Mile at States

The mile was a very interesting race to watch unfold. In many ways it failed to live up to the hype but I think the main issue was just all the sickness going around. Clearly Harriman and Coyle were not at 100%, they were out of it for a lot of the race and Coyle somehow managed to kick his way back to finish third, pretty impressive. Huemmler too was not completely healthy, but he looked much better than Coyle performing that double. That slow pace played to his favor and he has been in enough big time races to be prepared to close fast.

As for Russell he made the right moves in the race and had to do a lot of the work, but I'm a little surprised he couldn't hang more with Huemmler at the end. That 3:02 1200m leg brings to mind a guy with a lot more speed than I was giving him credit for early in the season. I'm wondering if he was suffering from a little sickness or something as well. Not trying to make excuses for the guy, but seeing the finish of his races this past weekend makes me wonder. He is a class act and he won't make excuses for himself so we may never know. It still was a great race to take second and it sets up nicely for outdoors.

Honestly, the Henderson guys just seemed to avoid racing a lot of big time mile races and Russell hadn't run an open mile that was faster than that 4:25. That could have played a roll. The focus here is clearly on outdoors. Coyle too didn't get in the big time races that Huemmler did although he did have a few fast miles with his teammate Andrew Stone to help him out.

Clearly Huemmler has developed into a solid tactician. He kept the pace slow and then unleashed a killer kick. Outdoors he led most of the race, chasing the clock rather than the gold. It is good to see him use his racing intelligence to get a state gold.

Curt Jewett ran a pretty solid race in that mile. Having watched the video, he was on the way back of that pack through the early parts of the race and thus had to put in one of the biggest negative splits of the group. That definitely should be a confidence builder for him moving to outdoors. He and Smathers should have a nice showdown.

Smathers benefited from a fast pace but it was slightly sporadic as well. After Abert took them out incredibly fast things slowed a bit and then Smathers kicked to bring it home. This is Smathers first real indoor season so if he continues to drop time like this going into outdoors sub 4:10 is attainable. He just needs the right competition which may be hard to come by. Jaskowak and Rigby are the likely guys to give him the competition, both had solid races at states. For Jaskowak it was definitely his best race of the season and a positive heading into outdoors.

Just a few other comments thrown in here. I like Sam Webb. He is really a fighter, he sticks his nose in it and grinds it out. He is going to be a real tougher 2 miler for Pennsbury this outdoors if he gets his shot. He and Harriman are both at their best outdoors at this distance in my mind. That Pennsbury 4x8 is solid, but they are going to have to be split up in my mind.

In an honest pace James Zingarini is going to be tough to beat outdoors. He easily has the weakest 800m credentials in the field (I'm counting Russell's 3:02 as 800m credentials, perhaps unfairly) but he still hung on to that tough pace and got a hard fought 4th. In the right, grind it out, type race he can be down around 4:15 outdoors. I'd like to see him drop that 800m mark as well.

One last note, Kevin James has balls. You may have heard. I really like that t-shirt by the way whoever posted it, but I had to take it down, can't impersonate another guy and get away with it. But overall another solid season from Kevin James, showing a lot more speed than I expected out there.

And now I will make my final point: what does this mean for outdoors?

Obviously there will probably be a few guys who come out of the woodwork that weren't even on my radar at this point. There always are. But here are the guys that I expect to mix it up outdoors in the 1600m.

I gotta think the top 4 are all going to go 1600m again outdoors. This time Russell gets the 3200m first. Unless he has his eyes on a state meet record in the 3200m, I don't see much harm in trying the double again.  I don't expect to see much 4x8 drama out of LaSalle, especially the way Magee is developing. He can compete well in the individual events (maybe a sleeper pick in the 1600m outdoors). As mentioned, I think Zingarini can run a fast time in the right race as well and of course Huemmler is the state champ, he is going to be the favorite again come outdoors.

In the AA race Jewett and Smathers should create an interesting match up. Maybe Rico Galassi will be on it as well unless he and Shearn are both going to focus up on the 32 again. Smathers is the favorite for sure, but  Jewett has proven  he has made a lot of strides in the right direction to compete with Smathers.

The sleeper picks are going to be guys like Brent Kennedy who we haven't heard much from yet. He certainly has a 4:15 in him. Maybe Max Norris will consider the double after his dominating 3k close. Harriman is certainly a threat, but I think his strength lies with the 3200m. Christian Kardish was 4:18 a year ago outdoors and might be a sleeper looking ahead.

Only time will tell.