Shaping Up the District 7 Picture: WPIAL Qualifiers

First off here is a link to results that I found: http://www.wpial.org/1314trkresults.asp

I believe the rule is top 8 in each event advance to the WPIAL championships so keep that in mind when scanning through the results. Here are some key things I noticed when flipping through.

In AA District 7, there are some strong names to look for. Dom Peretta, Carter Smith and Andrew Koryak all qualified impressively in the 16 with Peretta, Carter Smith and Will Loevner some other names worth noting that advanced in the 32. Peretta is looking to triple at districts as he qualified in the 8 as well (1:57, 4:25 and 9:52 was pretty fast for just qualifiers). He is just a soph so his performances are quite impressive. Hopefully he can stay at top form all the way until states. Koryak was also among the 800 qualifiers.

In the other region Colten Trimble qualified in the 16 without issue winning in 4:36. Quaker Valley's frosh Amos Luptak won the 8 and another frosh from QV Zach Skolnekovich was second in the 32 in 9:56 behind Sean Hilverding who ran 9:54. Beaver Area, Washington, South Side and QV look like they will be the teams competing for the state spots in the 4x8 out of AA WPIAL.

Let's move ahead to AAA. The 4x8 is shaping up to be a compelling match up. Seneca Valley is the favorite after winning their region and looking strong all yea. Pine Richland took a strong step forward as well with their runner up finish. It looks like Norwin and Canon-Mac are two top 4x8 teams after winning their sections. Norwin has been solid all year and got a nice 8:09 win at their qualifier. Indiana Area is a serious sleeper after their 8:04 against State College last weekend. They qualified second in their section. West Allegheny should also be an intriguing 4x8 time at the next stage. Knoch, Butler, NA and Fox Chapel all provide compelling story lines for WPIALs as well.

The 800m match up is already looking fantastic as James Smith dropped a 1:53 PR in qualifying and Dylin Wilhoite also won his section in 1:56. Smith, in a bit of a surprise move, has gone all in on the 800m and it looks early like the decision may pay off. Beiech ran only a 2 flat in qualifying but he has a great PR and excellent credentials for the title talks. We could see Beiech, Wilhoite and Smith all fresh battling each other at WPIALs (although Beiech is likely going to be running of the slow section after today). Elias Graca is on a roll for Fox Chapel. His 1:56 today was an impressive win. Brett Foster continues to be on a roll running a 1:56 of his own for second. He skipped out on the 16 to focus on the 8 which seems like a smart move. Smail, Edenfield, Miller from Kiski, and Lenze from Indiana Area will also all be in the mix in the 800 at Districts joined by Billy Dougherty of Lebo who was second to Smith in the Southern.

Jeff VanKooten came out with a huge statement in the 1600m running 4:18 to set a big PR and take the victory. VanKooten, a medalist in XC, is looking like he is headed in the right direction heading into the district championship. He will have to deal with a focused Nate Sloan in the final as well as a doubling Mike Kolor. Indiana Area looked strong across the board as they also had Ryan Louther finish second in 1600m qualifying behind super frosh Eric Kennedy of Kiski. Nate Edenfield and Jonah Graffius were among other qualifiers in this section. Lebo took 1-2 in their section with Todd Gunzenhauser and Ian Braun leading the way. Jacob Heinauer of North Hills is another name to remember. If he has a strong day he could advanced on to states.

The North Sectional produced a very compelling 3200m. NA went all in on the 3200 as McGoey and Luoco decided to skip the 16. The duo packed it up with teammate Hunter Wharrey and the group got through to the next stage. There they will have to compete with Colin Martin, defending indoor state champion, Luke Regan, Caleb Wakeley and Tanner Quiggle. Brett Kennedy got through in the 3200m and will try and prove he is fit enough to hang with the big names in the North. Ethan Linderman won the 3200m at his section for Canon-Mac. Jake Susalla had a nice finish in 9:53 for Plum.

This 3200m race should be a very exciting one. I will be interested to see how McGoey handles Martin over the next two weeks. Kennedy also can make a big statement about his fitness in the next few weeks. He has been pretty under the radar so far this year. Then the race will feature a lot of fantastic stories with guys like Caleb Wakeley, Tanner Quiggle and the sleeper pick Luke Regan bound to be in the mix. Luoco qualified a year ago at this distance but he will have his hands full trying to repeat that achievement.