Cold Day at the Races

By etrain11

Here's a quick recap of some of the things I noticed from the first meets of "Spring" track.

PTFCA Carnival
Carlisle ran their first DMR of 2015 and it resulted in an 11:02 mark despite the conditions and limited competition (they won by 38 seconds in a field that only included 5 relays). That's a really good start in my opinion so hopefully they can find the right race to get another crack at it. Not sure how feasible that is for a team in the middle of the state at this stage in the game.

Neshaminy got a quality win in the 4x8, running 8:18.91, but the boys from Wilson (district 3) hung tough, running 8:22. I'll be keeping an eye on this Wilson team as, in theory, they have a great deal of potential to drop time as they had a more limited indoor season than Neshaminy. That being said, I've made it no secret that I'm on board with this Neshaminy squad. Must have been tough for Marrington to watch that 300mH from the sidelines, but I'm sure he will get his chance soon to prove himself against that group (worth noting: I believe the 400mH and the 4x8 trials are right next to each other at Penn Relays which would mean, in theory at least, that Marrington will not be able to do both. Just something to keep in mind if Neshaminy can dip down around 8 flat).

Julian Degroot-Lutzner got a solid win over Kyle Shinn with a time of 4:27 to Shinn's 4:29. Lutzner was one of my medal picks this past indoor season, but Shinn outdid at him at states pretty comfortably. This race shows Lutzner is a true talent, but also reminds how important being clutch at states is. And Shinn, with a multiple XC top 5s at the perfect moment, is undeniably clutch. Shinn's teammate, DiCintio, made a solid return winning a relatively empty 3200m against Jeff Kirshenbaum. Running sub 10 (9:58) is pretty solid in a race that was, unfortunately, practically a 1 v 1 in bad weather (and DiCintio ended up winning by over 20 seconds). I'll wait to see a good weather 3200m for these guys before making too big of a judgement.

Meanwhile, Lutzner's teammate, Previdi, won an 800m field that included Ponzo from Penn Wood and Mahon from Wilson (most likely doubling back from the 4x8). Remember that Masterman is AA and they have had success in the 4x8 before. Luztner's already broken 2 minutes in the past and Previdi (although his time was only 2:04) is showing potential that he could be a strong second leg. But Lutzner can't realistically run both the relay and the open 16 and expect to make a huge impact in both (he has struggled in his last couple state meet doubles). That will be an interesting story line to keep tabs on this season.

Altoona Igloo
Altoona represented well at their home meet, winning the 4x4, 4x8, open 8 and the open 16. Brad Foust won the 1600m against Brian Hackman 4:32 to 4:33 in what appeared to be an exciting race. I like both guys potential to move up to the 16 this outdoors after big success at the 800m this past indoors. I think their past success in XC indicates they have the strength to use that speed effectively.

Brett George from Altoona won the 800m in 2:08, winning by roughly 4 seconds over Gino Nicosia of Penn Valley. The third place finisher, Joey Kalik of Kiski Area ran 2:12 to win the slower section by about 8 seconds. Combine Kalik (a sophomore) with Eric Kennedy (another sophomore who won the 3200m in 9:57) and you are looking at some solid builidng blocks for the future for Kiski Area, a school that recently had a footlocker finalist, multiple state qualifiers and team qualifiers in XC and a 4x8 down around 7:50. Hackman doubled back to take 2nd in the 3200m behind Kennedy while his teammate, Eli Urban, took 3rd. Their times were 10:19 and 10:23.

South Hills
At Baldwin, we saw some strong running from Andrew Koryak of Vincentian Academy, who cemented himself among the AA 800m contenders with his 1:59 victory in the event. His 4 second win in the 800, coupled with a 7 second win over Noah Smith in the 1600m (4:34 to 4:41) made for an impressive first meet for Koryak. Top 50 finisher from XC Nick Wolk ran 10:08 to win the 3200m.

Keep an eye on this Penn Hills team this season. They have historically had great success coaching 800m and 400m talent, including Wil Bailey who won a state title in 1:51 and Bradon Bailey who ran low 48s in the open 400m. Now another Bailey, Isiah, is on the horizon for this team after running 2:07 and likely contributing to the winning 4x8. Duwon Terrell was an individual 800m qualifier at indoor states this winter and the team would normally have qualified for states as a relay if not for the gross cutbacks made to the meet schedule. Watch out for this group as contenders out of the WPIAL.

Knoch Relays
I love relay meets, even though it usually makes my job a lot more difficult because I rarely know who was on which relay. It's interesting to see teams that normal don't run big time relays try their hand at it and especially interesting when those teams produce results. Canon Mac won the 4x800m in 8:31, picking up right where they left off during indoors. This squad is one of the front runners for the WPIAL championship in the event considering how often they were at the front of meets this winter. Fox Chapel got a win in the 800m SMR (1-1-2-4) and the names listed do not include Elias Graca. That's a great sign for a team that has produced a couple 3:20ish 4x4s in recent years. In the longer SMR, Avonworth got the win over Seneca Valley 4:08 to 4:14.

Fox Chapel got themselves another impressive win, running 11:07 in the DMR and taking gold by about 42 seconds. FC clearly has some speed and some strength which makes me curious what kind of relays they will try this spring. Although I see a lot of strong teams in the 4x8 in District 7, no one has blown me away yet. Fox Chapel has a 1:50 type anchor which means, realistically, an average of 2:02ish for their other legs gets them to 7:55 and right there for the district title. Plus the DMR could be an interesting event for these guys if they can find the right competition. I'd be curious to see Graca maybe on a 1200m leg with another strong runner in Halasowski on the 16.

Haverford Invitational
Big wow for Dylan Eddinger. He killed it this weekend running 1:57 and winning by roughly 6 seconds over Quentin Francis (2:03 and 53.29 in the same day). Eddinger looks great to start the season after his 1:55.00 this past indoors. Honestly, I think this guy is a 1:53 type talent this year with big potential to drop time looking ahead. He's run lots of fast times when relatively unchallenged, now he just needs to learn to race in the right spots.

Liam Galligan took a dominating win in the 1600m, running 4:32 to beat Kyuande Johnson of Wissahickon who ran 4:40. Keep an eye on Johnson this outdoors at 800m based on the kind of times he was splitting during indoors. His teammate Harmon ran 2:04 in the open 8, holding his own against some guys with 2 flat type PRs from this winter. That's a nice start to a relay for Wiss who also has Marcelis and Christopher along with some deep talent at 400m that could potential try to move up. Galligan is just a soph and looks great to start the year. Also looking good to start the year was Jon Perlman, running 9:48 for the big win in the 3200m.

Radnor's 8:25 win in the 4x8 was very encouraging as well. This team is an early sleeper in the 4x8 out of the always loaded District One, especially if Holm returns to 1:56/4:20 type form.

Tim Cook
So ... I'm a little confused. Looks like Carlisle had a busy Saturday? Matt Wisner and Zach Brehm combined to take 1-2 in the open 800m at Tim Cook in Chambersburg on the same day that their relay ran 11:04 at PW. Take that as you will. Wisner ran 2:00 for the victory and Brehm ran 2:02 for second. Junior Thomas Nicewicz of Mechanicsburg hung nicely in 2:03 for 3rd.

Pumped to see Will Sponaugle back in action for Hershey. The near state medalist in XC has a sub 16 5k PR and has run in the low 4:20s or so. He and teammate Adam Rabon (state qualifier indoors in the mile) took 1-2 at the meet at 4:43. Those two and Aiden Demko (15:40 during cross and a state medalist) make for a dangerous relay. Demko was 4th in the 3200m in 10:15. Scroll down a bit and you can see they did just that, opening the season with a dominating 8:23 4x8 victory over Chambersburg (8:34).

The winner of that 3200m was Dan Filler of Gettysburg. Filler had a very strong XC season and gets an impressive win over guys like Gabriel Allgayer (sub 16 during XC), Demko and Joe Deangelo of Carlisle.

DTWest Invitational
The home team represented well at the invite, led by super frosh Josh Hoey. He ran 1:59 to win the 800m over Sean McGinnis of Phoenixville who also broke the 2 minute barrier. Ryan Barton added a gold in the 1600m, winning in 4:29. Those times were two of the fastest we saw in those events this weekend state wide (although it's important to remember this meet was held on Friday night) and is especially encouraging for Barton. Barton got overlooked this indoors while the team transitioned in the Hoeys and Sappey continued to emerge, but don't forget that Ryan Barton was a stud during XC, finishing in the top 40 at states and providing one of the key breakthroughs in their 4th place finish. Freshman Liam Conway continues to show improvement, running 4:34 for second in that 16 and Shaun Bullock runs 7 seconds faster than his seed to clock 4:35. Adding Matt Farrell's 4:38 gives the DT West boys 3 sub 4:40s for the weekend without Sappey or Hoey. Nice display of depth for West.

Alex Knapp wins the 3200m in 9:48 with teammate Will Swart second in 9:52. Most of the Henderson guys are likely at their best over 3200m and this outdoors they should be able to focus more on that event without the DMR in play. Austin Maxwell, a solid runner from Kennent, has a nice run in 9:53 for third and another one of DTW's key XC contributors Ben Ryherd ran 9:54. Charlie Barton was next behind him in 10:04.

The 4x8 results were solid as well. Twin Valley opted for DTW instead of PW and likely made the right choice, winning with an 8:16. Bishop Shanahan continues their relay excellence, running 8:17 for second. DT East takes third in 8:21. Those are solid marks for this point in the season and all of these teams will hope to continue to drop time if they are going to be come factors in the play off picture.

Other
Paul Power dominated the Mile at Brother Jerome, running a fantastic 4:31 to win by roughly 30 seconds. Nice start to Power's spring after an encouraging indoor campaign that included a sub 8:50 3k and a nice win in the mile at Burdette. The Easton boys had a strong dual meet and are showing nice depth at a variety of distances. An Easton 4x8 could be on the horizon for the future. The District 11 picture is going to be a lot of fun with Easton, Emmaus, Whitehall, and Pleasant Valley among others (like Wilson, D11). That should be a fun battle when things get cranking in an area that I'm quite familiar with thanks to my college days.

One final note. Some of you may heard about the t-shirts I have made. I will be giving some follow up information on the shirts sometime this week. So feel free to be on the lookout for that if you are interested in those. Also feel free to follow me on twitter for the latest updates/pictures. Hopefully they turn out ok.