AA State Recap

Dom Hockenbury came in as a clear title favorite after finishing 2nd a year ago and winning the outdoor AA state title in the 3200m. However, most saw him as the title favorite most likely to be edged out by a deep field that was quite wide open. Meanwhile, York Suburban was likely the biggest favorite to win a team title out of the three classes, led by a killer top 5 and great front runners in Brady Wilt and Donovan Mears.

At the mile mark, it was Scranton Prep who was leading the race, with Perry and Evans in the top 5 team scorers and a nice pack behind them. York Suburban sat in second with Wilt and Mears taking a back seat to those two and freshman Bryce Ohl and sophomore Peter Wagner sitting behind the 3-4-5 for Prep. Mt Caramel was in third, and my pick, Grove City, was sitting in fourth. Aaron Benka was out surprisingly tame in just 5:07 for the mile (possibly a fall, possibly a conservative approach). The youngsters from Dallas were unafraid of the moment: they were the 6th place team at the mile. Individually, Hockenbury was in control at the front followed by DiCintio and Smith and then a gap back to the next pack, led by Kachman. 9 of the top 20 at the mile were from District 2.

At two miles, Scraton Prep was still in the lead, poised for the upset. This was the second straight year that SP was in the lead at 2 miles in the AA state championships. Evans and Perry were still leading a big charge out front while York Suburban sat just two points back in second, Wilt and Mears still sitting behind the SP 1-2. Grove City was up into third as Benka put on a big surge in the second mile. Pottsgrove worked it's way up to 7th but still had lots of room to make up to get on the medal stand. Wyomissing at the top 2 individuals in team scoring at 2  miles as DiCintio (2nd) continued to be up in the lead pack and Shinn joined him (6th). Hockenbury was still in the lead and starting to open things up. He was at 9:59, leading by 3 seconds. After a conservative first mile, Dan Green had moved up to 4th to get himself in the title talks. He would be the freshest after his conservative start, but he was at 10:11 and still had lots of ground to make up. Sean Hilverding was also starting to climb the standings.

At the finish, Hockenbury claimed another state title. He cruised to the win by 13 seconds and ran an impressive 16:01 to grab the title. I believe there has yet to be a AA champ who has broken 16 minutes. DiCintio held on for second, a very impressive achievement considering how hard he ran at the District championships last week. Dan Green barely missed beating out Jack Di, finishing one second behind in third. Sean Hilverding moved up to finish 6th and earn top honors for any District 7 runner. 9 total medalists came from District 2. York Suburban passed the necessary guys to distance themselves from Scranton Prep (and a late charging Grove City) and claim the state title. Their top 5 were all in the top 30 for team scores. SP fell to third despite having two top 10 team score finishers in Evans (8th overall) and Perry. Grove City had a nice day, especially behind their top 3, but no one ended up in the medals. That meant this team would have to settle for silver. Brandon Pyle surprised as the team's #1 man and Budnik faded late to end up their #4.

Here are my top 5 thoughts ...

1. Hockenbury was the class of this field all year and proved it today with a fairly easy victory. He left Hershey with a state title, but there will be doubts about just how good this guy can be. The real test for his season won't be this Hershey meet, it will be the Foot Locker Regional meet in a few weeks. I think he has a chance to really surprise there. That's been a focus for him all year and he had a great race there a year ago. He led an outstanding district 2 that had an impressive 9 medalists. Great run by Nate Morgan to get into the top 10, proving that AA or A, he is still a fantastic talent.

2. This race was really deep with individuals, you can tell because there were only 6 team scorers in the top 25 overall finishers (i.e. the medals). I knew this was going to be a "throw names at the wall and see how sticks" kind of race because of how talented everyone was. This was a fantastic race, very competitive, and very deep.

3. York Suburban was beatable today. They had a great day and claimed the state title (which they deserved as they have been the best AA team all year) but there was potential for a closer race. Grove City may not have gotten out hard enough as they didn't end up being able to close ground. Benka and Budnik were both top tier medalists a year ago and had unfortunate circumstances today that caused them to finish completely out of the medals. However, there was potential for that top 4 to scare York Suburban. SP was in the hunt as well with a big run by their top 2, but they couldn't quite keep the spread tight enough to hold for a podium finish. All three teams were clearly strong this season and I'll be happy to see them at the mock meet of champs.

4. District 3 ended up having a pretty darn nice day. YS won the state title, District 3 took 2-3 overall with a huge run by DiCintio who I thought for sure would be spent. Shinn also finished in the top 5 and medals were grabbed by 5 district 3 guys. Overall, there were certainly those who fell victim to the D3 curse, but the AA group has been pretty immune to it's powers in recent years. A deeper study would need to determine just how reasonable this curse is.

5. I talk a lot about experience and who runs the course well and all that good stuff, because I believe that can be important. Every year there are exceptions, but if you look at some of the top guys (Hockenbury, Shinn, Hilverding, Morgan) they had their best days at the state meet a year ago and then followed it up wtih their best meet coming in Hershey once again. Hilverding and Shinn both struggled a bit last week, but bounced back big time today.  They were both surprise top 5 guys a year ago at states. I don't think that's a coincidence.

I'm hoping these guys consider branching and trying their hand in a Foot Locker race. Realistically, I only see one guy with a real shot at nationals, but I see some young guys with incredible future potential. Plus, I think if you are AA guy and you really don't race indoors at all, why not extend your season, race the best from around the state and the region and see what you can do? Especially if you are a young guy who can gain experience or a fan of the sport in general.

You will notice this will be my theme for the next few weeks. Let's get some guys in this post season meets. PA had a great year and we should show everyone just how deep we are.