Weekend Action (There's A Lot)

Alright so it's very hard to figure out which meets to start with because a lot of crazy stuff happened this weekend and as expected Kevin Dare was very quick. So here is what I am going to do. I am going to just talk about Kevin Dare today and focus my thoughts on this one meet and then as the week goes on talk about the other madness and Ned Willig's record setting performance (as well as CR North's DMR at Lavino, a debut by the AA state champion, and Ed Cheserek and Strymar Livingston and so much more).

But let's start at PSU and of course it wouldn't be a week on the blog if we didn't talk about Drew Magaha. While Ned takes a step to the next level, Magaha gets very sick and pukes before and after his race. Not a great sign that Drew's best mile time this season is around 4:26 considering he is a guy who should be chasing state records this winter. Honestly, historically Drew has probably never taken indoors as seriously as he has this year (same with cross country), the results themselves compared to outdoors prove these facts.

Does this mean he is breaking down early? I certainly hope not, it's not like he was dropping huge mileage over the summer or anything that would burn him out. He has had problems with sickness before (he probably could have won states as a soph if he hadn't gotten sick, no guarentees but that's a debate for another time), so I hope he won't have problems by states time. Drew is usually good for about 1 or 2 of these kind of head scratching weekends a season. Keep your fingers crossed this is the last time we see anything about even 4:2x from Drew Magaha on a bank track like Penn State's.

But enough about Drew, he's sick, he'll get healthy, but we gotta talk about the guys making moves in etrain's books.

First of all I don't talk about this kind of stuff much, but holy crap Chris Williams you are a boss. Beautiful 60m HH time over his teammate who is pretty good Zaza. 7.87. Blazing. He and Eric should be pretty fun to watch this season.

How about the kids from Upper Moreland not named Drew Magaha? Tyler Whitmore a freshman who ran 7.08 and 22.35? They have a nice 4x4 shaping up with a 3:29.46 (without Whitmore who maybe can move up? and a sick Drew?)

Strath Haven continues a hot start, and Huemmler is leading the charge. Another big win in the mile with a 4:22.26 PR to beat Horgan who ran a respectable 4:23.73 for second. The question no becomes with Huemmler being a legit top 5 miler in the state, maybe even top 3 depending on how things shape up with guys like Wilson and Willig etc, will Strath Haven opt to keep a fresh group for the relays? And without a fresh group are they a legit title contender in the 4x8 or the DMR? Dan Lincoln is the first guy all year under 50 appearently so he's a 400m favorite too and Seelaus is no joke either.

Jack MacCauley ran a nice 4:26, proving he is still a top young gun in the mile. And of course the same question can be asked about North Penn's relays. Only thing is rumors have told me North Penn is looking to keep all their guys fresh indoors in pursuit of a DMR state title. Things can change and North Penn has always gone 4x8 at states so take that information with a grain of salt.

DTWest would be a very interesting relay squad of Devlin were still in the picture. Maybe outdoors we will see something. Leidel and Jenkins both had solid days. I don't see either of them as state medalists open, so maybe they can team up and snag a 4x800m medal indoors. Should be fun to watch.

I'm just gonna throw this out there now, when the heck did Penncrest get all this middle distance talent. No offense but I didn't see them being this solid this year. Ali in the 4 runs a solid 51, Miller in the mile (already sub 2 flat track) runs solid mid 4:30s, and then Nate Emmanuel 1:57.5? Who? Kid beat Chris Trimble soundly and Trimble has gotten much more pub than Nate. And oh yeah they also dropped in one more solid 2 flat guy in the race and two sub 9:20 3k guys to boot. 3:25 4x4 capped of the day nicely for the squad.

The other team with Penn starting their name, Pennridge, is also pretty dangerous. They got some talented runners over there and they will have a very solid 4x800m relay if they keep their legs fresh.

Lastly I'll mention the 3k, Sam Hibbs ran great, its nice to see this kind of bounce back race. No Conner Quinn? Interesting, not sure of the reason, but its a shame considering he is the reigning state champ. Hibbs is going to be a factor this indoor season and they may have a solid DMR as well, they had a 4 and 8 guy run pretty solid so they can be a factor for a top spot at states. Hibbs can be a factor for top 3 in the 3k at states no doubt.

Good job by Nissley, also missing his partner in crime Jeff Groh, qualifying for states in the 3k is a big deal. This year if you hit the standard you are guarenteed a decent shot at a state medal. If you have a good day you are practically guarenteed one, especially when you qualify this early and can run miles and train for speed over the coming month or so.