3200m Recap

by etrain11

AA
In the first distance final of the weekend, a completely fresh Dominic Hockenbury looked to defend his state title from the previous year. Hockenbury knew that Griffin Molino, 4:12 miler and A XC state champion, was sure to be breathing down his neck, waiting to unleash a kick. In an impressive performance, Hockenbury went to the front quite early in the race and began to hammer out laps, hoping to shake Molino, who hung tough for a few laps before ultimately running out of gas. Once broken, Molino may have held back a bit, trying to reserve a bit for the 1600m. He held onto silver despite an excellent late charge from Will Kachman of Bedford. The top 8 runners were at 9:30 or faster with 7 at 9:26 or faster.

It's a shame we didn't get to see Hockenbury in that AAA race where he might have had a chance to make things a tad more interesting in the early stages. Hockenbury now holds 3 state golds and a couple silvers heading into his senior year. Next year's 9:04 state meet record is in play, but there will plenty of interesting XC/Footlocker drama to behold first. I'm not postive, but I think Hock's 9:08 at states is the fastest AA 3200m time at the state championships in somewhere around a decade. Faster than Shearn, Galassi, Beveridge, all those guys and those are some top tier names.

Molino put up a strong fight, but just wasn't ready to blast the massive PR needed to take gold. Although I thought Molino had a chance to win, he still ran a 9:16 (which is a PR by about a second from the well paced, deep Henderson race) and I think it's possible that he was saving up a bit at the end. Have to give major props to Kachman though who did run a massive PR and put on a gutsy close to nearly grab another silver for himself. Descavish (9:22) and Raehsler (9:23) both ran impressive PRs and really came through with massive drops. I thought both had potential, but those times were awesome. Simon Smith also grabbed a medal in 9:23. He always finds a way to show up in the big moments and this race was no exception.

I just want to emphasize one last time how crazy deep this race was. There were 19 sub 10s, 17 sub 9:50, 12 at 9:40 or faster and 7 under 9:30. Those marks were posted by a fairly young field. Griffin Mackey was the top soph, running 9:26 and dropping under the 9:30 barrier again (somewhere like 5x this spring) and 11 of the top 15 returning next year (including three guys from defending A champions Winchester Thurston).

Awesome season and congrats to everyone involved on a fantastic season.

AAA
What an event. Everybody knew the field was stacked. I highlighted it in extreme depth in my preview (possibly going on too long, but whatever). As I said in the preview I felt very confident the top 8 in the field would be Brehm, Power, Marston, Comber, Abert, McGoey, James and Brophy in some order (they were all just so fantastic this year it was hard to imagine anyone sneaking by) and that did in fact end up being the top 8. But before I get to them, let me take a moment to discuss some of the strong performances from the guys outside the top 8.

Just one medalist is returning (8th place Jake Brophy) which means next year's state field is going to look a lot different. The big breakthrough came from Nate Henderson, the sophomore from JP McCaskey, who dropped an extremely impressive 9:08. That's a killer time for a sophomore as has been mentioned that was unfortunately over shadowed by the madness in front of him. Henderson had a fantastic sophomore year, finishing 2nd to only Brehm at Districts in 3200m and finishing as the top sophomore in XC for AAA (I believe he was 13th overall). Most importantly, he's been clutch in all the right moments, starting perhaps with his breakthrough at Carlisle. Plus, he has great hair.

Kevin Lapsansky back in 17th ran a strong PR of 9:29 which was a great race for him even if it was a bit farther back. Todd Gunzenhauser is another top returner from this year's meet. He ran well under 9:20 at Baldwin and hung tough against Wharrey (who finished 11th in a great showing) as he finished 12th in the state with a 9:22. Aiden Demko put forth a great effort in the 32 as well, he stuck his nose in the think of things during the fast pace. Lastly, Eric Diestelow ran a great PR of 9:18.34 and finished 10th to round out the greatest top 10 in the history of the state meet. I'm not sure Diestelow ever ended up grabbing a state medal in his 4 years, but he graduates with a 4:18/9:18 resume, an excellent history dating back to sophomore year of running sub 16s and helping out DMRs and 4x8s take the next step. Awesome career and your WC East teammates I was watching with are likely very proud.

Now on to the top 8 and what a top 8 it was. Yes, it took an absurd 9:05 to get 8th! 9:05 would win states most years and somehow it ends up 8th this year ... That's unreal. Brophy finishes as the top returner and breaks 9 as a Junior, something few can boast. He won states during XC and dropped 8:57/4:15/1:55 type marks. Although he had an off day at states, it's hard to imagine Brophy not being at the front of the title contenders during XC (although you will have to tune in to the XC rankings to find out for sure ...).

McGoey took the reigns early in the race, but wasn't ready to pound out the 4:28 type mile that he did at Districts (things went through around 4:32 this time around). Everyone else seemed contend to just let Matt lead which I'm not sure is exactly the way Matt was hoping the race would play out (very few were expecting the pace to lag like it did). In this kind of field, it's hard to lead wire to wire and unfortunately his patented kick, like Brophy, wasn't quite there on race day. It happens and McGoey ends his career as an 8:56 man with multiple state golds.

Martson fought valiantly throughout the race and dropped a 9:02 for 6th. Marston has now run 9:01 and 9:02, two times that would put him among the top 20 or so ever and he grabbed his top individual finish at a track state championship meet. Marston has been the #1 guy on a Conestoga team that has taken a huge leap in the past 24 months. With Marston at the helm, the team has finished in the top 10 at XC states twice, including a silver this year, grabbed a D1 XC title (breaking an epic Henderson streak) and added a silver medal indoors in the DMR. Around him PJ Murray, Killian Nelson and Jimmy Cooper all had career years in their event, including a state qualifying performance for Cooper. I would love to see a 4xMile from these guys, but I have a feeling these guys are done (besides a possible PA Distance Festival appearance, Marston could be a top contender in either the Mile or the 5k). Awesome stretch by Stoga with Marston leading the charge.

Casey Comber gets to 5th with a 9:00.95. Yes 9:00 gets you 5th in this race. If I'm not mistaken 9:00.95 would be first place in all but three state championships ever. Connelly's tilte in the 80s, Wilson's title last year and Brehm's gold this year. That's it. Comber ran 1:56/4:14/9:00 ran sub 15:50 at Hershey, qualified for the Footlocker Championships and broke 15 in the 5k indoors. Despite that, he's been no higher than 3rd at a state championship which is amazing. I would love to see Comber in the PA Distance Festival mile. He was second to Hoey at Districts on the double from the 32 and he soloed 4:14.20 at leagues. He could drop something big with one more race against top competition. If not, he's had a phenomenal career and should be quite proud of what he has accomplished as an undergrad.

Paul Power broke 9 and finished 4th and a year after the first ever race with 3 sub 9s, Power extended the record to 4 at Shippensburg. Power has now run 1:54/4:13/8:59 this season with a 15:50 at Hershey. He's another one who could a great mile at the PA MoC at Henderson in June. It's amazing to me that someone like Power just had his highest state finish ever with this 4th place finish, but the fact that he made the jump from never breaking 9:20 to breaking 9 minutes in one year shows just how hard of a worker he is and how gutsy and unafraid he runs. Honestly, at states in XC many people probably doubted his peaking ability and thought he peaked at Pre States in September. Since then, he has had a fantastic stretch that included a top 20 or so finish at Footlocker Regionals, a medal at indoor states and now this 8:59 in possibly his last race ever. That's a sweet way to cap off your career, no matter how you spin it.

Kevin James. 1:54.0/4:10/8:57/15:38 a 1200m leg on a 10:00 DMR, a top 5 member of 4 top 3 XC teams, a key member of a 5th place team at XC nationals, a two time individual national qualifier in XC, and during his Senior year he ran 3 times at states that would have won the championship basically any other year. And he's not done, there's a solid chance he runs sub 4:10 at the PA MoC with guys like Brehm and Hoey expected to be involved. KJ is always a gamer and he has proven time and time again that he rises to the occasion when the spotlight is on. Although he didn't win his individual gold this weekend at states, it's almost fitting that James ends his state career like this. He broke the race open with a late surge, hung on valiantly when Brehm made his kick and finished with an impressive PR and a near record setting performance.

Colin Abert moves into one of the top spots all time in the event, running 8:56.00. There were few picking Abert to win the title this outdoors. He ran sub 15 this fall and was arguably one of the best 2 or 3 XC runners in the state before a hiccup at states and sickness at FL Regionals, We all started to doubt that assertion during indoors when he had some stretches of up and down racing, but this spring Abert was in a quality zone. Although he had only run 9:17, he had not been pushed close to the same level as some others in the field during his races this season. When the competition finally came together, Abert delivered in his final race and ran a massive PR of 8:56.00, a time that puts him in historically great company. I'm glad Abert's career ends with him rising to the occasion in the big moment and running a massive PR, the same way he did in XC as a sophomore and Junior and at last outdoor's state championship. Plus lets not forget he carried Easton to a 5th place team finish in XC and elevated the quality of D11 overall. Another fantastic career ends in the right way.

And lastly, there's Brehm. In the 3200m, Brehm personified one of the greatest aspects of track and field. I have always believed there is too much emphasis on times over racing. We judge off times because they are easier to measure, especially on the track, across wide distances and various locations. But Brehm's career has never been about times, it's only been about winning. Brehm made it to 4 800m state finals. He won back to back Carlisle Invitationals (besides states, probably the most important XC meet of his career), he won state championships as a sophomore, junior and now a senior. He won a ton of D3 titles on the track including the 32, 16 and 8 as a Senior after the 4x8, 16, 8 as a Junior. So when Brehm came into this meet hoping to cap off his career with the trifecta (winning the 8, 16 and 32 at states over the course of his career) and I was confident that even though he had yet to drop a sub 9:09 mark, he was sitting a major PR in the right race just like what happened when he dropped his mile victory as a sophomore at Henderson.

As far as my research as shown the other guys to pull off the career trifecta are Jerry Richey from North Allegheny and Chris Spooner from Lewisburg (in AA). That's it. That's very elite company for Brehm. It was a fantastic race to watch in person and a well executed race with a jaw dropping negative split. I'm really hoping we get to see a Brehm v. Ritz show down at Meet of Champs but, at the moment, I'm not getting my hopes up that Ritz will be involved.

This field was truly one of the greatest ever and not simply because of the times, but because of the racers, the competitors and the hard-working determined individuals who have helped transform PA into a national powerhouse in the distance events.

Six sub 9s in the same year! Congrats PA, you have had a fantastic year. 8:55, 8:56, 8:56, 8:57, 8:57, 8:59, 9:00. 9:01, 9:02. What a year for the 3200.