Weekend Action 1/12

So we are having a little technical difficulties for the show, but to hold you over I'm going to just post up some thoughts on the weekend action with some more in depth thoughts and analysis to come when we can get the video stuff together. Here are some things I noticed from the weekend.

A couple nice wins from Jordan Crawford this past weekend at F&M. Uncontested he just missed the mile state qualifier in what I believe is his first race of indoors. He then doubled back to win the 800m. You may hear this kids name a bit later.

Nice win for Lucas Elek in the open 8 at TFCA. He ran some solid marks in the high 1:50s last year indoors and he just needs to put the pieces together for a breakout race. Interesting to see Wissahickon's Stellato move up to the 800m. There could be potential there over time for some impressive marks. He is a 48 guy outdoors keep in mind.

Nick Scarpato has been quietly winning races and mixing it up with some solid guys. If he gets in the right race he may be pulled along to a state qualifying time in the near future. The 3k was pretty impressive as well. Pastore and Cummings both ran above what I thought their fitness was. O'Hara legitimately can have 5 guys scare the SQS. Cummings has really taken a lot of nice steps including a solid XC season and he seems to be carrying the momentum to track. His squad ran a 10:55 without him as well. Chris Kazanjian ran the 3k as well. He has to do some work to get down to the SQS, but this was his first real 3k so he has time.

Upper Merion dropped a nice 4x8, probably would be best off as a relay in the DMR, although the DMR state standard is much tougher. Harriton ran an 8:35 for second. I don't know if Norris is back racing, but maybe there are some pieces there for a DMR as well. We are talking about two pretty deep sleepers in the relays but you never know. The DMR was sick. Huemmler I assume ran a pretty sick anchor leg in response to all of his criticisms of late. His surrounding cast is probably the worst on paper out of the LaSalle, GFS, O'Hara and Pennsbury teams that have made pushes for the SQS, but still Haven dropped a sick mark and a big win. I would be interested to know who toed the line for O'Hara in this race. They have a lot of different pieces that could do a solid job in the DMR. I am curious as to when Savage is coming back as well.

In the D1 races we saw Andrew Stone assert his dominance over Jeff Wiseman. For Wiseman, this is a tough loss after his big win over Rivera, and it puts Stone as one of the favorites in the 800m at this point in the season if not the favorite over Logue. It drops Wiseman to about 4th on my list of favorites for the title, but he is still in the title conversation. He has had better days than this in the past. The Pennsbury boys continue to roll. Their 3rd and 4th best guys ran very nice individual races this weekend. Seeing Pennsbury also drop a 3:33 4x4 makes me feel that this team is considering a team title push of their own. That's something to watch going forward. Interesting to see Bodine back in the open races for the first time, hopefully he can drop close to that SQS as the season moves on, he was strong during XC this year. Billotta is also running very well for LaSalle right now and he and Magee seem to be enough to give this squad a legit 4x8 just as much as a legit DMR.

Nice race for Mac Emery. The 3k is clearly his best event and he needs to carry the momentum from this race through to any race against a solid field so he can get carried a bit towards the SQS. Pennridge ran a very nice 4x8. Logue is going to be busy at states, however, with the open 8, 4x8 and 4x4 all competing for state gold. There is potential for Pennridge to surprise again in a wide open 4x8, no team has really grabbed my attention to date. Also would like to point out the 4x4 is stacked. Neshaminy looks very good as does Pennwood and Cheltenham.

Interesting results at Kutztown this weekend. Having run on that track I can say first hand its slow. Think Glenn Mills track for all you who know that one but perhaps slower. Good to see the Northeast Bradford boys running indoors. They have a shot to sneak into the DMR if they get in the right race. I give them a pass for the lack of fast times opening weekend especially considering the track. Jon Colwell, however, looked very good in his opening performance. That was very impressive, especially given the track. He has the potential to surprise and compete for a medal. A little disappointed with Abert, but Williams is a 9:20 guy outdoors so being in contention with him isn't too bad. He still has a solid mile to open the year to get him into states and he has proven already he can run with the big boys.

CV will be interesting to follow going forward. There was so much doubling and tripling its hard to say exactly what to make of their races. Kevin Dare will be where I will decide how good this team is. They do, however, have some work to do to push towards an indoor state title. Brendan was back running as well. He put up a solid 1600m mark against Matt Calem who, if he is a PA guy, ran a very nice mark for a guy I've never heard of. For Shearn, his strength will always be the longer stuff. He can run the mile of strength for sure but he lacks the natural speed to open up the season in the low 4:20s. The 3k will be his key event, after he runs a couple of those I'll know what kind of shape he will be in for the state title 3k push.

In D7 action, Tyler Rigby opened up with a nice mile and beat out some quality runners in Smathers and the Archers among others. D7 always has guys who can roll and if you can consistently win TSTCA meets you are a candidate to compete for a state championship. Which brings me to Ethan Martin who had a great opening 3k and beat a very solid field. He has consistently been improving on the state level and he may finally be ready to push for a state title in the 3k indoors. Jaskowak had a bit of a rough start, but I expect him to bounce back. The Archers had a great string of races that they should definitely be proud of. Zemet and Luoco both had solid openers and may have the potential to drop time and surprise in the DMR down the line.

Will Cather had a sick double (possibly triple). He had the luxury of running on PSUs track which is really fast, but he also completely dominated two fields in very fast times. At states he will have a bit of home field advantage which can't be overlooked.

Another solid win for Shawn Wolfe over D3 rival Jeff Groh who seems to be bouncing back well off XC. I'd like to see Groh and Nissley at PSU for Kevin Dare. Shawn Wolfe is running very well at under the radar meets thus far this year, certainly keep an eye out for him once he gets on a track that is actually fast.