Weekend Action

So fans, I've got plenty of weekend action to recap so let's get down to business.

Starting off with Brendan Shearn running his way into the state lead with a 9:15 3200m. It was a nice run, a big PR for sure, and a time that assures his status as favorite outdoors in the 3200m even more than it already had been confirmed. I'm honestly not that surprised, in a race like that with all that competition around him the whole race I probably would have guessed somewhere around this time for the AA state champ who ran 15:06 indoors for 5k. He will have a tough time matching this time at the state meet if the competition is what's expected and the race is at all tactical. Maybe at Henderson he will challenge the 9:10 mark, which would be an impressive mark for a Junior, but he like I said he won't see competition like this the rest of the way most likely.

Obviously, don't misinterpret what I'm trying to say here. It's a very impressive time and he is one of the best 2 milers in the state this year, probably only behind Wilson right now.

Over at Bruce Dallas we saw some nice performances. I feel like Avery Scripture is a name that goes completely under the radar, but he's just a break through away from being a top level guy. Another solid 4:20s performance in a winning performance over XC studs Jeff Groh and Aaron Wilkinson. He then doubled back with a second place 1:59 finish. Not bad. Not saying he's going to be a state champ, but he has a shot to run high 4 teens some time in the near future and I don't think most people have heard of him. Kunzweiler and Nissley got solid wins for each. Nice confidence boosters for both guys, not really fast times or wins over big names, but a win is a win.

CR Kiwanis, we saw some very nice 5ks. Hibbs bounces back and Conner Quinn shows everybody why he is a good cross guy. He just seems to lack a bit too much speed to run very quick in the 3200. I hope that those two working together will lead to great performances down the line by districts perhaps like Burkhardt and Fischer. Solid 5ks for the rest of the top group. Pitone continues to impress, he may be on the verge of a breakthrough in the near future if he can ever beat Savage. Ross Wilson goes from not even being recognized by last name on this blog, to easily best the 16 minute mark. Very nice performance for him as well, maybe a sleeper in the 32 later on down the line, certainly a cross country force in the future as well.

Northeast Bradford pulled out a solid 10:39 DMR. Not quite Penn worthy, but depending on how many guys return, they could be there next year. I'd imagine at least their most important two legs are coming back in Williams and Jewett. Bensalem with two solid relays as well. 4x8 and 4x4 wins highlighted by that 8:03.

I was hoping to see a little faster from the 15 guys. Metzler's time is probably worth mid 4:20s or so and Magaha's is worth high 4 teens. Solid times but I was hoping for a bit more. Kardish has really come on strong as of late and is potentially sub 4:20 by the end of the season as just a sophomore.

The Pennridge boys continue to burn up the track. Kohler wins the open 8 in a bit slower than expected (he has run 1:55 twice in dual meets) but still a very fast time. Logue hangs tough for second in a solid 1:57. Pennridge also had an individual 400m champion. Tough to see Horgan and Dickson go down like that in a race where it appears they had a pretty good shot to run fast with that kind of competition. We will see if they bounce back sometime soon or if they had indoor seasons that will overshadow their outdoor ones.

Lastly GFS looks like they are due for a big DMR run at Penn, maybe the CB South of a year ago. Two guys under 8:55 in the 3k working together out front and taking 1st fairly easily. I'm excited to see how they pan out as the season progresses.

Just want to throw in killer day for Hynes and Hamilton in the sprints. Kids were killing it.

Lastly, LaSalle takes down the DMR in the 10:20s in Virginia over Henderson and a Willigless Great Valley. Are they thinking DMR at Penn as well? They would definitely have a shot to mix it up out front, it usually only takes a 10:10ish to win and LaSalle has the legs to run that kind of time.



So I just wanted to throw to this in at the bottom of this post, I didn't want to bore you with it, but I just wanted to say it. I really want to thank everybody who has helped support me with my quest to achieve on the track. Yesterday was a very exciting day for me and it was made much better by sharing it with all of you guys. My status got over 75 likes and I don't think my other status's combined have ever gotten that much. Thanks to my training partner Josh Elkan who has really helped me get to where I am at this spring, my girlfriend Nicki Cronin who gave me the best advice to help me mentally be ready to run, my roommate Charlie Kline for being the guy at the starting line to make me smile right before the gun went off and all my teammates and coaches not just from college but from high school as well.

Much love to all you guys, I could never have done it without you.

So everybody go break some barriers.