ATTENTION TRACKVERSE

So I am going to try and undertake what may be an overly optimistic challenge, but here it goes. I am looking to compile all the splits from the 4x8 finals at the recent state championships. I have no videos to take my own splits in a lot of instances but would love to have numbers to compare to. Thus far through a little work I did the following on the 2011 4x8 video race. What I have listed is what I have found in the video (the recent penntrack post will help me do a lot of personal splits), what is listed in parentheses is any time I have seen reported to a website somewhere. With all this in mind here is what I can give you thus far:

CB West 2011

Nico Metzler 1:58.9 (1:58.9R)

Matt McGarvey 1:55.5 (1:55.7R)

Matt Bee 1:56.2 (1:56.0R)

Connor Manley 1:50.9 (1:51.0R)

7:41.51

Abington 2011

Tevin Smith 1:57.8 (1:57.6R)

Kyle Moran 1:52.2 (1:52.3R)

Macey Watson 1:56.1 (1:56.1R)

Will Taylor 1:55.4 (1:55.4R)

7:41.57

LaSalle 2011

Andrew Stone 1:55.7 (1:55.4R)

Tom Coyle 1:57.0 (1:56.8R)

Corey Muggler 1:59.1 (1:59.4R)

Brendan Stone 1:56.0 (1:56.8R)

7:47.93

Hershey 2011

-  1:59.4*

Kevin DeWille 1:55.7*

- 2:01.9*

Mato Bekelja 1:52.6*

7:49.60 

Easton 2011

Tyler Caul 1:58.0*

-1:58.1*

-2:01.1*

Bernard England 1:54.6*

7:51.84

I have a lot of other names and numbers on file somewhere that I can bring up with the proper digging but this is just a little something to get your mind turning until I can get everything in motion. 

Anything, even just names of the people on the relay in order, is greatly appreciated at this time in the process. I am hoping to include at least every year from 2007 through 2013.

Any help is greatly appreciated at this time.  

UPDATES (I found these by searching the internet and penntrack madly for more reported splits, haven't had a chance to compare these splits with my own watch yet, but if they add up reasonably well then I assume they are fairly accurate.  

Cumberland Valley 2012

Abdallah Soliman (1:55.46R)

Scott St. Peter (1:59.46R)

Alex Coburn (1:57.01R)

Alec Kunzweiler (1:51.62R)

Penn Hills 2011

Dylin Wilhoite 2:01.5* (2:01.6R)

Tyree Squires (1:57.1R)

Thorn Catlin (1:59.4R)

Wil Bailey (1:53.7R)

7:52.19

Chmbersburg 2012

Nick Rotz (1:54.16R)

Adam Harriger (2:01.43R)

Aaron Powell (1:56.77R)

Ryan Holder (1:51.11R)

Quaker Valley 2012

-(2:00.89R)

- (1:59.79R)

Nat Fox (1:57.46R)

LJ Westwood (1:54.82R)

Penncrest 2012

Ali Dastagirzada (1:59.7R)

Miller (1:56.5R)

Meyers (1:58.2R)

Nate Emmanuel (1:55.6R)

Kiski 2012

Tyler Snider (1:58.8R)

Rich Lednak (1:59.8R)

Pat Miller (1:56.3R)

Brent Kennedy (1:56.4R)

7:51.40

 

Annville-Celona 2013

-          (2:00.8R)

-          (2:02.5R)

-          (1:59.9R)

Shawn Wolfe (1:59.8R)

Cedar Crest 2010

Darren Dobroski 1:56.4R

Shaun Ditzler 1:57.6R

Jon Jackson 1:54.5R

Alex Galli 1:54.6R

7:43.64

Council Rock South 2010

Steve Kandetzke 1:57.9R

Mike Doyle 1:56.9R

Sam Garfield 1:56.3R

Dan Dreeman 1:53.7R

7:45.46

Penn Hills 2010

Dorian Rumble 1:55.0R

Tyree Squires 1:57.2R

Thorn Catlin 1:58.6R

Charles Anderson 1:55.0R

7:45.99

Penncrest 2010

-2:01.0R

-1:59.0R

Tres Moore 1:52.5R

-1:58.8R

CB South 2009

Jeff Dickson 1:55.7R

Dave Manion 1:55.5R

Matt Poiesz 1:53.2R

Tom Mallon 1:49.1R

7:33.48

Upper Dublin 2009

Chris Melton 1:58.6R

Paul Reilly 1:53.3R

Pat Reilly 1:56.2R

Mike Palmisano 1:51.9R

7:40.04

North East 2008

-2:00.50R

-2:01R

-1:58R

-1:55.92R

North Penn 2008

Brian Quintrell 1:57.54R

Steve Franks 1:53.68R

Justin Bookheimer 1:54.16R

Zack Montijo 1:53.08R

7:38.79

North Penn 2007

Justin Bookheimer 1:56.1R

Brian Quintrell 1:58.8R

Steve Franks 1:54.4R

Zack Montijo 1:53.4R

7:43.22

Baldwin 2007

-1:58.4R

-1:59.4R

TJ Hobart 1:52.3R

Chris Wolfe 1:53.9R

7:44.08

Keep them coming please!

Indoor Worlds Day 3

The Men's 800m was a pretty exciting final. The heavy favorite was Mo Aman, the defending world outdoor champion at 800m, but lurking in the final were a couple of Polish harriers with a little home crowd advantage, which can go a long way. Over the second 400m the Poles teamed up with Lewandowski leading from Kszczot but Aman managed to throw down a nice kick over the final 100m to launch himself away from Kszczot to take yet another Gold. Aman has put together quite the resume for himself with a pair of wins over Rudisha, a 1:42.37 PR and now another Gold medal at a world championship. Lewandowski ended up DQd (a lot of DQs coming this weekend for reasons that I can't quite understand) which meant Andrew Osagie of Great Britian jumps up and grabs bronze. He was originally just .01 off of Lewandowski in the pre-DQ finish.

The women's 800m was quite the achievement for PA! Chanelle Price grabbed the world indoor gold leading from the gun in the race and holding her own against some of the other best in the world types. It was a bit of a weaker field than those she will see outdoors, but Price took a big step into the world elite with this dominating win. She took things from the gun and led them out in about 27.8 and then 57.8 which was definitely quick. It was a tad rich for most in the field but Price, who has been racing like this her entire career, was very under control and poised at the front. The tired field was exhausted from that lap and didn't quite rally on the third lap, which was slow. They swung to lane 3 but couldn't get by as Price, rested from the 3rd lap where everyone else was working much harder, had plenty left to hold off all comers in the final 200m and take home the gold. Her time of 2:00.09 may be her fastest ever indoors or out (looked it up, it is). Pretty impressive victory for a woman who had never before made a Senior US World Championship team.

The men's 3000m was a stacked race that included perhaps the two best American distance runners of all time including defending champion Bernard Lagat and olympic silver medalist at 10,000m Galen Rupp. The last 1k of the race was where things really got going (2:22 for the 1k for the leaders) and the boys were blazing around the track. Lagat had perhaps a little bit too much in pack jostling to do over the final laps and ultimately he couldn't quite kick by the surprise victor: Caleb Ndiku. Ndiku held off a late charge from Lagat closing in 26 for the final 200m. The Ethopian studs Dejen Gebremeskel and Hagos Gebrhiwet couldn't hold on to the fast close, despite having the best strength in the field. Gebremeskel ended up the bronze medalist and Hagos ended up 5th behind Galen Rupp, who just missed another medal for his awards stand. Rupp was in the race the whole way but the 3000m proved to have too fast of a close for Rupp to handle, although he performed quite admirably under the conditions. Considering Rupp is a true 10k guy, he really hung well on the final lap of this race.

It's a huge breakthrough for Ndiku who is coming off a massive spring where he dropped his 1500m PR to 3:29 for Kenya. Unfortunately, because he is from Kenya, that 3:29 still wasn't good enough to get him on the worlds team over Chebseba, Kiplagat and Kiprob, three of the best the world has seen in recent years. Ndiku was an impressive junior athlete who won world junior titles in the 1500m in 2010 and in cross country in 2010. The 3:49 miler has a PB of 13:03 in the 5k but this spring we might see that mark take a fairly large tip south.

In the women's 3k, Genezebe Dibaba did not fail to deliver. The women who smashed three separate world indoor records this Winter completed her campaign by throwing down the gauntlet in the final and winning easily. She looked completely smooth and under control running 1k splits in the ball park of 3:24-2:51-2:38. Wow. That was going to make it hard for anybody to come along for the ride and Grunewald (10th) and Rowbury (8th) were never really factors at all for the US. Rowbury hung on the longest but when things began to get going, it was Dibaba in command. Obiri, the defending champion, had a nice close over the final 200m to make the race respectable, although Dibaba was shutting it down, Obiri still finished within 2 second of the winner and took a strong silver medal for Kenya.

Day 2 of Worlds

In the women's 1500m, Kampf takes an unfortunate fall in the final, so she doesn't get to take full advantage of her surprise appearance in the finals. Aregawi completely dominates the field running away with it in a time of 4:00.61 to take the win by an unreal 6.5 seconds! Truly dominate performance, it's a shame we didn't get to see an Aregawi Dibaba battle for the ages. Perhaps outdoors we will get to see it unfold. Moser for the US was in the chase pack the whole way but couldn't quite close over the final 200m and ran a time of 4:07.84 (an indoor PR) which was good enough for just 6th place overall, about 7 tenths of a second off 2nd place. If Cain was in the race, I have to believe she could have taken down second without much issue. It would have been more of a question of how much, if it all, she could have challenged Aregawi and changed the dynamic of the race. Oh well.

EDIT #3: A slew of DQs has moved Moser up to 4th in the race now with the same mark. A lot of pushing and shoving going on in the race led to some aftermath DQs that allowed Moser to sneak up and just miss a medal. Sifuentes from Canada finishes 3rd and Embaye finishes 2nd in these most updated results.

EDIT: Ashton Eaton closed out the Hep with a 2:34 1k closing down in about 28 seconds, but unfortunately he just missed his own world record in the Hep (coming up about 1 second short in the final event). Overall Eaton gets an easy Gold and continues his dominance of the Hep indoors. I believe he has something like the top 3 or 4 times ever indoors for the Hep. Congrats to Ashton on another gold and another fantastic series of events!

EDIT #2: In the Men's 1500m, Souleiman of Djibouti led wire to wire, holding the pole position despite a few moves from the likes of Bergen and Wote. His positioning was key on the last few laps as he was able to charge up and take down the Gold against the field. Wote was able to hold on with a nice finish of his own to take second, a little ways behind Souleiman's 3:37 was his own 3:38. The defending champion and former 2012 olympic bronze medalist Iguider took another bronze is this race holding off Nick Willis on the final straight. Will Leer of the US hung in last place for essentially the whole race which was bold strategy in a world class field like this. Leer ended up moving up a decent chunk and picking off two guys in the final 40m or so but was just way too far out of it to be a factor. He finished 7th of the 9 men in the field utilizing that home stretch  kick. With this event in the book, no more distance finals to come on the day, tomorrow will feature both 3ks and both 800ms!

New Balance Nationals Entries: PA

800m
Will Cather, Jeff Wisema
Mile
Sam Ritz
2 Mile
Ross Wilson
5000m
Colin Martin
4x800m
O'Hara, Downingtown East, State College,
4xMile
North Allegheny (Super pleasant surprise), West Chester Henderson
DMR
O'Hara, West Chester Henderson (yes it happened ladies and gents)

Emerging Elite
Billy Caldwell (Mile)
Andrew Marston, Jon Perlman (2 Mile)
CR South (4x8)

More entries still may come filing in as we get closer to the big event

Should be quite the weekend next weekend with all three NCAA championships set to go down as well. Worlds is just a nice preview of things to come!

Updates from Sopot

For those of you interested in the professional running scene, this three day stretch is the World Indoor Championships in Sopot, Poland. Today while most of us were sleeping or getting ready for school, the prelims for most of the distance finals unfolded on the track in Sopot and the US had some mixed results.

Both Gabby Grunewald and Shannon Rowbury advanced to the final in the woman's 3k, Rowbury with the last auto in her heat and Grunewald with the last time qualifier. Only 3 girls in total were eliminated during the prelims, so it's not exactly a difficult journey to the finals, but it's nice to see the US represented. The favorite in the final will be Genezebe Dibaba, the world indoor record holder at 1500m, 3000m and 2-miles. She is on a whole other level relative to this field. If things are tactical we know Rowbury and Grunewald have strong kicks, but the 3k is pretty loaded and both woman will need some fortune to snag medals on Sunday.

The men's 1500m prelims eliminate a slew of favorites from the world championship final. In Heat 1 the US's Lopez Lomong was facing off in a stacked heat and, off slow fractions, was outkicked and missed the final. Also missing the final was multiple world championship finalist Mekonnen Gebremedhin and up and coming miler Lee Emanuel of Great Britian. Tesfaye of Germany made it to the finals, he is proving to be an excellent tactician in recent years. Jakub Holusa of Czech Republic surprised for the second spot in the finals. That can happen in a kicker's race. His best 1500m ever is only 3:38 (Lomong's is 3:32) but Holusa has 1:45.12 800m speed and that got him in as a surprise finalist. He has also clocked 7:53 this year indoors for 3k as a nice Pr.

In the second heat, things were also fairly tactical. As a result, former WC silver Medalist and sub 3:30 man Silas Kiplagat was left out of the final, thus eliminating perhaps the biggest name in the field. Finishing ahead of him was Ayanleh Souleiman, a fantastic 800m-1500m type who was the bronze medalist in the WC 800m last year. Souleiman was joined by Nick Willis of New Zealand  who is having an excellent indoor season. The former Michigan grad outkicked Kiplagat and Chris O'Hare (former indoor collegiate mile record holder) to get in. He also beat out former teammate Nate Brannen. Souleiman and Willis go into the final as the two clear favorites for medals in the event. Stunningly, Kiplagat's 3:39, which got him third in the heat, was also not good enough to get on time.

The final heat was quick from the gun, and that allowed Will Leer among others to pass into the final on time. Aman Wote and defending world indoor champion Abdalaati Iguider took the 1-2 auto qualifying spots and the field flooded in quickly behind them. Will Leer outkicked a slew of top metric milers like Birgen and Ozbilen and ended in 3:38.02 for third in the heat and the third fastest time of the day. Birgen and Ozbilen will join Leer as the final time qualifiers with David McCarthy, former Providence miler, running 3:39.46 and just missing Ozbilen's spot.

The 1500m final is loaded, but if Leer can race tactically sound, he has proven he has great kicking ability. There are certainly better runners in this field than him on paper, but Leer's kick always makes him dangerous. If I had to guess, in a field like this, I don't expect Leer to be in the top 5, but a lot of other big names have been eliminated so who knows what other superstars will fail to rise to the occasion.

In the women's 800m, Ajee Wilson, the young american superstar at 800m, took a surprising exit from the world indoor championship, perhaps eliminating the USA's best shot at a medal. Wilson finished her heat in 4th in 2:02.90 and needed to win her heat to get an auto bid into the 6 woman final. In Heat 3, PA's own Chanelle Price led the race nearly wire to wire and, although she just barely missed out on the win, she did run 2:01.05 and got herself into the world final! Congrats to Easton's Chanelle Price! Things should be interesting for Chanelle in final. The final isn't exactly loaded with the big names at 800m and she likely will assume the pace and command the race. If she can do that and hold off enough kickers on the last lap she should snag a medal. Price is tough to pass on an indoor track and has PRs almost across the board indoors this season. I think Price has a fantastic chance to sneak onto the medal stand in Sopot.

In the men's 8, we had a bit of a let down. Both Erik Sowinski (who I had very high hopes for) and Nick Symmonds (last year's world championship sliver medalist) missed qualifying for the finals by a decent margin. Symmonds is never ready to run fast indoors so his miss wasn't as surprising for me as Sowinski's who wasn't even close to qualifying off a 1:48 run. I like Sowinski and think he has lots of room to develop, he just needed some extra experience on the world scene.

Sowinski was in the same heat as the class of the field, Mo Aman who won the heat on the final lap outkicking Kevin Lopez who took the race through in a blazing 52.9 that left some of the lesser name guys gasping for breath. Meanwhile, Aman was quite comfortable at that pace and made it through.

In the second heat, Symmonds couldn't quite stay in contact as the heat was won in 1:46.18 by Andre Olivier. Symmonds finished fourth in the heat with a 1:47.29. Marcin Lewandowski of Poland was second in 1:46.26 and is a very dangerous name looking ahead to the finals. Ollivier's race was a pleasant surprise win in the heat. Third in the heat, and qualifying for the finals on time was 22 year old Thijmen Kupers who came through with a big surprise 3rd place. His 1:46.55 was just .09 off his outdoor PR. As a point of reference, Balla (DQ'd from this heat), Symmonds and Lewandowski are all 1:43 or faster guys.

The third and final heat was also blazing fast. The first two laps were covered in 51.71 by Mutai. Adam Kszczot of Poland, countryman of Lewandowski, won the heat impressively. Andrew Osagie, who is always clutch at the world championships, raced to a 1:45.88, good for second in the heat and second fastest time of the day, to qualify for yet another world championship final. Osagie rounds out a very intriguing final that is led by Aman and the Polish runners, but has darkhorses including Osaige himself and Olivier to join the newcomer Kupers.

The men's 3000m trials and women's 1500m trials will happen later today! Hopefully Rupp, Lagat, Kampf and Moser will get through to the finals in the USA jersey.

EDIT: Heather Kampf in a bit of a surprise leads her heat for about 1400m before being edged out, but she still snags an auto spot into the finals! Represented the USA well after her surprise call up to the big leagues with Cain pulling out due to injury. Moser also looked very good, she won her heat without much issue. Aregawi of Sweden, likely the favorite to win the race, also won her heat and qualified fairly easily in the fastest time of the day.

Heat 1 of the 3k is all finished up and Galen Rupp notched one of the auto qualifying spots in the heat. Also qualifying were favorites Dejen Gebremeskel and Augustine Choge. Andrew Vernon from Great Britian got the 4th auto spot. The heat was pretty quick overall with the top 7 all running under 7:50. Gelant and Biringham get in on time.

Turns out the second heat was just as quick and the names get through to the final. Lagat qualifies out of heat 2 along with Ndiku, Gebrhiwet and Ibrahomiv. Ndiku is a really potent sleeper going forward, after winning his heat today he comes into the final with a strong 3:29 Pr from a year ago that gives him a great kick against this field. Cam Levins, the Canadian sensation, manages to sneak in on time. Zane Robertson joins him out of this second heat.

Sets up a very exciting final with defending champion Lagat, big time world level medalists like Rupp, Choge, Gebremeskel, and Gebrhiwet and then sleepers like Ndiku and Levins who have nice closing speed. This is probably the most exciting final for me personally.

4x8/DMR

First off I'd just like to point out the official entries for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The entries are fairly similar to what I projected, but there are a few notable differences (Lawi Lalang is trying to win all 3 distance events!). You can check out the list here: http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/250997-NCAA-D1-Indoor-Championships-2014/article/25430-ENTRIES-NCAA-Indoor-TF-Championships

But I guess at this point I owe you guys some relay talk. Both the relays didn't exactly have a surprising winner, but things were kind of odd in the way that they won. First off State College flat out dominated despite only running a 7:50 mark. They just weren't challenged thanks mostly to the fact that the O'Hara guys ran so fantastic in the individuals that there was nothing left for the relay. I'm really impressed they held on for second honestly, considering how much was invested in the individuals. I'd love to know splits if they are out there, Caldwell had a really nice anchor, Wiseman and Francis were strong, and I'm sure there were plenty of other break out marks. North Penn once again came to play, just always good at the 4x8, can't explain it.

In the DM West Chester Henderson left themselves somewhat vulnerable anchoring Stratman over the superstar Russell. In addition, Russell, tired from doing all the work in the mile, was in no mood to do all the work to keep the pace down around 3 flat on that 1200. So ultimately, Henderson looked vulnerable with "only" a 3:08 lead off leg and a guy in Stratman who was in the most pressure packed running situation of his young career. But Stratman rose beautifully to the occassion, ran very within himself and solo-ed a 4:24ish type mark (which would put him about #2 on the team yesterday) and easily wrapped up a victory. I think we could see big things out of Stratman both at nationals next week and this outdoors. I was impressed.

I still can't help but wonder if this race ends up different if a team like Lower Dauphin or Altoona was in this race with completely fresh legs if the outcome would have been different. I think Henderson was just clearly the best team out there, but 10:24 doesn't usually win the state championship by 8 seconds. The race for second was incredibly exciting (and I wish they would have showed that on the feed) with Bilotta running great and Kardish really having a very nice double. He may be a dangerous 2 mile type/miler outdoors. He is a strong runner and I was very impressed by that double (and really that HG Prep team in general). Pleasant surprise for sure. Same can be said for Cole Nissley's double for LD off the 3k. CB South quietly drops down to 10:39. 10:39 for a team that barely made it to the state championships! They are a very well coached group of guys and they have a really strong freshman on that squad.

Small note before I move to the future, Henderson probably could have grabbed a team trophy without much difficulty, they were only 3 points away from third despite not even trying to get there. O'Hara wanted the podium and they ended up 2nd in a big surprise. That was a very intriguing podium battle, much like UDs in 2009.

So now the question turns to the same question it has been for some time. O'Hara vs. Henderson! Last year those two teams matched up in XC in a historic state meet and an unbelievable year overall. The battle indoors last year for 2nd in the 4x8 came down to Henderson and O'Hara (and Pennsbury of course).The two also battled it out at Penn Relays last year, although LaSalle was the team that stole the show.

Now there is another showdown looming. I'm hoping we get to see it at Nationals first and foremost. Both teams would have the potential to be in the 10:10 range and take down the state record. Henderson ran 10:16 not too long ago and O'Hara rocked a low 10:20s mark on a flat track. O'Hara went to states and had a variety of strong individual performances. By now each of there legs has run 1:56 or faster this season with Belfatto also running 4:17 and Smart running 1:54 last weekend. Meanwhile, Tony Russell continues to dominate the mile indoors with a variety of sub 4:13 miles this year (I think he has like 5 or so which is absolutely absurd).

In my opinion (which tends to be wrong), I think the best order for O'Hara would be James, 400 leg, Smart, Belfatto and Henderson would be best off running Moy, Thompson, Stratman, Russell. That would be quite the race with Russell likely chasing Belfatto over the course of the last leg. Head to head I would say that order would yield something like

1200m, I favor Moy by about 1-2 seconds although James ran a lot of fantastic 1200s a year ago and is gutsy, Moy has the experience and the speed this season to kick James down on the leadoff
400m, I'd say it's a draw. Thompson's recent 51 split might end up giving Henderson a surprise edge if he can match that at Nats with some actual competition on his leg.
800m, I really like what Stratman did last week, but Smart is about a 4 second advantage on Stratman these days coming off a fantastic 1:54 mark at indoor states. He could maybe even split 1:53 chasing
1600m, Russell clearly has the advantage here because he has run so much faster than Belfatto and has split 4:11 twice already. Belfatto could break through for a 4:15 type mark (which is equivalent to the 4:17 he ran for a full mile), but Russell would still have him by 4-5 seconds if he is on his game.

That means, in total, Henderson has about 2-3 second advantage on paper. But on race day, none of that matters. I'm pumped for whenever this becomes reality.

Also just want to say State College can still do big things on the 4x8 relay. If they took the trip to nats they can do a Pennridge esque time at the very least. But they may be content to end the year with the state championship.

NCAA Qualifying

Figured I'd throw some NCAA stuff in here since I haven't for so long, but if you are here for HS related info feel free to scroll down a bit and read up on my recap of the individual events at states.

The deadline for entries for the NCAA championship meet is today, meaning that we now know the top names in each event. We should be able to somewhat reasonably project the NCAA entries as a result. The top 16 individuals and the top 12 relays will be accepted in each event. So here is what the distance picture looks like in the Men's NCAA.

DMR
The DMR is the simplest one to project in my mind. The top 12 teams are all going to enter because there is basically no incentive not to. You can run a team of relative B squad guys if that benefits you in the individuals without any penalty. If you don't accept the bid you leave 4 guys at home who could have been representing your school on the national stage and gaining valuable experience at the top level. It's an excellent recruiting tool, team championship tool and much much more.

So long story short these are the 12 teams you can expect to toe the line at the NCAA championships later this month (qualifying team members listed, but substitutions can be made):
1. PSU 9:26.59 Kidder, Bennentt-Green, Watkins, Creese
2. Indiana 9:27.72 Gornall, Morgan, Kinnaird, Hunter
3. Villanova 9:28.06 Solis, Ellison, Fitzsimons, Williamsz
4. Oregon 9:28.91 Fleet, Galpin, Guyota, Cheserek
5. Stanford 9:28.95 Bertolotti, Solomon, Lefebure, Atchoo
6. Georgetown 9:29.11 Bartelsmeyer, Andre, Ledder, Bile
7. Arkansas 9:29.37 Wallace, Braddy, Squella, Rono
8. Notre Dame 9:29.43 Rae, Feeney, Dumford, Happe
9. OK State 9:29.91 Moskowitz, Payton, Noelle, Erassa
10. Virginia Tech 9:30.26 Degfae, Dally, Degfae, Pollock
11. Columbia 9:30.72 Gregorek, McFann, Fish, Everett
12. Washington 9:31.82 Simon, Satterwhite, Daigre, Yorks

First teams out include Minnesota (9:31.94), Nebraska (9:32.85) and Oklahoma (9:32.92)

800m
The 800m begins the trickiness of the whole projecting operation. Here is the honest truth, a lot of these guys who are at the top of the 800m are also pieces of these top DMR teams. Does that mean we may see a few guys pull out from the 800m top 16 and open the door for some surprises? Well here are the 16 names that are currently in the position to get in. I will mark with a * guys who either have important DMRs or are better off going after a different individual event.
1. Edward Kemboi, Iowa State 1:45.98
2. Brandon Kidder, Penn State 1:47.45*
3. Eliud Rutto, Middle Tennesse State 1:47.45+ (converted from 1:48.98 flat track)
4. Brandon McBride, Mississippi State 1:47.51
5. Sean Obinwa, Florida 1:47.76
6. Billy Ledder, Georgetown 1:47.89*
7. Alvaro Chavez, UConn 1:47.96
8. Patrick Rono, Arkansas 1:47.96*
9. Andres Arroyo, Florida 1:47.97
10. Ryan Schnulle, Florida 1:48.05
11. Zavon Watkins, PSU 1:48.11*
12. Sam Ellison, Nova 1:48.40*
13. Tomas Squella, Arkansas 1:48.70*
14. Jacopo Lahbi, Alabama 1:48.77
15. Luke Lefebure, Stanford 1:48.80*
16. Andrew Smith, UMBC 1:48.82

First off, how sick is that Florida 4x8? Would love to somehow see those guys come out to Penn Relays. Second, we have to see which guys may drop out of this event. Two PSU guys, two Arkansas guys, a Nova guy and a Stanford guy as well as a GTown guy are on this list. Most of them will likely not pull out. Ellison is almost a lock to stay in, they will just use him as a 400 guy on the DM. Arkansas is usually in the team title talks at these meets so they will probably want to use Rono and Squella in the open 8 if possible. That means they will have to change up their DMR order and run someone like Kemoy Campbell on the anchor leg if he is healthy. Lefebure may drop out if Stanford as serious aspirations in the DMR, but I think they may reward him for a strong year and let him double. Kidder seems so close to the title I can't imagine a situation where Kidder drops the open 8. Ledder has been very good this year and is a potential All American at 800m, so I doubt GTown will pull him out of the open. So really only Watkins is a possible drop in my eyes. I'd say it's 50-50 for him to be in or out.

The guys waiting to step in should anyone drop are:
Jesse Jorgensen, Washington State 1:48.84
Jake Hiltner, Akron 1:48.85
Nick Hartle, UCLA 1:48.86
Sam Penzenstadler, Loyola 1:48.86

Mile
Much like the 800m, the open mile is before the DMR and seriously complicates the picture of who will enter the big dance. Plus milers may be better off as 5k guys or staying fresh for a 3k attempt. If no one drops here are the top 16 names. Once again I will mark those who I think may drop.
1. Lawi Lalang, Arizona 3:52.88*
2. Anthony Rotich, UTEP 3:55.86@ (altitude conversion)*
3. Jordan Williamsz, Villanova 3:56.84*
4. Matt Hillenbrand, Kentucky 3:57.00
5. Jeremy Rae, Notre Dame 3:57.25*
6. Rich Peters, Boston University 3:57.27
7. Will Geoghegan, Dartmouth 3:58.04
8. Sam Penzenstadler, Loyla 3:58.21
9. Mac Fleet, Oregon 3:58.25*
10. Matt Gillespie, Iona 3:58.48
11. Brandon Kidder, PSU 3:58.49*
12. Steve Mangan, Dartmouth 3:58.65+
13. Elmar Engholm, New Mexico 3:58.90@
14. John Gregorek, Columbia 3:58.95+*
15. Izaic Yorks, Washington 3:59.04*
16. Chad Noelle, OK State 3:59.12*

For those of you not counting, that's 9 guys marked with a * that may pull out, making a lot of guys left sitting home on the edge of their seat. Lawi will almost definitely stay with the mile but there is a small, small chance he is more interested in challenging himself in the 5k-3k. I doubt it, but there is a small chance. Williamsz and Rae are huge pieces of their DMR, but I think they will go after the double. You see lots of guys doing it each year and these two (as well as someone like Mac Fleet) will likely stay in the open.

Kidder, as mentioned above, I see in the 800m. Which means I've got him pegged to be dropping out. Rotich I see as a 5k-3k type rather than the mile and I also have him as a drop out (no guarentees, however, thanks to the generous altitude conversion). Gregorek and Yorks may choose to stay fresh for their DMRs later in the night, but their DMRs also both skated into the championship meet and may not see a fresh squad as being of the same importance. I think OK State can replace/double Noelle's leg on the DMR without too much issue so I expect him to be in.

All in all we are probably looking at somewhere between 3-5 people saying nah to the NCAA mile. That means the following group of people will be waiting by the phone.
Michael Williams, Princeton 3:59.21+
Isaac Presson, North Carolina 3:59.23+
Austin Mudd, Wisconsin 3:59.31+
Sam Stabler, Lamar 3:59.33+
Jesse Garn, Binghamton 3:59.37
John Simons, Minnesota 3:59.38
Brett Johnson, Oregon 3:59.39
Rob Denault, Nova 3:59.52

3000m
The 3k is on the second day of competition meaning that this event is very likely to have the top 16 guys as the guys competing. There is no harm in entering in this race and seeing what happens. Those 16 names are as follows:
1. Lawi Lalang, Arizona 7:44.20
2. Ed Cheserek, Oregon 7:47.20
3. Jake Hursyz, Colorado 7:50.50
4. Erik Olson, Stanford 7:50.81
5. Joe Bosshard, Coloardo 7:50.86
6. Parker Stinson, Oregon 7:51.06
7. Brian Shrader, NAU 7:51.48@
8. Maksim Korolev, Harvard 7:51.52
9. Will Geoghegan, Dartmouth 7:51.57
10. Reed Connor, Wisconsin 7:51.78
11. Matt Gillespie, Iona 7:52.24
12. Jared Ward, BYU 7:52.51
13. Rich Peters, Boston University 7:52.61
14. Ben Saarel, Coloardo 7:52.61
15. John Simons, Minnesota 7:52.62
16. Trevor Dunbar, Oregon 7:53.13

Barring an injury, this should be the field. It will be loaded with Colorado guys who may really surprise considering the NCAA meet is held at altitude this year.

5000m
This race usually just ends up being pretty close to the top 16 names as most long distance guys are clear cut 5k guys not on the whole DM and Mile scene. However this year it is a tiny bit more complicated than that. Here is the current top 16:
1. Reed Connor, Wisconsin 13:37.42
2. Patrick Tiernan, Villanova 13:37.73
3. Ed Cheserek, Oregon 13:40.51
4. Lawi Lalang, Arizona 13:41.58
5. Jared Ward, BYU 13:42.17
6. Luke Caldwell, New Mexcio 13:42.50
7. Maksim Korolev, Harvard 13:42.56
8. Erik Olson, Stanford 13:42.56
9. Mark Parrish, Florida 13:43.15
10. Joe Bosshard, Colorado 13:43.21
11. Parker Stinson, Oregon 13:43.51
12. Anthony Rotich, UTEP 13:44.13
13. Mo Ahmed, Wisconsin 13:44.32
14. Brian Shrader, NAU 13:44.55
15. Adam Bitchell, New Mexico 13:44.70
16. Joe Rosa, Stanford 13:44.85

Lawi Lalang, I believe, will drop out of the 5k in favor of the Mile-3k double. Eddy Ches may also drop out of the line up if he is going to anchor the DMR, but I think they let Cheserek go after another national championship in this event. They can do serious damage in the DMR without him. Oregon has to be thinking about maximizing points to climb higher and higher up the podium. So really I see one more spot opening up which means #17 Morgan Pearson from Colorado (13:49.30) would sneak in to national championships. Another Coloardo guy who will be dangerous at altitude.

States Recap: 3000m

The Mile and 800m recaps can be seen below.

Ah the 3k. The only event of the day where I missed on the state champion. And man did I miss on the state champion. Colin Martin ran a fantastic race officially removing the title of "Ethan Martin's brother". Ethan had been the big name for a while, but Colin, who came on big last spring and even bigger this fall, is now a state champion in his own right. Imagine if both brothers are full healthy for outdoors? I wonder what a 1-2 punch of Martins would look like outdoors and if that sibling rivalry would get you to sub 9 minutes?

Colin probably could have even gone faster out there. The pace was a little sporadic and the first 1k was blazing fast! It was around 2:45 which is roughly 8:15 pace! If the pace was more like 2:50-2:50 for the first 2k then I think Martin could have come home in 2:48 and ran 8:28 to put him in the sub 8:30 club. Considering how often Martin has contested the longer distances and how often Wilson contested the longer stuff a year ago and both guys ended up finishing the season on quite the high note, I am going to have to go back and revisit a few theories.

Dominic Deluca ran gutsy but ended up getting caught in the wrong spot. He likely didn't realize just how fast things were early on and he wanted to be at the front. Then suddenly, he found himself at the front of the race and said, OK gotta just keep on pressing. Deluca still ran a PR kind of race out there and certainly helped make things fast for Martin, but got exposed the last 1k. A more evenly run race and Deluca is in excellent position for a massive PR. Outdoors a more experienced Deluca should be a factor in an excellent outdoor 3200m field. If all the pieces come together, I not only expect sub 9 minutes, but I expect 10+ guys under 9:20 (weather permitting).

Jake Brophy man. Wow. Watching that race, I thought he fell off hard off the fast pace and just wasn't ready to run the 8:40ish time it would take to be in the top 5. Then all of a sudden the results flash up on the board and Brophy gets up for 3rd and almost takes 2nd! What a fantastic kick! Just a sophomore finding his ability and proving his kick in a great field. I picked Brophy to win states because I believed in that kick and maybe in a different, much more tactical race, Brophy could have won the race, but for now I think he should be quite proud of where he finished in this field and the PR time he ran.

Kevin James had a strong race and ran a big indoor PR. I think James has been hurt a bit by the fact that his XC season went so long and he was missing a little extra umph out there to get him up for 2nd and in the sub 8:40 club. I believe that this O'Hara coaching staff is doing a fantastic job with their athletes and James last year had an excellent spring. Those two things will likely click and allow James to be gutsy and get another big PR. He probably misses having Savage and Pitone in practice (and Pastore) but Belfatto and Smart will help make him faster and add an extra dimension to his racing package. He's still just a Junior which I always forget because of how strong he ran a year ago.

Patrick Reilly has been consistently strong all year. I like the way this guy competes and runs to win. District 3 has some very interesting pieces at 32 and 16 this year. Throw Brehm into a race at districts once again and you could have Reilly, Grow, Brehm and Nissley making for a very fast race. Throw my boy Aaron Gebhardt in the conversation as well. Reilly may be another Seth Robbins/Chuck Lockwood type who runs under 9:15.

Matt McGoey! Great race by him to sneak up and get 6th! 8:45.76 for him is a nice PR just a week after a nice PR. McGoey and the NA boys will continue to improve outdoors and McGoey may turn into a title contender (no guarentees here). I think McGoey is going to really turn heads this outdoor season. If I'm on the bandwagon for Gebhardt and Caldwell, I'm driving the bandwagon for Matt McGoey. I really project big things for him going forward. Let's see if he can come through.

Hatboro Horsham gets their guys ready to go at the right times. Comber is clutch at the state meets and grabs a big PR and a medal right at the perfect moment. Quinn, Hibbs, Hibbs, Hibbs, Hibbs, Comber, Topper, Kraiss, ... Horsham gets it done.

Martson is quickly gaining a reputation as a clutch runner and he is on a fantastic career arc this season. He has had easily his best race at states two seasons in a row now. He is moving up my clutch list for sure. I will be intrigued by this Conestoga team outdoors, I like their pieces.

Molino is going to good outdoors, keep an eye on him for big things. Indoors is not the peak season for most AA guys and he still managed an 8:50 2 weeks after opening above 9 minutes. Lots of other big name guys finished outside of the medals, but I think that is a testament to both the depth of the field and the brutal early pace. A bit more of an even paced race and I think we see a bunch more down around 8:50 and maybe one or two more that dip under 8:40.

States Recap: Mile

You can see a recap of the 800m in the post below.

The mile race allowed Tony Russell to continue to show off just how much better than this field he was on paper. He ran out front did all the work and ran away from a slew of very talented guys who grabbed the rest of the state medals for PA. Russell looked very smooth throughout, kind of fell asleep in the middle (but again, no push at any point), and brought it home just short of the record. I think he still closed down around 61 seconds or something of that sort.

Yes, Russell looked up at the clock on the home straight to look for the time and I'm sure that could have cost him a little bit of time, but can you blame the guy? Half the field was guilty of clock watching this weekend (which of course drives an audience crazy, but I've done it plenty of times before in my day) and a guy who is miles in front of the field chasing a state record with no push besides the clock is going to be more likely than anyone to cheat a glance up there. I don't blame you Tony, we have all been there.

 Luckily the outdoor states clock is within our normal line of sight.

Tony dominated this race overall no matter how you slice it and had a fantastic season which is one for the record books no doubt. Outdoors I would love to see this guy move up to the 3200m and mix it up in a quality field, but obviously if no one emerges who can challenge him over 1600m (Brehm and Francis moving up?) than why wouldn't you go after a repeat state championship?

Behind Tony in this race we saw the gutsy run from Jaxson Hoey who spent the entire weekend fearlessly going after Tony Russell in both the mile and 1200m leg of the DMR. Hoey showed a lot of guts and ran a solid race. The pace for the mile was probably a tad ambitious for him, but really the opening 400m was what cost Hoey. The middle laps were a perfectly reasonable pace for a guy at his level. When Russell threw down the last 400m, Hoey couldn't hang and losing confidence and someone to chase, the chasers were able to catch up and outkick him. Nothing to be ashamed of here. I'd rather see the guy go for it, especially as just a sophomore who is learnign more and more by the week.

Jim Belfatto ran a fantastic race. He ran very within himself, kept a good spot ready to pick off Hoey and hold off his other competitors. Belfatto set the tone for a second place team finish by O'Hara. Ross Wilson ran a great race as well, probably could have scared second if he went a little earlier in the race and used his strength to his advantage. Wilson is going to be dangerous at 3200m with this extra bit of speed to his name. Looking through the names of these high schoolers Wilson has to be the best runner who has yet to win a state championship (Jeff Wiseman is in the conversation as well). I think Wilson can win the 3200m outdoors if he continues this tear. But more on that later I suppose.

Caldwell came up big, but can you really be that surprised? Yes, I didn't predict him to medal (clearly the wrong move), but I've been driving the Caldwell bandwagon for a while. Last year that guy was a clutch runner and strong doubler in the 4x8 and open 8. Now Caldwell has become more than the sleeper pick guy, he has become a stud and outdoors he will be a very intriguing name. With the 4x8 looming as a top 3 team outdoors, does Caldwell move to 800m rather than 16? And if he does can he hang with those 1:50-1:51 types? It should be interesting to watch unfold.

Bilotta had a very nice weekend as well. He has made quite the name for himself as he adds his name to a list of quality LaSalle milers. Bilotta burst onto the scene last year after a sub 9:30 3200m and I'm hoping to see him get in one of the fast 32s outdoors to see if he can get under 9:20. With the depth at 3200m, I expect Bilotta to stick to the 16 as his main event, but his best distance may actually be at 2 miles.

Can Jeff Groh get some love? He absolutely dominated his heat! That was crazy. I gotta think if he was in the fast heat he would have challenged the top 5 guys and possibly been in the mix for 2nd place. Hard to speculate with certainty but he looked very good out there. He is another one who I think could be 9:12-9:15 at 3200m if things go right. But the depth in the upper distances may keep him down at 1600m where certainly would be a factor in the district championships and state championships. His teammate Sean Weidner had a very nice day as well worth noting.

Matt Willig also ran phenomenally in his heat. Gotta like what he brings to the table.

Outdoors I think guys like Becich (4:20 and no medal? sorry man), Coakley, Smith and Kolor can really develop into their own. The guys outside of District One have a lot of potential to make big progress outdoors with access to bigger, better and more consistent meets.

Props to Ryan Grace who got himself into the fast heat and race fantastically against the top competition. That was an excellent example of rising to the occasion and taking advantage of your opportunities.

States Recap: 800m

I watched the state meet live with Forrest this past weekend and I have a few thoughts on what I saw out there that I will share with my readers out there.

First off, I apologize for all the tweeting this weekend, I get excited, but for those of you who were reading my tweets you know how historic this 800m was.

Kyle Francis, leading wire to wire and never looking back, rocked a 1:50.55 800m! Francis went into the race flanked by two of the best 800m kickers in the state and set himself up earlier as a potential sacrificial lamb to Logue or Wiseman's state record run. But he flipped the script on that and never let his competition get within striking distance. His 1:50.55 not only gives him the All-Time State Record, but it also places him tied for #4 US AT Indoors!

Only Robby Andrews, Ben Malone and Zavon Watkins sit ahead of him on that list. Andrews, in his post high school career has gone on to run 1:44.71 and 3:34 for 1500m. Ben Malone had a fantastic senior season and has run under 3:50 for 1500m on multiple occasions in high school. Zavon Watkins finished his high school career with a sub 3 1200m split, a 1:47.99 4x8 split and a variety of sub 1:50 open marks.

Francis tied Mike Granville on the all time list. Granville is the outdoor high school record holder who set the mark with a blazing 1:46 mark in 1996. Clearly Kyle Francis has put himself in some very elite company.

Jeff Wiseman's mark shouldn't be overlooked either. His was the #3 indoors for PA behind only Francis and Ned Willig and Wiseman is somewhere around #12 on the All-Time High School Indoor list which is extremely impressive. Wiseman gave it a fantastic effort against Francis and looked a few times like he could go get him during the race, but was just a tiny bit away. Great race by Jeff for sure.

And Joe Logue ran a time that would have won the state championships almost every year. Only Francis, Mallon and Endress would have beaten his 1:52.02 mark. Logue's time would have been a PA record not too long ago before Mallon busted his the first ever 1:51 indoors back in 2009.

Rarely does a race live up to the hype, and perhaps never does the race exceed the hype! These guys made for a one of a kind event. I'm not sure if any of them will try their hand at a national championship, but all should at least consider it. I wouldn't blame Francis at all if he decides he wants to end his indoor career on this note. That would a phenomenal way to end it. I'm not sure any of these can top their mark from this meet just because all the elements seemed to click at the right time, but all of these guys could be All-Americans no doubt.

Keep in mind, I would bet everybody at the national level wants Francis to get on the track at the Armory and race for a national title. Anybody willing to take it through in 1:21-1:22 sets up the field to go after a sub 1:50 mark if they can hang around and kick. He is like a perfect rabbit. That being said, this rabbit doesn't let people hawk him down. He gets after it and he goes for broke. If he can beat the best in the nation with that same strategy, the legend of Kyle Francis will be forever cemented.

Now there was plenty more to this race than the top 3 guys, although those 3 clearly deserve their praise. Worth noting, Nick Smart had a fantastic day to drop that 1:54 PR. Smart has been due for a nice PR and despite the fact that I had high expectations for the man, he still exceeded mine with a 4th place finish in a very strong field. O'Hara, through the efforts of Smart, Belfatto, James and Nolen, proved a lot this weekend and I think they earned a lot of extra respect from not only me but from much of the state.

Looks like a new chapter in the O'Hara v. Henderson story is beginning .... But I will get to that later

Will Cather had a nice day, but unfortunately the pace that Kyle Francis set was naturally going to send guys out of their comfort zone. I think Cather was definitely capable of 1:53.5 if he ran that race to try and run 1:53.5, but he ran to try and mix it up in the 1:51 range and that took guts. I think Cather is going to continue to improve as he adjusts to being one of the biggest names in a marquee event and by the end of spring I believe his added experience should get him down around 1:51. He also has some of the best training partners in the business over at State College.

That first heat was really gutsy as well. It was a group of guys who were barely under 2 minutes this season (or in some cases not even sub 2 minutes) and a lot of guys got PRs. Connor Holm ran a gutsy race out front and helped keep the pace quick and everyone else stuck their nose in it and tried to hang on. Massive PRs for guys like Stewart and Williams who were suddenly in the 1:57s, Holm ran a 1:56.88 that got him a state medal and Austin Cooper ran a fantastic double. Austin Cooper ran a really nice double this weekend with that 4:23-1:56 double. Cooper is quickly getting a reputation as a great doubler. If you remember back to districts last year he had a double much like this that featured a huge PR at 800m once again. I like Austin Cooper going forward, he is going to be a factor in district one in whatever event he chooses.

As we look ahead to outdoors think about these guys ending up in a state final outdoors:
Kyle Francis
Jeff Wiseman
Joe Logue
Will Cather
Nick Smart
Jim Belfatto
Zach Brehm
Billy Caldwell
Dylin Wilhoite
Kevin Moy
Jon Lewis

This would make for a very intriguing final with a fantastic group of runners. You have a front group that include 4-5 1:50 types plus a slew of 1:52-1:53 types. Plus it is more than likely a new runner off the radar will emerge as a sub 1:55 guy. An assault on the state records and the fastest times in the state would be truly exciting. We saw a phenomenal, legendary 800m final this past weekend, but the outdoor final, 100%, could be even better!

I hope this race, too, can live up to the hype.