At Lehigh yesterday a few top teams and individuals made debuts or statement performances at the fieldhouse against some in state and out of state competition.
The meet started with a DMR that included a few interesting PA squads. The top in state team was a bit of a surprise as Pleasant Valley ran 11:10 to beat squads like Pennridge (11:11), Springfield Delco (11:16) and Ephrata (11:28).
According to the orders listed online, the 1200 leg was a battle between some strong XC runners. Sophomores Seth Slavin and Liam Galligan (both in the 40s this past fall), Nate Becker from Ephrata (in the 40s at states as well) and Dan Williams (1:57ish runner for district champs in the 4x8 Pennridge).
What really impressed me going forward was the ability of Pleasant Valley's key runners to put together solid doubles in the early season. Slavin doubled backed shortly after the DMR and ran 4:43. Anchor leg Khai Samuels double back to run 2:02 in the open 8, putting among the early state leaders in the event. Aliem Hoousendave was second in the 400m, running 52.56. That's the makings of a solid early season DMR for a team that was under the radar to say the least during XC.
In other news, Colin Abert made his debut at this meet in the mile, running 4:39 for 3rd overall and the top spot in PA. Some may be surprised by this mark, but I'm not too concerned. 4:39 is a strong mark for December and Abert learned during cross peaking is everything. He still may be dealing with some lingering affects of his sickness in November and is just a month removed from Footlocker so his training is nowhere near ramped up.
I'm unsure how the race played out but it looked like he was up against a runner with brilliant closing speed (Jarod Wilson won the mile in 4:29 and doubled back in 50. to win the 400m). Freshman Zach Smith from Spring Ford ran 4:49 in the mile as well, a fantastic early season mark.
Speaking of Spring Ford, I didn't see Paul Power (just his younger brother Patrick) in results this weekend, which I'm guessing means his fast early season 3k was run off XC fitness and now with a likely state qualifying mark under his belt, he can take some time off and recover for crunch time. I like this strategy personally and hope it pays off (if that is indeed what he is doing).
In the 3k, state XC medalist Kevin Lapsansky was the top PA runner, running 9:30. Geiger of Parkland ran 9:31, Becker 9:34 and Gabe Lamm ran 9:36. All times are solid marks for these runners to build off looking ahead.
Pennridge capped off their day with an 8:31 win in the 4x8 and a 3:38 runner up in the 4x4. Both events were back to back and many runners were involved in both the DMR and a late relay. The 8:31 was a dominating win as well. That's a nice early season showing for Pennridge who is recovering from the graduation of some key pieces including Joey Logue.
Still plenty of meets left on the 2014 schedule, so be on the look out for more fast times before the clock strike midnight.
Xmas City relays used to be a premier meet but the results weren't all that impressive this year. Last years indoor State results would be near impossible to top but this is looking like a major drop off from 2014.
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