District One

For the rest of the Districts, feel free to see below, but I figured this deserved it's own separate post to avoid risk of overcrowding.

Malik Jones 47.06? Dude flies. That is an impressive district record for him.

Alrighty now let's break this down event by event.

3200m
Tony Russell began the day with a big win for the Henderson clan. He ran 9:07 to handle Ross Wilson (9:11) and a surprising challenge by Sam Webb (big time 9:11 PR). You guys are probably tired of hearing me talk about how big of a Sam Webb fan I am so I will save you. Really pumped to see this unfold. Kazanjian runs 9:17 for an impressive 4th in this kind of field. He can go even faster next weekend if things are quick (which it certainly looks like will be the case). Comber, Barchet and Marston get 9:17ish marks unsurprisingly and Alexander Balla gets the impressive 8th spot with a 9:24 for Quakertown. Strong day for him and a nice win over guys like Kardish, Willig and Perlman. Arita had a strong showing for 11th and Knapp had a nice mark getting down to 9:32. I like Knapp as a big time XC performer next year. Possibly top 5 guy in the state if he fits well into Kelly's system.

This race says interesting things about next weekend. Barchet probably benefits from not having the 1600m trials before the 32 (but he still may run both). Marston also ought to benefit from being a bit fresher. Russell looks awesome right now and is great shape to take the down the state meet record at 32. And oh yeah, another two guys sub 9:20 this year with PRs for Comber and Marston? You could break 9:20 and not break the top 20 next week ....

4x8
Every race this weekend was probably going to have that one lucky guy who is at the SQS and can't quite break the top 8. In the 4x8 that guy was Radnor. 7:59 and they are left home while teams running 8:05 are in easily. It's a tough pill to swallow. Out front the racing was impressive. Pennridge gets the W with a big run by Logue as they beat out West Chester Henderson 7:48.18 to 7:49.84. Henderson should be a bit fresher next week without a brutal prelim and with their 4x8 guys completely fresh. Perhaps this is the year Henderson's bad luck finally ends in the 4x8. In recent years they have had a fall, a questionable DQ, a dropped baton and they also ran into a 7:33 and 7:40 squad in there.

CB East runs 7:51 and North Penn runs 7:51 for third and fourth. Pennsbury ends up 5th running 7:53. That's a good sign seeing as a few of those teams were in the prelim of death yesterday (Henderson, Pennsbury, Bensalem and North Penn ran 7:53 yesterday). That's good practice for what they will likely see at states. North Penn always comes up clutch in this relay and at states they will be dangerous. Bensalem gets through to states but will Francis run next weekend? That remains to be seen. Penncrest I feel is going to drop a lot of time in the coming weeks, but they won't hit their true potential if they have Chris trying to do the 4x8 and the 32 (not sure if that was the case today). I gotta imagine CRN just ran out of gas in the 4x8 with one or maybe two legs trying to double back from the 32 (Wilson and Arita). Losing a 1:57 leg is tough to handle.

1600
Russell pulls off the double and that's a big first step. Not sure when the last time someone won both was. Billy Caldwell comes in second, likely after he was able to relax on the anchor of DT East's surprising miss of states. With Caldwell now fresh and completely focused on the 16, he will be extremely dangerous on the kick at states. If Russell let's things go slow (which he probably won't but he will be tired) Caldwell is maybe, just maybe, someone who can break up Russell's historic double attempt. Barchet continues to impress, taking a solid 3rd in this event. If he focuses on the 32 I think he will see his best results, but he might as well go after both, he is running the best I have seen him run possibly ever. If he does scratch he lets James Hare in who was this races unfortunate SQS runner who missed states. Gunnar Sjoreen had a strong 4:19 race and Ryan Grace and Connor Holm had solid doubles to run 4:20. Colin McDonald continues to be consistently strong. Tough race for Paul Power and Eric Diestelow. I think Power does big things at 3200m next year, he just had a tough year because of Spring Ford's 4x8 potential. He will be a strong XC guy. Diestelow had possibly his best season of running ever and certainly his best track season. I see him taking strong steps in XC and hopefully does well moving up to the 32 next year. Pat Hopkins follows in Curtis Watro's footsteps and finally has his big break! He is on to states next week.

800
Jeff Wiseman will now be the favorite at states in the open 8 next week and Joe LeConey (impressive double for him) earns the title of bad luck Brian running 1:56.85 and failing to advance. Eli Mercado once again sneaks the Boyertown Bears into states and 8th place. Wiseman was fresh and ready to take down the W over Logue who is having a very strong season. I don't think Logue can win the state title with the 4x8 in his legs, but he is still a favorite to be in the mix and take down a top 3ish spot. Austin Cooper made a huge statement running a big PR of 1:53.94. His focus paid off big time as he was always committed to this race first and foremost.

Francis will have an interesting decision to make with the 4x8. Doubling is going to take away from his ability to compete with the best. I like the Pennsbury squad. Sauer has been consistently improving and finds himself as the top returner in the district at 800m. The #2 returner is a surprise in Andy Stewart of Upper Dublin who gets a huge PR down to 1:56.29. Garton is going to be dangerous next week, I expect him to bounce back well if he can handle the rounds. He has a lot of experience at states and I think that will come in handy.

AA
Andrew Garrett of Delco got a big win in the 800m, running 1:57.50 to beat out Colin McClusick (1:58). Garrett won the 1600m as well (4:38) but may opt out of that event in favor of the open 8 leaving the door open for Greg House (4:43). Sean Stovall of Springfield qualified for states with a 10:06 mark in the 3200 while New Hope-Solebury won the 4x8 in 8:22.