Friday Night Lights: Penn Relays Recap Continues

By etrain11

Friday night the PA high schoolers get a chance to shine. My friend Charlie Kline and I managed to move down to front row seats as the place began to clear out and that meant we had a pretty nice view for the DMR, mile and 3k. 

The DMR featured 4 PA teams who fought valiantly in the field despite all being ranked at the back of the field. Colin Wills of Malvern Prep ran an awesome 1200m leg and got his team in it early. The rest of his squad did a strong job keeping the team on the hunt up front, but ultimately Daly's anchoring ability was enough to lift St. Joe's in front. 

Hind sight is always 20-20, but I would have been interested in a McDevitt 1200m-Wills 1600m swap. It's not conventional wisdom, but I think it could have paid off with the team picking up top PA honors. Regardless Wills is developing into a strong piece (I believe he came back to run 4:22 Saturday) and McDevitt has been great in open events this year. MP isn't PIAA, so hopefully we see some of this crew at Henderson MoC or maybe relay will ride it out until nationals in June.

The DMR season is over for PIAA teams which means that Stoga and Prep will have to either transition into individual events or switch gears to the speed oriented 4x8. That's a development worth keeping an eye on, especially considering Marston's individual potential in the 32 and Nelson's sleeper status in the 800. I think St. Joe's Prep is going to be dangerous in the 4x8. Fisher is probably a better 800m man than 1200 runner and although Daly is probably better longer, he did split 1:57 last year when he was not anywhere near the 4:15 guy he has become. 

GFS is still a young team and they are learning a lot this year. I felt that they actually had a pretty strong showing. If Hepp could have matched states (easier said than done I know) they would likely have finished as PA's top team. I thought their 800m leg fought well for his spot and Dahl managed to run a solid split despite being out the back.

In the mile, Ritz gave it a good shot as he went for gold in front of a pseudo hometown crowd. Ritz's sub 4:10 mark is quite fast for April and puts him in early position to chase 4:05ish or under this year, officially making him one of PAs best ever (if he isn't already). I think he went a bit too early in the race (I think about 800m out) and that left him vulnerable to get sniped down on the last lap. If he runs conservative he is likely 2 or 3 rather than 4, but he went for the win and fast time and you can't blame a guy for running unafraid like that. No one was beating Hunter Friday, I think that was clear when the dust settled.

The 3k featured a nice array of PA talent, even though Gebhart, Dahl and Marston all ended up off the starting line when things got underway. That left quite the showdown between Jake Brophy (XC state champ), Dom Hockenbury (multi time state champ, with revenge on his mind from indoors), Kevin James (9:03/4:10 and a slew of record breaking runner up marks), and Casey Comber (perhaps the new "best runner to never win a state champ" belt holder with James and Webb grabbing relay gold indoors). That's a sick field.

James got after it hard near the front, mixing it up with the leaders and looking like he wanted to chase a fast time and come away with gold. Brophy got out pretty solid as well and although he didn't quite commit the way James did, he was in a good position for much of the early race. Comber looked like he kind of got boxed early or at least was taking it out on the slower side and Hock was mid pack as well, battling among the bodies.

The fact that James and Brophy stayed out of early traffic was likely an advantage early as they didn't have to do much weaving or running on the outside. I had told my friend before the race that Comber was my pick for top PA guy and early in the race with Comber back a bit my friend was quite confused.

The pace continued to be quick and although conditions weren't great, they were not all that bad, especially compared to the morning/afternoon. James pulled away from Brophy late in the race and the top 3 overall had clearly asserted themselves. But I still had a feeling that Brophy, who had proven his wheels in the end of other big races, was not out of it. On the last lap that came to fruition as he blasted off and hit the gas hardcore over the final 400m as the fast pace caught up to James. Brophy ended up 3rd overall and was closing hard on 2nd over the final 200m. Having the 800m in his legs didn't seem to hurt him too much lactic acid wise (to be fair he had roughly 9 hours of recovery).

Meanwhile, almost directly in front of where we were sitting, Comber came flying around the turn and started picking off his share of runners in the final 200m, which made for a great reaction from my friend Charlie. Comber gave it a strong run to the line and finished in 8:34 which I believe is a PR and probably worth in the 9:11-9:12 range for 3200m. Brophy's mark of 8:29 is in the 9:06-9:07 range and is likely a school record ahead of Izewski's 3k/2 mile from 2008.

The AAA distance events are setting up to be crazy. I'll touch on the mile/800m tomorrow most likely, but let's give the 3200m a brief look now. 

You have Brophy, who is gaining steam rapidly but also has a looming 4x800m role for the second straight year. You have Kevin James who is still searching for an individual gold at states, but has a slew of awesome times and now a little extra motivation (but don't sleep on the possibility of James slipping down to 16 at states, I'd say after indoors and his Abington 800m it's not out of the question). You have Sam Webb who has run 9:08 but has even more 4x8 pressure than James. You have Casey Comber who, as mentioned, desperately wants that state gold and, guess what, he's good enough to get one. And don't forget the indoor state champ at 3k and leader of the XC state champs, Matt McGoey.

Throw in a crew of Marston, Power, Wharrey, Abert and likely more (Jacob Heinauer is an early candidate to make a massive drop, Tidball and Gebhart medaled indoors) and you have a sick field at 3200m.

And oh yeah, for added fun, this weekend between Baldwin and Henderson we will probably see the best 2 mile times of the entire season. 

What a lovely time of year.