Friday Night 6:05 Boys Mile
Obviously the PA headline here is Magaha off that 1:48.82. Lots of speculation coming in about just how fast he can go. These kind of races due to tend to turn tactical, but then again my Senior year at Penn I watched Pat Schellburg just take off against a field full of kickers and run away from everyone to the Penn Relays record. Magaha will get the headlines and get the talk, but don't forget about Jack Huemmler. He will be at least fairly recovered from the 4x800m in the AM and he has 4:13 split under his belt already (faster than Magaha ran last year at this point in the season I believe) which makes him potentially a 4:14y guy at this race if it plays out to his strengths. But he has to be able to double well and maybe even get lucky in the 4x8 that his team can qualify fairly easily or something like that. But just remember Huemmler is in the race as well.
In terms of the overall race, Watkins and Malone are definitely my favorites and I think Malone is going to pull this one out. Magaha, of course, has all the momentum and more than enough potential to win. Jacob Burcham also is name worth mentioning because he has 4:07 ability as well (I think for a full mile even), but I know that Malone and Watkins have filthy finishing speed and I don't anticipate this race being much more than a kickers race. I think Watkins is a little too 800 based, but Malone has got XC street cred as well which is why I see him pulling off the win. He did what no one had ever done in history indoors, breaking 1:50 as a Junior. Magaha has yet to be in race this indoor or outdoor season where he has felt 63s for 1200m and I think that may be his downfall. Obviously if the pace is really slow, Magaha's pure speed has to be the best, and his kick is lights out. If he feels good and is still in the mix at 200 to go he can win, but there is also the potential for him to fall way out of it and then find a kick when it is too late. That's what makes this race fun to watch I suppose.
You never finished your mock meet! The 4x800,4x1600,and 4x3200 relay performance lists are up (from you), but you never made the races. Are these still going to come?
ReplyDeletei decided to postpone that, i figured that because so many people have been dropping a lot of time as of late, it wouldn't be fair to some teams to give themselves a dummed down relay when they can go faster. So yeah its been postponed, sorry I didn't post this up earlier.
ReplyDeleteMy sleeper pick- Ahmed Bile from Virginia. 4:13-14 a couple weeks ago and I'm sure he's only getting better. Watch out for him.
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