Upset Watch

I was taking a look at the polls today and saw that although there are a lot of blow outs as the favorites take control in the early rounds, there a few potential upsets that might be worth monitoring over the coming days, including some surprisingly high seeds.

In the 8-9 matchup, the closest battle is set to be between Connor Manley and Rad Gunzenhauser, currently divided by just 18% of the vote. Manley boasts a 1:51.50 open 800m and splits in the 1:51 on multiple occassions. His indoor 4x8 still holds the state record and his relay leg against Will Taylor outdoors was one for the history books. Gunzenhauser is a footlocker finalist and placed reasonable well at the championship meet after an outstanding XC season that included some key wins early in the season and near victory at the state championships as he was the silver medalist to Brad Miles. Indoors Gunzenhauser won the 3k state championship in impressive fashion and outdoors Rad dropped an impressive 9:07 3200m at WPIALs to beat Ryan Gil and other future sub 9:20 32 boys like the North Hills trio.

In the 7-10 matchup, Rotz and Gruschow are locked in a tight fight. Gruschow had a big lead early, but of late Rotz has narrowed the gap to drive and hold off the upset. The voting currently stands at just a 6% difference. Gruschow of course won over a lot of votes for his impressive state and district track campaigns, while Rotz is best known for his two 1:51s at outdoor states his senior season.

In the 6-11s Ben Furcht and Kyle Moran are locked in a tight one, seperated by just 4 of the 40+ votes. Moran had tied up Furcht late last night, but Furcht has resurged ahead in the recent hours. Furcht has plenty of fast times and achievments, but unfortunatley has no state golds to show for it. He also was a close second at the Penn Relays where he was outkicked by Micikas. Meanwhile, despite injuries, Moran has a state gold for the 4x8 indoors as a Junior and National gold as anchor of his 4x800m as a Senior. They beat future national record holders Long Beach Poly that year at nationals. However, Furcht does have a 3k that converts to 9:00 for 3200m, a 15:08 5k PR at Lehigh, a runner up finish at nationals in the 2 mile to Soloman Halie, and a 4:15 1600m to his credit.

In the 5-12s, Vince Perozze is hoping to pull of the big upset over AA star Joe Beveridge. Beveridge dominated the AA scene amassing two golds in XC and two golds in the 3200m. His senior year victory earned him PA XC runner of the year honors from the PTFCA. Meanwhile Perozze ran the equivalent of a 4:12 1600m and ran to a runner up finish in a tight 1600m at states as a Junior. Perrozze has racked up 5 individual state medals over his time in high school.

In the 4-13s, Crits got a scare early from LaSalle's Junior Tom Coyle, but has pulled away as of late. Crits' career was highlighted by his epic kick at the 2008 state championships, while Coyle's is really just beginning after a break out XC season that feature a District Championship, and a 4:16 full mile at indoor states. He has also had key splits on LaSalle 4x8s both indoors and outdoors as both a sophomore and a junior.

The 3-14 matchups have produced major upset potential, as the popular AA junior studmufflin Brendan Shearn is within just two points of GFS alumn Max Kaulbach. Kaulbach in his time took down the indoor state record in the 2 mile when he won nationals at the Armory and run sub 9 outdoors for 3200m, placing him in the top 5 or so in state history. Kaulbach also ran the equivalent of 4:11 for 1600m converting his 1500m time and won the indoor state championship in the mile. His big moment came on the anchor leg of his Penn Relays champion DMR team in 2008. As for Shearn, after an impressive victory as a Junior over one of the deepest AA fields at XC states in recent memory, he followed up with a swimming filled winter season that still included a 4th place finish at indoor states in the 3k, a 9:27 2 mile, and a very impressive 15:06 5k, good for 8th at the meet as just a junior. Outdoors as a Sophomore last spring Shearn was 2nd at AA states and under 9:30 for 3200m at the Henderson Distance Festival.

In the 2-15 matchups, Tom Trainer was in posistion to stun Boyertown alumn Mark Dennin when he took the lead late last night, but recently a Dennin surge has thrown him back into the lead by 12% of the vote. Dennin has a Penn Relays watch of his own for his Senior season's 3k, and was an All American at Footlocker Nationals as a senior. Tom Trainer ran a number of gusty performances for LaSalle, including the anchor leg on a little known DMR outdoors that would have qualified for Penn and mixed it up for the win after they beat the indoor champions Wissahickon at Coatesville. Trainer ran a gutsy 3k against Ryan Gil which equated to a 9:13 3200m.

Unfortunately, the 1-16 matchups are going to be blow outs in a lot of cases. Props to Juris Silenieks who is hanging tough with 6 votes against PA state record holder Tom Mallon.