Ocean Breeze and Snowflakes

By Jarrett Felix

After a week of mostly snow-outs, the PA track and field community is geared up to get back at it this weekend. As a result, the entries of the Ocean Breeze Invite are overflowing with talent up and down the performance list. I gave a quick list of PA entrants one post down (also has a link to the full performance list) but this post should act as a meet preview that I hope you will enjoy. 

2 Mile

Arguably PA's most accomplished long distance guy this year has been Methacton's Jeff Kirshenbaum. Although he doesn't have the state's fastest time (that belongs to Nick Dahl), Jeff has run 2 of the fastest 4 times in the state this year when you convert his December 2 mile time of 9:29. He will be PA's top dog in this one and should be hungry for this opportunity after missing Kevin Dare. He recently clocked a very fast solo mile and still has something to prove after he was bested by Neshaminy's Rusty Kujdych in his most recent 3k.

Gunning hard for Kirshenbaum will be a variety of PA up and comers. Seth Slavin leads the group, having run around 9:37 for 2 miles this year and holding a 4:32 mile season best. He was also the top regional finisher in XC out of PA guys in this field. LaSalle will send two guys in this event as well, top 50 XC runners Eddie Goebel and Stephen Paul. Both runners are currently in bubble contention for the state meet, but need a boost down toward 9 flat to feel more comfortable about their position. 

Matt D'Aquila from Lower Merion and Will Griffen from Cheltenham stand out as other sleepers. D'Aquila has been MIA for a while individually, but started his winter with a solid 3k. Griffen has already clocked a very nice 2 mile for himself in New York and is part of a strong Cheltenham distance squad that has a chance for a big statement weekend in the various individual events this weekend.

800m

The 800 is one of the most exciting events of the weekend on paper. In the fast heat, we have PA #1 800 and mile runner Jaxson Hoey who is looking to continue his undefeated winter. But he will get perhaps the strongest challenge in the state from Carlisle's Matt Wisner, who has not lost an indoor race to head to head PA competition in the last two years. We are missing some other big names (most notably Tucker Desko of Pennridge) but these two may be previewing a state championship battle. 

The second heat has plenty of PA talent as well. Cooper Leslie of Camp Hill will likely be doubling off the mile (we will get to that) depending on the order of events, but the heat also features Charlie Scales, Joe Cullen and Stephen McClellan. Scales has already run 1:58 this year in a fast race at the armory and is an early state medalist contender. Meanwhile, McClellan is hoping for his first big break through indoor. He ran 1:54 last outdoors as just a sophomore and won his opening 800 this winter on a slower track than the banked surface he will encounter this weekend. I think he is the guy to watch from this section.

Joe Cullen, just a sophomore I believe, was sub 2 minutes last outdoors and a part of the state champions in the 4x8 last spring. He won't be afraid of this moment and could produce a breakthrough of his own.

Mile

The mile is absurdly stacked in its own right. It has a lot of guys I personally have been eager to see contest this event with this kind of competition. Josh Hoey, the 3rd place finisher in XC, stands out as a must watch. He ran 4:17 (full mile) last year as a freshman, one of the fastest times ever by a 9th grader. The last guy to run that fast that young from PA? Craig Miller, who finished his sophomore year outdoors running about 4:06. I'm not saying Josh will be that fast any time soon, but he did run a quick 1:58 opener (might be a PR or at least close to it) and it likely doesn't hurt that his brother is running well considering their training is likely similar.

Cooper Leslie also deserves mention as a top contender in this one. I accidentally snubbed him when talking about top names in my mile podcast, but don't forget about this guy when forecasting the state medals. Leslie ran a solid race at Burdette before dropping a huge mark in Maryland to win (on a flat track) in about 4:25ish. 

Ryan Barton of Downingtown West will be back in action this weekend as well. While his teammates have been active in the individual races this year, we haven't seen much of the 4:18 sophomore. This will be his first chance to make a big statement as an individual. If West feels like they can maximize their team title odds by focusing on the individuals, they will need to pick up a nice chunk from Josh Hoey and Barton. I'm excited to see what kind of shape he's in.

Colin Wills of Malvern Prep is also in the fast heat and should be a major player. Wills was a close second at Burdette in a very quick 4:27 and is a proven, gutsy race. He ran an excellent 1200m leg at Penn Relays last spring and I believe he was at the front of the slow section of the mile a year ago at indoor states. Graduated teammate Billy McDevitt (4th indoors in the mile a year ago) ran about 4:23 at Yale last year, so that's the checkpoint Wills might have in the back of his mind.

But even with all this talent, some could argue the most intriguing part of this race is the 3k runners: Liam Galligan and Dominic Hockenbury. Galligan may or may not consider himself a 3k guy. He was almost exclusively a miler last year as a soph, but he crushed his seasoning opening 3k this year, making him an instant medal contender in the event. Now, he will look to show his stuff in the mile after missing his chance at Kevin Dare.

Meanwhile, Dominic Hockenbury will be in relatively uncharted territory. The long distance specialist is a proven stud at 3200 and 5k, but his leg speed is still, at least a little bit, in question. He's run 4:20 for that distance, but many other top 2 milers in his league have been around 4:15 or faster. After getting outkicked on the last lap for state gold a year ago, Hock seems to be putting a renewed focus on getting his speed up. He raced a 1600 against Seth Slavin last weekend (and won with a time under 4:30 I believe) and now puts himself squarely in the middle of a stacked mile field. I think we could see a big PR from him here (I admittedly don't know his fastest mile off top) and a fast mark would be a good indication of his potential to break 9 this outdoors.

In some of the others sections are guys like Liam Conway, Patrick Grant and Jack DiCintio who have all clocked very fast miles on flat tracks. Conway has been relatively quiet at this distance after crushing his opener in December. If he's progressed well from that race, he could be on the verge of something crazy fast. Patrick Grant led the LaSalle armada that took Haverford by storm earlier this month and Jack DiCintio won at Burdette this past December in one of the quicker times in recent years. 

The field also includes Conestoga's PJ Murray who has already run 3 or 4 miles around 4:30 this winter, Ryan Paradise and Will Alpaugh, a couple of D11's best milers, Joe Angelina of Penncrest, Patrick Donahue of HG Prep and Evan Addison of LaSalle. Any one of those guys could end the day with a sub 4:30 mark and improve their place in the state standings.

The Relays

There are some interesting relays on the schedule for this weekend as well. LaSalle will be running what appears to be an A team in the 4x8, hoping to add a fast 3200 relay to their 4000 relay mark. North Penn, currently fighting to stay off the bubble in their favorite event, is also set to compete and could make noise. Emmaus, Downingtown East and Cheltenham are all entered as well and each team has some very talented guys on the roster.

The meet also has a 4xMile on the schedule. Owen J Roberts is entered in the rarely run event. It should be fun to see a team compete in this off event and maybe they can even get a school record out of it. 

The 4x4 also looks like a fun race. St Joe's Prep, who ran sub 3:20 last year, will be looking for a fast mark. I think they could get involved in the Penn Wood/Abington conversation if things break right. Downingtown West also has a team entered that will include not just the state leader at 400m, Josh McLemore, but also speedster Nate Alleyne and, apparently, both Hoey brothers. If DTW drops anything mammoth in this relay it seems like the odds are against them making any sort of stab at a DMR at states as both the 4x2 and the 4x4 sandwich the DMR.

Wyomissing will also be in the fast heat, featuring Cullen and Colon, the latter of which was extremely impressive in his last performance at the slow Kutztown track.