The Etrain 11: Sub 9 Revisited

“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.” – etrain’s “3200m Recap”, May 25th 2015.

A Look at the Greatest Distance Class in State History

By Jarrett Felix

May 24th, 2014: PIAA State Championships

“I watched the AAA boys 32 form the gun. Not going to lie, I thought I somehow misread the results.” – etrain’s 3200m recap, May 24th, 2014

It was a thrilling race to watch. Dominic Deluca, a man who had soloed 9:03 and run the equivalent of sub 9 for 3,000m, helped hammer the pace alongside Tony Russell, who had already broken 9 minutes as the field charged triumphantly around the track at record pace. The meet record, 8:58.90, had stood since 1983. By the final lap, it appeared Russell was clear of the field. Colin Martin seemed his biggest challenger, but he was not closing fast enough. Then suddenly, Ross Wilson took off. He blasted around the final turn and charged by Russell to take his first ever individual state gold. Wilson’s time of 8:56.29 was #3 ever and it broke the 21 year old record. Behind him Russell and Martin added sub 9s, making it the first race in PA history where multiple runners had broken 9 minutes. 

It was a performance the state had waited for 21 years featuring one of the state’s best distance runners of all time and two of his greatest rivals. How long would we have to wait for an encore? 

September 20th, 2014: PIAA Foundation XC Invitational

Running is an incredibly complicated sport. You can train for hours, doing so many little things and feel like you are getting nowhere when suddenly the breakthrough comes. It’s not just one thing that gets you success, it’s everything. “I trained well throughout the summer and just tried to take good care of my body. I didn’t really do anything new besides swim in my pool along with my runs … I was running workouts well and just wanted to see what I had.”

Paul Power of Spring Ford toed the line at the 7th annual “Pre-States” meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania among a stacked field of top names. Surrounding him were PA’s early state leaders in the 5k, names like Matt Mcgoey, Hunter Wharrey, Jake Brophy and Kevin James. He was a relative afterthought among the stacked field, 

“Paul Power is a defending state medalist and sub 15:40 guy who amazingly flies under the radar on a consistent basis. This is his chance to change that.” – September 19th, etrain’s“Thought #7”

James and Brophy led the race early, but Power took over at the end and powered home to an unthinkable 15:50, breaking the meet record and putting him as the #4 fastest individual in the course’s brief history behind two state champions and a silver medalist. “I finally realized what I was capable of at Foundation. This was probably my best race in my life, as I was just so motivated to beat the other ‘top names’. I felt like I was slowly improving, but this race surprised me.”

James was second in 15:54, under the meet record but still had to settle for Silver. Brophy and Mcgoey took the 3-4 spots in the loaded field.

September 27th, 2014: McQuaid Invitational

Sometimes, being a part of a great team can bring forth great runners in unexpected ways. The boys from Conestoga had done a solid job in 2013 on the trails and now were looking to turn that momentum into a district and state championship. At the lead of the group was Andrew Marston, who had been strong the previous year with 9:17/15:50 type of times, but was not at the top of many ranking systems.

Of course that all changed emphatically at Rochester when Marston had his first major breakthrough of the year. The Seniorblasted through the course in a winning time of 14:31.3 for 3 Miles, beating studs like Bryce Millar from Fayetteville-Manlius and besting the next best PA runner (two-time state medalist Sam Webb) by over 27 seconds.

October 4th, 2014: Paul Short Invitational

There are certain times that have a magic feel about them. The five minute mile, the two minute 800m. For District One Pennsylvania Cross Country runners, the most prolific mark that exists is the sub 15 at Lehigh. A little down the road in Easton, Pennsylvania, a District 11 runner was looking to attach his own name to the narrative.

From the gun, Abert was off to a fast pace. He did not look around or wait for others to follow and instead blitzed his way around the grass, leading through the mile in 4:45. That was a five second margin over a pack that included past and future state champs Griffin Molino and Jaxson Hoey as well as out of state stud Jack Jibb. 

In the end, there was no one even in sight behind Abert as he demolished his competition, the meet record and clocked an unthinkable 14:55 on Lehigh’s historic course. Colin Abert had made a statement that he was ready for big things his Senioryear.

November 1st 2014: PIAA State Championships

States is always an exciting time. We see the best guys peaking and hungry for the most important thing in the sport: state gold. And on November 1st, the competitiveness of the top names produced a thrilling and record setting race. After Griffin Molino clocked a near record of 15:47 in A, the race was on for the record in AAA.  A tight pack of top runners all attacked the course. Abert, James, Brophy, Marston, Mcgoey, Power, Webb, Comber, Wharrey. All of these names were up doing work towards the front. 

Slowly, some of the top names started to pull away and then Brophy threw down his unreal kick. Lift off. Brophy’s closing blast put him not just into first place in the race but first place in the course’s history, running a mind-blowing 15:24. It smashed the previous record by 21 seconds. 

Kevin James ran his way to second in 15:38 and Andrew Marston grabbed third in 15:40. All three men had beaten Tony Russell’s old course record of 15:45. All in all, the weekend produced 8 of the top 12 times ever on the course. When you add in Power’s early season 15:50, that makes 9 of the top 13 in on year.

November 29th, 2014: Footlocker Northeast Regional

“Comber has been consistently solid all year. He was 6th at states, gave Brophy a run at Leagues and his consistent success makes you think he could just get in this race, stick his nose in it and steal a spot to Cali. However I’m picking against him.” – etrain’s “Footlocker Northeast Preview”, November 20th, 2014

Shows what I know. 

The post season was Comber’s real coming out party. Lost in the shuffle of the state champions and the new all time leaders on the course, Comber finished 4th in a difficult Northeast Regional, beating PA’s studs Jake Brophy, Colin Abert and others. His time of 15:36 on the Van Cortland course puts him in the top 5in PA history since 2006.

Brophy’s 5th place finish also earned him a spot in California. Comber finished 20th at Nationals while Brophy was 25th.

Indoor Track 2014-2015

Over the course of the cross country season there had been a variety of breakthroughs for the state’s top distance runners. Power at Pre States, Marston at McQuaid, Abert at Paul Short, Brophy at States and Comber at Regionals. As the group switched their focus to the track, their seasons took a variety of turns.

Power ran a sharp early season 3k and he and Abert both impressed at the Burdette Invitational with victories. Marston helped his Conestoga relay team establish itself as a state title contender while running state qualifying times in the 3k and mile. Brophy and Comber continued their budding rivalry with some impressive 3k and mile match ups on the indoor oval, with Brophy getting the best of Casey in this one.

But the indoor track season really belonged to Matt Mcgoey and Kevin James. Mcgoey stole the 3,000m title in fantastic fashion. He produced a truly impressive kick that littered the milesplitnetworks and earned him his first individual gold over Dominic Hockenbury in a winning effort of 8:35.53. For James, the meet started as many of his other championship races had, he raced fantastically, ran faster than the meet record, but had to settle for silver against state legend Sam Ritz. However, James capped off his day with a huge achievement: his first state gold medal. He anchored O’Hara’s DMR to a come from behind victory on his 1600m leg besting a Conestoga team that had beaten them to the medal stand during XC.

After watching a record setting indoor season follow a record setting cross country season, the stage was set for something big during the outdoor season. 

On March 31st, 2015 an article was released on etrain’s blog titled “9 Minutes” analyzing the chances that another runner from PA would add their name to the list of sub 9 two milers. As of the writing of the post, just 9 individuals had cracked the barrier, including a record setting three in 2014 (the first time ever that more than one runner had broken nine in the same season, let alone the same race). 

“The truth is, it’s really hard to get there. That’s why only 9 people have done it. But runners are rapidly improving at this distance more so than any other. This class is loaded and, bottom  line, fast breeds fast. 

Let the chase begin.” 

Outdoor Track 2015

The outdoor season was a heavy weight boxing match. Every meet result showcased a new runner throwing a big punch.

April 3rd- Andrew Marston runs dominating 8:39.42 3k PR at the Colonial Relays

April 4th- Kevin James and Jake Brophy dual in sub optimal conditions to 8:45.76-8:46.65

April 11th- Casey Comber runs 9:26.18 at Bensalem, Matt McGoey runs 9:21.13 at TSTCA Outdoors, Paul Power runs 9:20.55 at Viking

April 18th- Colin Abert runs 9:17.75 to win at Shippensburg Invitational

No runner wanted to give an inch to their competitors and as the scoreboard watching continued, the runners began to enter the most important stretch of the year.

April 23rd, 2015: The Penn Relays Carnival

Entered in the race were top PA runners Dominic Hockenbury, Casey Comber, Jake Brophy and Kevin James, each of whom were looking to earn themselves the coveted Penn Relays watch and a nice PR to go with it. In the early going, it was Kevin James who pushed himself out front in the lead group. Yet as the race neared it’s conclusion it was Jake Brophy who threw the big punch, dropping a killer final lap and blowing by James, running a massive 8:29 PR. Comber also threw down a strong kick with an 8:34, placing among the top names in the deep field. James crumbled a bit down the home stretch and with a busy league schedule on the horizon, it seemed that we would not see another fast time out of him until Shippensburg.

Meanwhile, Jake Brophy was just getting started.

May 1st, 2015: Henderson Invitational, the first sub 9

“What is it about that place?”

The anonymous comment in the Henderson Discussion thread says it all. The magic of the track that had produced sub 9s from Springer, Kaulbach and Russell in previous years added another name to the list: Jake Brophy. For the first time in state history, a Junior was under the 9 minute barrier. He closed furiously on the final lap, breaking 60 seconds to clinch an 8:57 time that featured a roughly 7 second negative split.

When the dust settled, the race results showed an incredible 8 runners under 9:07 including a 9:01 for Andrew Marston, a roughly 16 second PR. In third behind Andrew was sophomore Nick Dahl who ran a state class record for his grade producing a 9:02. Power rounded out that elite 8 with his 9:06.80.

“At Henderson, my goal was to run 9:10 and I just wanted to stay with the pack as long as possible cuase I knew it was going to be fast. I decided to push it with 800 to go which ended up being a little too early … I was really happy with 9:06 but I was 8th. I wanted to finish higher and this really motivated me because I wanted to medal at states.”

The final results showed 8 of the top 40 in state 3200m history at the time including #5, #13, #14 and #25.

May 2nd to May 9th, 2015: League Week

After Henderson, things didn’t slow down. If anything, they sped up. At Delcos Kevin James completed an historic triple gold with wins in all three distance events: 9:22/4:21/1:55.01. At his conference championships, Casey Comber clocked a solo 4:14.20 in the 1600m and doubled back to add a PR of 1:56. In the same meet Jake Brophy showcased his excellent range with a 9:28 win in the 3200 followed by a 1:55 win in the 8. He also added a leg on the team’s gold medal winning 7:51.15 4x800m (beating Pennridge and CB West among others).

Andrew Marston added a PR of his own in the 1600m running 4:16.43 at Central Leagues. Colin Abert dropped a bombshell of his own, running 4:14.56. But perhaps the performance of the weekend came from Spring Ford’s Paul Power. 

“We were going for our fifth straight team title and I was willing to do anything so we would win. I had to take it one race at a time to be successful in all of them, especially Saturday.”

At his league championships he split a 1:54 in a come from behind 4x8 win for Spring Ford. He then bested Dylan Eddingerin a very quick 1600m, winning in a time of 4:13.35. He capped it off with a silver medal worthy 1:57.16 in the 800m.

“(In the 4x8), I came from fourth to win. I surprised myself in that one … The 1600 was one of the craziest races I’ve ever been in. Dylan took it out from the gun. I kept trying to push past Dylan and I just couldn’t break him. He is an unbelievable competitor. I surged multiple times each laps but he responded each time stronger. I finally pulled away in the last 50 meters.”

Rounding out the league weekend was a 4:17.86-1:54.78 double from Carlisle’s two time state champ Zach Brehm. It was a performance two mile fans likely paid little attention to.

May 14th, 2015: WPIAL Championships, 2nd sub 9

The defending indoor state champion at 3,000m Matt Mcgoeyhad dominated the 3200m at the Baldwin Invitational on May 1st, running a blazing 9:07.11. But few paid any attention to this mark amidst the bonanza that was the  Henderson 3200m. Perhaps it was this extra fuel to the fire that inspired Mcgoey at the 2015 WPIAL Championships.

From the start, he got out quickly, running an opening 1600m at sub 4:30 and establishing himself as a leader. Once in the lead, he continued to run controlled and power along the track, late in the closing moments of the district championship. As he noticed his splits, he realized sub 9 was in play and powered home, pushing himself to hit the legendary mark and break a historic program’s school record.

When the clocked stopped, the time read 8:56.43. It was the 4thfastest time in state history and an incredible margin of victory. Unlike Henderson, Mcgoey was not in a loaded race filled with people chasing fast times. He simply went out and soloed one of the fastest times ever. 

The east should be on alert.

May 15th-16th, 2015: District 3 Championships

Zach Brehm has always been a team player at the District Championships. Carlisle has chased team gold and they have used the doubling, tripling and quadrupling abilities of Brehm to capitalize. In 2015, after a very quiet season, Brehm finally unleashed. Peaking at the right moment once again, Brehmstruck first in the 3200m with a 9:09 PR and gold. Then he added golds in the 1600m (4:18) and 800m (1:55) for the extremely rare triple gold at Districts. Clearly, he was in historic shape.

But again, he had made this triple before and it was clear to most that Brehm’s best shot at state gold was likely in the 1600m where he could avoid Mcgoey and Brophy as well as John Lewis. He was also the defending champion in that event and held a 4:07 converted PR. So the 3200m runners likely overlooked Brehm once more.

May 16th, 2015: District 1 Championships

In District 1, the 3200m runners got a little fancy. After so many had dropped excellent 1600 PRs at leagues, it was hard to project what each runner would choose to focus on at Districts, especially considering the depth at 3200m. 

Power said, “That day (at leagues) made my decision really difficult going into districts. I did not get much sleep that week. In the end, I figured to try the double. I felt that I couldn’t abandon the 3200 after I’ve been running it since freshman year.”

Many of the top runners opted to double dip with the 1600m and so the 3200m seemed destine for a tactical start. But Spring Ford’s Paul Power was not interested in playing games. He set out a very quick pace to start the day.

“At districts, I just instinctively took it out. Before I realized it, I was way out and I felt good. And I thought, I have a chance to be a district champion. I knew the other guys were all doubling and weren’t going to push themselves too much so mid-race I decided to go for it.” 

Power opened up a strong lead, but late in the race his big move looked like it might have cost him gold.

“I used up a lot of my energy in that race. I was kicking until the end and I did not ease up as some people may have thought, just looking at the times. I was waiting for Brophy to fly by me on the last 100 but I ended up hanging on.”

Power claimed his first district title and put his name in the record books, even if it cost him in the 16 later that day. Ultimately, the doubling for all of the top names proved to be for nought as the top finishers in the 32 all scratched out of the 16 to focus on the deuce.

The stage was set for a legendary State Meet.

Etrain’s State 3200m Preview: http://www.therealtrain.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-3200m-preview.html

When the entries finally came in, the D1 crew had decided to focus all their energies on the 3200m. In fact, from the top competitors list, it appeared only Brehm would be attempting the 32 with any sort of real prelims in his legs.

The race was historically stacked, covered in depth in the preview linked above, with two sub 9s and multiple state champions set to toe the line. It was set to be the greatest 3200m in state history and, to etrain at least, the top 8 seemed clear: Zach Brehm, Jake Brophy, Matt McGoey, Casey Comber, Andrew Marston, Paul Power and Colin Abert in some order. The greatest group of 8 2 milers in one race that PA had ever seen. 

May 23rd 2015: State Championships, 4 More Under

The talk was feverish over the course of the week …

“I can’t see Brophy not winning this. I think the pace goes out hard, 4:26, and Brophy puts on the burners in the last lap to run 8:44.” – May 18th, 2015 @ 7:09

“James 8:48.62 has run a lot of 800s this season and has the speed to outkick Brophy and McGoey for the win and the new state record.” – May 18th, 2015 @ 11:23

“I’m sorry but there’s no way Brehm will win this. He’s going to be tired from prelims the day before and has to save to help his 4x8 and the other open events he is entered in. The field is just too strong for him to win it without being fresh.” – May 21st, 2015 @ 9:39

“Marston gets the title and shocks the PA track community” – Garrett Zatlin

“I was amazed by (Mcgoey’s) 3200 at D7 and I think he’s going to prove too much for the rest of these guys” – Evan Hatton

“There are just so many good runners in this year’s 3200.” – May 22nd, 2015 @ 12:16 AM

A link to race videos: http://www.therealtrain.blogspot.com/2015/05/state-coverage-overview.html

What a race. The build up was amazing and the event itself delivered. Brehm puts on a brilliant front to back move for the historic career triple in the 32-16-8. Abert puts up a killer redemption run and snatches silver, nearly hanging on for gold. Kevin James runs 8:57, a huge PR to round out an amazing resume. And then Paul Power adds his name to the sub 9 list, sneaking his way under in a thrilling performance.

“For states my goal was to get a medal and break 9:00. Before the season, I would have never thought (that was possible). I thought that a 4:30 mile was pretty good by itself. As I saw the clock change from 8:59 to 9:00 as I crossed the line I was scared out of my mind. I just wanted to break 9 so badly that I couldn’t stop looking at the scoreboard, waiting for the time. It felt like all the hard work paid off and was worth something.”

The 7th and 8th place finishers in the race (the last two medal spots) had PRs under 9 minutes. It’s hard to imagine that ever being duplicated.

June 19th, 2015: New Balance Outdoor Nationals, lucky number 7

After nearly a month of down time after the state championships, Nick Dahl from the independent league school Germantown Friend’s reemerged to give us one last epic performance of the historic year. The sophomore, who had not run a serious two mile since May 1st at Henderson, hopped on the track in a rainy meet down in North Carolina to take on the best in the nation. A year earlier, he had turned heads when he won the freshman 2 mile in meet record time (9:19.07 as just a freshman). Now, as a sophomore, he was ready to break some more barriers. 

Dahl ran hard and finished 3rd in the National Championships, coming through 3,000m in 8:27.22 before turning on the jets on the final 200+ meters to run a time of 9:01.81, finishing less than a second from second place. His two mile time of 9:01.81 converts to 8:58.67 for 3200m, making Dahl the 7th sub 9 two miler of the year. He also became the first sophomore to crack the 9 minute barrier in state history.

***

In one year the sub 9 list went from 9 names to 16 as the group of PA studs made an all out assault on the all-time list. Over the course of the year, 21 runners broke the elite 9:20 mark with 12 cracking 9:10. Two underclassmen broke 9 minutes in the same year. Prior to 2014, there had not been two runners to break 9 in even in the same season. In almost any other year, each of these runners would have been stars and dominant champions, but instead they shared the spotlight and, in exchange, received fast times and a spot in an historic group in history.

Here’s how Paul Power described it: “Overall I’m really happy with how my season ended. I’ve surprised myself a lot this year but I guess it was just a produce of all the work I put in. I am truly honored to be a part of such a historic group. I would not have been able to run as fast as I did without those guys out there with me. They have pushed me to heights that I only dreamed of before. It is a special sort of dynamic that we have. We are friends and competitors and I’m so excited that Casey and Andrew will be my teammates next at Nova.”

What an amazing group of runners to come through the PA High School season. Here is where they stack up on etrain’s complied PA All-Time list:

3. Zach Brehm 8:55.60

4. Colin Abert 8:56.00

6. Matt Mcgoey 8:56.43

8. Kevin James 8:57.49

9. Jake Brophy 8:57.68

10. Nick Dahl 8:58.67c

15. Paul Power 8:59.87

18. Casey Comber 9:00.95

19. Andrew Marston 9:01.25

I guess the only question now is, how long will we have to wait for an encore?