Lots of Catching Up to Do

First off I just want to say that while I was away the blog eclipsed the 400,000 career view mark which I think is awesome. Thank you to all of you out there who have followed the blog and are excited to see it return. I'm sorry for the horrible timing of my finals week, but I'm done now and I should be a bit more up to date on my blogging even though I am visiting my girlfriend in Long Island this week so I probably won't be completely focused on good solid blogging til Wednesday but I'm hoping to get in some stuff when I can and there is about a 95% chance I will be at district ones next week doing meet coverage.

Now enough about me, let's get down to the track!

PS This post is going to contain a lot so it is going to be looooong so feel free to skip around

First off we have to talk about the results of the Henderson Invite, it was truly remarkable. I had been kinda hyping the meet up for some time as a really deep meet with great potential for fast 3200s and despite my high expectations the meet did not disappoint. I would have liked to have seen a guy dip under 9 minutes but it just wasn't in the cards. What was in the cards, however, was a stunning 14 guys under 9:20 and 21 guys under 9:30. The 3200m depth was absurd this weekend as Kev James, Will McDermott, Ethan Martin, Brent Kennedy, Colin Martin and Vinny Todaro also broke 9:20 this weekend making 20 guys for the weekend. Throw in Galassi and take out the Delaware kids and 17 PA guys are already under 9:20. If you count a converted Max Norris and Dan Savage 3k that shoots you up to 19 guys under 9:20! Unreal! Especially considering Emery, Macauley, Jaskowak and Harriman have yet to break the mark despite being under a year ago. Aziz just missed break the mark and he has done it before which makes another sub 9:20 PR man in the state. There are also a lot of guys just off the 9:20 mark who may break it before all is said and done. And to top it all off district one looks like it is going to take around 9:20 flat to make states. There are over 8 guys in the district with PRs under 9:20.

Now to the meet itself. Gotta give props to the gutsy running of Brendan Shearn. He has really stepped up to the plate this year. For me personally, he was the biggest surprise of indoor states and Penn Relays so to see him top off that stretch run with this win is phenomenal. Just when Galassi thought he had a very real chance at beating him, Shearn cements himself back into the favorite spot. It will be really epic to see how the two of them match up against each other. I'd love to see Shearn in a fast mile between now and states, but I'm not sure he will get the chance. Clearly he can go well under 4:20 with 9:04 wheels and that could make the AA states mile exciting with Jewett and Smathers headlining a field of under the radar kinda guys.

Tony Russell ran a very solid race behind Shearn to grab a huge PR of his own. I have to believe his best shot at a state title is the 32. He often has do a lot of the work in these races which is unfortunate. It's tough to imagine that he can sit back and not lead the hard part of the race at states if he wants to take the kick out of Norris, but if he makes a big move over the final 1k of the race he may be able to use his strength to his advantage. Besides, Russell definitely has closing wheels, he has run 3 flat and 4:11y already this indoors and has beat Norris head to head in a 16.

Behind Russell was a string of big PRs. Ben Ritz had the race I was expecting, but I thought a performance like that would be good enough to win. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, but still a fantastic run. He will do big things over 1 mile in the right race, his kick was filthy. Then Ross Wilson, the week after a huge PR at Penn comes back and repeats the feat with a 9:08. He and Shearn really surprised me with their ability to run a pair of tough 32s in a row. Unfortunately for Wilson he won't be able to cruise as easily as Shearn at Leagues and Districts before states. Hopefully, he doesn't tire out.

Barchet's 9:08 was one of my biggest surprises for sure. He has always had this kind of potential as Tony has said before, it was just a matter of things clicking like they did at NXN regionals and nationals. This is a great confidence booster for Reiny and easily the best mark I've seen him put up on the track. With a nice race by Collins (9:26) and Moy (9:32 at Chestmonts) the team has a top 5 returning for XC that includes two sub 9:10s and 3 roughly 9:30s. Moy is having one heck of a season and so too is Stratman. We will get to both of those guys. Barchet rode the confidence to a nice win at Chestmonts in the 16.

Still more 3200 gossip! Wistar a huge 9:11. He is great at just sticking his nose in there and riding the pace to a fast 32. Sam Williams 9:12! Congrats to him on a great race, he has been solid for a long time just hasn't been able to get in some of the same fast races as these other D1 AAA guys. Running indoors has done wonders for Williams and Jewetts race fitness this spring. Dominic Deluca 9:13! Huge day! That was definitely my biggest surprise of the race. Unreal day for him to drop that PR, he is just a junior. He was a big factor early in the year in XC and faded a bit down the stretch, but this 9:13 proves he is in top shape once again. Sam Webb 9:14 as a sophomore. That is a killer mark. He and Kevin James are clearing a nice path for the youngsters. Conner Quinn's mark was solid for sure, but Penn Relays was definitely his better day. Hard to run two fast 32s back to back but he did it.

Down the list you gotta like Valaroso's mark of 9:21, he is a top guy in the AA ranks this year for sure. Sam Ritz ran a 9:22 as just a sophomore that is fantastic. Brendan Billotta ran a great 9:25 which is awesome for his individual confidence. He and Magee are likely going have to find a way into states without the 4x8 which they have proven they are more than capable of, but the O'Hara boys will take away a bunch of spots across the board so it will be interesting to see if Billotta can match this performance in the 32 at districts against Savage, James, Pitone and Pastore who are all primed for something solid.

Ricky Waltz and Alex Knapp ran solid 9:42 and 9:45 marks. Amazing that these guys probably won't get to run at districts, I strongly dislike that rule. D1 guys already have a tough enough time getting to run at districts considering the qualifying standard and then are screwed out of states even after hitting the qual mark. But I'm getting carried away, I don't have time to rant about it. Ultimately the race had 37 guys under 9:50!

But the other races at Henderson were quite entertaining in their own right. The 1600m was great because we finally got to see Max Norris's full potential over 1600m. He had been slighlty underwhelming in the 1600s that I had seen him in and truly amazing in everything over that distance so it was only a matter of time. But he owes a big thank you to Curt Jewett who layed it on the line to make this race. Gotta give props to Jewett for his running, but ultimately Norris had a fantastic day and you can't knock him for using Jewett to his advantage, that's a smart strategy and it is how Norris has won as many races as he has this year. 4:12.73 is moving and sets him up nicely to take down the state title in a few weeks at 3200m. Maybe he will consider the 32-16 double, that would be very entertaining and would be interesting to see if he could pull it off. James Zingarini had a nice PR of 4:16.9 for 2nd in this race. He is a solid race and a defending AAA state medalist so you always have to keep him in mind going forward. I still think he has more room to drop time wise.

Looking a bit farther down the list I was thrilled to see Ken Leidal run that 4:18. He was running great indoors before the injury and I'm happy to see this mark. The fact of the matter is the 16 is not as deep as the 32 so this sets him up really well to compete at states in the weeks to come. Bobby Hill continues to drop time with a 4:19. Another name to watch in the AA race. And of course a huge PR for Eric Stratman who is now under 4:20 with a 4:19 mark of his own. That may open up a spot in the 32 for someone else (likely Collins now) and gives Henderson another individual with state qualifying aspirations. Conceivably they can have 5 individuals qualify for states without much issue.

Behind these guys Ben Mueller and Matt Sankey ran 4:20 and 4:21 which are great marks that should help them compete well at D3s. Curtis Watro really surprised me with a breakthrough 4:21. The 1600m at D1 is quite deep itself and Watro is just another guy with great ability that will throw his name into the race. Nice to see Pearlman's 4:25 followed up with a 4:26 win at Central Leagues.

The 800m showed that Jeff Wiseman is for real and is hungry for a state title this year. He breezed to a 1:52 mark and should be at least 1:51 by season's end. I'm excited to see how that state race plays out, lots of talented guys at 800 and Wiseman should be the freshest of the bunch besides maybe Stone. Alex Nole got in a fast race and good things happened. Great 1:54 for him, Tunkhannock's second straight sub 1:55 guy, they do a great job over there. Really impressed by Kevin Moy's range. He has had an unreal track season, dropping 1:55.0 and 9:32 to go with his 4:22ish mark. That is fantastic range for the breakout star. Billy Caldwell was very solid at 1:55 of his own. A string of other breakout performers like Ferrarialo's 1:55 from Malvern Prep and Alek Sauer's 1:56 from Pennsbury are worth noting as well. Sauer, O'Connell, Harriman and Webb could really surprise people in the 4x8, but individual goals may be too compelling here.

In District 7 Ethan Martin showed people what's up by beating Ryan Smathers in the mile. Smathers is a very strong miler and Ethan Martin proved me wrong, the kid has got speed. Maybe not Max Norris speed, but he has wheels to close with a guy like Smathers and that is more than I thought he had. Martin may try the 16-32 double at states as well which just further complicates the picture. Meanwhile Brent Kennedy ran a fantastic 32 to beat out Martin (great double back in 9:14) and his brother Colin (also a great double back in 9:14). The D7 guys can't be underrated going into the post season. Kennedy rounding into shape off whatever he had indoors is a great sign and the Martins have been phenomenal for some time now. Oh yeah, all these guys are just Juniors!

In other news Sophomore Matt McGoey ran a 9:23 which is normally good enough to easily be top soph in the state, but right now I believe he sits 4th! The depth at this event is phenomenal. McGoey could get down to 9:12 this year and still not be a serious factor at states. But that's a great sign for NA to see McGoey stepping up like this. He should be sick in XC next year. That NA team is the only team that I see that on paper has any sort of shot of beating Henderson (even though O'Hara has some nice pieces too, I hope they don't get too upset for me leaving them out of this convo). And obviously right now Henderson is killing it to the point where they look fairly unbeatable at the state level.

Some 800m guys developing nicely for D7 as well with Wilhoite running low 1:56s and Beiech following close behind. It will be interesting to see what Kiski does with their 4x8. Kennedy is going to have one heck of a time trying the 32-4x8 double. I like the potential of the relay for sure though.

I'll talk about the WPIAL Regionals and the Conference Championships in the next post just because this post is already crazy long. That should be around by the end of the weekend but we shall see.

Keep running fast! It's an unbelievable time to be following PA distance running with the amount of depth the state has right now.