Weekend 4/19

So the action from this past weekend stretches back towards Wednesday night. First off I want to point out that as someone who raced on Wednesday night probably 20 minutes from Abington high school, it was cold a bit windy at times out there. It wasn't weather where someone wanted to charge to the front and take the pace. The smart strategy to win was to hang in and time your moves right without being a sacrificial lamb to the field. Despite all that, I managed to run my fastest time of the season on Wednesday night, so things weren't as horrible as they have been in previous weeks.

In a hotly contested 800m, we saw Kyle Francis take a victory over PA's 1600m #1 Tony Russell. Francis came across in 1:54 and change to beat out Russell's 1:56.06 (a fairly sizable open PR). The big race for Henderson came from Steve Thompson who ran 1:56.8 and likely locked up a spot on the DMR team next week at Penn. However, Kevin Kelly will have his hands full choosing from the great performers on his team over the past two weeks. Kevin Moy clocked a 1:57, Stratman a 1:58 and Collins and Barchet were in the 1:59s. Your guess is as good as mine for who will be toeing the line in the 1200 spot. Very tricky to pick one of those guys at 1200m. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to decide.

There were some other very interesting performers in the 800 that included two sub 2 legs for Penncrest. Evan Emmanuel dropped a 1:56.8 and Kamat ran a 1:58.8 (he was in the 1:57ish range in a dual meet if my memory serves me correctly). Chris Kazanjian dropped a 4:27 to win the 16 at this meet and his brother ran 4:32 for 6th. Penncrest's Brendan Hannah also dropped a 2:03 in the open 8. Nice pieces going into Penn.

Ramsey Kerkula ran 1:58.37 to finish in the top 7 of the hotly contested open 800 for Upper Darby. Upper Dublin ran a solid 8:11 and had Andy Stewart sub 2 in the open 8. Cheltenham ran 8:15 with a squad that may have been featuring Jon Lewis.

In District 11 news, Joseph Espinal of Wilson Area dropped a 4:25 to win a fairly strong field at the Red and Black Invite that included some of the Tunkhannock boys Jack Tidball (4:28) and Carson Ayers (4:32). Tidball doubled back to run 9:45 and win the 32 while Espinal won the 8 in 1:59. Espinal is just a sophomore.

Ladies and gentlemen, it appears as if Griffin Molino has found his stride outdoors. He flat out dominated the 1600m at LHU running 4:12.93 to win by over 20 seconds. It is perhaps the most impressive performance at 1600m this outdoor season. Molino also won the 32 in 9:36. He is an early favorite to win both the 16 and the 32 at states although someone out at Ship had something to say about that.

There were some strong relay performances out at Great Valley and CB West. CRN beat their rivals CR South in the 4x16 18:12 to 18:24. The relays likely involved Wilson and Wiseman along with others. Some overdistance for CR South and likely some underdistance for the CRN boys. Meanwhile at Great Valley, O'Hara dropped a massive 17:32 4x16! That is a very, very strong mark. To give you an idea that's just 8 seconds off the mark from Coatesville back in 2007 after they won the national xc title and right before they won the Penn Relays DMR title. Perhaps this is a bit of forshadowing? The impressive thing about this mark for O'Hara is that they probably don't have the same depth through 4 legs that the Coatesville squad did in '07 and they will only run 3 of these 4 legs on their DMR team at Penn. I'd love to hear splits on this relay and any others if they are available.

Pennsbury found themselves back under 8 minutes with a 7:58 mark to beat Penn Wood by 13 seconds. This Pennsbury team with Webb back looks a lot more dangerous. Remember they were a clear cut 3rd best team in the state a year ago and return 3 pieces from that relay including the anchor Alek Sauer. Pennsbury is a real sleeper in the 4x8. I still think we could see Snorweah make an appearance on that relay on the right stage although they have had some pieces emerge to complete the 4 some. Penn Charter also found themselves under 8 minutes at GV. They ran 7:59 with Hoyt likely having a nice split. Boyertown emerged as a strong squad with an 8:05 and Twin Valley continues to stay relevant with their own 8:05. Both of these squads beat out DT East, the indoor state medalists who were 4th last year outdoors. DT East ran 8:06. Pottsgrove ran 8:11 as did Abington. Spring Ford ran a solid 8:16 with what was likely something of a B team.

Pennsbury also took the win in the DMR in 10:46 over CB West's solid 10:48. Nice marks for both teams. Pennsbury looks like they had a solid double out of their guys which, again, is a promising sign. HG Prep came back from solid performances at Abington to win the DMR in 10:48 over St. Joe's Prep who ran 10:58 for 2nd.

Pennridge (3:35) beat out GFS (3:39) in the SMR. Pretty solid times for both squads, likely featuring a Logue anchor. St. Joe's Prep ran a 3:36 to win out at GV in a close race against Boyertown and Radnor who also ran 3:36. Methacton ran 3:38. This was a very nice step forward for the Boyertown Bears in the relays this weekend.