State Wrap Up

Hopefully in the days to come we will have some more in depth details for you but for now, purely based on looking at results, having not seen any race footage, here are my thoughts on the races.

Also if you have splits for relays please comment them up on here ASAP. Thank you.

First off a big congrats to Bensalem who came up big with 41 points and the state championship. Garnet Valley put a pretty solid fight as did Pennridge but ultimately Bensalem put all the doubters in their wake and pulled out a couple of impressive wins. The 400 and 800 wins were great and big upsets in my mind. The 4x8 was the icing on the cake. I went back and forth on this squad pulling out the state title, but ultimately I should have stuck with them through to the end. A big win for this squad.

Let's start first at the mile. Jack Huemmler got his first state championship in impressive fashion against a stellar field. The race didn't play out as fast as many of us in the field were hoping and that may have played to Huemmler's advantage. Certainly clutch of him to double back from sickness and put up 2 impressive miles at the state championship. He came slightly over a second away from double gold. Really solid race by Zingarini who was just off Coyle when all was said and done. In a more honest pace race he could have really surprised people and outdoors he should. He was another guy with an impressive DMR double.

A couple of AA guys stepped up to grab some of the other medals in Jewett and Smathers. That was a great sign for Smathers going forth to outdoors. I'm assuming he won the slow heat going away which is pretty impressive. If his momentum carries him he will run very quick outdoors, has a shot at sub 4:10 in the right race. Jewett also should be able to challenge 4:12-4:14. This was his first ever indoors which makes his run more impressive.

Moving to the 800m, Brad Rivera pulled the upset with a blazing 1:52 mark. It really surprised me to see him drop this fast of a time. Unbelievable run by him and really proved me wrong with that kind of strength to beat out such a great field of 800m closers. Christian Sanders ran a HUGE PR. He has taken off roughly 8 seconds from his PR in a matter of 2 weeks. A 1:53.5 for second his more than I ever could have predicted when I deemed him a sleeper pick for states. Wiseman a very solid PR giving chase in 1:53.58. No slouch of a mark there. As for Logue, it was disappointing for sure, it is a good sign for him competition wise. He still only a Junior and will be hungry and motivated going forward to outdoors. With this group of guys the 1:50 barrier is certainly breakable. Kunzweiler and Stone both should be sharper come outdoors. The LaSalle guys had a bit of a tough time this weekend but both of those guys are way too talented to be stuck in a rut for long.

Shawn Wolfe had a big time break out 800m. He was another sleeper on our radar but I didn't think he could hang at such a fast pace as the state finals. He did and he grabbed a well deserved medal in 1:55. Nice mark by Cather as well to run 1:56 and I assume win his heat fairly comfortably while doing it. He, Logue, Wiseman and Lewis are all back next year. Keep that in mind.

Moving on to the 3k. Max Norris has done it again. I have been  a big fan of Norris for a while and he was clutch at the end of XC, but after watching him at the meet of champs it looked like he lacked the killer instinct to take down a W at states.

I was very wrong. A big time win in a very quick mark of 8:28. There are very few guys who can boast sub 8:30 at the state meet and that implies to me that he can challenge 9 minutes outdoors. The outdoor 2 mile is going to be unreal. Especially if we get good competition at the Henderson Distance Festival. With Russell, Norris and other D1 and Independent League guys in the race we could see sub 9. The meet has done it before when Springer ran the state record of 8:48.

Ethan Martin ran like a boss as well. I thought he would have been able to win it with an 8:33 mark. A great run by him heading into outdoors. He and his brother are really rolling. Don't forget those guys are just Juniors. Colin ran a very solid 8:42 mark behind Ethan which shouldn't go overlooked. Dan Savage ran great, well deserved bronze medal race. Overall the field was straight stacked. Great run by Shearn in there coming back off injury to mix it up well. Conner Quinn also ran a great race. He was running close to the pace he ran in his mile at MOCs in that 3k. Awesome strength.

As for the 4x8 we already discussed Bensalem's impressive mark and big win. Henderson ran a very solid race behind them as well, edging out a Pennsbury team that really stepped up, possibly without Harriman on the squad, and ran a big season best. I didn't think Pennsbury had that much fire power ready to go for states and it seemed like they were slipping a bit, but they really pulled together at the right time. I'd be interested to see what Henderson and Pennsbury opt to do outdoors and what the splits on these relays were. Penncrest proved they are always ready to grab a 4x8 medal. Same with North Penn. They always find 4 guys that can run around 2 minutes year in and year out. Glad to see DTEast snag a medal after a great season.

The DMR was very interesting as LaSalle did when as expected but Haven and CRN gave them a good run for their money. All teams were within 1.5 seconds of one another. Huemmler ran a 4:17 double and caught his guys back up but Zingarini unleashed a solid kick to pass back at the end. Coyle and Stone hung tough and got the title, with likely a nice leg in their by Magee. CValley had a solid year indoors, much better than last year, they will be dangerous outdoors. I would be curious to see how Kunzweiler doubled. It was a tough double for sure and he may have opted for the 12 instead of the mile. Bonner really had a step up day. I assume McDermott ran doubling from the 3k which would be very impressive, but online they have a relay listed without him. Either way it is a very impressive performance that proved me quite wrong. HGPrep also stepped up big time. They were running solid all year but no where near this well. Things worked out pretty well for them in the end and I'm assuming Kardish played a big role there.

Good run by DTWest not at full force still competing hard. They had a great squad of guys this year and they proved it in cross. It is unfortunate to see them off the medal stand, but outdoors I know these guys will show up big. I'm hoping for a speedy recovery for Leidal.

And folks that's all I have to say about that. Hopefully I'll have more info for you going forward. We have interviews and things to come still plus much more analysis. Get in those splits and let me hear your opinions!