Yes we CAIN! CAIN’T touch this. Catch her if you CAIN. Okay, I’m done with the lame puns, but seriously...
Mary Cain is ridiculous. She just broke the national 3k record last week, and yesterday she just set a new aMaryCain (Okay, last one, I swear) record. The girl is a monster. She’s 16 years old and she’s beating professionals. She could have held her own against the boys at Indoor States last year and would have been 5 seconds off a medal spot... and that’s when they’re at their sharpest while she’s a little over halfway there. If she was a guy, she would be the 21st best in the State and 65th nationally in the 3k.. For a 16-year-old girl, that’s something to brag about.
Back to PA news...
Out in Lancaster at F&M Lindsley Greta opened up her indoor season with a 5:17. This is her first indoor season, so for her to come out and run that and completely dominate the field shows that when she gets used to indoor and has competition she’ll be ready to compete. She came back and ran 2:25, again dominating the field. She’s looking solid to start the year.
The DVGTCA meet held impressive results as usual. Emma Keenan looks to be rounding into top form. Her 57 is the second fastest all year on a flat track. The speeds clearly there, if she can decently pace herself I can see her breaking 2:10 at the State meet and maybe even as low as 2:08 by Nationals.
Marissa Sheva’s 2:16 is about where I’d expect. Great run, but judging by the interview she had after Millrose, she now considers herself a miler and will run that at States and probably the DMR. Nice 800 speed though. Swenson again showing their strength with Imani Harris running a 2:20 in the 800. Only a handful of girls can beat her at this distance... and it’s not even her event! It’s way, way over distance. This is a team that is looking to maintain their status of Indoor State Champions.
Meredith Reiche and Kaitlin Poeisz battled it out in the mile running solid times. What caught my attention the most was third and fourth place, Marisa Hawley of CB East and Caitlin Sheva of Pennridge. Both teams have amazing DMR potential. Pennridge especially with Marissa Sheva dropping fast miles already. With her anywhere near striking distance of first, she has the speed to run them down.
CB West and CR North ran nice DMR’s. CB West is a young squad too. Nice time, but I think they would benefit more in the 4x800. They don’t quite have the anchor that would be needed to place high in the DMR, but the 4x800’s a different story. Gretchen Krause has the experience and speed needed to lead this young team in the wide open 4x800 field. Don’t let her “PR” on Penntrack fool you, she has split lower quite often, getting as low as 2:16 I believe.
On to the big meet of the weekend, New Balance Games.
First off, big congratulations to Sara Sargent for making Millrose for the third straight year! That is incredible. She went out and made it so that she didn’t have to get the auto bid. After watching the video, it wasn’t easy and required a massive kick. She was boxed in almost the entire race and had to continuously put on surges and weaving through lanes. This kick was one of her most impressive ones yet. She was in 7th place on the bell lap and just turned it on with 150 to go. I clocked it at 32 high/33 low. Wow.
Strath Haven ran a nice 4x800, but this is a team that would definitely benefit from a DMR. They don’t have the big miler, but they have a huge 1200/800 legs that could get their miler a lead and then try to maintain the lead. They have two legs back from their State record breaking DMR (even though Notre Dame beat them and broke the State record by more) and two solid other legs to complete the relay. This is my sleeper pick for the DMR.
Garnet Valley ran a good 4x800 as well, but I know they can do better. They have three great legs and if they just get one more leg, they would be in contention for the gold in my opinion. No team has showed 4x800 dominance as of yet, so I’m waiting for someone to step up to the plate.
Lastly, O’Hara taking a huge leap forward in the DMR! That 12:14 came out of nowhere. I have an idea on the legs, but it’s still a shock to see that time. I guess the girls got tired of the boys getting all the attention. The DMR is getting interesting.
That’s all for this edition of SHEtrain Sunday, as a very awesome poster put it.
-RTJ
where is the video of sargents race?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ecp0AHjy9I <--- The video of Sargent's race. I said third straight year, but I meant third year in her career (she had mono for the late part of XC/early part of indoors her sophomore year).
ReplyDelete-RTJ
O'Hara's team was made up of Mancini, Sharkey, Ciccione, and Kelly. It isn't surprising at all. Mancini dominated during XC as a freshman. Sharkey and Ciccione have both been constant 400/800m runners of note, and Kelly has really been dropping times on their relays this year. Looks like she split about 5:08-5:10 from what I can tell of the race vid I was able to find.
ReplyDeletePlus, this DMR time is the new school record 12:14.52
DeleteSheva is such a gifted runner-I heard she has already committed to PSU...for soccer. Huh?
ReplyDeleteSheva is a very talented soccer player from what I've read. I didn't hear much this year, but last year I remember she left districts I believe to go to a soccer game. I believe that was the soccer districts game too and they won. Either way, she's sick at soccer too.
ReplyDeleteHearing that order is interesting for O'Hara. I would have thought Sharkey or Ciccione lead off, a random 400, whichever one didn't lead off, and Kelly. Good to see the freshman stepping it up in track too. She had a solid XC season.
Huge 3k by Tessa Barrett to take the state lead. I don't think Susquehanna is a banked track judging by the other times, so this 3k is very fast. Looks like we shouldn't just pack up the medal and give it to Courtney Smith just yet.
-RTJ
Sara, kinnedy and marissa in the mile will be spectacular
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article with all the Mary Cain puns, I refreshed the page a little while later and read the title as Demetrius McCAINry
ReplyDelete