2012 Year in Review

First off I'd just like to say that I encourage everyone to message me or comment their favorite moment of the year this year. It doesn't have to be related to a big "super star" or a really fast race or high school only or heck even running related if you don't want to. I want to know what everyone liked about 2012 and then I'll throw it all together in a final post to the end the year.

To give you some ideas, here is etrain's 2012 year in review:

January
2012 started off with a bold statement from myself, etrain, as I tried the "post streak" and posted every day starting on January 4th after I got over sickness. There was lots to discuss in the opening weekends as we saw the emergence of a young track stud, Jack Huemmler, as he began to run some key DMR legs for Strath Haven as they went toe to toe with the defending XC state champions, North Penn. LaSalle would later throw their name of DMR powerhouses as well after a very fast time in flats on a flat track.

Meanwhile things got very exciting as we watched Ned Willig and Drew Magaha go back and forth on the track. Things started with Ned dropping a terrific 1:55 opening 800m, unprecedently fast and Drew responded with a 1:54 mark, setting the high school field house record. The two continued to keep things hot as Drew split a 1:52 indoors on his 4x8 and Ned punched a ticket to Millrose. The sky seemed to be the limit for these two young stars.

Ultimately, Magaha did not make it through January without suffering, he contracted Mono and was limited for the rest of indoors. But Willig kept going strong, setting an unbelievable state record indoors in the 800m, breaking a record that had been set the previous year by Wade Endress. There was talk that Willig would be able to chase the sub 1:50 mark indoors. Willig also put a scare on the national 1k record but ended up having an unfortunate DQ for a line violation.

February
As indoor states approached, the big buzz coming from etrain was the DMR. The field seemed stacked with guys like LaSalle, North Penn, Strath Haven, Altoona, GFS, NA, Henderson, HGPrep and Great Valley all running some really stellar marks. State title favorites were fast developing with the likes of Willig, Penn Wood, and Dustin Wilson laying down some impressive marks. The talks of favorites and upsets swirled around the track community as the fields were sured up and the last few qualifiers got in.

Meanwhile, on the college scene my friend Kid had his legendary 800m race at 1 in the morning. You can find that post on the blog archives if your curious what this means (its called True Inspiration). It will never be equaled in my experience at Muhlenberg.

Things started to get a bit less competitive in the relays as we saw Strath Haven and Penncrest as 4x800m teams to focus on. Pennridge would join their ranks as contenders after their performance at Meet of Champions.

At states we saw some really exciting races. Willig and Wilson proved they were studs in their respective events, we saw a boatload of new talents emerge in the open 800m behind state champion Haneef Hardy. We also saw the beginnings of a big spring rivalry between Tom Coyle and Jack Huemmler who both notched almost identical 4:16s behind Willig. Pennridge pulled off a big 4x8 upset and Great Valley behind a killer lead off leg by Willig and a clutch anchor by Billy Wolffe gave the blog's own Demetrius McCary a well deserved Gold Medal. In the Mile we saw Alex Moran run a gutsy race to push the pace in the middle, it wouldn't be the last time for him. Sam Hibbs began a bounce back run after a rough XC season and Sami Aziz came back to the states and started to throw down some times.

There was heartbreak as well and we saw some of the perils of doubling at the state meet as the relays didn't quite pan out as I hyped them up to be (sorry guys). Perhaps the biggest heartbreak was that my post streak ended at the end of the month on February 27th. Looking back on it though, gosh I was a heck of a lot more consistent than I have been recently .... I was kinda a loser ...

Ultimately the indoor season just left me (and many others) excited to see what kind of marks PA was going to put up outdoors.

March
In March we saw Pennridge drop another nice 4x800m to prove not only was their state performance not a fluke, but they were the favorite to take down the relay title outdoors and make noise at Penn Relays. Brendan Shearn also showed flashes of future brilliance with a great 2 mile 5k double at nats. And then things kinda got dull for a while because there wasn't anything to talk about.

I tried to do this bracket thing for March Madness .... not really that great ... eh maybe we will try it again this year we'll see ...

I did some racing things .... those were interesting i guess ...

Looking back there wasn't much to talk about in March ....

April
April started out with ... well should I say it? ... Yeah I'm going to ... My boy Francis Ferruzzi pulling the upset in a very fast early season 2 mile at PW. Of course the real story of that race may have been the break out performance by Zach Trama who was an impressive 2nd. That race gave us a peak at some big name sin the 2 mile like Hibbs, Quinn, Savage and Pitone as well some others that I'm probably missing.

Chambersburg opened up with some nice marks and started to develop as a Penn Relays contender with teams like Pennridge, Penncrest and Starth Haven. Dan Jaskowak also started to roll through the track season with some impressive early season doubles.

Then we watched Brendan Shearn run a remarkable early season time of 9:15 that locked up a place for him at Penn Relays. He test himself all the way out at Arcadia and dropped a sizable PR. The Northeast Bradford Duo also led their DMR to a 10:39. I believe most of those legs are back this year ....

We saw some nice marks from guys who were starting to break out like Ryan Thompson, Christina Kardish, Jeff Wiseman, and Mac Emery as well as the Kiski 4x8. Ryan Smathers also opened a lot eyes with a 4:17 that gave him a 14 second win in the 1600m. We also saw one final great DMR battle with Haven, North Penn and O'Hara all dualing it out in dramatic fashion.

But the big story at the end of April came from Drew Magaha who dropped a 1:51 and then followed it up by motoring to a 1:48.82 state record in the 800m! An unbelievable mark in April for a guy who just had mono. It may have been the most impressive performance of 2012.

At Penn Relays we saw Pennridge and Chambersburg qualify for the COA and LaSalle dropped a bombshell of a DMR, returning the key legs from the relay for the next year. Coyle and Huemmler dropped massive splits in the month.

May
May is all about Districts and States and Championship season. There was a lot to be excited about this year in the month of May. Cumberland Valley and Chambersburg were rivals all the way til the end as they battled in out in a very exciting 4x8 that Alec Kunzweiler ultimately outleaned Ryun Holder in. Kunzweiler completed a great double in the open 8 later that day. Logue and Rivera also led their relays to great performances at the meet.

In the mile Magaha could never quite recover from that bout with Mono during a hot day at states. It opened the door for the next big rivalry in PA track and field as Tom Coyle outlasted Jack Huemmler for the title. Again a big push by Alex Moran that helped make the race. Meanwhile Ryan Smathers may have been overlooked as the best miler in the state as he finished off a season of pure domination with his 4:12.

In the 2 mile, Brendan Shearn proved his doubter (me) wrong with a big win over Rico Galassi (who had quite a break out year of his own with some great 2 mile and mile marks). The AA boys ran a great 2 mile in what would be their last horrah of sorts before being split into 2 classes. Meanwhile, Sam Hibbs completed an amazing comeback from his XC season with a dominating 2 mile victory. Major props to Hibbs for what he accomplished this year after the heartbreak he had on the XC course. We also saw huge 2 mile performances from a boat load of underclassman including Jaskowak and Harriman at states and Macauley and Emery at Districts. Also worth noting is the year that Andrew Kuchta and Logan Steiner had. Both really represented the WPIAL well in the 32.

Speaking of representing the WPIAL, Will Bailey finished off an interesting outdoor track season with a 1:51 bombshell to take the state title. For Bailey, the season had been about trying to kick off slow paces in the mile with Kennedy and Moran as well battling Vinny Tonzo from NA (sometimes in different heats) for 800m supremacy. But when push came to shove, Bailey put all doubters in his wake and stormed to the state title. LJ Westwood also capped off a great comeback run grabbing double gold in the 4x8 and individual 8. For Westwood, he overcame his own XC struggles, and ran two impressive dominating 800m races.

Just want to give a shout out to Nick Rotz who had a killer double at the state meet as well as Brent Kennedy who spent the whole year on the track pulling off impressive doubles and triples.

June
We saw the emergence of Ben Ritz who stunned a lot of people by dropping a 4:12 victory over Dustin Wilson in the mile at the end of the year. At the Henderson meet we saw Joey Logue run a great 1:51 open 800m that was blasted off by a killer kick against Tom Coyle and Andrew Stone who both also ran great times. Haneef Hardy was also in the race representing Pa well.

Not to be overlooked amid all the nice shorter distance marks, Austin Pondel dropped a pretty sick 5k. Sign of things to come? Brendan Shearn also capped off his year with a big 5k at Nationals that gave him confidence heading into XC for sure.

I did some rankings, and we talked about the brutal reclassification system. Goodness, don't get me started.

July and August
I think something about an olympics? World record in the 800m? A couple silver medal american distance runners? Yeah whatever all I noticed was Henderson and O'Hara talk! I couldn't get enough and neither could you guys!

September
XC time! Back at school, starting a new school year and getting excited to see who was going to break out and take down the medals on the trials. Rico Galassi got off to a great start as did Dominic Deluca who mixed it up with the top group in the early part of the year. Then came the big time Briarwood race where we got a look at two of the best XC runners of the year: Brendan Shearn and Tony Russell who both pushed each other to very quick marks on the course. O'Hara got the better of Henderson for the time being. At the foundation meet we saw Connor Harriman put on perhaps the kick of the year in an effort to take the title against Ean DiSilvio. North Allegheny showed up as well. Their spread was impressive and their youngsters were proving they could lead the team to greatness.

October
Henderson continued to gain experience and Tony Russell continued to drop time. He crushed the VanCortlandt Park 4k lay out and the team handled some of the best squads in the region as well. Max Norris made a big return to racing just in time for championship season. So too did Tom Coyle from LaSalle as LaSalle went on a run down the stretch to grab the 5 individual qualifying spots at Districts and make it to states. One of my personal favorite moments of the year was seeing these guys run at states (and run pretty darn well there for only having 5 guys). We aren't going to get into how off I was on some of my picks for the XC season at this point in time ... but we saw some very fast marks out of the District One Championships, led by Tony Russell but also helped by Ross Wilson from CRN who probably had the best race of his breakout season on that day.

November
What was there not to love about November? So many intriguing races unfolded. A big day for Rico Galassi who fought valiantly with Luke Jones for the A state title, followed by a big upset by Vinny Todaro over two of the best in the state in Shearn and Jaskowak. And then Tony Russell topped them all by dominating one of the deepest fields PA has ever seen and taking the course record with him. The team battles were all exciting, none more so than the dramatic Henderson v. O'Hara match up that fittingly lived up to the hype and went to Henderson in a tie breaker. My heart feels for what happened to the O'Hara boys, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But what a three year stretch for this program. They really emerged from the shadow of LaSalle and made themselves competitors at the state level with 3 impressive performances at the state meet. And of course for Henderson to have 7 in the top 52 is a true testament to their depth and coaching. Unbelievable pair of teams and we were lucky to witness this.

A few shout outs to guys like Colin Martin from Fox Chapel who really had an underrated season as he put a lot of things together to have the stretch run he did. His brother Ethan is pretty darn good as well. Jack Macauley had a great state race despite a bit of a rough year for North Penn he did the school proud with his gutsy performance. And Council Rock North really came back strong. Despite a lot of doubt and pressure they climbed back up to third in the state behind a couple of all time great teams.

But states wasn't all that November had to offer. PA proved that they did not play. It was amazing to see all the PA qualifiers for Nationals and all the great races at Regionals. Tony Russell and Reiny taking 1-2 was pretty sick and Henderson and O'Hara both pushed CBA a bit in the process of qualifying for nationals!

And hey that 2 mile at Henderson deserves some credit. There is no doubt that gave confidence to a lot of guys on both rosters like Alex Knapp and Jim Belfatto who both came on strong at season's end.

December
Max Norris capped off a stunning run in the final stretch of the season by becoming the top PA finisher at Nationals. Considering what he had to overcome this year, his stretch run to the season may be the most inspiring story of the bunch. But there was a lot of other performances to be proud of in December XC. O'Hara took 5th at Nationals! An unbelievable finish after a series of heartbreaks for this squad. Reiny Barchet grabbed All-American status as well. A true break out race for a guy who worked hard and lived in Russell's shadow for a lot of the year. Austin Pondel really came along way from where he was in 2011 to the end of 2012. He has a lot to be proud of. And Brent Kennedy is back next year! Watch out for him at Nats.

A few more shout outs here to hand out to end this post season stretch. Major props to Tony Russell for what he did this year. He didn't have the finish at Nationals he hoped for, but mud will do that. Before that he had one of the best XC seasons that I have seen in PA and took down some big names with ease. He dominated the state course and the state field after he dominated the district race at Lehigh.

And lastly to Kevin James. Kevin, as just a freshman, got a lot of heat for what happened at states freshman year, and I can't claim that I was absolved from being insensitive to this issue at times as well. To have to listen to all that as a Freshman in High School has got to be brutal. But Kevin James came back this XC season and tore it up. He was more motivated than ever, never lacked confidence, and raced with a lot of guts. He medaled at states as a sophomore and was a big time contributor to an O'Hara team that finished 5th at nationals. He led the team at multiple meets this season as well. Congrats on a great year Kevin.

And hey Congrats to all of you out there for working hard in track or school or whatever is that you are passionate about. This is my passion, writing and talking about track and field. I could not have asked for a better year for the blog. It was easily the biggest it has ever been, it took off all of a sudden. But it is nothing without the comments that you contribute and the passion that you bring to this site. Thank you for your support.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

Sincerely,
Jarrett Paul Felix