Some Instant Reactions

by Jarrett Felix

For those of you not watching the meet or watching the meet and looking to read some opinions of the action, I'll be writing down some post race instant reactions. Also, if you are looking for live results from the championships you can find them here. I'll update as consistently as possible throughout the meet.

DMR Instant Reactions

-          How about that finish to the distance events? I knew going in this thing would be wild with all the doubling and what not going on, but who would have thought Cardinal O’Hara would come through and steal this? Nobody predicted them higher than 3^rd in what I saw. Really smart decision to lead off Morro, who was the lead off on their state title team last year. And then they just kinda ran away from everybody. Ryan James kept his head, probably soloed a PR and O’Hara is back to back champions! Congrats to these guys for pulling this one out.

-          As I said before the race (possibly on here, possibly just to other people) I felt like this race reminded me a lot of the Wissahickon title race a few years back, wide open where Wiss just hung on with a big anchor and then madness ensued behind them. Quite a lot of madness ensuing in this one as all the big name anchors were jostled together. Gotta say, DT West ran really well with the Hoeys or Sappey in this one. They ended up 9^th, but really gave it a great effort. Meanwhile Mike Kolor comes back with a clutch run, Dahl almost catches up to the leaders, Milligan holds his own, Brophy pulls out a pretty solid double on very little rest and the fresh Henderson/CR South squads both get well-deserved medals.

-          I didn’t get to see a lot of the action behind, but I imagine it was pretty epic with all those guys clustered together. Would love to know splits for either relay if they are out there. Certainly was a fun way to cap off the meet. Very different from last year’s race I’d say, but definitely entertaining.

3k Instant Reactions

-          Well, I’ll tell you what it was a heck of a race. I know it was the same thing as what happened last year and some might say “didn’t Hock learn his lesson?” but I think making these gutsy charges might his best way to take the legs out of the kickers. He’s lost two extremely close titles in the final meters to guys who’s current PRs are 8:57 and 8:56 for 3200m (which would have been good enough for 9^th in this 3k by the way). He almost had this one too. I really thought he had it, Brophy came from left for dead to win this one.

-          Which reminds me, what a way for Jake to pull this one out. He was pretty much finished a couple laps out and then Nate Henderson went by him and kind of woke him up. That allowed Brophy to turn on a kick and by some miracle come back to get gold. He didn’t look particularly smooth or anything, just found that last gear. Very interested to see what he has left in the tank for this DMR. That’s a big race.

-          Nate Henderson, man what a run out of him. He ran a sick 9:08 at states outdoors and now used a very similar strategy to move his way back through the pack in this one. I had just watched that race last nice and I couldn’t help but be reminded. I thought he had a chance to get this one with 400 to go, but ran out of gas and, just like last outdoors, Brophy just turned it on over the last 200 to get past him (and then Hock). But still a monster race from Henderson to mix it up with two of the best XC guys in state history.

-          Big props to Henry Sappey who ran a strong PR to get the 7^th scoring spot for DT West (who is cleaning up right now). Although I didn’t pick Sappey to score, listening to the announcers make it sound like it would be impossible for this guy to score made me root hard core for him. And then, a guy who already has two top 10 finishes at states in his back pocket, added his first on the track (individually). Clutch run.

-          Seth Slavin also had a big day. I was worried about him early in that field as it looked like he was just going to get shot out the back. Of course he was just being a smart racer at the suicide pace that was being set. Slavin runs a big PR, cracking 8:50 for the first time, and nearly catches Wolk down the stretch. Pleasant Valley has really developed into a strong program and Slavin is picking up steam now, still just a junior.

-          Great learning experience for some of the young guys and rookies in this field. 9 through 13 was a pretty stacked group and I gotta imagine they will do big things outdoor using this meet as a little extra boost. Just qualifying for the meet this year was nearly impossible (sub 9 guys were left home) so nobody should be hanging their head after this one.

800m Instant Reactions

-          Overall, I had a decent feel on the contenders for this race (my top 8 was in the top 9, just very jumbled), but the guy I didn’t see coming was Quakertown’s Brett Wolfinger. He ran a sick race and hung tough throughout at a pretty fast pace. He continues to make big strides and now is down to 1:55.35, a PR indoors or out.

-          Peretta just looked so good in this field. Hoey held it together really well on the double, Kolor gave Dom all he could handle, and Wisner ate up ground late, but DP just seemed to be on another plane in this event. I was worried after he lost that SPIRE invite that maybe he wouldn’t be ready for this competitive of a field, but he crushed it on his future track. PSU lands the 800 and mile champs from states.

-          Kolor and Wisner both ran PRs for indoors or outdoors in this one and now both come back for the DMR. I could see Kolor going off in the DMR. He’s probably got a little chip on his shoulder after Wisner nipped him at the line. I think Kolor is really well built for the mile and I look forward to him hopefully giving that an honest go against the Hoeys

-          Wisner was never quite in it in the early going and then threw down a sick kick the final 100m or so to find a way to get back in it. It was a really gritty run for him against 3 4:10 milers. Crazy to think he had the strength at the end to go by two of them. Curious to see how he would hang in a mile if he trained for that. Could be a sick 1200 guy for Duke one day.

-          Fletcher and Conway (and Jack Armand) all really rocked that 2^nd heat. Conway straight gunned it out and was rewarded with a medal. Fletcher never looked totally smooth or relaxed, but he put on a sick kick and reminded us he is a gamer. I really liked the way all three of these guys ran. They were gutsy racers and really unafraid out there. I think all three could do big things outdoors.

-          Speaking of gutsy runs, Peter Cooke made a big move at 400m of the first section and really broke the race open. He was able to hang on for the win in his heat and got a nice season best out of it. He even placed 10^th overall from the first section which is pretty darn good. His time was 1:58.09.

-          Last thought: what would Tucker Desko have been able to do if he raced this event fresh rather than mile? Does he place better than 3^rd? Could he have run low 1:53s? It’s hard to say, but from a maximizing team points perspective, I think the mile was the smarter choice, even with retrospective vision. But he would have added a fun dimension to this race for sure.

  Mile Instant Reactions

-          The Hoeys continue to impress. Jaxson looked like he was on cruise control out there, arguably a little bored at the early pace when he jumped into the lead. That makes for a very interesting 800m final later where it looks like I will be eating my words. Josh with a huge race, closing really well and showing some nice finishing wheels that I wasn’t sure he would have against Desko, etc.

-          Galligan looked finished in the middle of this race. He was well out the back. Then he closed like a champ the second half of the race and really ran a gutsy finish. He moved all the way up to 4^th and was closing well at the end. Really impressed with his race.

-          I really liked the race I saw from Connor McMenamin as well. Seemed like a very poised race, didn’t get caught up in any early moves and had a nice close. Probably ran a pretty even race and really help his own in a stacked heat. Impressed by his run and a well-deserved first state medal.

-          Forsythe and Sullivan ran a really nice race in heat 2 (although they owe Donahue a sandwich or something for taking out the pace). Sullivan looked like he had it at 200m to go with a brilliant kick, but Forsythe threw down the last 100m or so and timed his kick just a bit better. Very smart race from the sophomore. Glad both guys got on the medal stand (and not just because I had Sullivan winning the heat and getting 7^th).

-          Kirshenbaum with an on purpose false start in the Mile. Means we will have a fast performance out of him the 3k and also meant he was a non-factor in this race. I think we have to do something about this rule going forward. Especially since this meet has a limit on entries. Whoever was #21 in the mile (Eric Kennedy maybe?) would have likely loved to have been in this race and competed. Not sure I can really blame Jeff/Methacton on this one. They followed the rules. It’s just a broken system and we need a rule change. It goes against the spirit of the event and I hope it’s looked at.

-          I had a decent start to the date prediction wise besides a couple DQs, but I’m very nervous for my predictions looking ahead. Kirsh could do some work, Hoey looks good and CB East’s DMR suddenly is much more interesting (among other things). Very curious to see how these final couple distance events go …

4x800 Instant Reactions:

-          Penn Wood runs best two legs first and it pays off. They stay in it the whole way and there back two legs run with a lot of heart and guts and get the team across in 5^th. Manyeah with his best race since December as well I’d argue.

-          Dahl with a big time lead off leg for GFS. Interested that he was on that spot. GFS ran about as well as you could ask, they had 4 really good races, were just up against some true 4x8 powers.

-          CB West and Abington really made SC work, but State College was just the better team out there when all was said and done. Degleris with a clutch 3^rd leg for sure and Milligan proving he’s money on the anchor. Fortna ran second leg for West which I thought was a surprise, but hard to argue with the results of it. Mitchell from Abington also had a big time second leg and then Broadus and Claricurzio just battled like champs on the anchor leg. Gutsy runs. 7:50 is no joke.

-          Interested to see who will be coming back for the DMR and how fresh they will be. What does GFS have left? What are O’Hara or LaSalle’s prospects on the double? Who did Pennridge run on their relay and who does that leave for the DMR? Can SC go 2 for 2? Curious to see who has the strength to bounce back and who has a little extra motivation after event one.

-          Also worth noting, CB East did not run Jake Brophy on the 4x8 so he will have just 3k-DMR on his plate. Could really upgrade their chances. They ran very well in the relay without him. They were 9^th I believe and right on the heels of North for the last medal spot. Before the DQ that is. No idea what the DQ was for either.

-          CR North with a nice surprise for the medals! Didn’t see that coming for sure. Big PRs on that team I have to imagine. Really proving they belonged in this field despite being the 13^th and final team entered. This is why I enjoy having a variety of teams compete in just one of the two relays. We see some true “A” teams throwing down big season bests. That’s always fun.