Had to split up the weekend recaps into a two-parter, so check out Part 1 (i.e. everything not Yale and TFCAofGP) here.
TFCAofGP #5
CB West, fresh off a dynamite 4x800m victory at Lavino Relays, unleashed some of their more prominent individual runners this weekend. Most notable was the team's fearless leader Rock Fortna, who rolled to the 800m victory in a very quick time of 1:58.25, defeating Abington's usual anchor leg Keion Broadus in a battle of two of the state's best 4x8 closers. Broadus ran his own impressive mark of 2:00.98. Fortna is starting to turn the corner it appears after a good, but not jaw dropping, start. After the XC leap that Rock made, I really felt that he could be a dynamite force on the track. This is a big step forward to join the state's elite in the event.
Matt Town of Perk Valley finished 3rd in 2:01.34. He has run 1:57.1 (last spring) and looks like he is beginning to hit top form with this run. James Abrahams (2:03.33) and Tim Radwanski (2:03.99) rounded out the top five spots in the race. Penn Wood's Jahi Smith and Pennridge's Solomon Araneta ran 2:05 and 2:06 respectively, giving their teams strong pieces towards building their state relay line-up. Daniel Santiago of North Penn and Christian Craig of William Tennent also added 2:06 800m runs, strong performances from both individuals. Both of their teams will hope to make a dent in the 4x8/DMR relay standings late in the year and maybe sneak into states.
In the mile, Souderton's Connor McMenamin got a strong victory, beating Eddie Goebel of LaSalle and Matt Kraus of Tennent by less than a second, all three men running in the 4:35 range. I'd argue that all of these guys were running slightly off their best distance (McMenamin and Goebel are likely best at 3k, Kraus at 800m), but all still clocked very impressive and gutsy runs in a competitive race. Ben Heintz of CR North had one of his best individual performances of the winter with a 4:37.34 for 4th and Jeff Montgomery helped Perk Valley continue to accumulate some hardware with a 4:39.08.
In the 3k, state medalist Brian Iatarola beat his cross town rival Josh Goetz in an East vs. West showdown. The two seniors clocked 9:11 and 9:14 for 3,000m and finished ahead of fellow sub 9:20 man Stephen Paul (9:17 for a loaded LaSalle squad). Iatarola is doing a lot of confident running so far this year. I've really been impressive with what I have seen from his throughout the year and he has shown range from 5k down to 800m in the last 2 months or so. Meanwhile, Goetz has held his own as well, running a solid 1200m on the (former) state leader in the DMR and now adding this 3k performance. Both guys just seem confident and determined at this point in the season and that makes them dangerous in the right race to drop big time.
The 4x8 was likely the race of the day in Division I. Last week I marveled at the fact that, without two of their best 800m runners, CB East was able to run 8:17 and hit the SQG at Lavino. Clearly they had the depth to make some noise when they reinserted Ata Shahideh and Jake Brophy. Well CB East did just that at the TFCAofGP and added an 8:06.20 to go along with their 10:39 DMR. In the process, CB East beat both Pennridge and Abington, two of the early state favorites, who ran 8:12 and 8:14. Now Abington was running without two of their best legs in Jake Good (400m) and Broadus, but it appears that Pennridge may have thrown down their "A" squad (they had a 2:06 in the open, but Desko, Espinal and Howell were available for duty). That's a big win for CB East. It's worth noting that East did make the COA last spring in this very event and they do have one of the best XC runners in state history on their roster. But what will they choose to do with all this talent at states? What will Brophy do? Plenty of questions still remain.
CR South ran a very strong 8:24 for 4th and Pennsbury, the defending state champs, quietly continue to drop big time in the relay, cutting down to 8:28 now with still plenty of time to make up more ground. I still haven't seen Kersten's name in results so, if he can return to the line-up healthy, Pennsbury may get a big lift from their 1:55 man.
In perhaps my favorite result of the day, the boys of Neshaminy dropped a 10:47.54 to dominate the DMR over a very strong Cheltenham team (who ran 11:00.94) and Upper Darby (11:11.16). Neshaminy, who likely had Conway on the 1200m and Rusty Kujdych on the 16, stunned me with this result, but I suppose I should have seen the potential for this race coming. Just last week, I remarked on how improved their distance squad had been recently and I actually wrote an article last year about how they were a team to watch in 2015. Conway's development as an 800m-1600m guy is truly remarkable considering his 400m chops and speaks to his testament to work hard and advance his fitness in uncomfortable territory. Meanwhile, Rusty is running way above his age considering he is just a sophomore. The kid seems to have a natural instinct for the track. These guys have clearly taken a big leap forward and, depending on how they play their cards at states, could make big strides for the program and bring home their first distance medal on the track since who knows when.
At 800m, Joe Previdi continued his winning ways for Masterman, taking down Noah Chandler of SCHA for the gold in the open 800m. Previdi clocked 2:03.51 to beat out Chandler's 2:04.87. Andy Leith of the Haverford School took third in 2:06.11. After the "A" XC runner took gold, independent leaguer Jakob Jorgensen took down Jack Carmody in a mile show down: 4:39.59 to 4:39.89. This is a strong win for Jorgensen over a guy who has already been down around 4:35 this year in Carmody. Also worth noting Lukas Marcelis of Wissahickon was back on the track, running a solid 4:42.22 for 3rd. Glen Mills continues to show their distance potential as well thanks to Shannon Lambert's 4th place finish in the race. Also as alluded to yesterday, Cardinal O'Hara got a second straight 3k victory thanks this time to Gavin Inglis who rolled to a 9:28.31 time. Elias Lindgren, a sophomore from Episcopal, was second in 9:41, giving his school two returners in the top two of their respective distance events (Jorgensen).
Strath Haven got the victory in the 4x800m, running 8:35 to beat out a good run out of Friend's Central, who ran 8:39. Lower Merion, meanwhile, took the DMR title cruising to victory, with an 11:27. Lower Merion has shown some nice potential in the early individual events and I think their DMR can drop a good chunk of time in the right race. Haven, meanwhile, is a proven middle distance program with a top notch runner in Gordon to lead the charge. They too could make a nice dip in time if things break right down the stretch.
Yale Invitational
In the boys DMR under 600 (i.e. small schools), Holy Ghost Prep was PA's top team, finishing 3rd overall, and racing to a 10:51.02. This was a very strong race from HGP who has a solid staple of milers and has managed to caress it nicely into the relay. Donahue on the lead off leg seems to be working quite well and he has been a gutsy force on that leg. Lennon also is making consistent improvements at the mile distance. He dropped his open PR down to 4:37 this weekend in the open mile at Yale (no idea what his split was on the relay). In my opinion, Prep is still going to need to drop a few more seconds off this time to get into state qualifying contention, as I expect a few more teams to go after fast times. However, I also feel that they are more than capable of continuing to improve. I like their balance and think they can contend as a sleeper at PSU.
In the championship section of the DMR, two of the titans of distance running faced off when Germantown Friends went head to head with West Chester Henderson. GFS, who returned most if not all of their 2015 all-state relay, was a popular pick for a fast performance on Saturday, while Henderson was much more of a question mark. But the playing field quickly became even when GFS's lead off leg Grayson Hepp had the baton knocked out of his hands at the start. Despite the drop and a stumble to try and restart the race, Hepp still managed a 3:18.8 on his leg. From there, the team set out to try and chase back into the pack, some of their legs perhaps going out a bit over their head. The rest of the relay split 53.7, 2:03.7 and then finally 4:14.5 (!) for Nick Dahl on the anchor. In the end, despite the drop, GFS still finished with a state leading time in 10:31.34. You can catch Garrett Zatlin's interview with them post race here.
Meanwhile, West Chester Henderson held their own in the pack as well. A team of three juniors and a sophomore cranked out a 10:42.64, some six seconds faster than last year's qualifying team, and made their presence felt among the state leaderboard. Spencer Smucker anchored the squad, apparently running down in the 4:26-27 range for Henderson. As usual, it looks like Kevin Kelly is finding a way to keep the team in the mix even after key graduations. Having Smucker back on the indoor track is huge and I think this will help his outdoor season a lot as well. The emergence of Josh Richard also seems to be an important development for Henderson.
For GFS, this meet was a huge statement. After Dahl's big PR, he came back in a loaded 3k and managed an 8:39.71 for the clear state lead. One day after the baton drop, Grayson Hepp came back out with a vengeance on day 2, running an extremely impressive 1:55.50 for second overall in the 800m and, I believe, #2 in PA behind only Jaxson Hoey. Teammate Jonnie Plass added a 2:02.36 in his section, roughly a second and half faster than he ran the night before, despite tired legs and no running start. Their 4x8, which was missing their three best 800m guys, still ran an 8:22.51, including a 2:03.7 split by their second leg. Overall, it's hard not to be impressed by this team's depth and talent. And really, I wasn't expecting them to have quite this much speed available on the roster. Also worth noting, their 4x4 is the same four guys as their DMR.
Not to drag on about this, but 10:31 for this time of year is no joke. Couple that with the fact that they left at least 5 seconds on the table with the baton drop (Hepp's 1:55 on Day 2 says on the right day he can definitely break 3:10) and you are looking at 10:25ish on a peak day for January. If they focus all their efforts into this event for states (which would be a big sacrifice for both Hepp and Dahl), I think sub 10:20 is in play, as is the state meet record. To win the DMR, you need to have a game changing leg (check this post out if you want to read more on my theories) and Dahl running 4:14 with a 2:04 opening carry may put him in that game changer conversation.
But GFS was not the only team who made a statement at Yale. Bishop Shanahan, one of the less known programs in the loaded Ches-mont league, entered the championship section of the 4x800m hoping to clock a fast time to put them in a more comfortable state qualifying position. I speculated about the 8:10 barrier for this team in my preview, but when the dust settled on race day, Shanahan crossed the line with a PA #2 8:03. Splits were reportedly around 2:01.8, 2:02.4, 2:00.1, 1:59.4 with their sophomore Logan Yoquinto taking the anchor leg duties (the other three legs are seniors). The team finished second overall, the top team running 8:01 and third place a distance 8:16. These guys are a competitive bunch and, as I've said before, they have a tendency to race up to their competition.
Abington is still clearly the favorite in my eyes and both Central Bucks teams have shown big potential with their run away 8:06 victories. Then you have State College and Pennridge lurking after huge years in 2015. And maybe other teams like LaSalle, CR North, GFS, etc who have depth could sneak into the mix. I'm sure I'm leaving some teams out as well (will DT West do anything? What does Penn Wood have?). The 4x8, to me, just seems like an absolutely loaded event, especially as event #1 on the schedule. But you can't deny Shanahan is now firmly in the mix with the top teams.
Besides Nick Dahl in the 3,000, PA did very well for itself with a slew of Ches-mont stand outs. Henry Sappey of Downingtown West ran a strong PR for himself with an 8:56.13 for 15th overall and 5th in his section. Spencer Smucker doubled back from his DMR leg impressively with a 9:01.11. Rob Moser, in heat 3, ran a 9:04.28, and DT West and Henderson each added a second sub 9:20 man with Downing (9:16.96) and Ryherd (9:17.05). As far as I could tell there were no Hoeys and no Barton for DTW in this one, meaning Sappey, Ryherd and co could focus up on getting a fast 3k time. It's still unclear exactly where they feel they want to put their resources at states, but it's hard to see a situation where Sappey isn't running the 3k and competing for a medal in the event.
Rob Moser was very impressive in this one. I like the way he has been racing so far both in the fall and the winter and his gutsy running translated very well in this fast race. When all is said and done 9:04 probably doesn't get you into the state meet, but Moser is set up now to chase a fast race at either TFCAofGP Last Chance or Meet of Champions (or even the PTFCA Carnival) and could potentially find the extra gears to end up sub 9 and really improve his odds. There are still lots of guys left who have yet to run a fast 3k (Nate Henderson, Hockenbury, Brophy, everybody out West), but, for now, Moser is right there in the mix for top 12.
Bears High School Invitational
Surprise! I didn't notice this meet's results the first time through but I thought there were some excellent performances. For starters, Matt Wisner continues to be practically unbeatable indoors. He won both the 400m and the 800m, in addition to what was likely a key leg on the team's 11:11 DMR. His times were 51 and 2 flat. Carlisle also got excellent miles from frosh Jack Wisner (4:38) and Isaac Kole (4:40). I think if they really focus up at a fast meet (DMR was the last event at this meet and they won by nearly 30 seconds), they can take a big chunk out of that 11:11 DMR. And realistically, Carlisle is extremely dangerous in this relay if they can find a way to get into states. I'd love to see Wisner on the 1200m leg of this one doing something crazy. That could be his sweet spot.
Jeff Kirshenbaum of Methacton, one of the early ballers this winter, continued his success with a blazing fast 4:26.46 mile to win by nearly 10 seconds over John Conner of Spring Ford. Kirshenbaum has been on an absurd plane since XC and has perhaps gone underrated admist all the other craziness that is PA fast times. But he is absolutely rolling right now and, besides one small hiccup at Burdette, has been crushing fast marks at every turn. I'm not sure he will really pursue the mile (3k seems less deep, especially if Brophy does the mile again), but he clearly could have a ton of success in that event as well.
Strath Haven got a 2:01.06 800m out of Ahmir Gordon for second to Wisner while also clocking 4:39.00 in the mile (Ian Reid). I believe this meet was the same day as TFCAofGP, meaning Strath Haven may have ran their gold medal winning 8:35 without two of their best runners. Meanwhile, Spring Ford had John Conner, second in the mile at 4:35.07, and Zach Smith, cruised to a big 3k win in 9:21. They also got a 2:07 leg from Tyler Uba for 5th in the 800m. District 11 Emmaus had nice runs from Ryan Paradise at 800m (2:04.09) and Greg Jiandl (4:39.11). That duo has made them top contenders in D11 for 4x8 in the past and is setting them up to contend once again in 2016. Could they throw together a DMR that contends for sub 11? I wouldn't completely rule it out.
Strath Haven got the victory in the 4x800m, running 8:35 to beat out a good run out of Friend's Central, who ran 8:39. Lower Merion, meanwhile, took the DMR title cruising to victory, with an 11:27. Lower Merion has shown some nice potential in the early individual events and I think their DMR can drop a good chunk of time in the right race. Haven, meanwhile, is a proven middle distance program with a top notch runner in Gordon to lead the charge. They too could make a nice dip in time if things break right down the stretch.
Yale Invitational
In the boys DMR under 600 (i.e. small schools), Holy Ghost Prep was PA's top team, finishing 3rd overall, and racing to a 10:51.02. This was a very strong race from HGP who has a solid staple of milers and has managed to caress it nicely into the relay. Donahue on the lead off leg seems to be working quite well and he has been a gutsy force on that leg. Lennon also is making consistent improvements at the mile distance. He dropped his open PR down to 4:37 this weekend in the open mile at Yale (no idea what his split was on the relay). In my opinion, Prep is still going to need to drop a few more seconds off this time to get into state qualifying contention, as I expect a few more teams to go after fast times. However, I also feel that they are more than capable of continuing to improve. I like their balance and think they can contend as a sleeper at PSU.
In the championship section of the DMR, two of the titans of distance running faced off when Germantown Friends went head to head with West Chester Henderson. GFS, who returned most if not all of their 2015 all-state relay, was a popular pick for a fast performance on Saturday, while Henderson was much more of a question mark. But the playing field quickly became even when GFS's lead off leg Grayson Hepp had the baton knocked out of his hands at the start. Despite the drop and a stumble to try and restart the race, Hepp still managed a 3:18.8 on his leg. From there, the team set out to try and chase back into the pack, some of their legs perhaps going out a bit over their head. The rest of the relay split 53.7, 2:03.7 and then finally 4:14.5 (!) for Nick Dahl on the anchor. In the end, despite the drop, GFS still finished with a state leading time in 10:31.34. You can catch Garrett Zatlin's interview with them post race here.
Meanwhile, West Chester Henderson held their own in the pack as well. A team of three juniors and a sophomore cranked out a 10:42.64, some six seconds faster than last year's qualifying team, and made their presence felt among the state leaderboard. Spencer Smucker anchored the squad, apparently running down in the 4:26-27 range for Henderson. As usual, it looks like Kevin Kelly is finding a way to keep the team in the mix even after key graduations. Having Smucker back on the indoor track is huge and I think this will help his outdoor season a lot as well. The emergence of Josh Richard also seems to be an important development for Henderson.
For GFS, this meet was a huge statement. After Dahl's big PR, he came back in a loaded 3k and managed an 8:39.71 for the clear state lead. One day after the baton drop, Grayson Hepp came back out with a vengeance on day 2, running an extremely impressive 1:55.50 for second overall in the 800m and, I believe, #2 in PA behind only Jaxson Hoey. Teammate Jonnie Plass added a 2:02.36 in his section, roughly a second and half faster than he ran the night before, despite tired legs and no running start. Their 4x8, which was missing their three best 800m guys, still ran an 8:22.51, including a 2:03.7 split by their second leg. Overall, it's hard not to be impressed by this team's depth and talent. And really, I wasn't expecting them to have quite this much speed available on the roster. Also worth noting, their 4x4 is the same four guys as their DMR.
Not to drag on about this, but 10:31 for this time of year is no joke. Couple that with the fact that they left at least 5 seconds on the table with the baton drop (Hepp's 1:55 on Day 2 says on the right day he can definitely break 3:10) and you are looking at 10:25ish on a peak day for January. If they focus all their efforts into this event for states (which would be a big sacrifice for both Hepp and Dahl), I think sub 10:20 is in play, as is the state meet record. To win the DMR, you need to have a game changing leg (check this post out if you want to read more on my theories) and Dahl running 4:14 with a 2:04 opening carry may put him in that game changer conversation.
But GFS was not the only team who made a statement at Yale. Bishop Shanahan, one of the less known programs in the loaded Ches-mont league, entered the championship section of the 4x800m hoping to clock a fast time to put them in a more comfortable state qualifying position. I speculated about the 8:10 barrier for this team in my preview, but when the dust settled on race day, Shanahan crossed the line with a PA #2 8:03. Splits were reportedly around 2:01.8, 2:02.4, 2:00.1, 1:59.4 with their sophomore Logan Yoquinto taking the anchor leg duties (the other three legs are seniors). The team finished second overall, the top team running 8:01 and third place a distance 8:16. These guys are a competitive bunch and, as I've said before, they have a tendency to race up to their competition.
Abington is still clearly the favorite in my eyes and both Central Bucks teams have shown big potential with their run away 8:06 victories. Then you have State College and Pennridge lurking after huge years in 2015. And maybe other teams like LaSalle, CR North, GFS, etc who have depth could sneak into the mix. I'm sure I'm leaving some teams out as well (will DT West do anything? What does Penn Wood have?). The 4x8, to me, just seems like an absolutely loaded event, especially as event #1 on the schedule. But you can't deny Shanahan is now firmly in the mix with the top teams.
Besides Nick Dahl in the 3,000, PA did very well for itself with a slew of Ches-mont stand outs. Henry Sappey of Downingtown West ran a strong PR for himself with an 8:56.13 for 15th overall and 5th in his section. Spencer Smucker doubled back from his DMR leg impressively with a 9:01.11. Rob Moser, in heat 3, ran a 9:04.28, and DT West and Henderson each added a second sub 9:20 man with Downing (9:16.96) and Ryherd (9:17.05). As far as I could tell there were no Hoeys and no Barton for DTW in this one, meaning Sappey, Ryherd and co could focus up on getting a fast 3k time. It's still unclear exactly where they feel they want to put their resources at states, but it's hard to see a situation where Sappey isn't running the 3k and competing for a medal in the event.
Rob Moser was very impressive in this one. I like the way he has been racing so far both in the fall and the winter and his gutsy running translated very well in this fast race. When all is said and done 9:04 probably doesn't get you into the state meet, but Moser is set up now to chase a fast race at either TFCAofGP Last Chance or Meet of Champions (or even the PTFCA Carnival) and could potentially find the extra gears to end up sub 9 and really improve his odds. There are still lots of guys left who have yet to run a fast 3k (Nate Henderson, Hockenbury, Brophy, everybody out West), but, for now, Moser is right there in the mix for top 12.
Bears High School Invitational
Surprise! I didn't notice this meet's results the first time through but I thought there were some excellent performances. For starters, Matt Wisner continues to be practically unbeatable indoors. He won both the 400m and the 800m, in addition to what was likely a key leg on the team's 11:11 DMR. His times were 51 and 2 flat. Carlisle also got excellent miles from frosh Jack Wisner (4:38) and Isaac Kole (4:40). I think if they really focus up at a fast meet (DMR was the last event at this meet and they won by nearly 30 seconds), they can take a big chunk out of that 11:11 DMR. And realistically, Carlisle is extremely dangerous in this relay if they can find a way to get into states. I'd love to see Wisner on the 1200m leg of this one doing something crazy. That could be his sweet spot.
Jeff Kirshenbaum of Methacton, one of the early ballers this winter, continued his success with a blazing fast 4:26.46 mile to win by nearly 10 seconds over John Conner of Spring Ford. Kirshenbaum has been on an absurd plane since XC and has perhaps gone underrated admist all the other craziness that is PA fast times. But he is absolutely rolling right now and, besides one small hiccup at Burdette, has been crushing fast marks at every turn. I'm not sure he will really pursue the mile (3k seems less deep, especially if Brophy does the mile again), but he clearly could have a ton of success in that event as well.
Strath Haven got a 2:01.06 800m out of Ahmir Gordon for second to Wisner while also clocking 4:39.00 in the mile (Ian Reid). I believe this meet was the same day as TFCAofGP, meaning Strath Haven may have ran their gold medal winning 8:35 without two of their best runners. Meanwhile, Spring Ford had John Conner, second in the mile at 4:35.07, and Zach Smith, cruised to a big 3k win in 9:21. They also got a 2:07 leg from Tyler Uba for 5th in the 800m. District 11 Emmaus had nice runs from Ryan Paradise at 800m (2:04.09) and Greg Jiandl (4:39.11). That duo has made them top contenders in D11 for 4x8 in the past and is setting them up to contend once again in 2016. Could they throw together a DMR that contends for sub 11? I wouldn't completely rule it out.
Ursinus meet was on Sunday
ReplyDeleteHoey's 4:12 was outstanding but not sure he can go any lower.
ReplyDelete