Spring Into Recaps

By Jarrett Felix

Well guys, it’s finally time for outdoor track season. Hard to believe we are only two months away from the last state championship of the year and the conclusion of most of PA’s top runners seasons (or careers). The meets in March don’t count for any bonus points when we hit championship season, but building confidence, momentum and team chemistry can all go a long way toward determining the winners at season’s end.

PTFCA Carnival

Let’s jump right into things with the PTFCA Track Carnival. One of the biggest stand out performance in this one came from the Hershey boys. The strong competitors from District 3 won the DMR in 11:09 and also added a gold from Andrew Sullivan in the 1600, where Sullivan defeated 9^th place indoor finisher Joseph Cardie 4:35-4:37. Sullivan ran in the low 4:20s for 1600 a year ago as a sophomore and is fresh off a brilliant XC season that included a sub 16 minute 5k. He could be a big sleeper to break into the top 5 at outdoor states in this event.

The other big winner of the day was Abington. The boys defeated Penn Wood in a hotly contested 4x8 with a time of 8:01. They also dropped a 3:24 to east away from everyone en route to a 4x400 gold. In between, Abington took 1-2 in the 400, led by Aaron Sooknanan and also finished 3-5 in the 800. But the 800 was also where Penn Wood got some revenge. Dennis Manyeah ran 1:58.73 to pull out the victory over Springfield Delco’s Liam Galligan, who was also under 2 minutes.

This was a big result for both of these men. For Manyeah, it was another strong win to add to his resume. After a quiet start to his indoor season, Manyeah has shown signs of returning to the form that helped him run 1:53 for 800 meters last spring at Henderson. Manyeah could potentially work his way into the state title discussion in the 800 meters, however it’s unclear how interested he is in the individual events. Manyeah has yet to contest one at either the indoor or outdoor state championships and has instead gone all in to help his teammates in the 4x8 and 4x4 relays.

As for Galligan, this is his first race since XC after suffering an injury. Liam is one of the top returners in the state at 1600 meters, having ran a gutsy, front-running style at last year’s championships and has the talent to compete for the win when fully healthy (yeah, I said for the win). A sub 2 800 is a nice start, especially in an off event. Let’s keep an eye on how he progresses from here.

Solid result from Connor Hurst of Upper Moreland in that 800 as well, running a strong 2:01.21 and finishing 4^th overall in arguably the deepest field of the day.

Junior Peter Borger of Malvern Prep was the last distance event champion, running 9:46 in the 3200 to beat Thomas Matsumura of Southern Lehigh.

Tim Cook

One of the best parts about outdoor season is getting District 3 back involved in full force. It’s just not as big of a deal out that way. Of course, the best distance squad this past indoor season was from this very district, so, in a rare twist, District 3 is firing on all cylinders from Day One. Isaac Kole, one of the unsung heroes from Carlisle’s national record run this indoor season, dropped a 1:58.15 to set the meet record and defeat Tristan Connor (who ran 1:57.19 last spring). This was not the only record that Kole was a part of as, without Noah Affolder, the Carlisle boys ran 7:57.05 to win the 4x8 going away.

Listed as the leadoff man on that squad was Sam Affolder, who led off both state championship relays indoors for the Herd. Sam won the 1600 in 4:23, picking up a big win over a very strong Quinn Serfass, who came away with the silver in 4:42. Carlisle also won the 4x4 in a sub 3:30 clocking.

Chayce Macknair, a sophomore from Mifflin County, was the top PA runner in the 3200, running 9:56.17 for the silver. He defeated a Wilson 1-2 punch of Jake Underwood and Evan Royko, a very strong duo coming off excellent cross country seasons. Mifflin County also picked up a 400 victory from Seth Phillips and a 4x8 silver in 8:20.06. I really like this MC squad’s upside, especially because their listed line up was two juniors and two sophomores.

The Distance Project

Shout out to Phoenixville for making me pull out the calculator this weekend. It’s not very often you see a 4x600 or a 4x1000, but if you were at “The Distance Project” (also a sick name) then you saw just that. The 4x600 relay came down to DT East and indoor state medalists CB East, with the former picking up a narrow victory 5:45 to 5:47. For DT East, that’s an average of roughly 1:26.5 for 600. Do we know if this is meters or yards? Those times are blazing for meters and could mean big things. Regardless, that’s a great time for DT East who is pointing toward a sub 8 relay in the not so distant future.

For CB East, this was a very interesting line up as they did not have David Endres, John Brophy or Ata Shahideh in the relay, 3 members of their state medal winning 4x8 indoors. Jake Sosulis showed some potential to move up and become a contribution, dropping the fastest split for his team in 1:24.8. Keep an eye out for this kid as an x-factor on the CB East 4x8 looking ahead.

CB East also rolled in the 3200, taking the top 3 spots in 10:05, 10:07 and 10:10. Also, Declan Earles for East ran 2:07.67 to win his heat of the 800 by roughly 18 seconds.

The stand out performer of the day was Neshaminy’s Rusty Kujdych. The junior dropped a 4:21.86 to dominate the 1600 and post an impressive mark at the under distance and followed that with a 2:01.89 for the 800. Kujdych, who ran a PR at Nationals in the 2 mile against the fastest guys in the country, is absolutely rolling right now. After a hard fought silver this past indoor season, I think you can’t sleep on this guy as a title contender in the 3200. Now Noah Affolder is operating on his own plane at 3200, but if he passes on the event for some combination of 4x8, 16 and 800, things get a heck of a lot more interesting for the deuce.

Regardless of whether or not he wins a title this spring, Kujdych is putting together a phenomenal junior season. He looks like he could become an elite two miler in our state’s history if things continue to go well. Really nice start for the Neshaminy junior.

Upper Darby Relays

It’s hard to always understand the story when it comes to relay meets (so feel free to give us a heads up in the comment section with splits or things of that sort), but it looks like the SMR was a race to remember. Quakertown ended up pulling out the victory over Radnor, Roman Catholic, Chester and Bonner in a tight championship battle. Quakertown’s final time was 3:35.97. We likely saw a match up between Hudson Delisle and Peter Cooke, two of the best up and coming 800 meter runners in the state as well as perhaps Sean Brown, the indoor state medalist in the mile and Dave Whitfield at Bonner.

In the 4x8, Methacton took gold in 8:13. They defeated a couple state caliber relays in WC Rustin (indoor DMR qualifiers) and Radnor (indoor 4x8 qualifiers). Also in the mix was Central (8:19), the always dangerous 4x8 squad Penncrest (8:21) and Upper Darby (8:21). Methacton also picked up a huge JV 1600 win out of freshman Matt Varghese. He ran 4:46 to win by 14 seconds. That’s a name to remember.

Full Speed Ahead podcast

By: The Etrain Crew

The gang is back at it discussing some PA action!

FULL SPEED AHEAD PODCAST

Let's See How This Goes...

By: Garrett Zatlin

Our PA Alumni deserve more attention.

Not just the guys in D1, but D2, D3, and NAIA as well. Heck, even college club runners deserve some love (looking at you Evan Hatton).

I've been with Etrain for over two years now and it has been an outstanding experience. I never thought when I first joined that we would have a professional runner like Craig Lutz reach out and help promote the blog. I never thought that a random prediction article would make the front page of LetsRun. I never thought we would have national champions follow us on Twitter. All of this just from having fun and writing a few articles.

But sometimes, I have to be honest with myself. Our audience is heavily Pennsylvania based and the most read posts in the NCAA section are typically the ones discussing PA alumni. Our readers care more about how Ned Willig is doing compared to how some Oklahoma State guy got 6th at nationals when he was projected to get 2nd.

And quite frankly, I don't blame them! Our alumni are simply more relevant. These are guys we grew up watching, competed against, and read about in Etrain's articles.

After thinking about this for nearly two months, I've decided that I will be shifting the focus of my writing for the blog towards our PA alumni. There are so many guys that I simply don't know. They deserve to get more attention. How did I not know that SRU's Ryan Thompson ran 4:05 this season? How would I have known that All-American Jaryd Flank was a PA alum if Jarrett and Fox didn't point it out to me? The list goes on.

But that's not it...

We still have a solid amount of readers from outside of the state. Readers from Boston, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and so on come to Etrain for content about NCAA distance running. Completely eliminating that focus and only benefitting the PA readers would be a bit unfair to those people in those cities.

And that's why I thought it may be a good time to experiment.

I have decided to launch my own website! It's a site that will have pretty much the same content you see here along with a few other new things that I wanted to try out. I've always wanted to start a project like this and I think now may be the best opportunity. So here it is! Expect the site to launch next week...

thestridereport.com

More Life, More Track References

Drake recently came out with a new playlist (yes, he's calling it a playlist) called More Life and it has, ironically, given me less of a life as it consumes my free time. However, after listening to album-wait, sorry, it's a playlist not an album-on repeat for the past week, I have had the chance to put together some thoughts. And, since not all of you might be in to that sort of thing, I figured I could compare some of these songs (just to clarify, are they still called songs if they are on a playlist?) to some track type things to help y'all truly understand my feelings. Comparing to tracks to track if you will (and I will ... right now).

Free Smoke
First time I heard this song, I was walking over to the basketball court by my house to shoot some hoops and man was I hyped. Almost as hype as when I listen to the song hype. Later on, I played one on one against a 10 year old kid. And I won. So yeah. So in that way it's kind of like the 4x8 at a traditional dual meet. Gets you hyped up from the jump for a great meet of running.

A couple quick questions about this song. First of all, do you think he actually bets $20,000 with Steph Curry and Kevin Durant for jump shots? Because that seems like a really easy way for Drake to lose a ton of money. Just google Drake+Kentucky+Air Ball. Second, how does the number he drunk texts J Lo with already bounce back? How many new phones with new numbers to famous people buy? How do they keep in touch with their friends? The old friends won't have the new number and we all know how Drake and co feel about new friends.

No Long Talk
This song made me hatch an interesting idea. So Drake is always ready to jump on the bandwagon of the hot new team (see "Free Smoke" and his references to the Warriors). He also calls himself a "sixer" in this song. So if the Sixers get good (sorry, I should say when the Sixers get good because, you know, Hinkie is a genius and all that good stuff) Drake is going to definitely make songs about us. And that gets me excited.

As for the song itself, it's pretty solid, but is kinda like another heat of the 4x8 after you just saw the fast heat run. Like it's still a pretty awesome race, but I'm not quite as hype anymore.

Passion Fruit
Excluding the weird cut in from the DJ, this song is totally my jam. Like I try not to exaggerate, but this may be the greatest song I've ever walked around New York City to. And that includes Empire State of Mind. Pay it no mind Hov.

This song is so smooth and so pleasant to the ear that it reminds of Matt Centrowitz just easily coasting along at 50 second pace for the last 400 meters of an Olympic Final. And much like Centrowitz, it's probably not the first song you would pick for a Gold Medal, but heck I'm completely OK with it getting one.

Jorja Interlude
This is what we call an Interlude. What's an Interlude? When I googled it looking for the correct definition, they put in a reference to theatre intermissions so it's clearly a word that the rappers of the world transformed for their own needs. Every time I think "Interlude" I just think of "Buried Alive" by Kendrick Lamar, AKA the greatest interlude I've ever heard, and how that was a song that didn't feature Drake at all but was on Drake's album.

This Interlude actually does feature Drake to be fair, but the value of this interlude is reminding us the importance of listening to this playlist in order. It flows so smoothly you can't even tell when it changes from one song to the next. So you need to listen to this playlist in order when you list. It's like if you are picking a meet order you run the mile before the 800. Never the other way around. Never. 

Get It Together
This song really grabbed my attenion. Not necessarily because of it's strength as a song, but more so because I thought I accidentally pulled down the edited version of the album. Then I remembered I just listened to Drake say a more offensive version of gardening tools and was like, nope, I think I'm good.

But what's cool about this song is the spotlight really gets stolen from Drizzy. Jorja Smith kills it out there. It's like when you are watching a slow section and they do awesome and then you are wondering, man can they hold on to win the whole meet? And the fast heat doesn't bring quite enough "A" game. Point Jorja.

Madiba Riddim
There's been a meme going around on Twitter that says something like "White Dudes googling Mabida Riddim after listening to More Life". Well I am that Meme. I've googled everything from Blem to Mabida Riddim to Philadelphia Love Run.

I may not understand what any of this means, but it doesn't mean I can't appreciate the coolness of it and such. Much like field events or the short sprints.

Blem 

I'm still not 100% what Blem means, but I do know it sounds a lot like the noise I try to make when someone asks me a question right after a finish an 800. 

4422
Believe it or not, this song is not about someone running a 44.22 400 meters. Despite the fact that is a world class time that anyone would be glad to write a song about witnessing.

I came to this playlist looking for Drake, so as much as I appreciate and respect a 44.22 400 from Sampha (who is more of a Isaac Makwala type), I'd rather see the GOAT Wayde Van Niekerk. You know?

Gyalchester

Now we are back to getting fired up. That's kinda where I live. I'm a man who, contrary to looking at me or looking at my idea of "fun", likes to get hype. And nothing says "this song will get you ready for a 4 mile tempo run" than a hype man in the background saying random stuff/making random noises.

If I'm comparing this to a track related thing ... I don't really know what to tell you. But I will say, Drake says "Wait for the Kicker" in this song, which I can only assume is a reference to Robby Andrews. He probably thinks we shouldn't take a nap on Robby this spring for the World Championships.

Also for the next six minutes I will be trying to memorize the line "I know I said top five, but I'm top two And I'm not two and I got one, Thought you had one, but it's not one." So please don't ask me to do any math or other number related things.

Skepta Interlude

This is another Interlude. There's a lot of songs on this playlist. Just like I can't touch on every event from every event ...

Portland
People say Drake isn't relatable, but, I mean, what's more relatable than a 5s with a cracked screen? Great question. Answer is nothing.

I'm a fan of the first verse from this song when Drake gets after it, but I feel like after that the rabbit drops out and the race falls off record pace and then I'm just mentally moving on to the next time somebody gets out hard.

In other news, "Michael Jordan with the Tennis Shoes" needs to be explained to me. To be fair, I also didn't understand "The Ceiling is the Roof" so I mean I just may not be smart enough.

Sacrifices
This is the song where everyone says "like" a lot. It's sorta like the popular girls in your 4th period English Class.

To be honest, there's one line in this song which pretty much sets the tone for how I will live my life the rest of time: "It's a marathon not a sprint, but I still gotta win the race." Just imagine someone saying that to you just like out there in normal life. I would have like fallen to the ground with pure impressed-ness.

This song reminds me of a workout with 3 sets of 300s. The first set is like Drake's verse and it's not too bad, you're feeling pretty good with smooth form. Then slowly things starting getting harder and harder and your brain gets more scrambled and more confused, making things harder to understand as you go.

Which reminds me, 2 Chainz is still a thing? Is it still cool to like him ironically even after all these years or do people, like, legitimately find his rapping enjoyable?

Nothings into Somethings
I think this song proves that Drake and I are really good friends. You may not have realized it, but the person who he is upset about not telling him they got engaged is me. He's upset I didn't wait on him. But it's OK, he will get an invitation since he wants one so bad.

I feel like there's something I'm forgetting to do here ...

Teenage Fever
I know this is a Drake song, but this song just makes me want to listen to old J Lo songs. Dude, I'm not ashamed to admit that J Lo has some hits. Love Don't Cost a Thing? That's a motto I can live by and it doesn't even from Drake's song "The Motto" ironically. So basically, this song is like when you do strides after an easy day. It's like, yeah, I understand their value and all that stuff, but it just makes me want to race a 4x4.

KMT
Holy crap things just got turned the eff up. We have a smooth song and everything is going all chill and then we switch over to KMT. It's like going from the 3200 to the 4x4. It's like doing a hill workout and then jogging back to school, thinking you are just doing a cool down and then coach says "OK, now we are doing a 2400 all out."

Also can I just point out that Giggs is a scary dude. Like that's what really turns up the intensity of this song even more. Like he just kinda seems creepy. Like I've had nightmares about that man. Like one second Drake has this nice little ode to J Lo and the next second this guy is all up in my ear drums talking about Christmas gifts and such.

Lose You
The most important thing you need to know about this song is that Lebron tweeted the chorus back in January. That just goes to show you that Lebron is one heck of a powerful man.

Lines you need to know: "How you forget to fill up with gas on the road to riches?" and "But you're mindful of it all when your mind full of it all"

Goodness. I know Drake isn't quite the empirical lyrical genius of, say, Marshall, but he has some artfully delivered, thought provoking word bombs. It's like watching the throwers 4x1 in a way. You forget that these boys can do more than just throw a ball. 

Can't Have Everything
What does Drake have against Sheraton? I thought the Sheraton was a pretty solid hotel. It just seems unfair is all.

If we ignore the cheesesteak diss (dang it, Meek, why did this have to happen to our city), then we can agree that this is a solid song with some nice casual flow. It's pretty much like a Sunday Long Run where you just go out, get in a nice rhythm and bang out 12 miles. Then maybe you stop at the official bank of Drake: Bank of America.

Glow 

Ye is in the building! This one blindsided me. It's like when you are preparing to watch a relay and think the school is throwing out a B squad and then all of a sudden, Cheserek is on the anchor. And then you just have to start singing about how you feel like you are glowing.

Since Way Back
40 is the Greg Popovitch of the music industry. He just knows how to use the pieces he's been given and turn them into money. Like you can't do much wrong as long as you have 40 working. Sure Greg had Tim Duncan for a while and that certainly helps, but I think we can all agree this extends beyond Timmy Drake. Sure it's not a running reference, but insert some other track coach and it works just fine.

Also, back to back duets? Drake is nothing if not innovative.

Fake Love

Fake Love has already made it into The Running Diaries. I think it's clear how I feel about it.

Ice Melts
We are getting to the end of the playlist and, after listening for hours on end, it was tough to really formulate an intelligent opinion about this bad boy. It's kind of like the mid season slog when you just start to get tired and practice is just a typical, average distance run. Then you go home and your parents are like, "Hey, how was practice?" and you say, "Fine" and they say, "That's it?" And you're like, "Look Young Thug just doesn't inspire a lot of emotion in me OK?" and they are like, "Oh-well-", and you say, "Drake is from Canada dang it! When did he become Jamaican? And when will he go back to Houston Drake? I like Houston Drake!"

Do Not Disturb

This song wasn't too notable other than the fact that Drake claims he is taking the summer off and we won't see him until 2018. What?! That's like a runner pulling out of an entire track season just because it's not a championship year! C'mon man! We can't afford to have a lame US Championships!

Will I be lost without Drake? Of course. But can the guy who puts out songs every like 2 weeks really go 9 months without a single interjection? Wait, you think he could? Well how do we stop him? Guys? This is a serious problem! Guys?

All My Friends Are Runners: It’s All In The Family But I Am Of No Relation

Chapter 17: It’s All In The Family But I Am Of No Relation

Distance Running is a sport driven by time. And with time comes natural barriers. Just look through the chapters so far. I’ve had run ins with 6 minutes, 5 minutes, 20, 19 and 18. But as I switched my focus to track season, I set my sights on the simplest of barriers: 1 minute.

Before every new track season, Upper Dublin had a team wide 400-meter time trial. The 400 was the ideal distance for both sprinters and distance runners. It was probably too short for a distance runner, but anything longer would be way too much for a typical sprinter. The coaching staff tried to spread out the talent and then lined us up for heats on the track a couple weeks into the winter. This helped set the line ups for the first few meets of the year.

Now let’s back up a second and set the stage for this race because, although it sounds like a silly and meaningless event it was actually a monumental moment in my running career. For starters, my PR at the time was about 61 seconds. I had split it in my last race as a freshman on our Suburban One Frosh/Soph Relay. However, in practice just a few days out from the time trial, I had run 63 seconds for the last rep of our workout. So I was feeling pretty good.

I also had a bet going. I was trying to run faster than my friend Mark Pyfer in the time trial as he had been faster than me the previous year. I felt I had narrowed the gap. I’m not actually positive if the bet was with Mark or with Tanzer but there was definitely a bet. And the value of the bet was definitely a quarter[1].

So at this point, I’d say I had the perfect combination of confidence, swag and thirst to prove myself. Also it was a time trial rather than an actual race which played to my skills[2].

When the race began, I just went out and sprinted for as long as I could. I don’t remember all the specifics, but I know there was probably someone faster in my heat who I used to help pull me along[3]. Ultimately, when I finished, I could tell things went well right away. When the coaches told me my final time, I was ecstatic to hear that I had run 56.9 seconds which was a massive personal best and my first time under a minute in the one lapper. I can’t remember for sure if I actually made him pay up the quarter.

But believe it or not, this race wasn’t important because of the quarter. My time in this race beat a couple of the older guys on the team who had previously been out of my league. I think it was the first time I realized I could maybe be a decent team contributor one day. Also, just as importantly, I think it was the first time my teammates thought I could maybe be a decent contributor one day.

We had a team dinner to celebrate Cross Country at the end of the week and I was the most involved in team discussions I’ve ever been thanks to my 400 PR that day. For the first time I could really remember, I began to feel like a part of a family other than my own actual family. And let me tell you, it was one heck of a feeling.

---

[1] For some reason, I remember the quarter very specifically. I made a lot of bets for a quarter in my early high school years including one on a Patriots-Chargers playoff game. I might have a gambling problem.

[2] For some reason, I’m a real solid time trial. That may sound like a brag, but it’s not meant to be. I’d be much happier to brag about being a real solid actual racer. I think I just overthink the big races too much and get way too nervous which is why time trials play to my advantage. I can get the right amount of nervous for those (which is still more than the average person for a time trial as most average people don’t care much at all)

[3] Sam Ellison was also in this heat with me, before he reached true Sam Ellison level (we will get to that) and I managed to beat him. It was the only chance I would ever have to be in the same realm as him, so I’m glad I picked up the W when I had the chance.

Flash Back

It’s crazy to think how much can change within even a couple months. But in just over two months, the entire PA landscape could be flipped on its head. Think back to March 2016. It’s hard to believe where things stood in comparison to where they finished up. Wait, what was that? You don’t remember March 2016? You have the short term memory that comes with being a millennial? Well, don’t worry, I’ll give you a little flash back.

Joe Espinal was a little known 1:55 guy

Espinal was a 1:55 guy in 2015, but only sort of. He ran a 1:55.9 hand time in a dual meet, but hadn’t dropped anything faster in invitational action. Espinal actually seemed more like a miler. In 2015, he ran 4:19 and qualified for states by winning the district title in the 1600. He missed a qualifying spot in the 800, bested by Khai Samuels of Pleasant Valley.

The experience that came with back to back trips to states in the 1600, allowed Espinal to enter the 2016 meet with a little extra confidence. After running 1:55.67 to defeat a strong 800 field at districts, a new PR, Espinal rolled to a 1:54.50 in the prelims at Shippensburg. That set him up as the surprise #1 seed in the State Finals. And it also sparked perhaps the greatest comment in the history of the blog.

A day after his 1:54.50 PR, Espinal decided to drop his PR a little bit more. How about 1:51.09? That Wilson Senior cut another 3.41 seconds off his best to stun the field and steal the 800 state title. But he earned that title. His 1:51.09 puts him alongside Joey Logue of Pennridge on the State All-Time list. By my count, he’s in the top 25 800 runners eve to grace the PA high school scene. And up until state meet Saturday, he was easily outside the top 300.

In fact, the top 800 runners in the state were mostly unknown

Joe Espinal was actually a super star in the 800 world relative to some of these other top dogs. 2^nd place finisher Matt Wisner and 3^rd place finish Jaxson Hoey were indoor state medalists and well known stars. Brett Wolfinger of Quakertown was running in his first outdoor state final, but had an indoor medal to his name.

But the other state medalists were relatively unknown. Derin Klick of Lebanon and Justin Miller of General McLane both made massive jumps down the stretch run of the season to became 1:53 800 runners and medalists. Miller didn’t have a sub 2 time on his milesplit resume prior to 2016 and Klick was sitting at 1:57. Dave Whitfield and Justin Jones, a couple unknown PCL runners, entered the meet among the state’s best seeds with 1:53 and 1:55 district times respectively. Plus a couple State College kids that you may not have expected got in on the party.

And in the AA race, Dom Perretta got a battle he never couple have predicted, facing off against sophomore Kamil Jihad, Dave Fletcher and Dan Kuhn of Harbor Creek (who split 1:52 multiple times outdoors). In total, we had a gaggle of 1:52-1:53 types who came out of left field to become super stars and re-write the state leaderboard. Shout out to Ryan Thrush and Donovan Myers who had 1:52-1:53 type ability but opted for other events as their focus. And won state gold.

Jaxson Hoey was the most likely Hoey to win the Penn Relays Mile

After a terrific indoor campaign that included one of fastest miles in state history, Jaxson Hoey came into the outdoor season as the man to beat in the 1600 meters. He was the defending champion after his first season in the PIAA ended with a dramatic victory over Jeff VanKooten. But in the end, his brother, Josh Hoey, turned it up a notch from 4:17 miler to 4:11 mile at the Penn Relays for one of the biggest upset victories in meet history.

Jaxson, who struggled through sickness in the early part of the outdoor season, turned out alright. He transformed from miler to 800 meter runner and grabbed a district champion in his off event. Then Jaxson dropped a 1:51 800 at the state meet for a tight third overall. The 1600 state title didn’t end up going to either Hoey as a surprise upset was pulled off by State College’s top dog.

Alex Milligan was the most likely 800 meter runner to score for State College

Milligan was the top dog on paper, running a 1:53 split as a junior and anchoring the indoor state champions in the 4x800. But as the outdoor season progressed, State College got a lift from two other runners. Nick Feffer and Anthony Degleris qualified for the state meet out of District 6. But Feffer left it close. The junior qualified by just 0.01 for the state championship.

But once he got in, he made the most of it. Feffer ran 1:53.50 to finish 4^th in the state championship 800 and Tony Degleris added a new PR of 1:54.17 for a critical 8^th place finish. Those were part of a crazy tight finish in the team title race.

And, oh yeah, State College was a big long shot for that state team title

One of the most exciting state title battles in state history began with a beat down at the indoor state meet. Downingtown West scored 76 points, yes 76 points, while State College was the only team to score more than 20. That put DTW in cruise control for the state title.

In the time since that meet, State College developed a school record caliber 4x400 relay, expanded their individual credentials and prepared for revenge in the field events. But in the meantime, DT West continued to improve. Henry Sappey switched to the 1600, Jaxson and Josh Hoey were both individual title threats, and Josh McLemore became one of the all-time greats in the sprints.

When the dust settled, it all came down to that 4x400 relay with State College pulling out a silver by a nose, perhaps thanks in part to a storm that threw off the qualifying for the event and made it a 4 heat final.

Who could have predicted that?

A couple other favorites of mine …

North Allegheny became a 7:51.71 4x800 squad with all underclassmen. Their “big dogs” Migliozzi and Stupak ran individual events and stayed off the relay, but the Tigers still pulled out state medals for the first time in over a decade.

We talked a lot about crazy 800 performances, but how about Keion Broadus of Abington? He’s still probably a relative unknown at this point, but he split a 1:51 to anchor Abington to a silver medal at states over CB West, Pennridge and North Penn among others.

The WPIAL took over the 3200. Although they didn’t get the title in AA or AAA, they did pepper the medal stand and the state leader board. Skolnekovich and Loevner were among the sub 9:20 performers in AA while Wolk, Migliozzi, Susalla and Gunzenhauser took spots 2 through 5 in the AAA state final, beating some great runners.

By the way, Matt Kravitz won the 3200 that year. He was barely sub 9:20 before the state final, but ran a big PR in hot weather and threw down a kick for the ages to outlast a loaded two mile field.

Adding to that long list of 800 talent, Mike Kolor ended the year as one of the very fastest with a 1:51.22. That came just after Carlisle’s Matt Wisner dropped a surprise 4:14.37 full mile to kick down many of the state’s best milers and move among the leaders in his event. Both guys showed some surprising crisscrossing range.

Let me know your favorites and share your “unthinkable” predictions for two months from now in our comment section.

Now back to More Life.

PA Alumni At Nationals

By: Garrett Zatlin

Division 1

• Ned Willig (Michigan)
• Michigan's Ned Willig was the only D1 athlete to qualify for an individual distance event after running a 3:58 mile PR at Boston. Unfortunately, Willig drew a tough preliminary heat which included three Oregon Ducks, a 3:56 miler, and plenty of other talent. Willig was in a great spot early on in the race, but just like many other top-tier names, he wasn't prepared for the quickening pace established by Oregon. Willig eventually finished last in his heat with a time of 4:05. He may not have made the final, but this is arguably the best track season of his collegiate career so far.

• Dan Jaskowak (Virginia Tech)
• As one commenter pointed out, Jaskowak was never really a mid-distance guy in high school. He often thrived in races like the 3200 or 5k. However, this Virginia Tech program has really helped Jaskowak develop his leg-speed. The senior was able to split a 2:53 at ACC's in the DMR lead-off leg and was later able to get VT to the front at NCAA's where he split ~2:55. On top of that, Jaskowak was able to run a 2:22 1k earlier in the season! This guy has some really solid range.

Division 2

• Caleb Gatchell (Hillsdale)
• The Hillsdale senior was already an All-American in the 1500 after placing 7th at outdoor NCAA's last spring. In 2017, Gatchell returned to the big stage with the only difference being that he would run 100 meters further on an indoor track. After matching his 4:06 mile PR in the prelims, Gatchell took advantage of his raw speed to split a 2:59 last 1200 and place 6th at nationals to become an All-American for the second time in his career. That 4:06 was also paired with an 8:21 3k PR from earlier in the season.

• Ethan Gatchell (Cedarville)
• The younger Gatchell brother didn't flinch on the big stage when he got the baton for Cedarville's DMR. As just a sophomore, Gatchell dropped a huge 1:52 high to get his team in a great position. Their relay would eventually finish 8th to clinch the final All-American spot.

• Ryan Thompson (Slippery Rock)
• I'll be 100% honest, I haven't heard much about Ryan Thompson and I'm not sure why. The man is absolutely killing it! The Slippery Rock High School graduate stayed close to home and attended SRU which may have given him an edge when trying to adjust to his new collegiate-level of training. As a senior, Thompson was able to drop some incredible times. He ran a 4:05 mile PR in early February which was fast enough to qualify him for nationals. He also ran an 8:27 3k PR as well. Unfortunately, Thompson didn't advance to the mile final at NCAA's. Still, this has been one heck of a season for Thompson and he is one person that will definitely be on my radar for this upcoming spring season.
• S/O to the commenter for pointing out my miss.

Division 3

• Ernie Pitone (Widener)
• It was a tough race for Pitone ended up as the first man out of the finals despite running 4:15 in the prelims. That would be a heartbreaking finish for most seniors, but Pitone made up for that with an excellent 3k performance where he ran 8:21 and placed 6th overall. After this weekend, Pitone can now boast that he is a five-time All-American throughout his collegiate career (if we include all three seasons).

• Jon Perlman (Middlebury)
• It was an excellent season for Jon Perlman. As just a sophomore, Perlman was able to get a 4:12 mile PR and qualify for nationals at the Tufts Final Qualifier meet. Unfortunately, Perlman's youth caught up to him and he failed to make the final after running a 4:17 in the prelims. Despite not advancing, this was huge experience for the young guy who will likely return back to the championships later on in his career.

• Jaryd Flank (Muhlenberg)
• What a story Jaryd Flank has been! A little known PA high schooler has now become one of the best distance runners in division three. Flank first attacked the DMR with a strong anchor leg that got his Muhlenberg teammates All-American honors with a 7th place finish. Unfortunately, I don't know the relay split, but it seems like it only gave Flank more confidence. The Muhlenberg senior dueled with Pitone and settled for 8th in the 3000 (8:23) to gain his second All-American performance of the weekend.

• Anthony Calatoni (Muhlenberg)
• As the 800 leg of the Muhlenberg DMR, Calatoni stepped up to the plate and laid down a solid 1:53 split to keep Muhlenberg in the All-American conversation. He's only a junior and should be able to make plenty of noise this outdoor season as well as next year.

• Noah Falasco (RPI)
• How did I miss a national champion?! Granted, it was in the DMR so it was easy to overlook. Still, this is a big deal regardless of what event we're talking about. One of the commenters was nice enough to point out that Falasco was on RPI's winning relay and was able to get a solid split 1:56 to keep RPI at the front. The best part? Falasco is just a true freshman.

• Mason Hepner (Dickinson)
• The Dickinson senior had a huge breakout season with three substantial PR's that included a 1:55, 4:12, and 8:39. That 4:12 mile PR was good enough for Hepner to qualify for D3 nationals. Hepner was the last man to make it out of the preliminaries and into a very underrated mile final. Although Hepner finished last in that final, he still got a PR (by .1 seconds).

If there was anyone I missed be sure to let me know! 

Take Aways From Nationals

By: Garrett Zatlin

It was certainly a crazy weekend of nationals with lots to talk about. Here are some of the biggest takeaways I had from the meet. You can find the full results here...NCAA D1 INDOOR RESULTS

800

• Rutto, Arroyo, and Joseph fail to make final
• When making my predictions, I kept Joseph out of the finals due to his history of struggling in the prelims. Sure enough, his prelim troubles happened again with this instance being a bit more unlucky than anything else. The final came down to a kick and I like to think that Joseph could've closed in that final like he did at ACC's.
• Rutto was a big surprise to not make it out of the prelim. Some people thought he could win and most of our writers had him finishing in the top three. But that's what happens when you have a loaded 800 field such as this.
• Another NCAA championship where Arroyo fails to make the final or become All-American. He's got so much talent, but just can't seem to figure out how to race in championships.

• UTEP Frosh Duo Are For Real
• Both of these freshmen were aggressive with their race strategies. In fact, we actually saw Saruni give Drew Piazza a nice little shove which resulted in Saruni being DQ'd. If he had not been DQ'd, Saruni finishes 6th. Korir, on the other hand, asserted himself to the front-pack, timed his move well, and ended up with a title. Could he be the next Edward Cheserek of the 800? 
• S/O to Alex Fox who was very high on this duo early on in the season. He was impressed with their racing ability and he turned out to be right.

• Robert Heppenstall quietly finishes 5th
• The Wake Forest sophomore now has three track seasons under his belt. In each of those seasons, he's qualified for nationals and been an All-American. Talk about clutch...

Mile

• First Thing's First: KERR UPSETS CHES
• What. A. Race. The race was incredibly slow for an NCAA final with the first 800 being 2:10. When people started to make their moves and push the pace, Ches seemed cool, calm, and relaxed. He probably didn't think that a redshirt freshman from New Mexico could out-kick him in a slow tactical race. But Josh Kerr proved him and the whole world wrong when he was able to break the King with a 53 second last 400. 
• Does Kerr still have that kick in a sub-four minute race? Maybe, maybe not. But Cheserek should've learned his lesson after getting out-kicked by Jordy Williamsz at Penn Relays in a scenario very similar to NCAA's.
• I must admit it, Caleb Gatchell was a big fan of Josh Kerr very early on and he's looking real smart right around now.

• Thompson and Maton Struggle
• If anyone was going to upset Cheserek I felt confident that it would be Thompson. Of course, that didn't happen and the 3:56 miler fell back to a disappointing 6th place finish after failing to have the kick that the opposition did. 
• I may look smart for keeping Maton out of my top eight predictions, but it still surprised me when I saw that he fell to 9th overall. Oregon usually performs extremely well at NCAA's and this was just not the weekend for Maton who also finished dead last in the 3000.

3000

• It Was Rather...Predictable
• This was where most of our writers (except Caleb) did very well in the predictions. Of the eight All-American spots, I predicted four of them exactly correct with a few other individuals a spot or two off. What was predicted by most of our writers ended up becoming true...
• Ches did his thing and got the win
• Knight was fresh and got runner-up
• Gilbert and Scott held their own
• Klecker and Barraza finished off their breakout seasons with All-American finishes

• Ben Saarel: What Happens If He Doesn't Double?
• After finishing an unexciting 8th place in a tactical mile, Saarel ended up placing a disappointing 15th in the 3000. If he opted out of the mile, does he place higher in the 3000? If he doesn't have the 3000 later on does he push the pace in the mile? I think there were a few different scenarios that could've benefitted Saarel.

5000

• Polar Opposite of the 3000...Plenty of Surprises
• Guys like Alfred Chelanga, Amon Terer, and Tyler Day really threw off a lot of our predictions. I don't think anyone doubted their talent level, but there wasn't a whole lot that indicated they could be All-Americans. 

• More Impressive Buffalo: Klecker 4th In 3000 vs Dressel 4th In 5000
• I just thought it was a good question to throw in. 

DMR

• Did Anyone Want To Win This Race?
• There were so many high quality DMR's that failed to race their best guys. Ole Miss was the only exception and it paid off with them winning the title. Here are some of the relays that left out some of their best talent...
• Oregon didn't run any of their sub-four milers (Cheserek, Maton, Gorman).
• Oklahoma State did not run 3:56 miler Josh Thompson or 3:58 miler Matthew Fayers.
• UTEP's Jonah Koech had such a poor lead-off leg that they weren't able to get back into it. They didn't run Michael Saruni either.
• Virginia Tech did not run either of their 1:46 guys (Piazza and Joseph) and did not run sub-four minute miler Neil Gourley.
• New Mexico did not run Josh Kerr
• Georgetown didn't run Joe White (1:46 800 PR)

• There Were Some Good Decisions...
• Virginia Tech still found a strong lead-off leg (Daniel Jaskowak) who ran 2:53 at ACC's and then 2:55 at nationals. Vincent Ciattei proved to be one of the most underrated milers in the NCAA after splitting a 3:58. The Hokies also had Gourley and Piazza become All-Americans in their individual events.
• Josh Kerr wound up defeating the King of collegiate track and field. 
• The other "no-runs" are up for debate.

Overall

• Erik Peterson and Colby Gilbert Underwhelmed
• In the 5000, we saw Peterson (NCAA #4) and Gilbert (NCAA #2) fail to hit expectations. Peterson held his own by placing 6th overall, but Gilbert fell to 15th overall.
• In the 3000, we saw a flip of performances with Peterson (NCAA #8) drop to 13th while Gilbert (NCAA #1) place 5th.
• Are these horrendous performances? No. Both of these guys left as All-Americans. Still, both of them had run so well all season and never had a bad race. I thought for sure that one of these guys would walk away with two All-American honors. I also thought that we would see at least one of these guys get a top three finish. Unfortunately, that just didn't happen.

• Marc Scott Impressed
• Before this weekend, Scott had never doubled on the national stage, had only one All-American performance on the track, and failed to make nationals last outdoor season. Of course, that all changed after he finished second in the 5000 and third in the 3000. Scott left College Station as the fourth highest individual scorer at the championships.

• Foreign Dominance
• 800
1. Emmanual Korir (Kenyan)
2. Drew Piazza (American)
3. Joe White (American)
4. Isaiah Harris (American)
5. Robert Heppenstall (Canadian)
6. Daniel Kuhn (American)
7. Blair Henderson (American)
• DQ: Michael Saruni (Kenyan)

• MILE
1. Josh Kerr (Scottish)
2. Edward Cheserek (Kenyan)
3. Sampson Laari (Ghanaian)
4. Neil Gourley (Scottish)
5. Adam Palamar (Canadian)
6. Josh Thompson (American)
7. Liam Dee (English)
8. Ben Saarel (American)

• 3000
1. Edward Cheserek (Kenyan)
2. Justyn Knight (Canadian)
3. Marc Scott (English)
4. Joe Klecker (American)
5. Colby Gilbert (American)
6. Cole Rockhold (American)
7. Brian Barraza (American)
8. John Dressel (American)

• 5000
1. Edward Cheserek (Kenyan)
2. Marc Scott (English)
3. Amon Terer (Kenyan)
4. John Dressel (American)
5. Alfred Chelanga (Kenyan)
6. Erik Peterson (American)
7. MJ Erb (American)
8. Tyler Day (American)

March Madness Comparisons

For those of you who haven’t seen, we are opening up our TheRealTrain writers NCAA Basketball tourney bracket challenge league to all of you guys. Just search group name TheRealTrain and use password originalpancake to play along. If you win, I’ll throw 10 UFC points your code name’s direction.

To help get you all in the tournament spirit, I decided to compare some of our high school squads to some of the teams in the NCAA schools that compete in the field of 68 in March. Don’t read too deep into any of these comparisons or it will lose some of its magic. I apologize if anyone gets offended that their team is compared to someone they don’t like. Just be thankful I didn’t make any of you guys Louisville.

So without further ado, I give you The NCAA Basketball to High School Track Team Comparison: The List You Didn't Know You Wanted Until You Read The Second Paragraph Of This Post And Then Thought "Maybe This Would Be Cool, But It Also Could Be Etrain Getting A Little Carried Away. Eh I'll Give Him The Benefit Of The-Wait, What Is Up With This Title?!" 

Carlisle – Kentucky

Let’s face it. This team has their big time blue chip recruits. They’ve got stars who are going to be stars on the next level. They’ve got all time level talent. Carlisle has made some deep runs in the tourney, especially in 2016-2017, where they finished tight seconds at two state championships. Carlisle made some runs to the final four, but this spring they want to go all the way. And I think they could do it.

GFS – Gonzaga

They come from a conference that isn’t in the PIAA so it’s always hard to keep track of how they stack up. We know they are really good. We know they are really consistent. But how do we know if they are the best? Gonzaga is still looking for that big final four berth, just like GFS was looking for that state title in the relays this year. Maybe this spring both teams will get a national title they can feel good about considering this might be each of their program’s best ever squads.

Winchester Thurston – Wichita State

Once upon a time, Wichita State was a little known program. Now the Shockers are seen in the same light as the schools from power conferences despite their mid major status. That’s what happens when you rattle off 30 win seasons and make a final four. Similarly, the boys from WT have been rolling through the A classification and their leaders like Will Loevner and Tristan Forsythe have acquitted themselves quite well when they took on the big boys in AAA.

Plus the names kinda even sound the same.

Henderson – Michigan State

Each year, Michigan State comes into the NCAA tournament looking something like your average team, but when they start dancing, something about Tom Izzo’s coaching magic just helps them compete for a big run every year. Sometimes, they get bounced, but most times they perform above their seed. If nothing else, they have the respect of their colleagues around the NCAA.

LaSalle & O’Hara – UNC & Duke

I’m not sure we really have any schools on the level of Duke-UNC, but if I had to pick a rivalry that properly encapsulated the spirit of these ACC schools, I’d have to go with the PCL match up. Always great programs. Always a ton of talent and a ton of depth. Always a smart pick to make a big run in the tourney. I decided to match up LaSalle as UNC and Duke as O’Hara. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it feels like over the years our anonymous commenters have been quicker to throw shade on O’Hara than anybody else, despite the fact that they are consistently one of the best. That’s kinda like the Duke Blue Devils who are the target of everybody’s basketball based aggression. But I’m comfortable lining up them up either way.

Cheltenham – Miami

Everybody who has been around a while remembers Cheltenham’s sprint corps dominated the states for years. They did when I was in high school, they did as recently as 2015 with John Lewis. But recently, Cheltenham’s distance program has made a real name for themselves. This isn’t just a football school anymore.

Dallas – Butler

For whatever reason, the back to back AA State Championships for Dallas reminded me a lot of those back to back championship experiences from Butler a few years back. And thus, I wrote their names down next to each other. As long as their coach doesn’t get hired by the Boston Athletic Association, I think they’ve got a good chance to get to another title game next year.

North Allegheny – UCLA

Seneca Valley – Arizona

North Allegheny is kinda like the big time program with walls upon walls of championship honors. Just something about the name gets respect wherever you go. I will point out that none of their kids’ parents have ever come on the blog and said they are better runners that Matt Centrowitz. So it’s not a perfect comparison.

Meanwhile, Seneca Valley is that team that has asserted themselves as a force within the WPIAL. They’ve had great individual and team success and they finally got that big win they were hoping for in the PAC-12 Title Match. So now who will go further in the spring? After a strong winter, Seneca Valley may actually be the higher seed heading to outdoors.

P.S. Mount Lebanon, this means you guys get Oregon. Congrats. You earned it.

Mechanicsburg – Middle Tennessee

Manheim Central – Florida Golf Coast

The best part of any NCAA tourney is those early round bracket busters who come in and crash the party against the traditional powerhouses who’ve got hype surrounding them. This year, I’d say that was Mechanicsburg and Manheim Central. A couple schools who did an awesome job this past XC season in District 3 making it to the state championship. But these Cinderellas aren’t done yet. Both programs have monster athletes who will be ready to roll this upcoming track season. Look for Morgan to take it to the Cupp. And for Cole to Send-er-in. And also Alex Tomasko is a good runner. Sorry Alex, I was already reaching hard with Sunderland and didn’t want to push it even further. But I was leaning in the direction of Tabasco sauce. So, yeah. Headed down a bad road. Also that’s not really basketball related.

Indoor Nationals PA Recap: 9:56.18

By Jarrett Felix

What a meet! I was excited to get to watch most of the PA performances this weekend, including a national record, a state record, and some of the top all time marks we’ve seen in indoor history. Let’s break down some of the big performances. Let us know what you think were the best results, what this means for outdoors and if I missed anything you thought deserved more chatter.

DMR

It’s official. PA is a national record holder in the Distance Medley. After O’Hara came less than a second away in 2014, the boys from Carlisle took to the track to try and finish the job. Things got off to a promising start earlier when sophomore Sam Affolder stormed to the lead in the second half of his 1200 meter leg and opened up a gap on the field. It was a much more even and controlled effort with a similar overall result as the state championship. Affolder handed off in 3:02.11.

Jared Griffie took the stick next. He had already run a solo 400 at the DMR at PA’s state championship meet and was likely comfortable in that spot. He ran 51.71 on his leg, one of the faster splits of the top teams, despite the fact that he was alone. That got Isaac Kole the baton, maintaining a solid lead of roughly 3 seconds. But Carlisle didn’t hold that margin the entire way. Matthew Kehn of Western Cary in New York stormed out very quickly on his 800 leg, catching and even passing Kole on his leg. But similar to Sam, Isaac had run a nice controlled race and he had plenty left for the second lap. Kole officially split a 1:57.41 and, although I didn’t have a watch on it, I’d estimate he had a negative split on his leg.

That gave Noah Affolder the baton. To break the national record of 9:59.94, Noah would need to split a 4:08.6 or better. Although that was well within his best time of the season, it quickly became apparent the Carlisle senior would have to do the work himself as he pulled away from his top pursuer with a 60-61 second lap. But Noah had soloed his 4:07 state record in the mile on this very track a month or so ago at the Millrose Games and he was ready for this moment.

Just like his teammates, Noah ran a very smart and controlled pace and looked great through the first few laps. I knew the record was gone after about 1,000 meters. He just looked controlled and his pacing was very reasonable. Once he started lapping people, it gave him a bit of extra motivation and he kicked hard on the final laps to bring it home well under the record. Noah’s final split was a 4:04.95, the fastest ever indoor split in PA state history, toppling Tony Russell’s herculean 4:07 low split from 2014. It also puts Affolder in rarified air as only Paul Vandegrift and Ken Lowry in PA history have covered a full 1600 meters faster than Noah’s split.

The final time for Carlisle was a terrific 9:56.18, smashing a long standing 9:59.94 record that had seemed closed to untouchable in year’s past. Lowering that record by almost 4 seconds could mean it stays around for a while. It’s also the first time any PA squad has broken 10 minutes in the DMR indoors or out. Plus, if you take a look at the outdoor list, I believe there are just 6 teams that have bested 9:56.18 in high school history. The long standing 9:49.78 outdoor record, held by a South Lakes team that featured Alan Webb on the anchor (in 3:59) is maybe next on the agenda for Carlisle. They would need a little less than 2 seconds per person to get there. The best time from this decade was run in 2011, by an Edward Cheserek anchored St. Benedict’s squad. They ran 9:51.97.

Meanwhile, lost in all the craziness from Carlisle, Germantown Friends nearly made it a 1-2 finish. GFS came within 0.01 of Brentwood, their rivals from earlier in the season, as the two relays ran 10:12.54 and 10:12.55. Brentwood’s anchor, Brodey Hasty, got the baton about a second before GFS’s anchor Nick Dahl took over the relay. Starting in 9^th overall, Dahl raced all out to take his team up through the pack. His final split was a new PR of 4:08.72, his second career split under 4:09 for 1600 meters. That’s a monster carry and helped lift GFS to 3^rd place and one of the fastest DMRs we’ve seen indoors for a PA squad. Also on the relay were Colin Riley (3:14), Eli Schwemler (52.06) and Jonnie Plass (1:57.22).

It was that kind of year for GFS and Nick Dahl who were overshadowed at a variety of moments throughout this excellent season. In fact, Dahl was only the 4^th fastest PA runner of the weekend when you factor in Noah Affolder’s split and convert Josh Hoey and Sam Affolder’s equivalent 1600 times from the mile later in the weekend.

4x800m

GFS, who had run 7:47 at states, was slated originally to run this relay without their top runner in Nick Dahl. But ultimately, Dahl seemed to push individual events aside (he was supposed to run the 2 mile but scratched) and yet again went team first. GFS stuck with their order from both states and Millrose and gave Nick the baton on lead off. He opened up a huge advantage for his GFS teammates, rolling to a 1:55.83. That split was nearly 5 seconds faster that any of the other teams that finished in the top 5 overall. The second fastest lead off leg was just 1:57.65.

Next, Dan Stassen took the baton with the lead and the pressure. Stassen pushed hard from the front and fought valiantly against a slew of very talented second legs. His carry of 2:01.28 kept GFS in the mix up front, within a second or so of the lead. Colin Riley clocked a 1:58.10 carry on the 3^rd leg and then Jonnie Plass dropped a big 1:55.68 to help GFS finish in 4^th place overall, just half a second behind 2^nd place St. Benedict’s. Considering GFS had used 3 of these same runners in the previous night in an incredible effort in the DMR, their 4^th place finish is perhaps even more impressive. Their final time was 7:50.89 which, although it wasn’t as fast as their state run, was an excellent mark.

2 Mile

After his National Record run on the DMR, Noah Affolder set his sights on an individual championship. He entered the 2 mile with Brodey Hasty of Brentwood and DJ Principe of LaSalle (RI) ready to push each other to a fast time. Entering the meet, the top 10 performances in indoor history were as follows:

Cheserek 8:39.15

Lindgren 8:40.0

Verzbicas 8:40.70

Nelson 8:42.7

Webb 8:45.19

Hunter 8:48.22

Thomet 8:48.32

Ostberg 8:48.88

Dani 8:49.1

Puskedra 8:49.58

Noah hadn’t raced over a mile once this indoor season, instead racing miles and 800s to prepare for a quadruple at states. With that quadruple likely still in his legs, the Carlisle senior helped push the pace late in the 2 mile, hoping for a record setting time. I suspected that blazing fast miler (4:00.97) DJ Principe would be the one to storm by Noah on the last lap if he couldn’t hold on, but instead junior Brodey Hasty was the one to find the extra gear. The Tennessee runner ran 8:45.16 for the full 2 miles with Noah coming through in second at 8:46.08 and DJ in 8:47.40.

Noah’s official 3200 meter split was 8:42.944 which makes him PA’s fastest 3200 meter runner ever, breaking the outdoor record of Paul Springer set in 2007 (8:49.68). Affolder demolished the previous indoor state record which was around 9:02 from Max Kaulbach and his 8:16 3k split was faster than the old 3k state record of Craig Miller (8:22.65).

This stretch for Noah, combined with his XC season and his quadruple at indoor states, puts him in the conversation for PA’s greatest ever. Even on just 2 season’s worth of work. Certainly from a talent level, he’s the best I’ve seen, but in terms of a volume of top marks, he will need a bit more on the resume to pass Vandegrift (and Lowry is in the conversation as well I suppose). If he puts together the outdoor results that these seem to indicate (Carlisle typically isn’t heavily involved in the indoor season and peaks well for outdoors, although their indoor work has increased over the past few years), he has a shot at Vandegrift’s long standing 4:03.22 1600 meter state record.

Very quietly, junior Rusty Kujdych posted a very strong 9:11.54 for 2 miles. That’s a massive PR over this distance, as Rusty did not break 9:20 for 3200 meters last spring. The Neshaminy junior was 2^nd at the indoor state 3,000 meters and should be a fun watch this outdoors.

Mile

The mile was a very fast race, featuring some of the best ever indoor milers. Mixing it up in the front were a couple of PA’s best underclassmen. Josh Hoey and Sam Affolder became the fastest ever PA milers for their specific class years (junior and sophomore). Josh ran 4:08.59, the second fastest indoor mile in PA history behind only Noah Affolder’s time from Millrose. It moves him ahead of Sam Ritz on the all-time state miler list and into the top 5. Meanwhile, Sam Affolder, as just a sophomore, ran 4:09.89. He joins his brother, Josh and Sam Ritz as the only sub 4:10 indoor miles in PA history and moves into the top 15 or so milers in PA history.

Those results were good enough for 6^th and 7^th overall. Josh and Sam both had to fight the whole way through this race as they gave everything they had to hang in the pack. It looked a couple times like they might drop off and get shot out the back, but both runners showed great resiliency en route to the top finishes they posted.

Looking ahead to outdoors, it should be interesting to see how these two continue to improve. The previous fastest indoor milers (Sam Ritz, Tony Russell, Kevin James, Paul Springer) had mixed improvement outdoors. Ritz didn’t end up beating his best indoor mile (although he ran a very fast 1500). Russell posted a sub 4:10 1600 meter, but an injury kept him out of the outdoor 1600 state final. James didn’t ultimately best his time outdoors, but focused on the 2 mile.

Other Notes

SMR

Without arguably their two best runners, Bishop Shanahan’s Sprint Medley earned All American status with a 5^th place finish. Keegan Hughes dropped a 49.45 split on the 400 leg and handed off to Logan Yoquinto. Yoquinto, who had split a 1:56 to win the slow heat of the 4x8 at states, blitzed a new PR of 1:55.76 and held his own with a 1:53 anchor from the heat winners. Overall, that was good enough after Heat 4 and Heat 5 ran, to keep in the top 5. The final relay time was 3:32.56, less than a second ahead of 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th.

Emerging Elite 4x800m

CR South ran an 8:06.21 for 15^th in this race. It doesn’t sound like much (it’s not even their season best), but the line-up listed didn’t feature Collin Ochs who, if I’m not mistaken, was one of their best guys this year indoors. Not sure if he is hurt or just didn’t race, but if he gets healthy for spring, I think you can plug him in as a potential sub 2 leg. This team could run in the mid 7:50s and maybe more. I’m just a big fan of their speed.

4xMile

After finishing outside the top 10 in the DMR, the boys from Cardinal O’Hara came back with a vengeance in the 4xMile. Patrick James set the team up well early, fighting at the front of the pack and splitting a season best 4:25.98 for the full mile. Gavin Inglis, fresh off a 3:10 carry the previous night, rolled to a 4:22.54 and then Ryan James ran his second mile in the last 20 or so hours and clocked a 4:22.33. Those season best splits set up Eddie Issertell in a big moment. His season best entering the meet was 4:41.65 according to milesplit. He got the baton in about second place and had to hold ground against a 4:13 miler from Colts Neck. Eddie stayed strong throughout, clocking a 4:37.50 and giving O’Hara the bronze medal overall in the event. It adds to a long list of O’Hara All-American results at the indoor and national championships.

2017 NCAA Indoor Predictions: Jarrett Felix

800

1. White

2. Harris

3. Rutto

4. Engels

5. Kuhn

6. Heppenstall

7. Arroyo

8. Lilly 

Mile

1. Cheserek

2. Thompson

3. Palamar

4. Maton 

5. Kerr

6. Saarel

7. Maggard

8. Koech 

3000

1. Knight

2. Gilbert

3. Cheserek

4. Klecker

5. Barrazza

6. Scott

7. Carpenter

8. Young

5000

1. Cheserek

2. Gilbert

3. Scott

4. Erb

5. Terer 

6. Dressel 

7. Green

8. Fischer

DMR

1. Indiana

2. Ole Miss

3. Stanford

4. Georgetown

5. Virginia Tech

6. OK State

7. Villanova

8. Arkansas

Official 2017 NCAA Indoor Predictions

By: The Etrain Crew

It's that time of the year again and at this point you all know the drill. With NCAA's this weekend, a few of us put in our predictions to show that we could see into the future (or theoretically blow everything we have gambling in Vegas).

We'll be doing the same scoring as we always have which is...
-Lowest score wins
-Correctly predicting the winner of an event gives you a -3 point bonus
-The difference between where you predicted a runner to finish and where they actually finish will be how many points are added to your score.
-The largest point penalty a someone can earn is 8 points (per runner).

Here are the predictions

ALEX FOX

CALEB GATCHELL
JARRETT FELIX

GARRETT ZATLIN

Tell us who you think will win and feel free to comment below some of your predictions as well!

2017 NCAA Indoor Predictions: Garrett Zatlin

By: Garrett Zatlin

800

1. Joe White (Georgetown)
2. Emmanuel Korir (UTEP)
3. Eliud Rutto (Middle Tennessee State)
4. Drew Piazza (Virginia Tech)
5. Robert Heppenstall (Wake Forest)
6. Daniel Kuhn (Indiana)
7. Craig Engels (Mississippi)
8. Isaiah Harris (Penn State)

Whether we like it or not, multiple mid-distance stars will be going home early. I didn't like making this decision, but I see Patrick Joseph and Michael Saruni ending their weekend early. Two 1:46 guys not making the final is a bit hard to believe, but the level of depth at the 800 this year is insane. Saruni is very young and inexperienced. Joseph, historically, has struggled in the preliminary rounds at NCAA's. Of course, I'm sure they'll end up proving me wrong and blowing away the field. 

As for my picks, I really like Joe White this year. He has been on fire this year with big wins over big names. He can kick hard, run from the front, and contend with anyone in the nation. What's not to like? Korir is super talented and could very well win this, but he's a bit young and that's a concern for me. Heppenstall is super clutch in the post-season, Kuhn is due to become an All-American, and Craig Engels is sneaky good in championship races. 

Mile

1. Edward Cheserek (Oregon)
2. Josh Thompson (Oklahoma State)
3. Ben Saarel (Colorado)
4. Josh Kerr (New Mexico)
5. Dillon Maggard (Utah State)
6. Neil Gourley (Virginia Tech)
7. Jonah Koech (UTEP)
8. Liam Dee (Iona)

Like the 800, a lot of these picks are based on how the preliminary heats are structured. The first heat is incredibly talented and will be the toughest to get out of. However, I think it will be fast enough to the point where we see six men make the finals from that heat.

As for the actual final race, Cheserek is going to win whether the pace is fast or slow. He isn't going to lose unless he gets careless. However, if anyone can beat Ches it will be Thompson who has been absolute monster this season with a PR of 3:56. As for Saarel, he's one of the few Colorado guys that can be called a miler. He competed at the Olympic Trials in the 1500 and is simply more talented than the guys behind him.

Josh Kerr has a lethal kick and I like his chances to surprise a lot of people at the line. Maggard and Gourley have waited patiently to be All-American milers and this year they should be able to pull it off. Koech has had some great experience in big time races and Liam Dee is not afraid to stick his nose into fast races. 

3000

1. Edward Cheserek (Oregon)
2. Justyn Knight (Syracuse)
3. Colby Gilbert (Washington)
4. Joe Klecker (Colorado)
5. Morgan McDonald (Wisconsin)
6. Erik Peterson (Butler)
7. Brian Barraza (Houston)
8. Clayton Young (BYU)

When I first heard that Cheserek was doing the triple, I was convinced that he wouldn't be able to pull off the 3k win. But the more and more I thought about it, I realized that not only was it possible, but probable. If we assume that the mile prelim and the 5000 are tactical, then the two hard efforts will be during day two of competition (mile final and the 3000). There's a good chance that the 3000 turns tactical (because it always does) and that Ches completes the historic triple. That's just how I see it.

I think Colby Gilbert is an extremely underrated talent this season. People will be quick to point out that he lost to Cheserek, but it seems pretty clear to me that no other distance runner besides the King is on Gilbert's level. I do, however, think he'll have some tired legs from the 5000 and get hawked by Knight in the final straightaway.

With the exception of Erik Peterson, the rest of my top eight will all be fresh and that's a huge plus in my eyes. Barraza and Klecker have shown tremendous improvement this season while Justyn Knight and Morgan McDonald have already established themselves as elite. Clayton Young has simply run too fast this season to not be All-American.

5000

1. Edward Cheserek (Oregon)
2. Colby Gilbert (Washington)
3. MJ Erb (Mississippi)
4. Marc Scott (Tulsa)
5. Erik Peterson (Butler)
6. Zach Herriot (Virginia)
7. John Dressel (Colorado)
8. Alex Short (San Francisco)

Cheserek will win in a tactical race and shake off Colby Gilbert just when we thought he might have a chance. After those two, I see MJ Erb stepping up and taking bronze. In his four races this season, he's had two PR's, two wins, and no finish outside of the top two. That's enough to convince me that he'll be top three.

Others like Marc Scott and Erik Peterson are guys that dominate during the regular season, but struggle in the post-season. On the track, Peterson been All-American only once (8th place in 2016 Outdoor 10k) while Scott has NEVER been All-American. While that does concern me, I think these two have taken it to another level this season and should be locks to be All-American. 

Others like Zach Herriot and Alex Short have great experience and rarely have a poor race. Dressel has been on fire as of late and I think he'll carry that momentum into nationals.

DMR

1. Oklahoma State
2. UTEP
3. Mississippi
4. Arkansas
5. Oregon
6. Stanford
7. Indiana
8. New Mexico

-Oklahoma State will win because of my blind faith in Josh Thompson.

-UTEP will take silver because they have two 1:46 guys and a sub-four minute miler.

-Mississippi will finish third because they have some of the best mid-distance runners in the nation along with a reliable anchor.

-Jack Bruce is really good and will surprise a lot of people when he anchors Arkansas home to a four place finish.

-Oregon always performs extremely well in the post-season. They are too deep of a squad to not finish in the top eight.

-Stanford is incredibly underrated and so is their anchor Jack Keelan.

-Daniel Kuhn on the 800 and an underrated freshman named Kyle Mau on the anchor is good enough for 7th.

-As long as their other legs don't completely blow up, Josh Kerr will pull out All-American for his teammates.