I'm still trying to churn out the rest of the race stories that I have planned out but things haven't been completely smooth. I've gotten a bunch done but still have more to go and they will be up in due time.
But before then I just wanted to talk about the 2 mile time trial that was dropped on the PA XC community today. If you haven't seen the results they are definitely worth a peak. http://pa.milesplit.com/meets/128352/results/227955
Sami Aziz and Tony Russell battle it out for a couple sub 9:20 marks. Extremely fast times and very encouraging heading into the big meets at the end of the season. Both marks were faster than Brad Miles time trialed the year that he won Foot Locker Regionals. Barchet at 9:21 also is a new PR for him and is an encouraging sign for Henderson's #2. Their 3-5 were a pair of 9:35s and a 9:43. No Sam Haugh and Rimkis was their 5th guy (state medalist). Now obviously track teams don't factor directly to XC marks, but these are still encouraging times moving forward. Henderson is clearly in good shape and Russell is in the mix for a spot at Nationals whether the team makes it or not (and Aziz if he goes to Footlocker or NXN is dangerous for a nationals bid).
But more impressive (to me anyway) were the O'Hara boys. A little chip on their shoulder led to 5 PRs from their top 5 including a huge bomb shell from Jim Belfatto, originally an 800m guy who stepped on the XC trails and started making a name for himself in the fall with a top 50 finish at states. Belfatto ran 9:22.1 for 4th, finishing just behind Barchet! Now obviously an 800m guy like Belfatto is going to gain the edge when the race moves to the track but to see this kind of time out of him is simply stunning. Savage, James and Pitone were all right behind in 9:24, 9:26 and 9:32 respectively (I believe all are PRs, Pitone's may be close). We knew that those 3 were all very solid, two of them were top 10 guys at states, all were state medalists, and two of them arguably could have ran much better. Pastore quietly drops in a 9:39 3200m PR as well. That puts the entire top 5 under 9:40 for 3200m. Particularly impressive considering last spring they struggled to find a guy who could break the 9:30 mark. A very good sign for a bounce back race from this team at Nats. Hopefully they will mix it up with Henderson and we can get two teams to NXN for the first time in state history (I'm pretty sure anyway).
Ironically the two squads tied at 36 points a piece in the race when scored. However, this time Matt Hayes was ahead of Henderson's 6th man.
Does that mean anything? No not really, I just thought it was an ironic turn of events.
PS I enabled comments from anyone again on the blog, things were getting too boring, but I won't hesitate to pull the plug again if things get messy.
Etrain, it’s nice to have the old format back for comments. I was too lazy to set up an account. I agree with you, it’s boring without the group comments. There’s usually a nice mix of information, insight, trash talk and humor. Unfortunately there’s some garbage occasionally and it’s a shame you have to police that, but I personally think it’s worth keeping. Great job! - RJJL
ReplyDeleteI'm liking how Henderson and O'Hara are tuned up to take on the northeast region
ReplyDeleteWas it a race or a workout? Its very fast either way though.
ReplyDelete-JR
It was definitely a race. If they could go sub 9:20 in a workout, they are in scary shape.
ReplyDelete-RTJ
Some of the top kids were relaxing through the 1st mile so i am excited to see their times next weekend.
DeletePretty sure they both prob trained through it to and if they did that's very impressive!
DeleteThose results could almost pass for an outdoor state championship final. -RJJL
DeleteLooking to the spring when those guys should run 10-15 seconds faster each, which 3 from each team will make the District cut? Each team should have 5+ guys under the SQS of 9:31. So, each of those team could have 2 guys under the State standard who will not be allowed to run at Districts.
DeleteAssuming they are not running the 800 or 1600
Deleteyou can send up to 8 guys per event per district assuming they hit the SQS, i don't think team affiliation matters correct?
DeleteTeam affiliation does matter, I think it's a dumb rule. I feel that if a team has that many great individuals then they should all be able to qualify, if you're the 4th guy who may be better than a lot of the field at your district meet then you're getting cheated by the system. I don't think more that 3 guys from Henderson could qualify for states in the 3200 anyway, the district is way too good. And plus, Russell probably wont be doing it because he has a chance to win the mile. Really, at this point, I see him as more of a 2 miler with just as much or more of a shot to win but he might do the mile to give his teammates a shot at qualifying themselves.
DeleteTwo runners from Henderson qualified for States at the District 1 XC championship, and then didn't get to run at States. That was really unfortunate, they're the 8 & 9 runners on that team. We can say there's always next year for them, but everyone knows nothing is gauranteed. Injuries, family move, who knows? Seems a bit unfair that they were denied, but it is what it is.
DeleteThey're also only losing one runner from the varsity team next year and they didn't even run the full varsity that day. I feel bad for them because they probably wont be able to race the states course, the competition for the 7th spot has to be brutal, which will only make them better. Bobby rimkis, their 3rd guy is the only senior in their top 11 or 12, and the juniors seamus collins, eric stratman, and sam haugh are only 6 seconds slower than him. Sam and Eric didn't run districts but they would've definitely matched seamus time like the do every meet. Next year Henderson is going to have 5 guys medal at states. It's crazy that next year they're returning the state record holder, 19th place, 2 people in the 30's and 1 in 48th place and another in 52nd. This team is going to look like Coatesville from 2006 next year. They still have some good sophomores that will return after the class of 2014 is gone.
DeleteThat team should roll right through Districts and States again next year. However, they'll need a couple of big drops to be in national champion discussions next year.
DeleteAt least two guys will have to get down around where R Barchet is. That's very difficult to do. They can't assume they'll be faster just because they're a year older. Some of the varsity runners may only improve a little if at all next year. Two sophomores, Knapp and G Barchet probably have the most potential to get to another level.
Etrain. Are you going to be doing preseason indoor predictions soon?
ReplyDeleteActually yeah that'd be pretty cool. Top 5 predictions for each event?
DeleteLet's do it! I love predicting indoor times.
ReplyDelete60HH- Wellington Zaza
60-Niager Mathis
200- Daryl Worley
400- Malik Jones
800- Alec Kunzweiler
Mile- Coyle
3k champ- Sami Aziz
4x800- Honestly... no idea. I'd say Bensalem, but I believe that they will run their hot runners in open and then come back for the 4x4. The 4x8/4x4 is too close.
4x400- Bensalem
DMR- Off the double... LaSalle! Coyle running faster in this split than the first mile (like wade endress did junior year)
LJ-?
TJ- Wellington Zaza
Shot-?
HJ-?
-RTJ
Back to states. Anyone notice the pictures on Penntrack of the finish?
ReplyDeleteThe meet was decided in inches with Collins, Haugh and Pastore at 16:40. It looks like from the photo's that Collins was leading the three but had to move to avoid the kid from Hampton who was down at the finish and ended up third of the three. Was anyone there, was that what happened?
Also noticed that if LaSalle hadn't qualified as a team, Henderson would have won by 2.
After 5k and 5 guys from each team, Henderson won by 1 inch. They read the video frame by frame 8 times to be sure. That's nuts. And, when there are rarely ties in xc, they come back and tie again in a meaningless 3200m. These teams are well-matched and have a great shot of both being in the top 5 at NXN(as long as they qualify).
Delete