AA 800m
Generally, I’m not a big doubling guy when it comes to
the State Championships. It’s just a very talented meet with great competition so
anything less than your best stuff could leave you vulnerable to get jumped by
somebody with more juice. That said, we’ve seen plenty of successes. In 2019,
Garrett Baublitz won both the 1600 and the 800 over Jonah Powell (who had
excellent performances in both events as well). Domenic Perretta won the 1600
and the 800 three years in a row from 2014 to 2016. Ryan Smathers nearly pulled
off the double in 2014 in windy conditions. Sam Havko hoisted both golds in
2009 (do you hoist medals? Feels like a trophy thing but I’m out of cool ways
to say winning two events, probably a sign that this bit is over). You get the
picture.
Here’s all the guys that can win both this year: Gabe
McConville, Kirk Stewart, Colton Sands, Brendan Colwell, Gabe Nichols, Luke
Seymour. That’s a pretty good list! I’ve talked a lot about these guys resumes
in the 1600 preview (worth a click if you’re into that sort of that, which you probably
are since you are here), but as you will quickly deduce in that post, I think Seymour
has the best chance of joining the double gold posse. Sands is a big talent,
but always struck me as a 32/16 type of guy. Would be super fun to see him
showcase some speed and pop a 1:55 kind of time here, but even a 1:55 may not
be good enough to win. Nichols is another guy who has the talent to drop a big
800 PR and he could perhaps avenge Jonah Powell’s attempt from 2019 and take a
pair of golds home to Grove City in his honor.
But as much as I’m hyping up the double potential, I
expect this race to go to somebody with fresh legs. And the most likely
candidate is Riverside’s Colby Belczyk. Colby dropped a great time of 1:54.94
at the district meet and things opened up for him with without Carson McCoy
(who bested him earlier in the season) contesting the event here at states.
Belczyk was one spot away from the finals in both the 800 and the 1600 at the
2019 state meet so he has some demons to exercise this year. He already
established himself in that direction with a great 2020 indoor states
performance, but I think this outdoor meet is where he will really shine.
The bigger question in the Riverside camp may be can Ty
Fluharty make this a different kind of double? Belczyk’s teammate has very
sneakily been gaining steam and actually enters the state meet as comfortably
the #2 overall seed with his 1:56.41 mark. For him, it may be as simple as
following the leader and pretending its practice. The junior has the talent,
now he just needs to prove he can handle the nerves on the big stage.
The other name we have to talk about here is Dock
Mennonite’s Stanley Saint-Fleur. The senior is the top seed in the open 400 and
split a 47 second quarter to make up nearly an 8 second gap on the anchor of a
4x4 (wow). Plus he’s run 1:53 in the open 800. So why am I not leading off today’s
discussion with the possibility of a 4-8 double for Stanley? Well, honestly,
because I don’t have a long list of examples. I’m not even sure I have any
examples of that double working out. Ryan Thrush, who was a 48 second open 400
guy and a 1:50 800 guy couldn’t pull off that double at states and he was
probably the best bet we’ve had in the last decade. If Stanley can pull it off,
he’ll make some serious history.
But Stanley may have a big impact on the results, even if
he doesn’t make it to the finish line with a blistering time. Saint-Fleur will
run out of the first section at states, but he may not be afraid to set a
blazing pace from the front. If he can’t hold on, he could still end up serving
as a pace maker for a surprise finisher (maybe Waynesburg’s Gabe McConville who
has run 1:57, but had a tough double at WPIALs last week). If Saint-Fleur
contributes to a fast pace, that will put extra pressure on the fast heat and
maybe we see a shocker of a result.
Some other sleepers to mention for this event include
Cole Frazier (our #3 seed who took down Nichols to stop what could have been a
historic triple victory, hard to call him a sleeper but I’m at that point of
the article), Josh Deremer (the District 11 champ who has run 1:59 this spring)
and Holden Cessna (District 5 has quietly started to establish itself as a home
for sleeper picks in the middle distances).
8. Josh Deremer 1:57
7. Gabe Nichols 1:57
6. Gabe McConville 1:57
5. Colton Sands 1:56
4. Ty Fluharty 1:56
3. Cole Frazier 1:55
2. Luke Seymour 1:55
1. Colby Belczyk 1:53
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