A Little Something for the AA Fans

Let's face it, there's usually not a lot of love for AA on the sites and the forums. Or at least it feels that way to me sometimes. Now this is often justified because on average, the times in AA are slower and the races aren't quite as deep (just a natural fact of school sizes), but because the AA kids rarely get a chance to show their stuff against the top tier AAA talent, their skills can be easily overlooked.

(wow that paragraph just screamed, Meet of Champs post is coming, but don't worry it's not! I probably have hit you kids over that head with that idea enough by now)

So here's a look at some of the top returners in AA and how their previous bests fit in with their indoor/XC progression in the 2014-2015 season.

The lead headline in the AA track talk should center around Domenic Perretta of Beaver Falls who ran away with the titles in the 1600m and the 800m last year at states, winning both fairly comfortably as just a sophomore. Perretta, who's PRs sit at 4:19 and 1:52.7, also showed fantastic ability at 3200m at various points during last outdoor season and realistically the kid could win triple gold at AA WPIALs (if not for that fact that the WPIAL 3200m in AA should be loaded). Perretta had a strong cross country season that included a district title and a top 10 finish at AA states (two things he did not achieve last fall). I feel like Perretta could run very fast for 1600m in the right race, but it will be tricky finding it.

That being said, there are plenty of milers primed for a breakthrough and ready to challenge Dom in his quest for repeating as champion. The main name is 4:12 man Griffin Molino who is coming off his second straight XC state title and a near course record. He also proved his strength last spring running 9:19 for 3200m at Henderson. This year Molino has been quiet ever since he skipped regionals in cross (hopefully he isn't nursing any serious injuries). Molino struggled a bit down the stretch last season to match his fast times from early outdoors so maybe he is trying to pace himself better this time around. That could be a smart move and a properly peaked Molino is talented enough to win either the 1600m or the 3200m (and probably run a quality 800m to boot).

But anyone who tries their hand at the 3200m is likely in for a brutal battle with defending champ Dominic Hockenbury. He won the title last year as just a sophomore, running 9:17 and winning by an emphatic 14 second margin over the field. That's right, last year sophomores won all the distance titles at track states (an incredible achievement that speaks to their undeniable talent) and they were both named Dom. Hock has continued to impress since that 9:17 run, winning a state title in Cross Country (dominant season) and nearly duplicating the feat against the field at indoor states in the 3k (McGoey had to use one heck of a kick to get him). The good news for Hock: after a stretch of flying under the radar and underrated, he is finally getting his props from the readers and writers of the blog (I mean when people besides me start dropping "Hock" in comments and everyone knows exactly who it is, it really warms my heart). I'd think Dom could run something very fast this year for 3200m and keep an eye on him making a trip or two to Henderson this season for some fast times. Maybe a meet of champs 5k rematch against Comber and others? I'm just saying keep it in mind ...

The road to the 3200m title is likely deeper than simply Hockenbury vs. Molino as the duo is joined by an absurd amount of accomplished returners from last year's field. Hockenbury was 1st last spring and Molino was 6th, but the entire top 7 from last year's 3200m returns this season including a top 3 that was entirely sophomores a year ago! And those sophs have done some serious growing up in the past few months. Will Kachman, second to Hock at states, is coming off a strong XC season where he notched a second straight top 10 finish at states. Will Loevner, a close third last year, is coming off an awesome indoor season that included multiple sub 8:50 runs in the 3k. In addition, Loevner was 4th in a loaded A XC state meet, running 16:23 at Hershey. That finish was enough to lead his Winchester Thurston squad to a team championship in one of the most impressive margin of victories of the day. After a slight disappointment at indoor states I'm think Loevner is back with a big time vengeance this outdoors. I see sub 9:20 in his future if he can hop in a race under the lights.

That Winchester Thurston will boast more than Loevner this season. The reigning A champs also have Landin Delaney (5th at AA states in the 3200m last year and the district 7 champ), Ben Littman (10th at states in XC as only a sophomore) and freshman Tristan Forsythe who ran in the 4:30s at the freshman mile at Nationals this indoor. It's not too crazy to think Forsythe could be in the 4:30/9:40 range this outdoors, putting him right in the mix for a state medal in either event. Honestly, Winchester Thurston has one of, if not the best, 4x3200m relay teams on paper this spring which is saying something considering their size.

The AA team champs, York Suburban, will be led by transfer Brady Wilt who led the team as their lone medalist at XC states. Wilt was a strong miler last year and also was 9th last outdoors in the 3200m at states. Donovan Mears, his teammate and grateful training partner, was absent from the state meet a year ago, but he will be a force alongside his training partner. Another District 3 team to watch is Wyomissing. Junior Jack DiCintio was an impressive 2nd at AA states this past fall while Kyle Shinn (5th at states for the 2nd year in a row in cross) is coming off a fantastic XC season that included a 4:22 mark in the mile. He ran the 3200m last year, but he may switch his focus to the mile after his indoor success this season. The Wyomissing boys were second in the 4x8 last outdoors so that is something to keep an eye on as well, although they graduated stud Andrew Miller from the relay.

I mentioned earlier that the 3200m returned a slew of runners? Well I have been ranting on wildly and still haven't even mentioned a few members of that key returners group including 4th place finisher Sean Hilverding, an incredibly clutch runner from Waynesburg who finds a way to show up at the state meet consistently (6th in XC this fall) and Nate Bartos from Mount Caramel was 7th last year. Bartos leads a team filled with talented runners in Mt C, including David Fletcher who ran an eye-popping 1:55.98 last year as a sophomore. His one indoor appearance this year? The underseeded Fletcher dominated one of the slower heats at Lehigh in the 800m. Keep an eye on this guy this spring.

Fletcher and Perretta are currently the big names in that 800m race, but Andrew Koryak and Brian Hackman narrowed the gap a bit during indoors, Hackman dropped his PR to 1:57.8 during indoors and had an excellent XC season, finishing 12th in A at states. Koryak was an 800m medalist last year and has been a consistent and experienced state caliber runner at this level for multiple years now, a fact that could pay big dividends at states. Also noteworthy should be Mark Arzie from Lakeland who has been an excellent 800m runner for the past two years for his mid-distance powerhouse but has had to sacrifice some individual success to pursue relay goals in the 4x8 and 4x4.

Arzie's teammate Nate Morgan made a similar sacrifice in the 1600m after running 4:21 during the year. Morgan ended up finishing just 11th in the 16 final after giving it his all on the 4x8 alongside Arzie (Lakeland was a hardfought 3rd in the relay). He will likely have similar duties this spring so we may not see a top tier mile out of Morgan at Ship when competing for the Ship. That being said we know that Morgan is a gamer (7th at AA states in XC just ahead of names like Tidball, Kachman, Gonoude and Skolnevich). He could be well under 4:20 if he ends up fresh in the right race. Can we get him a ticket to Henderson perhaps?

I said a variety of times last year that the AA XC State Championships were too deep. They were so deep that just getting a middle was going to be a brawl. Everyone was tightly packed together in my eyes and you almost had to get lucky to end up in the medals. Well that loaded AA field is set to take to the track and includes some really quality names. Simon Smith, who was 4th at XC states in an impressive run, was also 5th in the 1600m last year (5th returner as well, believe it or not). Kyle Gonoude was top 15 in XC and ran 4:21 last year in the prelims (probably using a bit too much in the prelims) and running 4:23 in the finals to grab third in the 1600m. Zach Skolnekovich not only has a tricky name to spell, but he also ran some brilliant races in the 3200m and XC as both a freshman and a sophomore (WPIAL AA XC champ). He's still just a sophomore, but he is a very impressive talent and he comes from a school in Quaker Valley that knows how to produce champions.

A states was impressive as well during XC, with an impressive mix of rising stars and proven talents. Heading that group is stud Sebastian Curtin who ran an impressive 15:59 at Hershey this past fall in a runner up effort to Molino. Seb Cur also was second last year in the 1600m behind only the man child Perretta so he will be hoping to claim the title back for Seniors everywhere this outdoors. Remember Griffin Mackey? Well you should, the sophomore ran a jaw dropping 16:09 at Hershey last fall and was a force during the cross country season for the state runner up squad Sewickley. Mackey will hopefully be taking the track this spring looking to build off a breakthrough XC campaign. Cody DiVecchio was a bit of an afterthought last year at states, running just 4:40 in qualifying and not making the state final in the 1600m. Then he went on a tear to close out his XC season that included a runner up finish at WPIALs in XC and then an 8th place finish at Hershey in 16:28. Then of course there is the man with perhaps the states longest name: Julain Degroot-Lutzner. The Masterman Senior is coming off a strong indoor campaign that included a trip to PSU. He won the Pre State meet last fall and added a 13th place finish to his resume in Hershey. Now he sets his sites on an individual medal on the outdoor track after missing out during the state finals a year ago.

There are a ton of other fantastic names I didn't mention including Nick Sweet (4th last outdoors in the 1600m), Noah Curtin (Seb's younger brother who was 11th at XC states as just a sophomore), Colten Trimble and Matt Murray (5th and 6th at A XC States after strong springs in the 1600m), Cooper Leslie, Ahmir Gordon and Liam Raehsler (among many, many others).

Keep an eye on this crop of talent and I look forward to the season commencing and the races continuing!