D1 Summary

Unfortunately I had to leave after the 4x8s at District 1 this weekend. So I am sorry to anyone who was looking for me, but I didn't really have another way of getting home. All the same I saw enough in the results to give a nice little synopsis of my opinions right now

First off before I get into it I just want to say major props to Bensalem. Awesome day overall, big wins and top finishes across the board in the mid distance. I really underestimated them a lot, and they made me look silly for doubting them. Great job.

Now on to the results. We will start with the 800m where the Junior Yannocane pulled out a nice PR and a big win by a fairly comfortable margin. I think the fact that so many people had run hard either in the prelims or in earlier events benefited him nicely, but all the same he delivered very nicely with those fresh legs. I don't think he is good enough to beat Tonzo or Holder but he may be able to snag a top 3 spot at states. And if you are good enough to do that, you have a shot to win the meet. Rivera a very solid double and probably a sick 4x4 leg as well. Nice day for him. He's also a junior. And oh yeah Chaborek as well with Junior status taking third. Huemmler in 4th also a Junior and than 5th finally wasn't an underclassman. Wiseman took 5th as a sophomore. Kohler was the only senior in the bunch of 8 going to states. That is impressive.

Nice to see Scripture's solid times this season finally pay off. Huemmler really impressed on the double, but I'm not sure the 800 is worth messing with at states. I can't see him medaling if I'm being honest. Drew dropping out is disappointing. Magaha, unfortunately, has never been a great doubler and I think the fact that he has missed training from the mono hurt. But the 1600m was scary good. He can definitely better his own mark from a year ago at states if things are fast again.

So moving to that 1600, very nicely done by Drew. Dominating the field in a time over 2 seconds faster than his time last year. If he runs 3+ seconds faster than he did today at states like last year he will be crossing the line at 4:05. Huemmler falls in to Ned Willig fate, finishing 2nd in a very impressive time behind a legendary time. Huemmler should be able to drop time against Coyle next week. Both those boys could scare the 4:10 barrier, a mark few Juniors have fit.

How about Chris Trimble? I'll be honest I thought the guy was done, peaked already. After a solid XC season his indoor season wasn't quite as fast as I was hoping. I thought he was a 1:53 guy waiting to happen after last spring. But it never panned out. But he didn't give up. It turns out he just needed an event change and has now found his way to a big 3rd place finish in the 1600m at Districts and should be in the conversation for a top five finish at states. Metzler benefited from his 4x8 being out of it by the time he got the stick but still ran a very solid race to finish 4th. He is peaking at the right time. Zingarini was one of the big CR North finishers in the meet and his 4:18 was a solid race and nice PR to get him through to states. Russell ran very well and Kardish surprised me the most with his big finish of 4:18. Both are just sophomores.

In the 3200m Hibbs asserted his dominance. A little too fast on the first lap, but he still led wire to wire and dominanted the field. Emery was coming for him at the end, but Hibbs found a little more and ran a big PR for himself. He looks like a man who is the favorite to win states and win in the fastest time.

The interesting part of the story here is the other gents. Behind Hibbs is a slew of runners who have sub 9:20 potential, looking for the rest of the medal spots, but the sub 9:20 potential types are now joined by 3 actual sub 9:20 guys. All juniors. Emery runs very well, a great kick as Macauley looked like he was going to beat him out with 800 to go. Quinn paid for his early pace setting with Hibbs, but ran a huge PR in his own right. Then the youngster Harriman dropped a nice kick to take the 5th spot. Unfortunately it cost him a shot at a medal in the 16. Chris Berry running 9:23 right behind. Wow, a very nice PR and a great two race streak for this guy. Seems to have taken the next step and this kind of momentum will be dangerous at states. Brett Kelly probably should have put all his eggs in the 3200 basket at an earlier stage, but great run from him, bailing on his front running style to very nice results. And of course Israel found himself in the last 800m and ran a big PR. He earned his way in to the state meet over some other guys who hit the time. Barchet just missed unfortunately, he was my sleeper pick so I was rooting for him. He ran a solid PR in his own right. Eh, he can get an early start towards a sub 16 5k and a team title in XC.

Bensalem dominated the 4x8 if I'm being honest. Pennridge's Logue had a killer last 200m and almost made up the ground it took to win, but Bensalem was running out front with no one to chase and everybody else could keep their head up and look ahead. Bensalem is probably my new pick to win states in the 4x800m battling with the two D3 squads and maybe Kiski area. But we will talk more about that later this week I assure you.

Pennridge did run a solid race. Kohler and Logue and to play some serious catch up in the race, I almost wonder if they should switch up the order and run Kohler 2nd, it may keep them in the race a little better and make their job a little easier. Spring Ford is going to be scary come the state meet. They will have 4 fresh legs now as none of their guys hit individual qualifying marks. They looked very strong today and although they couldn't hold off the big dogs, they certainly can compete for a top 5 spot at states and if they have their day they can run 7:48ish I believe. Penncrest, Henderson and DT West all had great efforts to get to states but didn't run anything incredibly impressive. Chaborek is a factor in the open 8 but the other two relays will be focused solely on the 4x8 and that could make them bigger factors in the medal conversation.

At states this year I think it will take less of an effort to make finals in the 4x8 that it has the previous two years. What that means most likely is that we will see a lot of teams that run great relay PRs in the finals. Kiski, Chambersburg, CValley, Bensalem and Pennridge should all scare 7:45. A bunch of other teams should scare 7:50.

But like I said, I'll get to that soon.

Lastly, if anyone is interested in doing fantasy outdoor track, message me on facebook ASAP (my real name is Jarrett Felix). We will put the deadline to sign up at Tuesday so we can try to have the draft Wednesday night or so. I'll let you know rules and stuff once you sign up and I have figured them out.