Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better

First off I'd like to comment that this new background is to try and make the poll more visible, I've tried a variety of different backgrounds and believe it or not this and the original one were the best I could find. I do like pink I'm not afraid to admit it, but I don't like it enough to put it as the background of my one and only blog.

But this post is not about my new totally awesome background, it is to talk about an old Gatorade commercial. Well .... sort of. So you know that old commerical with Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan? Well basically they went back and forth and anything one did the other matched and it just got crazier and crazier as it went.

Now the logical question is what the heck does this have to do with anything? Well folks, this commercial reminds me a lot of a certain pair of runners in PA right now: Drew Magaha and Ned Willig.

For starters Ned opened the season with an unprecedentedly fast 1:55 800m. It had yours truly raving about it. And then of course Drew followed it up with a 1:54 fieldhouse record. No big deal.

Then Magaha went to the armory and had a fairly underwhelming performance in the 800, not quite living up to the high (possibly unfair) expectations that some people (like me) put on his shoulders. All the same it was a let down. Ned said, hey anything you can do, I can do, and went to Burdette to run the 3k and got hammered by an 8:48 by Dustin Wilson and ran a fairly underwhelming race of his own in 8:58. I think some thought he would be closer to Wilson and maybe would drop a faster time.

But the duo was sick of running slow. Ned dropped a 4:15 open mile to propel himself into the Millrose games. Well Drew wasn't having this, he followed up Ned's performance with a huge 1:52 high - 1:53 low split in the 4x800m to anchor is relay to gold. Very fast.

But Ned wasn't satisfied playing second fiddle, he pulled out his own big 4x800m leg, alledgedly splitting in the mid to low 1:52s as part of a sub 8:10 4x8 on a flat track. Pretty fast.

This kind of rivalry makes state action fun to watch. And honestly, it makes me really want to see these two race. Head to head in the 800 would be nice if they get a chance, but we won't see that match up at states, I'd bet a boat load.

At states in the mile with the right pace, the 2 could push each other to a state record and possibly under 4:10, one of the top times nationally. That is assuming they don't mess around and leave to much to a kick at the end. It's not even completely clear who would win in a kicker's race. Magaha can win in a short kick, but Ned may be able to pull one out if he goes earlier and leaves too much room.

Or we may get our wish a little sooner than states. Ned is going to the Millrose games and Drew may be in the autobid conversation (and if not I'm sure he can qualify, not easily, but it wouldn't be a huge problem if he goes for it and doesn't get kicked or whatever the heck happened in the 800).

Either way, this match up should prove to be one of the greatest in state history when all is said and done.