Anyone know that song Kanye West wrapped when he got in that accident and his jaw wired shut or whatever? Well it's a good song, my friend Tom Lorenzi played it for me early on in my break. Why is this relevant to me? Well folks I have been on and off sick for a while now, since the 22nd I have had very few days where I have felt healthy. My Christmas gift was an 102 degree fever and my New Year's gift was a severe throat infection that made it tough to function either drinking, or sleeping, or eating, or any swallowing in general. But I am putting aside my sickness (mostly because I am in the recovering stage and can see the finish line) and I want to try and start living up to my duties as an entertainer. In the same way Kanye West did in that afore mentioned song. Boom. And the circle comes full round.
So let's talk people. Where to start? There were so many places that I was wrong its hard to know exactly where to begin.
Let's start at 800m and just work our way up?
So Horgan continues to prove he is a force this season that can't be overlooked for the 800 state title. A near meet record in the open 8 running 1:58.3, and folks I'm pretty familiar with the meet record. Palm went on to run 1:55 indoors that year, 4th at states and 1:52 outdoors at nats. And Palm ran that 1:58.2 using Montijo as a rabbit and he didn't run the 12 leg of a 10:33 DMR a couple days before hand. BUT Mike was a Jr and he was just starting to reach his potential. I also have to point out (and please Prep don't take this the wrong way, because this year you guys seem to have kicked this habit but ...) HGPrep does have a bit of a history of running much better indoors than outdoors in terms of relatively to the rest of the state. A 10:33 this early might be a sign this team is peaking a bit early. That being said, a doubling, tired Drew Magaha who as we can see from his most recent armory race is a tad unpredictable is the main rival I see early on for Horgan's shot at a state title. (Unless Haneef Hardy stops messing around in the 200 and steps up to the plate in the 8)
But hey there were other guys in this race. Major props to Sam Brooks, he didn't get the W but he ran quick 1:59.48 which is nice this early. Hong Cho was only running about a second faster this time last year and that guy went on to be pretty darn good. I don't think Brooks will be running 1:51 any time soon, but he clearly has taken the next step from obscurity to a top runner. He was best known last season for being inconsistent at best, highlighted by a 1:57 in the 800. This year he seems to have kicked that habit (still early to say for sure) but he has to have high confidence and I wouldn't be surprised to see him at 1:56 high ish out of him by the end of the season. Maybe even a tad faster. He should be in the state medalist mix come March.
Alright the mile. Not gonna lie, I don't have much to say about this. Metzler won, he ran a bit faster than I thought, he's a solid runner and normally this meet is won by guys like Palmisano, Mallon, Brett Kelly so he is in good company. His buddy Nick Scarpello I believe was second to Mallon a few years back. So I like Metzler this year as a guy who can mix it up for a state medal in either the 8 or the mile, whichever he chooses to persue.
Another Prep guy ran well. Kardish, no surprise here, those guys were ready to go. They have a nice looking DMR, hopefully their guys are fresh enough to win and run fast in the process because they have some nice pieces.
Strath Haven has a 4:38 miler not on their 10:41 DMR. Nice sign. Nicer DMR of course. But we will get to that.
Let's go 3k now. Gosh I was wrong. I did not think Wilson would be back. Well he kicked my butt worse than he kicked everyone else's in the field. Guy will win the 3k at states. No offense to anyone else but I don't think there is any way he can lose. I'd like to see him take a shot mixing it up in the mile, run a fast time, and then take the 3k in a slow time but leave with a gold. He has nationals to blast something fast anyway. Kaulbach has the state record indoors and I thinks it's around 9:02. Miller has that 8:22 3k indoor record. Neither look extremely safe the way Wilson is working.
I was kinda right someone would go out hard and die and get caught by a more conservative approach. Just got the wrong guy. Ned ran a nice race, Brett died a bit, a little too ambitious but that's not surprising really. 8:58 is plenty fast this early, faster than last year for Ned. 9:05 is solid. We were still in 2011 when this stuff went down. Israel is no joke 9:07 is very solid. Those are 4 top guys. They all should get under 9 at some point or another if they pursue this race.
Penncrest nice 4x8, fairly fast, race wasn't though. Eh. Not much else to say about that.
To the DMR. Very nice race. I wasn't there, I was sick, I missed it, but heck those kids went hard. I'm not surprised by the order, but those times are fast. Now I don't know if Strath Haven had a perfectly fresh relay in there (they won the SMR earlier, had a 4:38 miler and ran a fast 4x2 and 4x4, I'm not sure the exact meet order but I think the last two sprint relays wouldn't effect things).
10:41 this early is no joke. I thought Holy Ghost had it on lock when I heard they ran 10:33, but in the Power Rankings I gotta like these two teams more. They both seem really dedicated to this relay and Strath Haven has been running it hot for weeks and weeks on end.
Now yes North Penn won, but Strath Haven is the story here. Name me the guys on Haven's relay. Who won the XC state championship? Where was Haven's squad in November? Most of the team was sitting at home. But thus far they have their team clicking and they gave the big school power house a run for their money (and left Hatboro Horsham chilling out in 3rd place). I obviously have been a huge North Penn fan for as long as I can remember this year, I've been all over their bandwagon blah blah blah, yeah I know. And heck, they are going to keep their legs fresh for the DMR at states and they are probably going to be my pick to win come the Championships, BUT Strath Haven congrats great race. They should be under 10:30 at the very least by states at this rate. The DMR could be very fast at states this year if the teams keep their legs fresh. Great Valley, North Penn, Strath Haven, Holy Ghost Prep, Hatboro Horsham, probably more still to develop. We are talking under 10:20 for the winner, and a group of teams under 10:30.
Horsham should only get faster. All Conner Quinn had been doing for a while was showing up to meets and running 10 fast warm up laps around the track and then chilling out and watching. I'm not sure who their middle legs are but the other two legs are big names. But that 3k may end up being a bigger deal than the DMR for this team. We will see how things end up.
A couple nice relay records for Penn Wood, they should be fast by the end of the season. Looks like they have taken over for Cheltenham as a sprint relay powerhouse for the year.
Wissahickon shouldn't be overlooked, pretty quick 4x4. And Strath Haven has some nice pieces.
One more thing to think about. Now it's 2012. We should see something new now, there is still a lot of time til the end of the season. One thing has been missing so far from this season. Anyone know? Abington. Yeah they lost a lot of pieces. Yeah they won't be in the 7:40s this year. But hey the 4x8 looks pretty wide open (LaSalle will probably win, shouldn't be a fast year as things are) and I can't imagine a 4x8 without Abington competing for the top spot. Watch out for them in 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRBBXPi5PH0
ReplyDeletethis is the song etrain is talking about
wissahickon's 4x4.. don't count them out. yeah, penn wood seems pretty unstoppable with futch, but if they're tired, an upset might be in the making. (cough) abington. they lost cho last year, but he was more of a distance-mid/d guy so he probably wasn't even the fastest of the 4. also, they return 3 guys so they can be a threat, especially with the experience.
ReplyDeletemagaha might be unpredictable, but that's only when he's racing guys of the same caliber. when he's racing guys he knows he can beat, he won't have a hiccup necessary for him to lose against anyone not named Ned Willig.
not a huge fan of horsham's DMR. hibbs and quinn are both xc/distance guys and i think their dmr showed that this past weekend.
brooks might be the new and coming in replacement for cho. with how fast he's run this early on, (did anyone watch him in the 4x4? had to have been at least a 50 point) he might even beat cho's times.
dustin wilson is not going to lose to anyone this year in the 3k. in the mile, his only threat is magaha and willing. cmon now, he's an all-american... people are forgetting that you don't lose fitness that quickly.
im liking great valley's DMR ftw. best anchor; billy wolffe is no joke and can bring up the baton in top 3 on the leadoff. RTJ can bring it up into the lead or in the mix. even if their 3rd leg loses some ground, if willig is within 10 seconds of anyone, he will clutch ftw.
GV is good but that's only because of ned. maybe by outdoor nationals they'll be able to get a good dmr together like dustin wilson and his crew, but not by indoor states.
ReplyDeletenorth penn. chris trimble and jack macauley; enough said
First anonymous writer: Hong was their best runner... 47.7 split at leagues. Their next best was a 48.9 by Max (at penn relays). Brooks didn't split a 50 point... he split a just below a 53. Max (48.9), Cornell (49.7), and Dave (50.00) are their top returners and they should get top 3 at least at states.
ReplyDeleteDustin trained through, he never took a break, he just lowered his mileage, so I would highly doubt he'd lose too much of his fitness. I think all the runners in the 3k knew that he would most likely take the cake after reading his blog-type-thing about not stopping his training.
Etrain- Haven wasn't fresh during that DMR. I wasn't paying much attention, but I think it was something like Jack Huemmler, Lincoln Daniel, Dan Stewart, and Jeff Seelaus. Lincoln and Jack were in the SMR. Dan and Jeff were fresh. That 4:38 wouldn't have been in that DMR, but it's pretty solid to have a talented back up like that.
Second Anonymous guy- I'm not saying how well we're going to do because honestly I don't know, nor do I ever talk about our success/would be success, but I'm not going to let you insult my teammates. Billy was a 1:57 open 800 runner, a 51 point 400 runner , and a 16:29 XC runner, that's untalented to you? Matt Willig was a 2:05 800m runner (only ran the 800 fresh once… and it was leading off the 4x8 in the first meet of the season which was cold/windy), a 4:37 miler, and a 10 flat 3200. Oh, also a 16:10 XC runner that made states individually both years. Sounds untalented? Well… there’s no way to talk about yourself in an angry way without sounding pretentious, so I’m just going to say I ran 49 as a soph and junior and end mine there. So GV isn’t ONLY talented because of Ned. That’s like saying Upper Dublin DMR (’09) was ONLY talented because of Palmisano or that CB South (’09 4x800) was ONLY talented because of Mallon. They had a supporting team with them. Yes, Ned is an amazing runner that definitely makes us a much better squad than a 4:30 miler would, but he isn’t the soul reason we are good. I also don’t think we’re anything like a Chestnut Hill Academy last year. I don’t see the relation at all. Oh, another thing, I’m not saying we are equivalent to UD or CBS, I was just using them as examples of teams with a superstar and a supporting cast so to speak.
-RTJ
Hong Cho split 47.8 on the 4x4, he was the big piece that held all those young guys together. Not saying they won't be good this year, but don't undervalue what Hong did last year. 1:50 in the 800, state champion over guys like Connor Manley and Wade Endress and Luke Lefebure and yeah I know a lot of the guys who were supposed to be fast were either doubling or had injury problems or just under performed, but 1:50.41 is no joke. It's faster than a lot of guys have ever run. I only know of one guy in the past 5-10 years who has run faster than that and his name is Tom Mallon and he is a pretty darn good name to be associated with.
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but if Brooks runs even within 2 seconds of Hong, I'll eat my shoes.
RTJ and the other anonymous person, your ignorance astounds me. You could at least research the Chestnut Hill dmr before posting hate about them. 4:25 miler (faster than anyone on the team you listed besides willig), a 53 runner who focused on hurdles and the jumps, and a 1:59 guy who started the year in the 2:20s...not only that, they have less than 20 people on the entire team. True, they would have been much worse without wilson, but they would have at least had a respectable relay without him (still probably better than GV's). When you run anywhere near 10:15 like they did, please report back, but i doubt that will happen
ReplyDeletehe split 49 in the state finals; go check it for yourself. tbh, he probably should've just went the 4x8, 800, 4x4 instead of screwing over his 4x8. could've helped guys like brooks, farrell, and with one more they would've gotten a high place medal. it was unfair for his team to run well leading up to districts and states then not run it at states. guys like palmisano and mallon doubled and won in their respective individual events. he's doubled in the 8 before and did well, why not at states?
ReplyDeletedustin is one of if not the best pa distance guy ever. ALL AMERICAN. FOOTLOCKER. he was in top 10 going into the final stretch. he was undefeated in the mile last year and with that leg speed with the distance background he has, he will be unbeatable this year.
trimble and macauley are good, but i don't know if that's enough to win the state title this year. maybe last year with the weak leadoff legs and only good anchor legs. but this year there will be good legs all around
oh and wade endress/kyle moran/lukas lefebure/manley/magaha would have beaten cho if they focused on the individual 800. so that's 5 people you know. they all focused on the team aspect before their individual 800.
ReplyDeletealright hold up here, u said hong wasn't even the fastest leg, he was the fastest leg and they proved it. that's all they said for the 4x4 so don't knock them.
ReplyDeleteand obviously you don't know hong cho. i would bet a substantial amount of money hong would have run the 4x8 at districts but it was a group decision not to go for the relays. farrell chose the 2 mile, ravetz chose the mile, brooks chose the 8 and hong chose the 8. yes they could have been very good at the 4x800, but the team wasn't about that. go ask hong cho and dillon farrell and ben ravetz and get the story straight before throwing a guy under the bus like that. that's not the right thing to do.
as for the comment about those other guys the fact of the matter is you can say this and that about shoulda, woulda, coulda but none of them DID.
lefebure was never the same guy his senior year as he was his junior year. when outdoors hit, hong took it to another level, wade got hurt, if he was healthy and training, yeah I think he could have won. if kyle was healthy he would have also ran fast, he could have won, manley had the 4x8, if he was fresh he would have had a shot at hong, magaha was a 4:07 miler he obviously had the wheels to run fast in the 800. BUT none of them did it. to this day none of those guys are under 1:51 in the 800 and in 2010 outdoors the year hong won the title only Manley was even in the 1:51s, magaha the only guy to hit in the 1:52s, everybody else was dancing in the 1:53s. And yeah they COULD have ran faster but they didn't and hong did.
he ran faster than palmisano and mallon (until Senior year if you don't count relay splits) and Craig Miller and Chris Spooner and Nick Crits and heck if you don't count relay splits Ken Lowry. So please do not sell Hong short.
He may not be the big flashy name that these other guys are, but he is a very nice person and a very hard worker who earned the success he has had, don't try to sell it short.
-etrain
the only reason hong gets sold short is because he got extremely good within a short amount of time. by that, i mean that his name hasn't been known since freshman year like the other guys, so people underestimate him or sell him short. other guys have had their names out there since sophomore year or even earlier. therefore, the expectations for those guys have been high since 3 years ago, unlike hong, who just bursted out onto the scene.
ReplyDelete-TWF ;)
When did I bash CHA? I don’t believe I ever did. I reread what I wrote multiple times and still haven’t found anything insulting that I’ve said about them. I said that we weren’t like them, but I never said they weren’t a solid DMR squad. Any DMR that goes 10:15 is solid. You’re comparing Fuery (who’s a senior and focus was on the mile) to a sophomore 800 runner and a freshman who was trained sort of vaguely to see where his forte would lie. 800? 1600? 3200? We didn’t know, but not too surprised Fuery ran faster… but only a few seconds. 4:29 for a runner who ran the mile competitively twice last year (first meet and chest-mont champs) and focused/trained that season for his best event-the 800. He was a 4:33 freshman, if he wanted to drop a fast mile time, he could have. He also despises the mile, so I’m sure you can’t run your best in an event that you don’t want to run. But all of that’s neither here nor there. The point was that I wasn’t bashing CHA. The only thing I said about them was that we weren’t like them last year. I was just defending my teammates in a post from the other anonymous poster said.
ReplyDeleteI never said he split 47 in the state finals, I said he was their best leg on the 4x4. He split 47.8 in the prelims and he told me he split 47.7 at a league meet. Either way, he was their number one guy.
Hong was not selfish at all, you must not know him at all. Like etrain said, it was a group decision to go individual, it wasn’t Hong saying, “No, I’m going to go open and you guys have to fend for yourselves.” He didn’t screw anyone over.
-RTJ