Race by Race Analysis: 3200m and 4x800m

So I'm going to try to break these down in depth, but some races I have much less to say than others. Alright going off memory from the PCN coverage here is what I got:

AA Boys 3200m
Clearly Shearn knew that the main concern in his chase for state gold was Rico's kick. He picked up the pace even after the first lap and the race quickly became a two man race. It was the way he had to run, but it was a dangerous move to take the pace that long and run slightly irrational splits. That's all the more reason to be impressed by his win. The race results make the race seem closer than it was. At 800 to go Shearn really broke open the race. Unfortunately he couldn't hold that move and Galassi, Josef and Williams came back a bit on him. None of those results were particularly surprising, but the times were solid under the conditions. DeBarbarie had a nice race, his best race since indoor states. Luke Jones, however, was a victim to the elements. He is, like Brendan, more of a cross guy than a track guy.

AAA 3200m
Hibbs also knew what the main obstacle for gold was for him and it was his front running style. He let Strynkowski take some of the early pace and made his move when he had to make sure only the strongest runners would hang on. When Hibbs did make his move only Steiner was ready to go with him. Kuchta had a strong effort a week ago, but unfortunately some early surges on the opening laps and the heat appears to have caught up to him. Steiner hung tough all the way to the bell just like he did against Kuchta a week prior and from there he had nothing left and Jaskowak managed to catch him over the last 200m. The guys who were most successful were not worried about winning the first mile, they ran their race strategy and hung tough in the heat. Harriman had another huge kick and his kick makes him very dangerous come cross country and next year's 2 mile. Burke has been consistently solid all year, with better weather the kid could have scared the 9:15 mark for sure. Great break out senior season. Strynkowski paid for his early pace setting for sure, might have been able to finish higher if he hadn't. Ethan Martin was impressive and he is going to be a force in XC going into his Junior season. He has gradually improved his performances at each state meet and is clutch. Groh too is coming on well recovering nicely from his injuries and runnning a competitive race outdoors at states.

AA 4x800m
I don't have much to say here, props to Hadfield for hanging tough after the 3200m. Quaker Valley hung in there, but they had the advantage of having the best 800m runner in the state for AA. Alexander ran hard and Lower Moreland improved dramatically from Districts, but ultimately Quaker Valley had two big time legs on the back end of their relay and they took control.

AAA 4x800m
The heat and doubling ended up catching up to Spring Ford for the second straight year. The Henderson boys are young they will be back and they will be hungry in XC. The Henderson kids really needed the state experience this year in XC, indoors and outdoors. They were young and it showed. But next year, watch out. As for the real race out front, Rotz really killed the opening leg, but the second legs were fairly slow. In the end the race developed between just a few teams out front. Pennridge's 3rd leg and Chambersburg's 3rd leg really had step up days, but in the end Kunzweiler was the hero. Have to respect Pennridge and CBurg's third legs though. That was the main knock on these relays and those guys stepped up to the occassion. The anchor legs really made the race awesome, Rivera tried to get back up there but didn't have the gas to run the 1:50ish effort he would need to stay competitive. The D3 boys ran killer anchor legs, but the sophomore Logue's effort is pretty darn impressive as well. O'Hara was up in the mix for a lot of the race. Billotta looks like he had a killer split. Great way to end his season. State College also had an impressive run. I'm not sure where all their fast splits came from, but I'm assuming the youngster Cather had a bit of a breakout season. Penncrest also did well to bounce back after a disappointing indoor meet.