AAA 3200m
The biggest story of this weekend, heck this season, is Archbishop Wood’s Gary Martin. The junior beat a star-studded AA field in Cross Country for his first state title and then spent the winter dropping absurd times before adding his name to the PA record books in the spring. His times of 8:49, 4:07 and 1:53 are all great, but the first two are most notable. If you ignore indoor track performances, Gary is 3rd all-time for Pennsylvania and 4th in the 1600 (behind 3 performances that happened before he was born).
But as impressive as all those times are, Gary is looking
for history at the state meet. He will be attempting the 3200, 1600, 800 triple
which has never been done before in real life (I call it the Jimmy Springer
triple based on a character in my fiction book the Running Diaries). Now this
triple is almost impossible because of the level of doubling required, but this
first step will not exactly be a cake walk.
First off, Martin will have to contend with a couple of other
sub 9 3200 guys in Devon Comber of Horsham and Aidan Barnhill of Downingtown
West. Comber has shown he has incredible finishing speed, closing in sub 60 at
the district meet for the victory over Barnhill (I believe he also ran sub 60
when he ran 8:53 at Henderson). Comber was about 4 seconds back of Martin at
Henderson, but with hotter conditions and now Rob DiDonato to help share the
pace out front, things could pack up a bit more and make this a kicker’s race.
Barnhill has awesome closing speed too and in any other year 8:58 and 4:09 type
times would make him the runaway favorite and talk of the town. He’s no slouch
and, although Martin and Comber have had his number the last few times out, states
could be the day he turns the table.
Historically, the 3200 has been a senior driven event.
Although we’ve seen some really awesome underclassmen (Jake Brophy, Nate Henderson,
Sam Affolder, Dan McGoey), seniors have won the last 6 AAA 3200 titles (the
last junior to win was Ethan Martin in 2013). Something ironic, before Martin,
there were 6 seniors who won in a row after the prior junior victory in 2006.
Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But maybe the trend holds. The junior may be Gary
Martin, but I could also see it being one of two other district champions.
The first is Weber Long of Greencastle Antrim. The junior
won the D3 title in the 3200 (over a really talented performer in Graham
Thomas) and then followed it with a victory in the 1600. Long’s 1600 time was
4:14 and he did it off a 56 second final lap! That’s absolutely blazing. Before
that Long also outkicked State’s College’s all-star 1:53 runner (and reigning
XC state champ) Brady Bigger to win the Mid Penn 1600. Long’s PR is “only” 9:12
(which is an incredible time), but we didn’t see him in the blazing conditions
of Henderson’s Invite. Otherwise, he might have been in the sub 9 club. I
really like Long’s upside as a sleeper.
The other guy I think could surprise is CJ Singleton. Don’t
let the 9:32 seed time fool you. Singleton has already run under 9:10 for 3200
and he’s dropped a 4:11 in the 1600 to boot. The WPIAL championship was more a “taking
care of business” type performance where he grabbed the gold and called it a
day. During the XC season, I was very impressed with the Butler junior and he
actually would have been my pick to win the state championship had a made official
predictions. Ultimately, Singleton didn’t take down gold, but I think he won
his section (again, I can never keep these straight) and how knows, maybe if
everyone was together, he could have surprised for the upset. Do not count this
guy out.
I think these 5 and Graham Thomas of Penn Manor (has run
9:08 this year, runner-up to Weber at Districts, 3rd at XC states)
are the major contenders, but there are obviously a lot of other names who
could contend. J. Henry Lyon not only has one of the best names in the competition,
but he also just dropped a 9:12 in the 3200. He’s a super accomplished XC
runner who seems to show up at the state meet. Lyon is another guy who hasn’t
necessarily seen the competition the Philly area guys have during the regular
season, but when he got the opportunity against Jacob Hess of Lewisburg
(another real big talent), he made the most of it and dropped the second
fastest time of district week. Lyon is technically the top returner from 2019’s
state meet where he was the top sophomore in 14th.
Dylan Throop of General McLane has also run 9:12 this season
(chasing CJ Singleton out west) and Throop proved he could deliver on the big
stage. Throop was the 2019 XC state champion, upsetting Juniata’s all-star
Garrett Baublitz.
I could certainly keep going (Stephen Schousen of JP McCaskey
has run sub 9:20 this year, LaSalle has three guys who qualified as a team at
Districts, including sophomore Drew Brill who was the top 10th
grader at AAA XC states in 12th, freshman Ryan Pajak of Ringgold is
a kid that I have been super impressed with his poise at his age, I mentioned
Hess who is a monster in the strength department), but all of these guys are
awesome, that’s how they ended up at the state championship. Ultimately, this
is a deep race and, if conditions are hot, some big names were falter and some new,
previously unheralded guys will establish themselves as future stars.
All this in mind, I’m very intrigued to see how this race
unfolds. Gary Martin will be racing his first of three races so, in theory, he may
be trying to save something for his later races. However, I don’t think that’s
how Gary operates. He seems like the kind of guy who goes out, sets a brutal
pace and dares the rest of the field to follow. That could hurt him in future
events when he is doubling and tripling, but I think that gives him the best
chance to win the 3200 given the potent kicks of guys like Comber and Long and
Martin’s clearly top tier strength.
That said, I think I’m going upset here. I like the idea of a senior keeping the title in house and I feel this will end up Devon Comber’s gold medal (could be a Ross Wilson type upset from the 2014 state championships for those who remember that far back). I think Comber can hang well enough to the pace and he finds that last gear to get the win at the finish. This could be a bit poetic as well given that Devon just missed the XC state crown, diving a the line to try and get those last seconds that separated him from Brady for the gold medal.
8. Dylan Throop 9:097. J. Henry Lyon 9:09
6. Graham Thomas 9:07
5. CJ Singleton 9:05
4. Aidan Barnhill 9:02
3. Weber Long 9:01
2. Gary Martin 8:58
1. Devon Comber 8:58
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