Henderson (4:24). 3 more guys right or under the SQS for the 1600m (2 in the PIAA). And honestly these guys aren't necessarily the ones that come to mind when you think of the top 8 in the district. If you want to get to states you have to bring your absolute A game. These kids aren't messing around.

South Williamsport drops an 8:10 to Williamsport Area's 8:13 and Lewisburg's 8:17. Intriguing group of schools here including a squad likely featuring Griffin Molino. Tyler Vella from Danville ran a solid 4:27 1600m and beat out Vince Fadale's brother Ethan, who ran 4:31. Lewisburg's Nick Scullin beat out Molino in the open 8 for a bit of revenge running 1:58 to Molino's 1:59. Andrew Steely ran 2:00 for 3rd. I think all those guys will cut down a lot of time in the coming weeks as they will probably end the year as 1:55 types. Nice run by Darien Knudsen who ran 9:39 to win the 3200m.

Brent Kennedy picked up another gold medal for his collection with a 4:27 victory in the 1600m. He also won the 3200m in 9:49 with brother finishing second in 10:05. In the 800m Trey Quealy of the 4x8 champs Norwin surprised 1:56 man Marcus Smail. Both men ran 2:01.

Jon Perlman dropped a 4:24 victory in the 1600m to beat out Casey Comber (4:28) and Patrick Dineen of HGPrep (4:30).

Sebastian Curtin beat Jeremy Parsons in a battle of AA studs 4:32 to 4:35 in the 1600m.