There is plenty to talk about on the relay scene this time of year and of course the DMR vs. 4x8 conversations are in full swing. Looking down the list there is plenty of potential for the greatest DMR race in state history when the team's roll into Penn State but obviously teams will opt for what they see as their best chance to grab state hardware and bring maximum point opportunities to their team in the team title race.
In my own opinion, relay success and relay choices come down to a number of factors. Obviously, teams have certain leanings about which event they would rather run come state time. Historically some teams opt for one race over the other. Often times the relays are also a matter of what your team is built for, i.e. what strengths you have, what doubling your other runners will have to do etc.
So in order to try and clear up the very blurry picture of the 4x8 vs. DMR debate, let's take a look at what teams have the most individual qualifiers in the 400-3k.
Strath Haven (4)- Daniel 400m, Smith 400m, Huemmler 800m+Mile, Seelaus Mile
Pennwood (3)- Futch 400m, Stiles 400m, Hunter 400m
Hatboro (2)- Hibbs Mile+3k, Hackett 400m
Penncrest (2)- Emmanuel 800m, Miller 800m
LaSalle (2)- Coyle 800m+Mile, Stone 800m+Mile
Henderson (2)- Russell Mile, Chaborek Mile
CR North (2)- Zingarini Mile, Felt 800m+Mile
HGPrep (2)- Horgan Mile+800m, Israel Mile
GFS (2)- Wistar Mile, Aziz 3k
Great Valley (2)- Willig Mile+800+3k, Wolffe 800
DT West (2)- Jenkins 800m, Leidel Mile
Spring Ford (2)- O'Such Mile+800, Magolon Mile
North Penn (2)- Trimble 800, MacCauley Mile
Pennridge (2)- Logue 800m, Kohler 800m
Penn Hills (2)- Baily 800m, Squirees 800m
Now this is a lot of information to throw out there and some of it is fairly irrelevant. So let me give you my opinion of what this means. First off throw Pennwood out the picture, they aren't running any distance relays any time soon. Then you look at the teams and where their guys have qualified. Teams like Penn Hills, Pennridge, and Penncrest are all sure fire 4x8 teams. They don't have the distance power it will take to seriously compete at the top level with these DMR squads.
Team's like Spring Ford, GFS, West Chester Henderson, CR North, and Hatboro Horsham virtually have to go DMR. They lack the depth and fire power to blast a 4x8 well under 8 minutes.
That leaves only a few question mark teams: North Penn, HG Prep, DT West, Great Valley, LaSalle and Strath Haven.
Haven, in my opinion, is much better suited for the DMR on paper. Their two key legs are both more of milers than 800 runners, and their 400 leg is one of the best in the state in the open 4 this year. However, they have a serious shot at the team title so they will be doubling Huemmler and Seelaus and Daniel I'd imagine. That may make the 4x8 too enticing to pass up. Especially with a 4x2 and 4x4 that are in top 5 shape to worry about. Strath Haven has yet to run a DMR in the years since the event was added in 2007. Therefore my prediction is a 4x8 for Haven.
Now DT West I see as running the 4x8. They still haven't hit the DMR time yet and it doesn't look like they are gearing up to do it anytime soon. They have a very solid 4x8 and it should be a less deep field so I expect them to opt for the 4x8.
Great Valley has shown all the signs over the last year or so of going for a big DMR at states this season and taking gold. I think they will almost definitely opt for the DMR under those circumstances, especially with Ned as a great anchor. BUT in my opinion they have a better shot of winning gold in the 4x8. If Ned can pull out a 1:51 anchor they just need to average 2 flat from the rest of their guys to run about 7:51. If Ned only runs the mile, 1:51 may be too slow of an estimate for the state record holder. Fresh, he would have a shot at 1:49 in a split for sure, especially chasing down the teams out front like Penncrest. Ultimately, I don't see Great Valley pulling the trigger and making the switch, and I think they will choose the DMR.
North Penn has always been a 4x8 school, but I think this is finally the year they make the switch over to the DMR. I heard rumors early in the season North Penn wanted to send a completely fresh squad onto the track for the DMR at indoor states and I don't believe that goal has changed. I think that if they stick to this plan they will win states in the DMR indoors. Plus they are just much better suited for a fast DMR rather than 4x8. So I think North Penn will run the DMR at states.
HG Prep ran fast in the DMR early in the season, but has tailed off a bit since then. I think they stick to the DMR and hope to regain their former success, even if Horgan opts to run the open mile or the 8 (or I guess even both) he will probably just be the 1200 leg or maybe even the 800 leg on their relay in the DMR. I don't see this relay having the raw speed to break 8, but they have the talent to break 10:30. The only question mark is the fact that they have never ran the DMR before at indoor states. I still think DMR for Holy Ghost.
Which leaves only LaSalle left as a question mark, and perhaps the biggest question mark of all. Honestly, LaSalle is easily best suited for the DMR and with 4 fresh legs I think they could scare the meet record and state record. However, Stone and Coyle are each legitimate top 3-5 place winners in the open 8 and mile respectively and that potential may win out over the relay title (both guys are Juniors so they will have next year to think about here as well). I see these guys getting a chance to run open (maybe both the mile, but hopefully we can see Stone against the field in the 800) and then doubling back into the 4x8 rather than the DMR. The 4x8 is the easier field comparatively and these guys still have a great shot at state gold (I'm not too sold on Penncrest right now, which may be a huge mistake) and they would also get to run individual events. Ultimately, I can see this one going either way, but I'll say 4x8 for LaSalle for another year in a row.
More More Results
So the NJ Varsity Classic went down just recently and there were some very fast times from some relative unknowns on the scene so I figured I'd mention them here. Tony Russell won the 1600m in a time of 4:21.8. This time will put him in the top 5 or so in the state for the mile when you convert it, making it a very impressive mark. His teammate AJ Chaborek ran 4:29.8 which I believe is also state qualifying. These two legs obviously set the team up nicely for a DMR that can qualify and medal at states.
Oh yeah, they ran a DMR at this meet. A nice 10:35 mark for the group to put them right in the state championship conversation.
A huge surprise from Lyle Wistar with his 4:24.6. Obviously GFS had some nice pieces after their DMR, but I didn't think they had an anchor like this who comes from completely off my radar to drop a very nice 1600m run for 2nd.
(Just as a side note Muhlenberg recruit Alex Weiner 4:26.7, good work youngster.)
In the 3200m how about Sam Aziz? He didn't have a cross season mostly, I heard he went away for most of the fall or something? Dustin Wilson told me but I forget. Bascially he only raced regionals from what I saw but obviously he had solid potential after a solid year of XC and track as a Junior and he blasts his way onto the scene with a State Qualifying effort of 9:28.7 in the 3200m. It converts by PA standards down 37 seconds to a roughly 8:51 for 3k, a time which would put Aziz as #2 in the state behind only his fellow independent league runner Dustin Wilson. Very impressive performance. Turns out he is running for GFS now? Had no idea, but that DMR is shaping up to look pretty deadly after these two performances.
Kenny Leidal a solid 800m to go with his earlier mile that was state qualifying. Still some potential for a DMR or 4x8 at DTWest that could be pretty good (if only they had Quinn Devlin).
Penncrest, Glenn Mills, and Norristown all had very solid 4x4 performances of 3:26, 3:27 and 3:28 that qualify all the groups for states and put all of the relays in the medal conversation.
And guess what folks? You get a two for one today. In part because I really don't feel like starting my homework and also because the Carnival is coming up and I think a preview is probably in order. If somebody can get me a PCL performance list I'll do a preview for that as well.
I hope to be at the carnival meet this year, but no guarantees. I personally don't have a car, but my friend does, so I am going to have to do some scheming to get him to give me a ride. That being said, the races should be great either way.
Of course there is plenty to look forward to on the girls side, like the monster Angel Piccirillo running 3 events (she just won 4 not too long ago at TSTCAs, she has dropped the 400 for this weekend's meet). But unfortunately, I'm not going to talk too much about the girls meet (I could try but I feel like I would probably embarrass myself more than anything. So to the men.
First in the 60m Hurdles, Willet, Chris Williams and Jonathan Stiles will all take the stage for what should be an exciting race. Willet coming off an upset victory over Hairston, another one of the top notch hurdles in a great field for this year's state meet.
State leader TJ Elliot is the guy to watch in the dash as he will most likely be using his speed to race the clock this weekend and try to better his own PA #1.
In the mile a couple up and comers from XC like Alex Archer, Shawn Wolfe, Adam Katora, and John Felts are entered on the track to try and run with sub 3k runner Cole Nissley and mile state qualifiers Vinny Todaro and Avery Scripture. A sleeper pick in the race is Nick Rotz of Chambersburg. I don't see the race being particularly fast and ultimately I think Todaro will beat out Nissley for the win 4:29-4:30 or somewhere along those lines. Maybe one more guys hits the SQS out of the group that has it. Scripture is the wild card with a PR under 4:30 in the mile, one of the best in the field. Tyler Castelli of Central also a name to remember. He has a solid 800m PR from this season.
In the 400m Alex Shisler will look to better his time, which is one of the top 5 or so in the state, running against Jonathan Stiles fresh off a 48.6 anchor split on Pennwood's PA #1 4x4 team. A relay which has quickly become one of the best in state history.
In the 800m, an interesting field is laid out that includes AA state medalists Alex Archer, Dan Alexander and Mark Bachman, AAA state medalist Alec Kunzweiler, 1:19/1:55 runner Haneef Hardy, Chambersburg's Ryun Holder who boasts a 1:54 outdoor PR, and some sleepers like Jake Delehman, Ryan Dickson, Josh Rinker and Avery Scripture. DeLehman was a major factor indoors last season running 1:57-58 on a flat track, but has not yet matched his potential from a year ago. Dickson was a 1:56-57 split on CB South's excellent DMRs and 4x8s last spring, but also has not quite found his previous speed this indoors. Hardy has to be the favorite in the race after his 1:19 600m, and I do expect him to lead early and ensure a fast pace. But, I see this race ending in a win for Ryun Holder, who should hit the SQS and run around a 1:57 to take the win over a fading Hardy on the final lap. Kunzweiler should hang tough as well, somewhere around a 1:58 I see for him to take third behind Holder and Hardy. I'm hoping Delehman has a big day and mixes it up to get third. Plenty of potential for lots of guys to hit or better their SQS this weekend at Lehigh.
In the 200m it's the return of Almany Bangura, the former freshman sensation who has yet to recapture his former glory, but looks to get another SQS under his belt and go on to mix it up by states. He will have TJ Elliot, Kevin Smith III and Brandon Shippen to help him along the way.
In the 3000m, Dustin Wilson headlines the field, already holding the PA #1 3k. He will look to better his previous performance at Lehigh amongst a field that shows little signs of being able to better him. Aaron Wilkinson, a state medalist a year ago at 3000m and three time XC state medalist, will look to add his name to list of state qualifiers at 3000m. Wilkinson will be challenged by Francis Ferruzzi, Ryan Archer, and John Felts who all made great strides this past XC season. Ferruzzi boasts the best PRs of the chasers with a 9:09 and 4:31 1600m under his belt this season. Wilson should take the win easily, somewhere around 8:40-8:45 he chooses to really go for it. I see Ferruzzi (yes probably a little biased), taking second out of the group, right around 9:03, with Wilkinson not too far behind. Felts (if he passes on the mile) is probably the biggest sleeper of the bunch.
The relays are tough because you can never be quite sure who is going to throw in their A team. In the 4x2 it looks as though Cheltenham, Coatesville, CB South, CB West, Central Dauphin East (TJ Elliot's squad), Norristown, Swenson, and Pennwood are the big potential relays. If Bangura is in shape, Milton Hershey may also surprise in the 4x2.
In the 4x8s and DMRs, the DMR has just 5 entries (admittedly the entries include big time potential relays Strath Haven and GFS), so most likely teams will opt to go hot in the 4x8 this week. I'm hoping Abington shows their cards in the 4x8 this week, I know they have some potential, but they have been super quiet thus far this season. Maybe saving it for outdoor? Its hard to believe these guys are really out of stock. Meanwhile, CB West with a fresh squad and Nico Metzler, who we haven't heard much from after a great December, should be rounding into shape to hit the SQS. GFS, Cumberland Valley, Lower Moreland, Penncrest and Strath Haven are all entered in the 4x8 and all have potential to run very quick times. Millrose is on Saturday night so if Haven and Penncrest have decided to jump in that, than they won't have any sort of A squad at this meet. That leaves the door open for GFS to really go for it in either the 4x8 or the DMR and hit the standard. They should have a fresh squad that includes new state qualifiers Sam Aziz and Lyle Wistar who have shown potential to run very fast some time soon. Cumberland Valley, with a relatively fresh squad besides Kunzweiler, may also be able to better their SQS in the 4x8 and ensure an appearence in the fast heat, if things get split up into two heats.
Oh yeah, they ran a DMR at this meet. A nice 10:35 mark for the group to put them right in the state championship conversation.
A huge surprise from Lyle Wistar with his 4:24.6. Obviously GFS had some nice pieces after their DMR, but I didn't think they had an anchor like this who comes from completely off my radar to drop a very nice 1600m run for 2nd.
(Just as a side note Muhlenberg recruit Alex Weiner 4:26.7, good work youngster.)
In the 3200m how about Sam Aziz? He didn't have a cross season mostly, I heard he went away for most of the fall or something? Dustin Wilson told me but I forget. Bascially he only raced regionals from what I saw but obviously he had solid potential after a solid year of XC and track as a Junior and he blasts his way onto the scene with a State Qualifying effort of 9:28.7 in the 3200m. It converts by PA standards down 37 seconds to a roughly 8:51 for 3k, a time which would put Aziz as #2 in the state behind only his fellow independent league runner Dustin Wilson. Very impressive performance. Turns out he is running for GFS now? Had no idea, but that DMR is shaping up to look pretty deadly after these two performances.
Kenny Leidal a solid 800m to go with his earlier mile that was state qualifying. Still some potential for a DMR or 4x8 at DTWest that could be pretty good (if only they had Quinn Devlin).
Penncrest, Glenn Mills, and Norristown all had very solid 4x4 performances of 3:26, 3:27 and 3:28 that qualify all the groups for states and put all of the relays in the medal conversation.
And guess what folks? You get a two for one today. In part because I really don't feel like starting my homework and also because the Carnival is coming up and I think a preview is probably in order. If somebody can get me a PCL performance list I'll do a preview for that as well.
I hope to be at the carnival meet this year, but no guarantees. I personally don't have a car, but my friend does, so I am going to have to do some scheming to get him to give me a ride. That being said, the races should be great either way.
Of course there is plenty to look forward to on the girls side, like the monster Angel Piccirillo running 3 events (she just won 4 not too long ago at TSTCAs, she has dropped the 400 for this weekend's meet). But unfortunately, I'm not going to talk too much about the girls meet (I could try but I feel like I would probably embarrass myself more than anything. So to the men.
First in the 60m Hurdles, Willet, Chris Williams and Jonathan Stiles will all take the stage for what should be an exciting race. Willet coming off an upset victory over Hairston, another one of the top notch hurdles in a great field for this year's state meet.
State leader TJ Elliot is the guy to watch in the dash as he will most likely be using his speed to race the clock this weekend and try to better his own PA #1.
In the mile a couple up and comers from XC like Alex Archer, Shawn Wolfe, Adam Katora, and John Felts are entered on the track to try and run with sub 3k runner Cole Nissley and mile state qualifiers Vinny Todaro and Avery Scripture. A sleeper pick in the race is Nick Rotz of Chambersburg. I don't see the race being particularly fast and ultimately I think Todaro will beat out Nissley for the win 4:29-4:30 or somewhere along those lines. Maybe one more guys hits the SQS out of the group that has it. Scripture is the wild card with a PR under 4:30 in the mile, one of the best in the field. Tyler Castelli of Central also a name to remember. He has a solid 800m PR from this season.
In the 400m Alex Shisler will look to better his time, which is one of the top 5 or so in the state, running against Jonathan Stiles fresh off a 48.6 anchor split on Pennwood's PA #1 4x4 team. A relay which has quickly become one of the best in state history.
In the 800m, an interesting field is laid out that includes AA state medalists Alex Archer, Dan Alexander and Mark Bachman, AAA state medalist Alec Kunzweiler, 1:19/1:55 runner Haneef Hardy, Chambersburg's Ryun Holder who boasts a 1:54 outdoor PR, and some sleepers like Jake Delehman, Ryan Dickson, Josh Rinker and Avery Scripture. DeLehman was a major factor indoors last season running 1:57-58 on a flat track, but has not yet matched his potential from a year ago. Dickson was a 1:56-57 split on CB South's excellent DMRs and 4x8s last spring, but also has not quite found his previous speed this indoors. Hardy has to be the favorite in the race after his 1:19 600m, and I do expect him to lead early and ensure a fast pace. But, I see this race ending in a win for Ryun Holder, who should hit the SQS and run around a 1:57 to take the win over a fading Hardy on the final lap. Kunzweiler should hang tough as well, somewhere around a 1:58 I see for him to take third behind Holder and Hardy. I'm hoping Delehman has a big day and mixes it up to get third. Plenty of potential for lots of guys to hit or better their SQS this weekend at Lehigh.
In the 200m it's the return of Almany Bangura, the former freshman sensation who has yet to recapture his former glory, but looks to get another SQS under his belt and go on to mix it up by states. He will have TJ Elliot, Kevin Smith III and Brandon Shippen to help him along the way.
In the 3000m, Dustin Wilson headlines the field, already holding the PA #1 3k. He will look to better his previous performance at Lehigh amongst a field that shows little signs of being able to better him. Aaron Wilkinson, a state medalist a year ago at 3000m and three time XC state medalist, will look to add his name to list of state qualifiers at 3000m. Wilkinson will be challenged by Francis Ferruzzi, Ryan Archer, and John Felts who all made great strides this past XC season. Ferruzzi boasts the best PRs of the chasers with a 9:09 and 4:31 1600m under his belt this season. Wilson should take the win easily, somewhere around 8:40-8:45 he chooses to really go for it. I see Ferruzzi (yes probably a little biased), taking second out of the group, right around 9:03, with Wilkinson not too far behind. Felts (if he passes on the mile) is probably the biggest sleeper of the bunch.
The relays are tough because you can never be quite sure who is going to throw in their A team. In the 4x2 it looks as though Cheltenham, Coatesville, CB South, CB West, Central Dauphin East (TJ Elliot's squad), Norristown, Swenson, and Pennwood are the big potential relays. If Bangura is in shape, Milton Hershey may also surprise in the 4x2.
In the 4x8s and DMRs, the DMR has just 5 entries (admittedly the entries include big time potential relays Strath Haven and GFS), so most likely teams will opt to go hot in the 4x8 this week. I'm hoping Abington shows their cards in the 4x8 this week, I know they have some potential, but they have been super quiet thus far this season. Maybe saving it for outdoor? Its hard to believe these guys are really out of stock. Meanwhile, CB West with a fresh squad and Nico Metzler, who we haven't heard much from after a great December, should be rounding into shape to hit the SQS. GFS, Cumberland Valley, Lower Moreland, Penncrest and Strath Haven are all entered in the 4x8 and all have potential to run very quick times. Millrose is on Saturday night so if Haven and Penncrest have decided to jump in that, than they won't have any sort of A squad at this meet. That leaves the door open for GFS to really go for it in either the 4x8 or the DMR and hit the standard. They should have a fresh squad that includes new state qualifiers Sam Aziz and Lyle Wistar who have shown potential to run very fast some time soon. Cumberland Valley, with a relatively fresh squad besides Kunzweiler, may also be able to better their SQS in the 4x8 and ensure an appearence in the fast heat, if things get split up into two heats.
Novice Meet
Well it's February 6th and naturally that brings to mind one very important meet: The Novice Meet. I had the privelege of running in this meet 2 years in a row (my sophomore year I ended up running in the novice meet and going on to be an alternate for the states DMR team about 3 weeks later), and honestly it is a fun time. It's where stars are born and other runners who have worked all season are rewarded with a shot at medals of their very own. I ran a 4x800m, and then a 4x400m there over the two years I was there and finished somewhere in the 20s and then 1st.
So these underappreciated kids from years past are getting a little revamp courtsey of etrain's blog. Let's take a look back at some past year's novice meets.
In 2011, there was Novice Meet Division 1 record set in the 400m when Issiah Morris ran 55.82 for Cheltenham. Later on in the same meet the 800 was won in a record time of 2:05.54 by PJ Succi of William Tennent. The time would have just missed Meet of Champs qualifying time. A 9:57 3k won the meet, also in record time, from LaSalle's Brendan Billotta.
In D2 O'Hara's Jim Belfutto won the mile in 4:56.71 and Lyle Wistar of GFS won the 3k in 9:46.77. Second in the race was Ernie Pitone, who just barely broke 10 minutes. Since, Pitone has run under 9:10 for 3k this season, and finished in the top 35 at XC states.
In 2010, Jake Nemeroff captured gold in the 800m run in 2:12.98 for Division 1. He has just recently helped his CB East 4x800m squad qualify for states. Conner Quinn won the Division 1 Novice mile in 4:56.75. He has done alright for himself since then.
In 2009, Sam Garfield won a hotly contested mile in 4:53.01. He went on to run 1:56 on CR South's 4x800m and qualify for states in XC during his Junior season the next year. Alex Chichitti was second in the 3k. He also was a two time state qualifier in cross country and a near sub 16 5k runner. He ran 10:02. Farther down the list in the 3k was Mike Doyle who ran 10:11. He also clocked a 1:56 for CR South during his senior season outdoors. In Divison 2, Chidi Okezie was second in the 400m. He went on to run in the 48s for New Media his senior season in 2011. At this meet he ran a 57.26. In the same race Nate Emmanuel ran a 61.06. He just recently ran a 1:57 open 800m and ran on Penncrest's PA #1 7:55 4x800m squad.
All the way back in 2008, Tevin Smith and Chris Muggler dueled in the open 400m 55.8 to 56.7. Both ended up being 1:55 800m runners for Abington and LaSalle's top ranked relay squads. Spencer Andreson won the 200m for St. Joe's and Mike Scott won the 800m for LaSalle. Both men ended up running 50. or faster in the open 400 their senior seasons. Sam Bernitt was second in the mile in 5:00.9. He went on to run 15:33 for 5k the next year as a Junior and finished his senior season with PRs in the 9 and 4 teens. Tom Trainer was second in the 3k with a time of 10:10. His senior year he was 2nd at a much more important meet in the 3k with a sub 8:40 clocking. UD won the 4x4 in 3:49.7 (one of the fastest times in the past 5 years) behind a 56 second leg by Jarrett Felix! (Yes I am aware no one cares) Dave Waterman was second in the D2 Mile in 4:59, he went on to run under 4:20 his Junior year for GFS. Marco Malone won the race in a very fast 4:49 clocking for Upper Merion. Zach Greth was second in the 3k in 10:05. He went on to run in the 8:40s for 3k and even ran to a MoC gold in the 3k his Junior year.
And finally in 2007, Tom O'Kane ran 2:10 for 800m to finish 4th in the race. He went on to run very fast mile and 800 times around 4:20 and 1:54. He also finished 25th at XC States his Senior year. Chris O'Sullivan and Shawn Quinn dueled in the open Mile running 4:55 and 4:59. Both had great XC careers, O'Sullivan amassed 2 state medals. He also ran 4:15 for 1600m. Third in the race was Armando Salome who went on to split around 1:53 on CR North's 4x800m in 2010. He ran 5:04. The 3k was won in 9:45.9 by Ben Furcht who went on to run the equivalent of a sub 9 3200m for 3k and barley missed state championships in XC, Indoor and Outdoor track his senior year. He also qualfied for Footlocker Nationals. James Stevenson, then running for Methacton, finished 3rd in the race. Later on for LaSalle, he was an important part of their District Championships and state title pushes. Glenn Mills won the 4x8 in a blazing 8:48. In Division 2 future sub 9:30 and sub 9:20 two milers Dan Day and Scott Armstrong took 1-2 in the 3k running 10:05 and 10:14. Dan Tyler won the mile in 4:18. He went on to run a 4:18 1600 his senior season. Vince Perozze was 3rd in the 800m in 2:15. He went on to clock a 4:14 1600m and a mile that converted to roughly 4:12 for 1600m. His junior year he was second at states.
Sometimes it's interesting to look back and see how things were back then. You may enjoy it.
-train
PS Most of the times I pulled out as people's PRs are from memory so don't destroy me on that.
So these underappreciated kids from years past are getting a little revamp courtsey of etrain's blog. Let's take a look back at some past year's novice meets.
In 2011, there was Novice Meet Division 1 record set in the 400m when Issiah Morris ran 55.82 for Cheltenham. Later on in the same meet the 800 was won in a record time of 2:05.54 by PJ Succi of William Tennent. The time would have just missed Meet of Champs qualifying time. A 9:57 3k won the meet, also in record time, from LaSalle's Brendan Billotta.
In D2 O'Hara's Jim Belfutto won the mile in 4:56.71 and Lyle Wistar of GFS won the 3k in 9:46.77. Second in the race was Ernie Pitone, who just barely broke 10 minutes. Since, Pitone has run under 9:10 for 3k this season, and finished in the top 35 at XC states.
In 2010, Jake Nemeroff captured gold in the 800m run in 2:12.98 for Division 1. He has just recently helped his CB East 4x800m squad qualify for states. Conner Quinn won the Division 1 Novice mile in 4:56.75. He has done alright for himself since then.
In 2009, Sam Garfield won a hotly contested mile in 4:53.01. He went on to run 1:56 on CR South's 4x800m and qualify for states in XC during his Junior season the next year. Alex Chichitti was second in the 3k. He also was a two time state qualifier in cross country and a near sub 16 5k runner. He ran 10:02. Farther down the list in the 3k was Mike Doyle who ran 10:11. He also clocked a 1:56 for CR South during his senior season outdoors. In Divison 2, Chidi Okezie was second in the 400m. He went on to run in the 48s for New Media his senior season in 2011. At this meet he ran a 57.26. In the same race Nate Emmanuel ran a 61.06. He just recently ran a 1:57 open 800m and ran on Penncrest's PA #1 7:55 4x800m squad.
All the way back in 2008, Tevin Smith and Chris Muggler dueled in the open 400m 55.8 to 56.7. Both ended up being 1:55 800m runners for Abington and LaSalle's top ranked relay squads. Spencer Andreson won the 200m for St. Joe's and Mike Scott won the 800m for LaSalle. Both men ended up running 50. or faster in the open 400 their senior seasons. Sam Bernitt was second in the mile in 5:00.9. He went on to run 15:33 for 5k the next year as a Junior and finished his senior season with PRs in the 9 and 4 teens. Tom Trainer was second in the 3k with a time of 10:10. His senior year he was 2nd at a much more important meet in the 3k with a sub 8:40 clocking. UD won the 4x4 in 3:49.7 (one of the fastest times in the past 5 years) behind a 56 second leg by Jarrett Felix! (Yes I am aware no one cares) Dave Waterman was second in the D2 Mile in 4:59, he went on to run under 4:20 his Junior year for GFS. Marco Malone won the race in a very fast 4:49 clocking for Upper Merion. Zach Greth was second in the 3k in 10:05. He went on to run in the 8:40s for 3k and even ran to a MoC gold in the 3k his Junior year.
And finally in 2007, Tom O'Kane ran 2:10 for 800m to finish 4th in the race. He went on to run very fast mile and 800 times around 4:20 and 1:54. He also finished 25th at XC States his Senior year. Chris O'Sullivan and Shawn Quinn dueled in the open Mile running 4:55 and 4:59. Both had great XC careers, O'Sullivan amassed 2 state medals. He also ran 4:15 for 1600m. Third in the race was Armando Salome who went on to split around 1:53 on CR North's 4x800m in 2010. He ran 5:04. The 3k was won in 9:45.9 by Ben Furcht who went on to run the equivalent of a sub 9 3200m for 3k and barley missed state championships in XC, Indoor and Outdoor track his senior year. He also qualfied for Footlocker Nationals. James Stevenson, then running for Methacton, finished 3rd in the race. Later on for LaSalle, he was an important part of their District Championships and state title pushes. Glenn Mills won the 4x8 in a blazing 8:48. In Division 2 future sub 9:30 and sub 9:20 two milers Dan Day and Scott Armstrong took 1-2 in the 3k running 10:05 and 10:14. Dan Tyler won the mile in 4:18. He went on to run a 4:18 1600 his senior season. Vince Perozze was 3rd in the 800m in 2:15. He went on to clock a 4:14 1600m and a mile that converted to roughly 4:12 for 1600m. His junior year he was second at states.
Sometimes it's interesting to look back and see how things were back then. You may enjoy it.
-train
PS Most of the times I pulled out as people's PRs are from memory so don't destroy me on that.
More Weekend Action
Now this is what I wanted to see out of TSTCAs. Great races across the board. First off Will Baily came into this year as a guy who I liked as an 800m state medalist and he ran a nice 1:57 open. He has a few 1:53 splits to boast from last year and Penn Hills can definitely put together a nice DMR or 4x8 they have some solid pieces. Squirees ran a solid mile. Nothing amazing but I'd imagine that is over distance for him. Nice race for Replogle in the 800 too for under distance.
Not sure why exactly like 20 people were DQd in the 8? I know guys like Tonzo, Smathers, Culley and Bojarski would have been interesting to see have finishing times in the 8 and see how their speed is looking.
In the mile Jaskowak continues to impress as he surprised me all XC season and it has carried over to two impressive mile wins. Nice bounce back for Alex Moran. Very exciting to see him mix back into a top 5 conversation. And heck Jaskowak could finish in the top 3 or so at states in the mile the way he has been running I think only Willig can feel comfortable about beating him. I would really like to see Jaskowak in the 3k. He could be a state title contender in the 3k perhaps depending on how Dustin choses to strategize.
And now the 3k field stretchs on, Shearn a big 8:54 clocking and it will be nice to see this guy mix it up at states. Not sure if he is quite at a level to run the 8:40low, 8:30mid kind of time it will take to run to a state title, but he will gain valuable experience and probably run a nice time at states to help him the long run. He is only a junior. Kuchta relatively unsurprising kind of time considering, but still very nice to see him run fast yet again and lock up a spot at states. He's been consistent and he has run as fast as 9:16 in the 3200m. That kind of time can give you confidence at the state championship.
Steiner, Martin, Wakeley and Mountain looked solid, nothing exceptional but at least they are down around the state time which means they are one hurdle away from being there if they have their race at the right time. I'd say Steiner is most likely to hit the time out of the group and Wakeley. right behind him. Considering Steiner has hit it last year, had the best XC season out of the group and has been dropping a lot of time as of late, he seems like a logical choice to excel at TSTCA Championships.
And of course the DMRs were quick, only NA hits the SQS, but the other teams definitely can get in if they put it together at the right time. I'm not sure how exactly the meet is ordered, but either way this is a very nice double for Steiner and Kuchta. If the DMR is first, Steiner should definitely make states in the near future, if the 3k is first than both Baldwin and Altoona should be hitting the SQS in the near future. The DMR at states is going to be really awesome, I can't wait honestly. Interesting to see Bobby Bishop's name back on the Baldwin relays.
Not sure why exactly like 20 people were DQd in the 8? I know guys like Tonzo, Smathers, Culley and Bojarski would have been interesting to see have finishing times in the 8 and see how their speed is looking.
In the mile Jaskowak continues to impress as he surprised me all XC season and it has carried over to two impressive mile wins. Nice bounce back for Alex Moran. Very exciting to see him mix back into a top 5 conversation. And heck Jaskowak could finish in the top 3 or so at states in the mile the way he has been running I think only Willig can feel comfortable about beating him. I would really like to see Jaskowak in the 3k. He could be a state title contender in the 3k perhaps depending on how Dustin choses to strategize.
And now the 3k field stretchs on, Shearn a big 8:54 clocking and it will be nice to see this guy mix it up at states. Not sure if he is quite at a level to run the 8:40low, 8:30mid kind of time it will take to run to a state title, but he will gain valuable experience and probably run a nice time at states to help him the long run. He is only a junior. Kuchta relatively unsurprising kind of time considering, but still very nice to see him run fast yet again and lock up a spot at states. He's been consistent and he has run as fast as 9:16 in the 3200m. That kind of time can give you confidence at the state championship.
Steiner, Martin, Wakeley and Mountain looked solid, nothing exceptional but at least they are down around the state time which means they are one hurdle away from being there if they have their race at the right time. I'd say Steiner is most likely to hit the time out of the group and Wakeley. right behind him. Considering Steiner has hit it last year, had the best XC season out of the group and has been dropping a lot of time as of late, he seems like a logical choice to excel at TSTCA Championships.
And of course the DMRs were quick, only NA hits the SQS, but the other teams definitely can get in if they put it together at the right time. I'm not sure how exactly the meet is ordered, but either way this is a very nice double for Steiner and Kuchta. If the DMR is first, Steiner should definitely make states in the near future, if the 3k is first than both Baldwin and Altoona should be hitting the SQS in the near future. The DMR at states is going to be really awesome, I can't wait honestly. Interesting to see Bobby Bishop's name back on the Baldwin relays.
Some More Races
So good news. I watched the PA action friday night at the armory and it was awesome.
Pennwood very fast 4x4 with Futch looking like himself killer last 50m especially it was amazing. My worries are healed. Awesome relay for Penn Wood, definitely can get the state record but with guys doubling at states it's still a question mark. Pennwood is a serious state title contender as a team so I doubt they hit anything faster than 3:19 at states. Strath Haven is probably the favorite for the team title right now between their distance crew and their sprint crew and Williams ansd Zaza.
Ned Willig just misses Robby Andrews USR, coming through in 1:52.9 and only missing it in part because of Zavon Watkins's cheap racing tactics throughout. But wait. Watkins cut in too early and the crew was DQd. BUT this means Ned is on Robby Andrews esque pace, meaning that he and Zavon may push each other to the USR indoors for 800, or at least a sub 1:50 effort. Mark it down, if they chose to run the 8 at New Balance they will definitely both have top 5 all time efforts.
I'm going bold with some of these predictions but hey.
Penncrest 7:55! Dang. That's pretty awesome. This is the first time they have been legitimate state title contenders. Year in and year out they are medalist contenders, maybe a top 5 squad, but now they look great. If they keep their legs fresh I think they can beat anyone. With a doubling squad a fresh LaSalle or Strath Haven eh maybe they have an outside chance. Penncrest has kind of not quite lived up to my expectations before at states so I would not be surprised if they didn't run 7:55 again, but they are way ahead of the field right now it looks like.
Haneef 1:19 in the 600m. Never gets a lot of credit on here from me, but the guy could definitely win states in the 8. 1:19 is very fast, that's gotta be around a top 5 time in state history at least and it indicates that he can run very fast, very soon. We will see if he puts it together for a full 800, but I hoping if he goes out hard at states and runs with somebody like Ned he can dip into the mid 1:53s.
Pennwood very fast 4x4 with Futch looking like himself killer last 50m especially it was amazing. My worries are healed. Awesome relay for Penn Wood, definitely can get the state record but with guys doubling at states it's still a question mark. Pennwood is a serious state title contender as a team so I doubt they hit anything faster than 3:19 at states. Strath Haven is probably the favorite for the team title right now between their distance crew and their sprint crew and Williams ansd Zaza.
Ned Willig just misses Robby Andrews USR, coming through in 1:52.9 and only missing it in part because of Zavon Watkins's cheap racing tactics throughout. But wait. Watkins cut in too early and the crew was DQd. BUT this means Ned is on Robby Andrews esque pace, meaning that he and Zavon may push each other to the USR indoors for 800, or at least a sub 1:50 effort. Mark it down, if they chose to run the 8 at New Balance they will definitely both have top 5 all time efforts.
I'm going bold with some of these predictions but hey.
Penncrest 7:55! Dang. That's pretty awesome. This is the first time they have been legitimate state title contenders. Year in and year out they are medalist contenders, maybe a top 5 squad, but now they look great. If they keep their legs fresh I think they can beat anyone. With a doubling squad a fresh LaSalle or Strath Haven eh maybe they have an outside chance. Penncrest has kind of not quite lived up to my expectations before at states so I would not be surprised if they didn't run 7:55 again, but they are way ahead of the field right now it looks like.
Haneef 1:19 in the 600m. Never gets a lot of credit on here from me, but the guy could definitely win states in the 8. 1:19 is very fast, that's gotta be around a top 5 time in state history at least and it indicates that he can run very fast, very soon. We will see if he puts it together for a full 800, but I hoping if he goes out hard at states and runs with somebody like Ned he can dip into the mid 1:53s.
Mid Week Action
A couple of mid week performances were dropped worth talking about here.
First of all Ed Cheserek laid down a sick 1:51-4:07 double in front of a lot of PA's own top squads, it was pretty sick. Both his relays finished with gold medals.
CB East ran a nice relay in the DMR, under 11 minutes on a slight bank track. Pretty solid team that may be able to slip into states again in the DMR like they have the last couple years. Not sure they are a legitimate medal contender unless the field is less than 10 teams.
Holy Ghost Prep and CB West stumbled a little bit as I expected more out of both relays, but in HGP's case there is only so much you can do when it's Zach Israel vs. Ed Cheserek. Say they got the baton at the same time, Israel could have split 4:21 and still lost by the 14 seconds they lost by. That being said, I don't think Israel was quite that fast. Most likely HGP got out to a lead early, had a tough time running by themselves out front and Cheserek gobbled them up at the end with his big time split. Just speculation.
As for CB West, I was hoping for a closer performance to state time considering the guys they got and Metzler's potential, especially considering this team has had a relatively quiet last few weeks. I still see them as a squad who can get at least one relay to states by season's end, but it doesn't look like they will be making serious noise.
Nice race for GFS. They are always a potential DMR medalist, like the year they medaled when Kaulbach, McKenzie and Ortiz all didn't even run on the relay (AKA they medaled with their B squad). This year they are one good race away from hitting the qualifying standard again. Props to them.
Coyle and Stone had some nice 1500s (I read somewhere US #1 and #2? Great stat but technically speaking Cheserek ran as fast as those guys did over the course of a full mile) to take 1-2 in the race. This is a great sign for these two in the individual events. Coyle looked like he could produce races like this after his XC season, so I've been more impressed with Stone who is showing great range all the way up to the mile/15 considering at heart he's an 800 guy. If he went for the open 8 at states, a top 3 finish is possible and he could even mix it up for the win if a certain kid from Great Valley stays out of the picture.
I'd imagine these guys won't pass on the individual events because both are medal contenders in either race (8 or mile), but if they do they could put together a really great DMR. The 4x8 is a wide open race at states as well in my opinion (I don't know what Strath Haven's 4x8 plans are and Penncrest seems slightly vulnerable despite their great time), so LaSalle has a lot of choices to make. If they run fresh, the state meet record in the DMR could be on the line (ironically that record is held by LaSalle).
Real quick props to Bensalem for getting into states in the 4x8, maybe a deep sleeper for a medal in what I do anticipate will not be a deep field.
A few interesting races happened the next night at Glenn Mills.
First off, haven't heard many fast times recently from Futch and then he didn't run finals in the 55? Kind of worried about that, but it's early so we shall see. Those relays look much less dangerous with Futch on the squad, however.
Nice win for MacCauley in the 8, slow track, decent field. A win is a win. Admittedly Chris Ferry ran 1:55 here so I suppose it can't be that slow of a track. Interesting to see no Henderson guys up front in this meet. They have stacked the 8 the last couple times out. I guess their 4x8 took a lot of the legs out of them. Very solid 4x8 time with limited competition on that track. The North Penn Dynasty couldn't even break 8 minutes on that surface.
Solid win for Ferruzzi in the mile, nice time, nothing spectacular, but on another track he could probably have hit the SQS. Thought Brooks and Rivera would be faster but Rivera did just race the night before (as did Ferruzzi, but Bensalem ran a lot faster of relay) and Brooks seems more of mid distance 8-4 type these days.
2nd and 4th in the mile came from O'Hara but the real story was their 3200m squad running train on the field. Very fast times for that track including a big win by Savage and solid races by Pitone and Pastore. It will be interesting to see what their 4xmile does come nationals. Too bad there is no 4x2mile. I suppose that's XC anyway. Those kids still need to hit the SQS though so it will be interesting to see where they chose to go after it again.
Huemmler and Seelaus both ran well for an overdistance race and this has to be one of Huemmeler's first losses this track season. Still Savage and Pastore made a pretty big statement beating a couple of 4:20 guys who have been hot lately.
Tough day's for both Quinn and Hibbs. Hibbs will be fine, he has run some nice SQSs of late, but Quinn has the pressure of being state champ on his back and a big target there as well. We will see how he holds up, but at the very least he should get a 1200 leg on the DMR.
First of all Ed Cheserek laid down a sick 1:51-4:07 double in front of a lot of PA's own top squads, it was pretty sick. Both his relays finished with gold medals.
CB East ran a nice relay in the DMR, under 11 minutes on a slight bank track. Pretty solid team that may be able to slip into states again in the DMR like they have the last couple years. Not sure they are a legitimate medal contender unless the field is less than 10 teams.
Holy Ghost Prep and CB West stumbled a little bit as I expected more out of both relays, but in HGP's case there is only so much you can do when it's Zach Israel vs. Ed Cheserek. Say they got the baton at the same time, Israel could have split 4:21 and still lost by the 14 seconds they lost by. That being said, I don't think Israel was quite that fast. Most likely HGP got out to a lead early, had a tough time running by themselves out front and Cheserek gobbled them up at the end with his big time split. Just speculation.
As for CB West, I was hoping for a closer performance to state time considering the guys they got and Metzler's potential, especially considering this team has had a relatively quiet last few weeks. I still see them as a squad who can get at least one relay to states by season's end, but it doesn't look like they will be making serious noise.
Nice race for GFS. They are always a potential DMR medalist, like the year they medaled when Kaulbach, McKenzie and Ortiz all didn't even run on the relay (AKA they medaled with their B squad). This year they are one good race away from hitting the qualifying standard again. Props to them.
Coyle and Stone had some nice 1500s (I read somewhere US #1 and #2? Great stat but technically speaking Cheserek ran as fast as those guys did over the course of a full mile) to take 1-2 in the race. This is a great sign for these two in the individual events. Coyle looked like he could produce races like this after his XC season, so I've been more impressed with Stone who is showing great range all the way up to the mile/15 considering at heart he's an 800 guy. If he went for the open 8 at states, a top 3 finish is possible and he could even mix it up for the win if a certain kid from Great Valley stays out of the picture.
I'd imagine these guys won't pass on the individual events because both are medal contenders in either race (8 or mile), but if they do they could put together a really great DMR. The 4x8 is a wide open race at states as well in my opinion (I don't know what Strath Haven's 4x8 plans are and Penncrest seems slightly vulnerable despite their great time), so LaSalle has a lot of choices to make. If they run fresh, the state meet record in the DMR could be on the line (ironically that record is held by LaSalle).
Real quick props to Bensalem for getting into states in the 4x8, maybe a deep sleeper for a medal in what I do anticipate will not be a deep field.
A few interesting races happened the next night at Glenn Mills.
First off, haven't heard many fast times recently from Futch and then he didn't run finals in the 55? Kind of worried about that, but it's early so we shall see. Those relays look much less dangerous with Futch on the squad, however.
Nice win for MacCauley in the 8, slow track, decent field. A win is a win. Admittedly Chris Ferry ran 1:55 here so I suppose it can't be that slow of a track. Interesting to see no Henderson guys up front in this meet. They have stacked the 8 the last couple times out. I guess their 4x8 took a lot of the legs out of them. Very solid 4x8 time with limited competition on that track. The North Penn Dynasty couldn't even break 8 minutes on that surface.
Solid win for Ferruzzi in the mile, nice time, nothing spectacular, but on another track he could probably have hit the SQS. Thought Brooks and Rivera would be faster but Rivera did just race the night before (as did Ferruzzi, but Bensalem ran a lot faster of relay) and Brooks seems more of mid distance 8-4 type these days.
2nd and 4th in the mile came from O'Hara but the real story was their 3200m squad running train on the field. Very fast times for that track including a big win by Savage and solid races by Pitone and Pastore. It will be interesting to see what their 4xmile does come nationals. Too bad there is no 4x2mile. I suppose that's XC anyway. Those kids still need to hit the SQS though so it will be interesting to see where they chose to go after it again.
Huemmler and Seelaus both ran well for an overdistance race and this has to be one of Huemmeler's first losses this track season. Still Savage and Pastore made a pretty big statement beating a couple of 4:20 guys who have been hot lately.
Tough day's for both Quinn and Hibbs. Hibbs will be fine, he has run some nice SQSs of late, but Quinn has the pressure of being state champ on his back and a big target there as well. We will see how he holds up, but at the very least he should get a 1200 leg on the DMR.
Posting
So look, obviously I recieved some backlash over this last post. Understandable. As I was writing it I wasn't thrilled with it, it happens, not everyone is going to like everything I do. A couple people asked me to put up the post, I respond to requests, I did it. Was it the best decision I made? No probably not and I am sincerely sorry if anyone took serious offense to this. I never claimed to know the whole story, and everyone on this list can come back and feel free to run 4 flat in the mile and brag to me about it on here or whatever that's fine.
But the fact of the matter is I did this because this what I thought was wanted and this is my honest opinion. I won't back down or delete the post or anything like that. I said what I said and I'll deal with that. If you don't like what I have to say after reading this, it's fine, you don't have to check the blog, you can go back to penntrack and read all the hot forums there. I don't get paid for doing this anymore anyway.
The truth of the matter is this blog is and has been about more then just saying good job to everyone who runs well. I tell it like it is and I'm not going to be biased towards anything or anyone. There are different ways to do this and obviously this is not the best method for doing it, but the fact of the matter is this is just my opinion and people can prove it on the track. I hope people take this as motivation to prove me wrong. I've had plenty of people tell me that I ranked them too low and they used it as motivation. I've been proven wrong plenty of times. I stand by what I said at those times because it was my best guess at the time. If you want to hear good things about everyone and people talking themselves up and the basic straight facts then just go to penntrack like I did when I was in high school and I'm sure you will be satisfied.
My senior year of high school I got brutally attacked on penntrack for saying that Luke Lefebure didn't deserve as much credit as Mallon did for his 1:51 performance vs. Mallon's 1:49. Obviously my phrasing probably didn't work well in that post, but the moral was without Mallon Luke wouldn't have been where he was. He couldn't run races from the front, he was a sit and kick guy who got pulled to some fast times. It doesn't mean he's not good or anything like that.
I stood by what I said, I never backed down, and I believed everything. I don't care what people thought of what I said then and I don't care of what people think of me now. If I was worried about what people thought of me my posts wouldn't be anywhere near as good as they are now.
I'm not afraid to attach my name to anything I say, I don't need to hide behind calling anyone out anonymously, I have my name out there and anything I say here I wouldn't be afraid to say to anyone else face to face.
And who are the people who I won't say bad things about again?
Mike Palmisano: Great high school career on the track, underachieved in XC senior year and besides a few good races here and there has not lived up to his potential during college. Hasn't adjusted to the training, often injured, a 3:51 the only thing keeping him above water.
Tom Mallon: Underachieved in college so far
Hong Cho: Underachieved in college so far
Kyle Moran: Haven't seen anything from in college so far
Brad Miles: Underachieved in college so far
I call it like I see it regardless of who it is and how I am connected to them. If you don't like me for that and you don't think it's true, it's just one person's opinion don't let it get to you. Feel free to prove me wrong on the track. I love it when that happens. I 100% do not always know what I'm talking about. I'll be the first person to tell you that I have been wrong lots of times about a lot of people.
But one thing I pride myself on is telling my true opinion and being an unbiased observer about what I see in order to give my readers what they want.
I'm sorry for rambling and getting all worked up like this and I really am sorry if anyone has misinterpreted what I said and took offense to it because my goal was never and is never to hurt anyone's feelings. But I don't want to have my credibility tarnished and my image misrepresented. This is how I view myself and I strive hard to maintain this level on the blog.
If you think I'm full of crap and a big jerk, I encourage you to stop reading the blog, because I don't plan on changing my stripes.
I am for the readers and I am for the good of the sports of cross country and track and field in Pennsylvania. That will never change.
-Jarrett "etrain11" Felix
But the fact of the matter is I did this because this what I thought was wanted and this is my honest opinion. I won't back down or delete the post or anything like that. I said what I said and I'll deal with that. If you don't like what I have to say after reading this, it's fine, you don't have to check the blog, you can go back to penntrack and read all the hot forums there. I don't get paid for doing this anymore anyway.
The truth of the matter is this blog is and has been about more then just saying good job to everyone who runs well. I tell it like it is and I'm not going to be biased towards anything or anyone. There are different ways to do this and obviously this is not the best method for doing it, but the fact of the matter is this is just my opinion and people can prove it on the track. I hope people take this as motivation to prove me wrong. I've had plenty of people tell me that I ranked them too low and they used it as motivation. I've been proven wrong plenty of times. I stand by what I said at those times because it was my best guess at the time. If you want to hear good things about everyone and people talking themselves up and the basic straight facts then just go to penntrack like I did when I was in high school and I'm sure you will be satisfied.
My senior year of high school I got brutally attacked on penntrack for saying that Luke Lefebure didn't deserve as much credit as Mallon did for his 1:51 performance vs. Mallon's 1:49. Obviously my phrasing probably didn't work well in that post, but the moral was without Mallon Luke wouldn't have been where he was. He couldn't run races from the front, he was a sit and kick guy who got pulled to some fast times. It doesn't mean he's not good or anything like that.
I stood by what I said, I never backed down, and I believed everything. I don't care what people thought of what I said then and I don't care of what people think of me now. If I was worried about what people thought of me my posts wouldn't be anywhere near as good as they are now.
I'm not afraid to attach my name to anything I say, I don't need to hide behind calling anyone out anonymously, I have my name out there and anything I say here I wouldn't be afraid to say to anyone else face to face.
And who are the people who I won't say bad things about again?
Mike Palmisano: Great high school career on the track, underachieved in XC senior year and besides a few good races here and there has not lived up to his potential during college. Hasn't adjusted to the training, often injured, a 3:51 the only thing keeping him above water.
Tom Mallon: Underachieved in college so far
Hong Cho: Underachieved in college so far
Kyle Moran: Haven't seen anything from in college so far
Brad Miles: Underachieved in college so far
I call it like I see it regardless of who it is and how I am connected to them. If you don't like me for that and you don't think it's true, it's just one person's opinion don't let it get to you. Feel free to prove me wrong on the track. I love it when that happens. I 100% do not always know what I'm talking about. I'll be the first person to tell you that I have been wrong lots of times about a lot of people.
But one thing I pride myself on is telling my true opinion and being an unbiased observer about what I see in order to give my readers what they want.
I'm sorry for rambling and getting all worked up like this and I really am sorry if anyone has misinterpreted what I said and took offense to it because my goal was never and is never to hurt anyone's feelings. But I don't want to have my credibility tarnished and my image misrepresented. This is how I view myself and I strive hard to maintain this level on the blog.
If you think I'm full of crap and a big jerk, I encourage you to stop reading the blog, because I don't plan on changing my stripes.
I am for the readers and I am for the good of the sports of cross country and track and field in Pennsylvania. That will never change.
-Jarrett "etrain11" Felix
Studs and Duds
So this is what I have come up with, I'm sure there are plenty of names I'm missing but these are just some thoughts.
Stud to Dud
Mike Mahoney- 15:43 5k as a sophomore at Lehigh, finishing as the top freshman at the District One Championships, and only behind Miles out of sophomores. Mahoney also dropped some solid track times early in career but kind of fizzled out by his senior year, esepcially on the cross country course where he never got a states medal.
Alex Coburn- In the 16:20s as a freshman, and a top runner in the state, Coburn has come back over the last two years and not quite improved into a top ranked cross country runner in the state as he was projected to be early on. Coburn has had some improved performances on the track and hopefully will bounce back this year with a big track season as part of Cumberland Valley's relay squad.
Bobby Bishop- Bishop started off breaking out his sophomore year as a great runner who could boast 1:56 and 4:17 PRs after he anchored Baldwin to the fastest DMR they ever ran in recent years (even faster than TJ Hobarts crew). Bishop was also a sophomore medalist at XC states. After just missing medal contention as a Junior, its been all downhill for Bishop.
Vince McNally- McNally was a big time national contender after his Junior year 4:07 and state championship, but McNally had a few crippling moments at the state championships. He was a surprising 18th at XC states, followed by being caught in a kickers race at indoor and otudoor states, both of which he finished a disappointing 4th. He didn't match his mile PR and never even ran under 1:55 which he split early in his freshman days on their state champion 4x8.
Dud to Stud
Glen Burkhardt- Burkhardt sat with just a 17 minute 5k PR as a sophomore, but he rolled onto the scene his Junior year with a state medal and a surprising District One championship and 9:16 PR. Then after an injury that caused Glen to miss two seasons and become another non factor on the PA scene, he dominated the outdoor 3200m scene with convincing wins at Districts and States.
Zach Hebda- Everyone was all up on super youngsters Joe Kush and Juris Silenieks who were dropping excellent freshman and sophomore times, but after a surprising 9:17 from Hebda at outdoor states his Junior year, Hebda took over and became the leader of the big 3, unbeaten by his teammates all XC season and running his way to the Gatorade state XC runner of the year, and just missed an outdoor state title in the 3200m because of the guy above him.
Alex Galli- After finishing 100th at the D3 Championships as a Sophomore, Galli became a major factor his Junior and Senior year, become a legitamate state medalist contender in XC and also anchoring Cedar Crest to a shocking 4x8 end of season run with a group of 4 dud to stud kind of guys.
Ben Scheetz- Ran a 51.59 in the 400m Dash at indoor states his Senior year. Then dropped a 1:55 and then 1:53 at the end of outdoors. In college, Scheetz ran a fantastic 1:48.08 indoors in the 800m which is a D3 record and he has earned many All American honors at Amherst.
Vince Perozze- During his sophomore year, Perozze was a non factor, running 4:30s at indoor states and not even qualifying for XC states, but the next year Perozze was a medalist indoors in the mile, took 9th at XC states, and then was second at outdoor states with a near miss for the 1600m state title.
Ben Furcht- Furcht was a nobody on the scene as a sophomore and had a modest Junior year that included a 15:53 and an 8:55 before blasting a 4th place finish at both states and districts outdoors his junior year and following it up with an XC season and track season that was arguably the best of any distance runner in the state (although he missed out on a state championship by just a few seconds in 4 races, and missed out on a Penn Relays title as well just slightly).
Stud to Dud
Mike Mahoney- 15:43 5k as a sophomore at Lehigh, finishing as the top freshman at the District One Championships, and only behind Miles out of sophomores. Mahoney also dropped some solid track times early in career but kind of fizzled out by his senior year, esepcially on the cross country course where he never got a states medal.
Alex Coburn- In the 16:20s as a freshman, and a top runner in the state, Coburn has come back over the last two years and not quite improved into a top ranked cross country runner in the state as he was projected to be early on. Coburn has had some improved performances on the track and hopefully will bounce back this year with a big track season as part of Cumberland Valley's relay squad.
Bobby Bishop- Bishop started off breaking out his sophomore year as a great runner who could boast 1:56 and 4:17 PRs after he anchored Baldwin to the fastest DMR they ever ran in recent years (even faster than TJ Hobarts crew). Bishop was also a sophomore medalist at XC states. After just missing medal contention as a Junior, its been all downhill for Bishop.
Vince McNally- McNally was a big time national contender after his Junior year 4:07 and state championship, but McNally had a few crippling moments at the state championships. He was a surprising 18th at XC states, followed by being caught in a kickers race at indoor and otudoor states, both of which he finished a disappointing 4th. He didn't match his mile PR and never even ran under 1:55 which he split early in his freshman days on their state champion 4x8.
Dud to Stud
Glen Burkhardt- Burkhardt sat with just a 17 minute 5k PR as a sophomore, but he rolled onto the scene his Junior year with a state medal and a surprising District One championship and 9:16 PR. Then after an injury that caused Glen to miss two seasons and become another non factor on the PA scene, he dominated the outdoor 3200m scene with convincing wins at Districts and States.
Zach Hebda- Everyone was all up on super youngsters Joe Kush and Juris Silenieks who were dropping excellent freshman and sophomore times, but after a surprising 9:17 from Hebda at outdoor states his Junior year, Hebda took over and became the leader of the big 3, unbeaten by his teammates all XC season and running his way to the Gatorade state XC runner of the year, and just missed an outdoor state title in the 3200m because of the guy above him.
Alex Galli- After finishing 100th at the D3 Championships as a Sophomore, Galli became a major factor his Junior and Senior year, become a legitamate state medalist contender in XC and also anchoring Cedar Crest to a shocking 4x8 end of season run with a group of 4 dud to stud kind of guys.
Ben Scheetz- Ran a 51.59 in the 400m Dash at indoor states his Senior year. Then dropped a 1:55 and then 1:53 at the end of outdoors. In college, Scheetz ran a fantastic 1:48.08 indoors in the 800m which is a D3 record and he has earned many All American honors at Amherst.
Vince Perozze- During his sophomore year, Perozze was a non factor, running 4:30s at indoor states and not even qualifying for XC states, but the next year Perozze was a medalist indoors in the mile, took 9th at XC states, and then was second at outdoor states with a near miss for the 1600m state title.
Ben Furcht- Furcht was a nobody on the scene as a sophomore and had a modest Junior year that included a 15:53 and an 8:55 before blasting a 4th place finish at both states and districts outdoors his junior year and following it up with an XC season and track season that was arguably the best of any distance runner in the state (although he missed out on a state championship by just a few seconds in 4 races, and missed out on a Penn Relays title as well just slightly).
Doubling
Ok, so I'm not gonna lie to you folks, I'm not quite ready for this studs and duds stuff yet, I'm sorry but I kind of have a lot of HW this week and I need to be doing that right now, but I want to keep this post streak alive. Unfortunately my internet connection was down when I had the free time to make a post earlier, but hey that's just the way it is.
So I don't really know what to post about because I'm sitting here in the light lounge at Muhlenberg College where I go to school (everyone can now look that up and apply here it's a lot of fun just ask around) and I am using my girlfriend's laptop and I don't want to take up too much of her laptop time, especially because she is doing spanish stuff and needs to look up words everyone once in a while. But I digress.
This weekend at our meet I was down on the schedule for running 4 events, a challenge for me because I have never found myself a very capable doubler. But that got me to thinking about some performances that were great doubles and triples which I will share with you now.
First of all, I'll start with one of the best doublers from my era, Wade Endress. Looking down his resume he has a lot of moments that would make a countdown but of course the big noteable one was indoor states his senior year where he dropped the state record in the 800m on the double from a very fast mile of 4:13 and change. He then ran a great 4x4 leg.
Gilmore at the same meet with that messed up leg straight killed 4 races and nearly all of them led to golds. Maybe not the fastest times, but winning is winning and its worth 10 points at the state championship whether you win by 10 seconds or a tenth of a second.
My roommate at states Mike Palmisano tripled with a 1:51.9 4x8 anchor, 4:13 1600 win and 1:54 800 bronze at states. He came from behind and used a kick to catch a lot of runners on the bell lap in both races.
Brady Gehret had some nice sprint doubles and triples in his career that included a nice showing at outdoor states his senior year where he was a fall away from possibly 3 golds.
Hong Cho at the Penn Relays last year ran a nice series of middle distance 8s and 4s en route to a couple of championship of america high finishes.
Jason Weller was a great doubler and tripler in his own right at indoor states his senior year especially.
So I don't really know what to post about because I'm sitting here in the light lounge at Muhlenberg College where I go to school (everyone can now look that up and apply here it's a lot of fun just ask around) and I am using my girlfriend's laptop and I don't want to take up too much of her laptop time, especially because she is doing spanish stuff and needs to look up words everyone once in a while. But I digress.
This weekend at our meet I was down on the schedule for running 4 events, a challenge for me because I have never found myself a very capable doubler. But that got me to thinking about some performances that were great doubles and triples which I will share with you now.
First of all, I'll start with one of the best doublers from my era, Wade Endress. Looking down his resume he has a lot of moments that would make a countdown but of course the big noteable one was indoor states his senior year where he dropped the state record in the 800m on the double from a very fast mile of 4:13 and change. He then ran a great 4x4 leg.
Gilmore at the same meet with that messed up leg straight killed 4 races and nearly all of them led to golds. Maybe not the fastest times, but winning is winning and its worth 10 points at the state championship whether you win by 10 seconds or a tenth of a second.
My roommate at states Mike Palmisano tripled with a 1:51.9 4x8 anchor, 4:13 1600 win and 1:54 800 bronze at states. He came from behind and used a kick to catch a lot of runners on the bell lap in both races.
Brady Gehret had some nice sprint doubles and triples in his career that included a nice showing at outdoor states his senior year where he was a fall away from possibly 3 golds.
Hong Cho at the Penn Relays last year ran a nice series of middle distance 8s and 4s en route to a couple of championship of america high finishes.
Jason Weller was a great doubler and tripler in his own right at indoor states his senior year especially.
I'm So College
Ok, so I am not quite ready for the stud dud post just yet, but it will come, I promise. As for today's post, I don't have too much time today because I have a bunch of HW that needs to get done and I don't have a whole lot of time to do it. So naturally, like any logical person, I won't give up my post streak, I'll just make a post that requires a bit less research and a bit less thinking.
Today I want to talk about college running and the weekend that was in NCAA indoor track. Not gonna sugar coat it, it was epic.
Props to Jermaine Lowery, Micah Murray, and Brandon Bennent-Green who are all top 25 in the nation right now for the 400m dash. Also congrats to Sam Ellison who is the only PA alumn in the top 25 for the 800m (1:49.35). PA alumn Dan Lowry sits at 24th for the 3k as well.
Now to some of the big action. Two guys from Minnesota each broke 1:47 this week indoors for 800m running 1:46.97 and 1:46.98. Cas Loxsom and Robby Creese, the freshman sensation from PSU, each ran 1:48 800ms as well. Joey Roberts also tacked on a 1:47.14 for Texas A and M.
Meanwhile Peter Callahan ran a very quick 1k over at the Armory for Princeton, running away from a quality field with a 2:20.78 clocking. It's the 2nd fastest time in the nation thus far this year behind only Robby Creese's record.
In the mile Lawi Lalang, reigning XC National Champion opened up his season with a blazing 3:55.09 Mile, just missing German's indoor record in a race where he beat German by over 10 seconds. 5 guys are now under 4 minutes in the mile including two guys at 3:55. Indiana has 3 guys at 4 flat or faster in the mile this season.
In the 3k, 150 mile weeks paid off for Cam Levins as he blasted a 7:48 national leading time. He beat out BYU stud Miles Batty who ran 7:49 just behind him. Over in Arkansas Elliot Heath, Chris Derrick and Steven Sambu ran 7:50, 7:50, and 7:51 respectively in a tight 3k of their own. Meanwhile Leonard Korir earned a victory with a 7:54 clocking in Boston over Erik Van Ingen's 7:56. 14 runners broke 8 minutes over the weekend.
Levins also had a great performance in the 5k where he sits behind only Estrada after a 13:42 win. Division III's Jordan Schillit from Haverford sits in the top 20 amongst all runners in the nation for 5k after his 14:12 5000m performance.
And of course PA's own Aaron Nadolsky, Wade Endress and Connor Manley teamed up with Robby Creese to run the #1 DMR in the nation at 9:35, just beating out performances by Oregon, Florida, and Texas A and M.
Today I want to talk about college running and the weekend that was in NCAA indoor track. Not gonna sugar coat it, it was epic.
Props to Jermaine Lowery, Micah Murray, and Brandon Bennent-Green who are all top 25 in the nation right now for the 400m dash. Also congrats to Sam Ellison who is the only PA alumn in the top 25 for the 800m (1:49.35). PA alumn Dan Lowry sits at 24th for the 3k as well.
Now to some of the big action. Two guys from Minnesota each broke 1:47 this week indoors for 800m running 1:46.97 and 1:46.98. Cas Loxsom and Robby Creese, the freshman sensation from PSU, each ran 1:48 800ms as well. Joey Roberts also tacked on a 1:47.14 for Texas A and M.
Meanwhile Peter Callahan ran a very quick 1k over at the Armory for Princeton, running away from a quality field with a 2:20.78 clocking. It's the 2nd fastest time in the nation thus far this year behind only Robby Creese's record.
In the mile Lawi Lalang, reigning XC National Champion opened up his season with a blazing 3:55.09 Mile, just missing German's indoor record in a race where he beat German by over 10 seconds. 5 guys are now under 4 minutes in the mile including two guys at 3:55. Indiana has 3 guys at 4 flat or faster in the mile this season.
In the 3k, 150 mile weeks paid off for Cam Levins as he blasted a 7:48 national leading time. He beat out BYU stud Miles Batty who ran 7:49 just behind him. Over in Arkansas Elliot Heath, Chris Derrick and Steven Sambu ran 7:50, 7:50, and 7:51 respectively in a tight 3k of their own. Meanwhile Leonard Korir earned a victory with a 7:54 clocking in Boston over Erik Van Ingen's 7:56. 14 runners broke 8 minutes over the weekend.
Levins also had a great performance in the 5k where he sits behind only Estrada after a 13:42 win. Division III's Jordan Schillit from Haverford sits in the top 20 amongst all runners in the nation for 5k after his 14:12 5000m performance.
And of course PA's own Aaron Nadolsky, Wade Endress and Connor Manley teamed up with Robby Creese to run the #1 DMR in the nation at 9:35, just beating out performances by Oregon, Florida, and Texas A and M.
Alrighty
As you can tell my post names are getting much cleverer.
So I have to finish up talking about some weekend action and such in this post coming up today. Then tomorrow or the next day I am going to try and get up a post about that stud to dud and vice versa stuff that people have been talking about on the comments section. I'll have to do a little research first but I will see what I can do. Then finally, I want to try and finish getting up all the oscar categories so we can end all the voting and stuff in a timely manner.
A few more categories finished off:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Brian Hamilton, O’Hara 4x4
Macey Watson, Abington Team Title, Relays
Kyle Moran, Abington Team Title
Mike Billotta, O’Hara XC
Dillon Farrell, Wissahickon Relays
Dan Davis, North Penn Team Title
Chris Stephens, Cheltenham Relays
Best Actress in a Leading Role (AKA Female Runner of the Year PA HS)
Angel Piccirillo, Homer Center
Meghan McGovern, North Penn
Tori Gerlach, Pennridge
Sara Sargent, Pennsbury
Margo Malone, North Hills
Hannah Grossman, Strath Haven
Chloe Schmidt, State College
Emma Keenan, Gweyned Mercy
Leah Nugent, Abington
Best Adapted Screen Play (AKA Best Breakout Performance)
Conner Quinn, Hatboro Horsham- XC States
Brendan Shearn, North Schuylkill- Henderson 2 Mile
Dan Jaskowak, Grove City- Red White and Blue Invitational
Hong Cho, Wissahickon- District One Championships
Drew Magaha, Upper Moreland- PIAA State Championships
Ned Willig, Great Valley- Yale Invitational
Ann Herman, Pennsbury- XC States
CB West 4x800m- Indoor States
Meredith Speakman- Northeast Regionals
Tommy Gruschow, Trinity- District 3 Championships
Best Animated Feature (AKA Best Performance by an Underclassman)
Ryan Smathers, North East- Outdoor States
Brad Rivera, Bensalem- District One Championships
Sara Sargent, Pennsbury- Indoor States
Wellington Zaza, Upper Darby- Indoor States
Brent Kennedy, Kiski Area- XC States
Tony Russel, West Chester Henderson- District One XC
Courtney Smith, Unionville- XC States
Natalie Deacon, West Chester Henderson- Outdoor States
Best Documentary Feature (AKA Best New Penntrack Poster)
Etrain69
Runthrowjump
Oxygen Deprived
j119rinker
rnicklas
________________________________
Ok, so now on to somethings about this past weekend. First of all, have to apologize to Wilson because I didn't realize he was running at MSG. Yes, I know I probably should have known that, but I overlooked it and that makes a difference. Still not overly impressed, but a much better performance. He still needs to keep the pace fast if he is going to have any shot at beating Ned if you ask me.
Also the 800m info from Glenn Mills was helpful, explained a lot to me so thank you.
Also I will throw this out there, if anyone has Wiss 4x8 splits? Someone was asking for them, so if you could post them here if you have them that'd be amazing.
I hadn't seen the Susquehanna meet results when I wrote my last post so I figured I'd mention my opinions on them here.
First off, nice shot put by Kyle Long at 56-6. Aaron Willet 7.48 in the 55m HH also a nice time to see. That race has a lot of depth and he just adds to the list of guys from the Centeral League so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out at states. In a race like this you never know what may happen.
How about some nice 4x8s from somewhere out of D1. Chambersburg, who has one of my big sleeper picks for this year Ryun Holder on the roster, and Cumberland Valley, led by Alec Kunzweiler who I don't think can be called a sleeper anymore after XC, both raced their way to states with 8:17s. Very close finish, which I'd like to think was made possible by big anchor legs by the two guys mentioned above.
I see the DMR being the hot event at states so these teams both may have a shot at a top 5 finish at states depending on how fresh their legs are coming in.
TJ Elliot can move. 6.48 in the 55m dash, defending state champion, should be dangerous at the state meet again.
Coatesville a nice little upset of sorts in the 4x2, maybe a relay to watch as time goes on.
A nice win for Kunzweiler in the mile, nice runs by Burke and Rotz as well. Kunzweiler is already in for the 8, which I see as his event, but Burke and Rotz and have been nipping at the heels of the times needed to get to states for some time now. I think Burke can definitely get in and would have liked to have seen him take a shot at the 3k. Maybe he will get another shot at it and hopefully he can get in.
Holder modest win in the 800. I see big things in his future this season. Not going to say anything bold right now, but I think, especially in the spring, he is going to be dangerous.
I liked the Speakman Rome matchup in the girls 3k. It intrigued me. Just saying.
And of course you gotta mention Shearn's 3k and how he appearently was tripped up en route to his finishing kick which is a big shame for a guy who may not be taking another shot at going to states. I hope to see him on the entries for Carlisle or something like that, but no guarentees. Obviously a tremendous talent and tough miss at a tough time. Wilkinson and Jones also were misses. I hoped for faster from both, especially Wilkinson who is a returning state medalist, but honestly these guys are, and will be, outdoor guys. They don't come from a prominent indoor area, and it is tough for them to hop on a fast track every weekend and get in racing shape.
-train
So I have to finish up talking about some weekend action and such in this post coming up today. Then tomorrow or the next day I am going to try and get up a post about that stud to dud and vice versa stuff that people have been talking about on the comments section. I'll have to do a little research first but I will see what I can do. Then finally, I want to try and finish getting up all the oscar categories so we can end all the voting and stuff in a timely manner.
A few more categories finished off:
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Brian Hamilton, O’Hara 4x4
Macey Watson, Abington Team Title, Relays
Kyle Moran, Abington Team Title
Mike Billotta, O’Hara XC
Dillon Farrell, Wissahickon Relays
Dan Davis, North Penn Team Title
Chris Stephens, Cheltenham Relays
Best Actress in a Leading Role (AKA Female Runner of the Year PA HS)
Angel Piccirillo, Homer Center
Meghan McGovern, North Penn
Tori Gerlach, Pennridge
Sara Sargent, Pennsbury
Margo Malone, North Hills
Hannah Grossman, Strath Haven
Chloe Schmidt, State College
Emma Keenan, Gweyned Mercy
Leah Nugent, Abington
Best Adapted Screen Play (AKA Best Breakout Performance)
Conner Quinn, Hatboro Horsham- XC States
Brendan Shearn, North Schuylkill- Henderson 2 Mile
Dan Jaskowak, Grove City- Red White and Blue Invitational
Hong Cho, Wissahickon- District One Championships
Drew Magaha, Upper Moreland- PIAA State Championships
Ned Willig, Great Valley- Yale Invitational
Ann Herman, Pennsbury- XC States
CB West 4x800m- Indoor States
Meredith Speakman- Northeast Regionals
Tommy Gruschow, Trinity- District 3 Championships
Best Animated Feature (AKA Best Performance by an Underclassman)
Ryan Smathers, North East- Outdoor States
Brad Rivera, Bensalem- District One Championships
Sara Sargent, Pennsbury- Indoor States
Wellington Zaza, Upper Darby- Indoor States
Brent Kennedy, Kiski Area- XC States
Tony Russel, West Chester Henderson- District One XC
Courtney Smith, Unionville- XC States
Natalie Deacon, West Chester Henderson- Outdoor States
Best Documentary Feature (AKA Best New Penntrack Poster)
Etrain69
Runthrowjump
Oxygen Deprived
j119rinker
rnicklas
________________________________
Ok, so now on to somethings about this past weekend. First of all, have to apologize to Wilson because I didn't realize he was running at MSG. Yes, I know I probably should have known that, but I overlooked it and that makes a difference. Still not overly impressed, but a much better performance. He still needs to keep the pace fast if he is going to have any shot at beating Ned if you ask me.
Also the 800m info from Glenn Mills was helpful, explained a lot to me so thank you.
Also I will throw this out there, if anyone has Wiss 4x8 splits? Someone was asking for them, so if you could post them here if you have them that'd be amazing.
I hadn't seen the Susquehanna meet results when I wrote my last post so I figured I'd mention my opinions on them here.
First off, nice shot put by Kyle Long at 56-6. Aaron Willet 7.48 in the 55m HH also a nice time to see. That race has a lot of depth and he just adds to the list of guys from the Centeral League so it will be interesting to see how everything plays out at states. In a race like this you never know what may happen.
How about some nice 4x8s from somewhere out of D1. Chambersburg, who has one of my big sleeper picks for this year Ryun Holder on the roster, and Cumberland Valley, led by Alec Kunzweiler who I don't think can be called a sleeper anymore after XC, both raced their way to states with 8:17s. Very close finish, which I'd like to think was made possible by big anchor legs by the two guys mentioned above.
I see the DMR being the hot event at states so these teams both may have a shot at a top 5 finish at states depending on how fresh their legs are coming in.
TJ Elliot can move. 6.48 in the 55m dash, defending state champion, should be dangerous at the state meet again.
Coatesville a nice little upset of sorts in the 4x2, maybe a relay to watch as time goes on.
A nice win for Kunzweiler in the mile, nice runs by Burke and Rotz as well. Kunzweiler is already in for the 8, which I see as his event, but Burke and Rotz and have been nipping at the heels of the times needed to get to states for some time now. I think Burke can definitely get in and would have liked to have seen him take a shot at the 3k. Maybe he will get another shot at it and hopefully he can get in.
Holder modest win in the 800. I see big things in his future this season. Not going to say anything bold right now, but I think, especially in the spring, he is going to be dangerous.
I liked the Speakman Rome matchup in the girls 3k. It intrigued me. Just saying.
And of course you gotta mention Shearn's 3k and how he appearently was tripped up en route to his finishing kick which is a big shame for a guy who may not be taking another shot at going to states. I hope to see him on the entries for Carlisle or something like that, but no guarentees. Obviously a tremendous talent and tough miss at a tough time. Wilkinson and Jones also were misses. I hoped for faster from both, especially Wilkinson who is a returning state medalist, but honestly these guys are, and will be, outdoor guys. They don't come from a prominent indoor area, and it is tough for them to hop on a fast track every weekend and get in racing shape.
-train
Weekend Action
It was a fairly busy day for me, and quite frankly there wasn't much action from this past weekend to get me super excited about going to work on this blog post. I realize that I have completely forgot to address anything from out west over the past few posts because there are plenty of those kinda guys who can make noise at states. BUT it doesn't look like the names that I thought would be out front are ready to take that next step.
Alex Moran came into this year in the same kind of realm as Willig and Magaha, I believed he could at least mix it up with those guys. But the fact of the matter is indoors is taken more seriously out here in the philly area and Moran is just not where he needs to be yet coming off this past XC season, which he probably was a little disappointed with in itself.
And this isn't all about Moran. Let's look at the mile field at TSTCAs this past weekend. We are talking about Moran, Bojarski, Smathers, Culley, and Lednak all guys with some big race experience and nice PRs and the guy who pulled out the W was Tyler Rigby? No offense, but I have never heard of this guy before.
But he should be on some people's radar now. Based off the seed time that was a pretty nice PR and he could be a factor for a state medal down the road if he continues to improve after what was probably his first race all winter.
As for the 3k, I was a little let down once again, but this is a great start for Kuchta. Maybe a little lower at XC states than he was hoping for/expecting but he ran a pretty solid opening 3k around 9:01 and winning comfortably. You have to remember he has the best 3200 PR out of anyone I can think of in PA without the last name Wilson. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that is accurate.
As for Steiner and Moran a little disappointing on both fronts, but these guys will come around. Caleb Wakeley looks pretty good, he ended last season right around this point that he is at now. I could definitely see him qualifying for states and mixing it up for a 3k state medal. He, Steiner, and Kuchta all are on my list of guys I expect to hit the standard. Moran could hit it I think if he goes for it at the right meet.
These guys are going to improve, but I was just kind of hoping to see at least somebody open up fast like Rad or Gil, but hey, there is time.
As for the association meets on this side of the state, I was once again underwhelmed. Billotta ran nice, Kelly did ok, Harriman had a nice under distance win over some big names with some slow times. That's about all I got off the top of my head. A nice set of 4x8s at the D2 meet also with Henderson and Wiss running well.
I guess Glenn Mills really just isn't a fast track and without Ned and Drew to headline things I was just a little depressed I guess.
Oh and I suppose I should mention Dustin had a nice mile. But once again kind of underwhelming in result. He ran 4:17 last year around a similar time and he has already opened up in the 3k this season with a sub 8:50 performance. A 4:22 is kind of a let down. Obviously, probably slow race conditions, Watkins was also a slow time, so I give Dustin a pass and assume he got on the wrong side of a kicker's race.
But if he wants to do this event at states and give Ned a run for his money he can't let the winning time be 4:19.
This is all speculation of course. It is probably more likely Dustin will hang fresh for the 3k and try and go after the record indoors of 8:22 held by Craig Miller. I just want him to go after the mile and the 3k to make things a little more interesting from where I am sitting.
As much as I like pushes for record setting performances, I like seeing close races a bit better and right now on the Distance side if Ned runs mile and 8 and Dustin just runs the 3k I see 3 blow out wins coming and 3 misses (probably close misses, but all the same misses) of state records in the process.
Alex Moran came into this year in the same kind of realm as Willig and Magaha, I believed he could at least mix it up with those guys. But the fact of the matter is indoors is taken more seriously out here in the philly area and Moran is just not where he needs to be yet coming off this past XC season, which he probably was a little disappointed with in itself.
And this isn't all about Moran. Let's look at the mile field at TSTCAs this past weekend. We are talking about Moran, Bojarski, Smathers, Culley, and Lednak all guys with some big race experience and nice PRs and the guy who pulled out the W was Tyler Rigby? No offense, but I have never heard of this guy before.
But he should be on some people's radar now. Based off the seed time that was a pretty nice PR and he could be a factor for a state medal down the road if he continues to improve after what was probably his first race all winter.
As for the 3k, I was a little let down once again, but this is a great start for Kuchta. Maybe a little lower at XC states than he was hoping for/expecting but he ran a pretty solid opening 3k around 9:01 and winning comfortably. You have to remember he has the best 3200 PR out of anyone I can think of in PA without the last name Wilson. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that is accurate.
As for Steiner and Moran a little disappointing on both fronts, but these guys will come around. Caleb Wakeley looks pretty good, he ended last season right around this point that he is at now. I could definitely see him qualifying for states and mixing it up for a 3k state medal. He, Steiner, and Kuchta all are on my list of guys I expect to hit the standard. Moran could hit it I think if he goes for it at the right meet.
These guys are going to improve, but I was just kind of hoping to see at least somebody open up fast like Rad or Gil, but hey, there is time.
As for the association meets on this side of the state, I was once again underwhelmed. Billotta ran nice, Kelly did ok, Harriman had a nice under distance win over some big names with some slow times. That's about all I got off the top of my head. A nice set of 4x8s at the D2 meet also with Henderson and Wiss running well.
I guess Glenn Mills really just isn't a fast track and without Ned and Drew to headline things I was just a little depressed I guess.
Oh and I suppose I should mention Dustin had a nice mile. But once again kind of underwhelming in result. He ran 4:17 last year around a similar time and he has already opened up in the 3k this season with a sub 8:50 performance. A 4:22 is kind of a let down. Obviously, probably slow race conditions, Watkins was also a slow time, so I give Dustin a pass and assume he got on the wrong side of a kicker's race.
But if he wants to do this event at states and give Ned a run for his money he can't let the winning time be 4:19.
This is all speculation of course. It is probably more likely Dustin will hang fresh for the 3k and try and go after the record indoors of 8:22 held by Craig Miller. I just want him to go after the mile and the 3k to make things a little more interesting from where I am sitting.
As much as I like pushes for record setting performances, I like seeing close races a bit better and right now on the Distance side if Ned runs mile and 8 and Dustin just runs the 3k I see 3 blow out wins coming and 3 misses (probably close misses, but all the same misses) of state records in the process.
Best Art Direction (AKA Best Cross Country Course of the Year)
Lehigh
Hershey
Belmont
Westtown
Sunken Meadow
Cooper’s Lake
Carlisle
Best Cinematography (AKA Best Track Meet of the Year)
Henderson Invititational
Penn Relays
Outdoor States
Indoor States
Baldwin Invitational
Kevin Dare Invitational
Best Costume Design (AKA Coolest Uniforms of the Year)
North Allegheny
Cheltenham
Matt Gilmore
West Chester Henderson
Cardinal O’Hara
Pennsbury
North Penn
Strath Haven
Lehigh
Hershey
Belmont
Westtown
Sunken Meadow
Cooper’s Lake
Carlisle
Best Cinematography (AKA Best Track Meet of the Year)
Henderson Invititational
Penn Relays
Outdoor States
Indoor States
Baldwin Invitational
Kevin Dare Invitational
Best Costume Design (AKA Coolest Uniforms of the Year)
North Allegheny
Cheltenham
Matt Gilmore
West Chester Henderson
Cardinal O’Hara
Pennsbury
North Penn
Strath Haven
Friday, Slow Day
It's slow rainy day here at the blog, and I never seem to be in my room anymore to check my list of nominees for all the races which is upsetting because I feel that is slowing the process. Just a reminder to prevent confusion, before I was accepting nominees for the Oscars, now is the actual voting for who will win the Oscars. Just clarifying.
I figured I'd start off by throwing a quick shout out at Evan Mao. He is an avid reader of the blog, despite being a thrower (and if I don't talk about sprinters, I really don't talk about throwers), and he has made great strides so far this indoor season, by coming a real factor to go to the state championships. Keep up the good work Evan.
Anyway moving on.
Perhaps the biggest news, that I literally just found out 2 seconds before I started typing this is Drew Magaha, the 2 time Oscar Nominee and winner of the Best Animated Feature award in 2011, has Mono. It's tough because Mono can kill a season. Some types of Mono can last only a bit, others can take you out for a while. We saw Sarah Sargent come back and run a very nice 3k indoors after Mono in XC (a race which arguably is the highlight of her career to date), but we also saw Katie Kinkead struggle to get back into shape after her bout with Mono. It effects everyone differently, and it is not fun.
My hope is Drew gets healthy and is ready for a big outdoor season, but the fact of the matter is this opens the door for a lot of other people. Ned is suddenly an overwhelming favorite in the mile and the 800m, and if Dustin Wilson runs only the 3k, Ned can win both races without much trouble at all. No offense to the field, its just the class this guy is in right now.
Also this means we probably won't see the indoor mile record go down this season, unless Ned can find a way to run 4:11 at what very well may be a tactical race at Millrose. No guarentees here of course, but I see the record being safe for at least another year (and honestly I don't see anyone breaking it any time soon out of the underclassmen, but you never know).
The epic race that I had been looking forward to all winter of Magaha vs. Willig is now just a dream. I can't see how Drew can make it back in time and be in good enough shape to compete with Ned who is at the top of his game right now.
This also means guys like Brett Kelly and Jack Huemmler and Joe O'Such may enter the mile rather than save up for the 3k or the DMR or the 800m. Willig is the heavy favorite but say he opts for another chase at the 800m state record or he runs too tactical and gets surprised by someone else. Look at Tom Kehl in the outdoor 16, he was a huge favorite and Will Kellar ended up surprising and outkicking him. Anything is possible in a race, especially a race that won't be dominated outfront by Drew and Ned out front.
This is all of course pure speculation, but we will see what goes down this winter. Spring is another story entirely. We can cross that bridge when we get to it.
I figured I'd start off by throwing a quick shout out at Evan Mao. He is an avid reader of the blog, despite being a thrower (and if I don't talk about sprinters, I really don't talk about throwers), and he has made great strides so far this indoor season, by coming a real factor to go to the state championships. Keep up the good work Evan.
Anyway moving on.
Perhaps the biggest news, that I literally just found out 2 seconds before I started typing this is Drew Magaha, the 2 time Oscar Nominee and winner of the Best Animated Feature award in 2011, has Mono. It's tough because Mono can kill a season. Some types of Mono can last only a bit, others can take you out for a while. We saw Sarah Sargent come back and run a very nice 3k indoors after Mono in XC (a race which arguably is the highlight of her career to date), but we also saw Katie Kinkead struggle to get back into shape after her bout with Mono. It effects everyone differently, and it is not fun.
My hope is Drew gets healthy and is ready for a big outdoor season, but the fact of the matter is this opens the door for a lot of other people. Ned is suddenly an overwhelming favorite in the mile and the 800m, and if Dustin Wilson runs only the 3k, Ned can win both races without much trouble at all. No offense to the field, its just the class this guy is in right now.
Also this means we probably won't see the indoor mile record go down this season, unless Ned can find a way to run 4:11 at what very well may be a tactical race at Millrose. No guarentees here of course, but I see the record being safe for at least another year (and honestly I don't see anyone breaking it any time soon out of the underclassmen, but you never know).
The epic race that I had been looking forward to all winter of Magaha vs. Willig is now just a dream. I can't see how Drew can make it back in time and be in good enough shape to compete with Ned who is at the top of his game right now.
This also means guys like Brett Kelly and Jack Huemmler and Joe O'Such may enter the mile rather than save up for the 3k or the DMR or the 800m. Willig is the heavy favorite but say he opts for another chase at the 800m state record or he runs too tactical and gets surprised by someone else. Look at Tom Kehl in the outdoor 16, he was a huge favorite and Will Kellar ended up surprising and outkicking him. Anything is possible in a race, especially a race that won't be dominated outfront by Drew and Ned out front.
This is all of course pure speculation, but we will see what goes down this winter. Spring is another story entirely. We can cross that bridge when we get to it.
Oscar Nominees- Best Actor
So right now I am in between classes and don't have the time to go back to my room and check my work document, but I did want to get at least one category worth of nominees up online and I need a post for the day so this seems like the perfect situation.
Therefore the nominees are (this is just off the top of my head so if I miss someone they may be added back on a little later):
Hong Cho, Wissahickon- Hong Cho began the Oscar season with a 4th place finish at the indoor state championships in the 800m in a very solid time of 1:54.94. He then ran the lead off leg of the state champion Wissahickon DMR. But Hong didn't settle after an impressive indoor season. He ran multiple 1:52 in opens and relays, took down Dustin Wilson in an early season mile race, and helped his 4x8 and 4x4 teams place well at the Penn Relays with impressive splits. At the end of the season, Hong was at full stride as he ran 1:50.92 to win the District Championship and break Tom Mallon's meet record. He then won the state championship in the individual 800, while also helping lead his 4x400m squad to a solid medal finish. He finished the season with a 1:50.41 800m PR from the Henderson meet in June.
Wade Endress, Altoona- Wade Endress began the Oscar season with a historic indoor states double that included a surprising state record on the double in the 800m, running away from great racers like Nate McClafferty and Kyle Moran with furious last laps. He ran 4:13.34 and then 1:51.73 at a meet record (and at the time a state record). Unfortunately, injury struck Wade in the outdoor season of his senior year. He managed to battle back and run hard to achieve another impressive double at states with a 4:13.77 and 1:53.76 time in each, earning him 4th and 3rd respectively. Without Wade's early pacing in the 1600m to ensure it wasn't tactical, the state record may not have gone down quite as decisively as it did.
Eric Futch, Pennwood- Futch began his own Best Actor campaign with a well earned second place finish in the 60m hurdles to rival Chris Williams from Strath Haven. His Pennwood relays narrowly missed medals in the 4x4 and 4x2. But come outdoors Futch was determined to not let the story be near misses. He ran a season best 14.24 110m Hurdles at Delcos, but his focus was the 300m Hurdles. Come states, he not only ran away from former champion Kowan Scott, he also blasted a 36.43 state record in the 300m hurdles. He can also boast a 21.32 200m PR and a sub 3:20 4x400m relay squad. Futch went on to continue his spring season into the summer where he added another state record with a 51.67 400m hurdle race. His listed PR in the open 400m at the time was 51.66. Futch has not let his foot off the gas this indoors, already powering through a 3:21 4x4, 1:29 4x2, 22.37 200m, 50.30 400m and #20 all time 300m in 33.56 (all state leading times if you convert from flat to banked track).
Ryan Gil, North Allegheny- Gil had a great indoor season helping his DMR qualify for the state finals and also winning the 3000m looking fairly comfortable over Tom Trainer. He went on to the Penn Relays and capped off his 3ks for the season with 8:30.91 clocking. The future looked bright for Gil when he unleashed a 4:13.70 mile at the Baldwin invite for the win, and then came back to the 32 over a stacked field in 9:13. Ultimately, sickness ended Gil's outdoor season early, but many thought, if healthy, he would have defeated Burkhardt for the state title.
Matt Gilmore, Cheltenham- Matt Gilmore played the role of super hero in the early parts of the Oscar season as he nearly carried Cheltenham to an indoor state title by himself. Running on what many thought to be a crippling leg injury, Gilmore won the 400m and 200m and the indoor state championship. But he wasn't done just yet. He also pulled off a come from behind victory in the 4x200m and nearly caught Abington in the 4x400m final that decided the state championship. Gilmore did help lead his tired squad to a second place finish in the 4x4 in an under 3:20 clocking. Abington's relay had set the 4x400m state record earlier that winter. Outdoors Gilmore, didn't race the clock, he raced his foes and he amassed some impressive wins (and also some impressive records) in route to a gold medal in the 400m at Outdoor States (and a runner up finish in the 200m on a questionable disqualification call).
Drew Magaha, Upper Moreland- Drew Magaha took the track world by storm, after what some might call a disappointing winter, Magaha torched the track in the Spring of 2011, earning him the nickname Megaha. Ok, maybe that was just a type-o. But Magaha did amass meet records wherever he went outdoors, including league, district, and state records in the 1600m over consecutive weeks. His 4:07.32 with a 58 second close, smashed the state meet record and left people wondering what he could do the next season. Magaha came off this track season with high expectations for his first serious cross season. His work paid off as he won the hotly contested District One Championships easily in 15:16 and came up just short at states, finishing 6th. This indoor season has had some highlights as well, including a supposed 1:52 relay split and a Lehigh track record 1:54.2 800m.
Connor Manley, CB West- Connor Manley was a little known entity in 2010, but in 2011 he took the track world by storm as he led CB West's squad to high relay success. In the 4x800m indoors Manley anchored his squad to a stunning upset win over then state record holders and future national champs Abington and in the process reset the state record in the 4x800m. He also ran on the 4x400m team that medaled indoors. But CB West did not settle, outdoors their Penn Relays squad ran under 7:40 and Manley clocked his first 1:51 split. At districts, after running easily to victory in the 4x800m, Manley ran hard and helped push Cho to the District record as Manley ran a 1:51.50 (also under the old district record). At the Outdoor State Championships, Manley ran a huge anchor leg of about 1:51 flat to catch Will Taylor on the final straightaway and seal another big win in the 4x8.
Conner Quinn, Hatboro Horsham- Conner Quinn was just known as Sam Hibbs training partner when the cross country season started this past fall, but Quinn began turning heads with a big win at the Suburban One League Championships, a 3rd place finish at the District Championships and a huge PR, and then a stunning upset win at the State Championships for Cross Country as just a Junior.
Will Taylor, Abington- Will Taylor started the year as a relative unknown on an Abington squad with big names like Kyle Moran, Tevin Smith and Macey Watson, but when all was said and done Taylor may have been the story of the year. He moved up to the 800m and helped Abington set a then indoor state record in the 4x800m. He followed it up with a key leg on the Abington 4x400m that set the indoor state record. Then Taylor ran 3 solid races at the state championships (including a second place finish in the 400m to Gilmore and an anchor leg holding off Gilmore in the 4x400m) to help Abington win the team title. Outdoors Taylor was the key leg in Abington's big Penn Relays sub 7:40 clocking dropping a stunning PR of 1:53. He helped anchor Abington's relays at the state championship to a pair of second place finishes, both nearly wins.
Ned Willig, Great Valley- Ned Willig had a fairly disappointing finish to his indoor season when his team finished just 7th in the DMR at the state championships. But he did not get discouraged as he put together a fantastic outdoor season that included a 1:51.10 and 4:11.99 in the 800m and 1600m respectively. He took home 3rd at the outdoor state championships as a Junior and helped his sprint medley team become All-Americans (with a 1:51 split). In cross country Ned helped lead his young Great Valley squad to a second place finish at Districts, behind his own second place finish, and ran to a top 10 finish at the XC State Championships. Willig began his indoor season fast with a runner up finish to Cheserek a 1:55 800m and then an armory win that earned him a trip to the Millrose games. Then, the number 1:51 proved to be significant one more time for Willig, who astounded with a 1:51.25 #8 AT 800m for the indoor state record. The third time the record has been broken in the past 4 years.
Dustin Wilson, Chesnut Hill Academy- Dustin Wilson started the year with a bold decision to forgo the mile and 3000m at the state championship indoors and opt for the DMR instead. Unfortunately, his sacrifice did not pay off right away as the team just missed a state medal. However, at nationals Wilson clocked an impressive 4:14 anchor split to bring the team the title from the slow section. Then, in another slow section win, he earned All-American honors in the 2 mile, running 9:12. Wilson had a relatively quiet outdoors before going on a tear at season's end that included a 9:02, 15:01 and 4:12ish clocking in the DMR that ran a very quick time under 10:20. His All-American status was fulfilled for a third straight season when he finished 13th at Footlocker Nationals in the fall and earned the Gatorade XC runner of the year for Pennsylvania.
Feel free to vote on this category now if you want, or you can wait til I have posted every category. Just comment on the post or message me on facebook or something to vote.
Have a great day everyone.
Therefore the nominees are (this is just off the top of my head so if I miss someone they may be added back on a little later):
Hong Cho, Wissahickon- Hong Cho began the Oscar season with a 4th place finish at the indoor state championships in the 800m in a very solid time of 1:54.94. He then ran the lead off leg of the state champion Wissahickon DMR. But Hong didn't settle after an impressive indoor season. He ran multiple 1:52 in opens and relays, took down Dustin Wilson in an early season mile race, and helped his 4x8 and 4x4 teams place well at the Penn Relays with impressive splits. At the end of the season, Hong was at full stride as he ran 1:50.92 to win the District Championship and break Tom Mallon's meet record. He then won the state championship in the individual 800, while also helping lead his 4x400m squad to a solid medal finish. He finished the season with a 1:50.41 800m PR from the Henderson meet in June.
Wade Endress, Altoona- Wade Endress began the Oscar season with a historic indoor states double that included a surprising state record on the double in the 800m, running away from great racers like Nate McClafferty and Kyle Moran with furious last laps. He ran 4:13.34 and then 1:51.73 at a meet record (and at the time a state record). Unfortunately, injury struck Wade in the outdoor season of his senior year. He managed to battle back and run hard to achieve another impressive double at states with a 4:13.77 and 1:53.76 time in each, earning him 4th and 3rd respectively. Without Wade's early pacing in the 1600m to ensure it wasn't tactical, the state record may not have gone down quite as decisively as it did.
Eric Futch, Pennwood- Futch began his own Best Actor campaign with a well earned second place finish in the 60m hurdles to rival Chris Williams from Strath Haven. His Pennwood relays narrowly missed medals in the 4x4 and 4x2. But come outdoors Futch was determined to not let the story be near misses. He ran a season best 14.24 110m Hurdles at Delcos, but his focus was the 300m Hurdles. Come states, he not only ran away from former champion Kowan Scott, he also blasted a 36.43 state record in the 300m hurdles. He can also boast a 21.32 200m PR and a sub 3:20 4x400m relay squad. Futch went on to continue his spring season into the summer where he added another state record with a 51.67 400m hurdle race. His listed PR in the open 400m at the time was 51.66. Futch has not let his foot off the gas this indoors, already powering through a 3:21 4x4, 1:29 4x2, 22.37 200m, 50.30 400m and #20 all time 300m in 33.56 (all state leading times if you convert from flat to banked track).
Ryan Gil, North Allegheny- Gil had a great indoor season helping his DMR qualify for the state finals and also winning the 3000m looking fairly comfortable over Tom Trainer. He went on to the Penn Relays and capped off his 3ks for the season with 8:30.91 clocking. The future looked bright for Gil when he unleashed a 4:13.70 mile at the Baldwin invite for the win, and then came back to the 32 over a stacked field in 9:13. Ultimately, sickness ended Gil's outdoor season early, but many thought, if healthy, he would have defeated Burkhardt for the state title.
Matt Gilmore, Cheltenham- Matt Gilmore played the role of super hero in the early parts of the Oscar season as he nearly carried Cheltenham to an indoor state title by himself. Running on what many thought to be a crippling leg injury, Gilmore won the 400m and 200m and the indoor state championship. But he wasn't done just yet. He also pulled off a come from behind victory in the 4x200m and nearly caught Abington in the 4x400m final that decided the state championship. Gilmore did help lead his tired squad to a second place finish in the 4x4 in an under 3:20 clocking. Abington's relay had set the 4x400m state record earlier that winter. Outdoors Gilmore, didn't race the clock, he raced his foes and he amassed some impressive wins (and also some impressive records) in route to a gold medal in the 400m at Outdoor States (and a runner up finish in the 200m on a questionable disqualification call).
Drew Magaha, Upper Moreland- Drew Magaha took the track world by storm, after what some might call a disappointing winter, Magaha torched the track in the Spring of 2011, earning him the nickname Megaha. Ok, maybe that was just a type-o. But Magaha did amass meet records wherever he went outdoors, including league, district, and state records in the 1600m over consecutive weeks. His 4:07.32 with a 58 second close, smashed the state meet record and left people wondering what he could do the next season. Magaha came off this track season with high expectations for his first serious cross season. His work paid off as he won the hotly contested District One Championships easily in 15:16 and came up just short at states, finishing 6th. This indoor season has had some highlights as well, including a supposed 1:52 relay split and a Lehigh track record 1:54.2 800m.
Connor Manley, CB West- Connor Manley was a little known entity in 2010, but in 2011 he took the track world by storm as he led CB West's squad to high relay success. In the 4x800m indoors Manley anchored his squad to a stunning upset win over then state record holders and future national champs Abington and in the process reset the state record in the 4x800m. He also ran on the 4x400m team that medaled indoors. But CB West did not settle, outdoors their Penn Relays squad ran under 7:40 and Manley clocked his first 1:51 split. At districts, after running easily to victory in the 4x800m, Manley ran hard and helped push Cho to the District record as Manley ran a 1:51.50 (also under the old district record). At the Outdoor State Championships, Manley ran a huge anchor leg of about 1:51 flat to catch Will Taylor on the final straightaway and seal another big win in the 4x8.
Conner Quinn, Hatboro Horsham- Conner Quinn was just known as Sam Hibbs training partner when the cross country season started this past fall, but Quinn began turning heads with a big win at the Suburban One League Championships, a 3rd place finish at the District Championships and a huge PR, and then a stunning upset win at the State Championships for Cross Country as just a Junior.
Will Taylor, Abington- Will Taylor started the year as a relative unknown on an Abington squad with big names like Kyle Moran, Tevin Smith and Macey Watson, but when all was said and done Taylor may have been the story of the year. He moved up to the 800m and helped Abington set a then indoor state record in the 4x800m. He followed it up with a key leg on the Abington 4x400m that set the indoor state record. Then Taylor ran 3 solid races at the state championships (including a second place finish in the 400m to Gilmore and an anchor leg holding off Gilmore in the 4x400m) to help Abington win the team title. Outdoors Taylor was the key leg in Abington's big Penn Relays sub 7:40 clocking dropping a stunning PR of 1:53. He helped anchor Abington's relays at the state championship to a pair of second place finishes, both nearly wins.
Ned Willig, Great Valley- Ned Willig had a fairly disappointing finish to his indoor season when his team finished just 7th in the DMR at the state championships. But he did not get discouraged as he put together a fantastic outdoor season that included a 1:51.10 and 4:11.99 in the 800m and 1600m respectively. He took home 3rd at the outdoor state championships as a Junior and helped his sprint medley team become All-Americans (with a 1:51 split). In cross country Ned helped lead his young Great Valley squad to a second place finish at Districts, behind his own second place finish, and ran to a top 10 finish at the XC State Championships. Willig began his indoor season fast with a runner up finish to Cheserek a 1:55 800m and then an armory win that earned him a trip to the Millrose games. Then, the number 1:51 proved to be significant one more time for Willig, who astounded with a 1:51.25 #8 AT 800m for the indoor state record. The third time the record has been broken in the past 4 years.
Dustin Wilson, Chesnut Hill Academy- Dustin Wilson started the year with a bold decision to forgo the mile and 3000m at the state championship indoors and opt for the DMR instead. Unfortunately, his sacrifice did not pay off right away as the team just missed a state medal. However, at nationals Wilson clocked an impressive 4:14 anchor split to bring the team the title from the slow section. Then, in another slow section win, he earned All-American honors in the 2 mile, running 9:12. Wilson had a relatively quiet outdoors before going on a tear at season's end that included a 9:02, 15:01 and 4:12ish clocking in the DMR that ran a very quick time under 10:20. His All-American status was fulfilled for a third straight season when he finished 13th at Footlocker Nationals in the fall and earned the Gatorade XC runner of the year for Pennsylvania.
Feel free to vote on this category now if you want, or you can wait til I have posted every category. Just comment on the post or message me on facebook or something to vote.
Have a great day everyone.
The Show Goes On
So for some reason, blogger doesn't seem to have any backgrounds that actually make the poll visible in terms of the names listed and the results with percentages so thats just dandy. If you highlight the box and go over the names with your mouse it makes it easier to see, so hopefully that helps. I'll continue to experiment with backgrounds and such.
Also I got the slideshow up on the side bar and you can click on that to see the full album up close. There are still a few glitches with that left to work out as well, but we are making progress here.
I don't know how accurate the total page views or the popular post links are, but they are up and hopefully they add to your blogging experience here. I'm trying to find some other things to update with that our cool so we shall see how that goes.
Also I just wanted to say the title of this post should in no way indicate any opinions about the poll, I was just referring to the fact that the blog is still ticking along nicely and my post streak is still very much alive.
Exciting stuff.
Also, the nominees for the real oscars came out just the other day which made me think .... I should put up the nominees for my oscars. You see the oscars, like the NFL, is a copy cat league, just ask the golden globes, so I will be putting up my oscar nominees some time in the near future. Hopefully tomorrow.
It may take a couple posts because I am planning on giving at least a little snippet of why they are up for the award to hopefully help the voting, and make it easier and what not.
Should be a fun time if all goes right.
So anyway stay active and if you have any comments or concerns or anything just let me know.
Stay classy.
Also I got the slideshow up on the side bar and you can click on that to see the full album up close. There are still a few glitches with that left to work out as well, but we are making progress here.
I don't know how accurate the total page views or the popular post links are, but they are up and hopefully they add to your blogging experience here. I'm trying to find some other things to update with that our cool so we shall see how that goes.
Also I just wanted to say the title of this post should in no way indicate any opinions about the poll, I was just referring to the fact that the blog is still ticking along nicely and my post streak is still very much alive.
Exciting stuff.
Also, the nominees for the real oscars came out just the other day which made me think .... I should put up the nominees for my oscars. You see the oscars, like the NFL, is a copy cat league, just ask the golden globes, so I will be putting up my oscar nominees some time in the near future. Hopefully tomorrow.
It may take a couple posts because I am planning on giving at least a little snippet of why they are up for the award to hopefully help the voting, and make it easier and what not.
Should be a fun time if all goes right.
So anyway stay active and if you have any comments or concerns or anything just let me know.
Stay classy.
Kevin Dare Photos
So here are some photos from a memeber of the trainstation from the kevin dare invite. I'm trying to figure out a way to add these to the blog as a slideshow, but I figure you guys shouldn't have to wait for me to get technologically savy before you can see yourselves in action.
Here's the link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104394970536802274493/KevinDare2012
Big thanks to trainstation's Jack Huemmler for his work, this is a great addition to the blog.
Here's the link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/104394970536802274493/KevinDare2012
Big thanks to trainstation's Jack Huemmler for his work, this is a great addition to the blog.
Millrose Games
Honestly, this isn't going to be PA based conversation really so if you aren't prepared for that feel free to ignore this post. However, I must warn you that the context of this post should get you really excited for the Millrose games. I know I just read something that made me want to hop in the car right now and buy tickets.
First off I'll just throw a couple of things out there that are noteworthy. Strath Haven and Notre Dame were both invited for the girls 4x800m race, while Penncrest and Strath Haven were invited on the men's side. Great Valley is a 4x800m alternate right now, not quite sure if they will get in.
Strath Haven and Penncrest both have serious shots at sub 8 minute 4x8s at this meet with ideal competition. CBA is entered and they just had two guys in the open go 1:55 and 1:56 I believe. They are also defending national champions in cross country. 4 other teams come in with sub 8 minute seed times.
I have to think Strath Haven is the PA team to watch in this one with guys like Huemmler and Seelaus running great of late, but Penncrest is a team of relative unknowns with a lot of potential to surprise.
In the women's professional mile, reigning world champion Jenny Simpson is entered. It should be exciting to see her world class kick in action against the field.
The men's 5k field is what really gets me charged up. Check out the names: Andy Baddley, Sam Chelenga, Ed Cheserek, Chris Derrick, Elliot Heath, Leonard Korir, Bernard Lagat, Lawi Lalang, and Steven Sambu. A field of All-Americans and record holders of all sorts. The meet record, american record, collegiate record and high school record are all on the line. Chris Derrick is one of my personal favorite runners, Chelenga is making a pro debut as far as I know (he is not an american citizen yet, so he is running for Kenya), Cheserek has been a boss of late and there is a lot of potential for a sub 14, Baddley just one a mile at the armory in world leading time, Heath and Korir are defending indoor national champions, Lalang is the reigning dominant XC national champion and Sambu does alright for himself as well.
I think Lagat really wants the American record back from Rupp and therefore this race should set up with the potential for someone (probably Lagat) to run 13:10ish. I don't know who out of the collegiates will hang on to this kind of pace, but we know Lalang has a lot of strength and if Korir is there he has a big kick.
Not sure how Cheserek will fair in this race. He will probably go out super hard (he has a knack for doing that, as anyone who was at the penn relays knows) and in this kind of field that could mean 4:20s for the opening mile, in which case I'm not sure Cheserek can hang on for 2 miles+ after that kind of opening effort.
Maybe he will just run his own race, kind of Lukas when he went after the national indoor 2 mile record at the Armory (and missed, Cheserek will probably break it this year, but that's besides the point), but I can't see Cheserek running like that. He mixes it up with anybody and he is not afraid of anyone. He has 4:02 and 8:43 kinda times under his belt this season. Huge all time top 5 kind of times. The potential is there to see history.
As for some other events that don't excite me as much, Sanya Richards is in the 400m, Sam Nadel leads a very good girl's high school field that includes PA's own Tori Gerlach and Maria Seykora, and Zavon Watkins heads a boys field that includes PA's new state record holder over 800m Ned Willig who can bring PA it's first win since Jason Weller.
As for the Men's Wanamaker mile, the winner will not be Bernard Lagat! Not sure how often that can be said over the past decade or so, but it doesn't mean the race won't be exciting. Collegiates like Miles Batty, Kyler Merber (who has a Millrose win under his belt from high school), Erik Van Ingen and Chris O'Hare are all sub 4 kinda names. Plus (my personal exciting part), Matt Centrowitz is making his Pro debut after earning a bronze medal at Worlds a few months back. Really excited to see what the guy can do.
February 11th. Get your popcorn ready.
First off I'll just throw a couple of things out there that are noteworthy. Strath Haven and Notre Dame were both invited for the girls 4x800m race, while Penncrest and Strath Haven were invited on the men's side. Great Valley is a 4x800m alternate right now, not quite sure if they will get in.
Strath Haven and Penncrest both have serious shots at sub 8 minute 4x8s at this meet with ideal competition. CBA is entered and they just had two guys in the open go 1:55 and 1:56 I believe. They are also defending national champions in cross country. 4 other teams come in with sub 8 minute seed times.
I have to think Strath Haven is the PA team to watch in this one with guys like Huemmler and Seelaus running great of late, but Penncrest is a team of relative unknowns with a lot of potential to surprise.
In the women's professional mile, reigning world champion Jenny Simpson is entered. It should be exciting to see her world class kick in action against the field.
The men's 5k field is what really gets me charged up. Check out the names: Andy Baddley, Sam Chelenga, Ed Cheserek, Chris Derrick, Elliot Heath, Leonard Korir, Bernard Lagat, Lawi Lalang, and Steven Sambu. A field of All-Americans and record holders of all sorts. The meet record, american record, collegiate record and high school record are all on the line. Chris Derrick is one of my personal favorite runners, Chelenga is making a pro debut as far as I know (he is not an american citizen yet, so he is running for Kenya), Cheserek has been a boss of late and there is a lot of potential for a sub 14, Baddley just one a mile at the armory in world leading time, Heath and Korir are defending indoor national champions, Lalang is the reigning dominant XC national champion and Sambu does alright for himself as well.
I think Lagat really wants the American record back from Rupp and therefore this race should set up with the potential for someone (probably Lagat) to run 13:10ish. I don't know who out of the collegiates will hang on to this kind of pace, but we know Lalang has a lot of strength and if Korir is there he has a big kick.
Not sure how Cheserek will fair in this race. He will probably go out super hard (he has a knack for doing that, as anyone who was at the penn relays knows) and in this kind of field that could mean 4:20s for the opening mile, in which case I'm not sure Cheserek can hang on for 2 miles+ after that kind of opening effort.
Maybe he will just run his own race, kind of Lukas when he went after the national indoor 2 mile record at the Armory (and missed, Cheserek will probably break it this year, but that's besides the point), but I can't see Cheserek running like that. He mixes it up with anybody and he is not afraid of anyone. He has 4:02 and 8:43 kinda times under his belt this season. Huge all time top 5 kind of times. The potential is there to see history.
As for some other events that don't excite me as much, Sanya Richards is in the 400m, Sam Nadel leads a very good girl's high school field that includes PA's own Tori Gerlach and Maria Seykora, and Zavon Watkins heads a boys field that includes PA's new state record holder over 800m Ned Willig who can bring PA it's first win since Jason Weller.
As for the Men's Wanamaker mile, the winner will not be Bernard Lagat! Not sure how often that can be said over the past decade or so, but it doesn't mean the race won't be exciting. Collegiates like Miles Batty, Kyler Merber (who has a Millrose win under his belt from high school), Erik Van Ingen and Chris O'Hare are all sub 4 kinda names. Plus (my personal exciting part), Matt Centrowitz is making his Pro debut after earning a bronze medal at Worlds a few months back. Really excited to see what the guy can do.
February 11th. Get your popcorn ready.
More Analysis
So I suppose now I am an official renegade or something because my account has been eliminated from penntrack, so please if you are planning on messaging myself, don't because I will not see it or be able to respond. But yeah, I guess considering I didn't even make a post in the past 3 months or so and my account still got deleted I must be undesirable #1 in penntrackville. And that's pretty cool to me. I'm like a regular old Harry Potter.
But this isn't about me folks, this is about the weekend that was in PA track and field. Obviously Kevin Dare was awesome, but there was much, much more to talk about, including Ned Willig and his 1:51.25 state record performance that is (depending on where you look) #8 or #10 all time. Dyestat gave it 8th, penntrack gave it 10th.
So naturally I will call it 8th.
Now we look at what Ned did in a race where he blew away the competition and a lot of things jump to mind. First of all, I still am not convinced that Ned's best event is the 800 (I used to be convinced it was the 2 mile but obviously that was wrong), I think he is a miler, which means he has a shot at the state record if it's a fast pace at Millrose. I think the record is somewhere in the low 4:11 range off the top of my head I can't remember.
And there are plenty of other speculations that come with this performance. Does Ned skip the mile at states and a dual with Magaha in favor of running the 800 fresh at states and pursuing not just a PR and new state record, but a top 5 all time mark for indoor high school half milers?
He can also try both races, I think he could definitely win both (a feat which has not been done for a while at the indoor state championships), but a tiring dual with Magaha (or Dustin Wilson even if Magaha is still sick and what not, because honestly sometimes I just don't know what the kid is going to do) and then a doubling effort that may require him to take the pace for all 800m to avoid things getting tactical will certainly hurt his chances of playing hero for a team with high hopes in the DMR (we will get to that soon).
Lastly, does Willig have a shot at the national record? There is only one national meet and if Willig chooses to give fresh legs to the meet, he would almost certainly have a shot at becoming only the second high schooler under 1:50 in indoor track history. If Strymar Livingston throws his hat in the ring fresh of his unbelievable 500m USR (61 seconds, it's just as fast as any collegiate has run this year so far) and Zavon Watkins the defending champ who boasts a PR of 1:47.99 on a relay split from Outdoor Nats as a sophomore and recent winner of the New Balance games mile Ned will have ideal competition to shoot for a top time. It could be a scary fast race if everything plays out according to plan.
But enough about Ned Willig's 800, let's talk about Ned Willig's DMR. PA #1 10:27 with ideal competition but still a very fast time for this weekend. There is no doubt with 4 fresh legs this relay could not lose to anyone else in the state. I just don't see the talent to beat these guys and I feel Ned can chase down just about any relay. When it comes to the DMR I am in love with teams with fast anchors. Maybe its because guys like Ferry, Crits, Kaulbach, Palmisano, Lee, Kellar, and Endress have serious hardware for anchoring their teams over the years.
10:27 is pretty quick and Ned I'd imagine split fairly fast (making the 1:51.25 the next day more impressive) and right now it's 6 seconds faster than any other relay in the state. If LaSalle goes all in for the DMR instead of the 4x8 and open events I can see them having a shot at GV. Strath Haven looks good, but again they have to go all in for this race. Great Valley, however, also has to keep at least a relatively fresh squad. A tripling Ned Willig complicates things.
I picked Great Valley last year, it didn't work out. This year I am strong on the bandwagon once again. We shall see what happens.
BUT there was more action than just the stuff over at Yale.
For starters how about Pennwood with a sick 1:29 4x2. Haneef Hardy and Swenson have some quick sprint relays as well.
This was from a couple weekends back at PCLs but I just recently saw results, pretty sick work by O'Hara and LaSalle. Stone running really fast in the 1:57s flat rack. O'Hara stacking the mile and running train on everyone in that race. Then O'Hara ran two 4x8s that qualfied for states! 8:12 and 8:15! Wow that's pretty sick depth for O'Hara. I wonder if they spread the talent evenly or if they stacked one and not the other and the other just was clutch and ran out of their minds. It's more likely the first one I suppose, which means there is a lot of potential for O'Hara in both the 4x8 and the DMR.
Dan Jaskowak opened up with a 4:28 mile, I haven't seen results from this meet yet, but that's a pretty nice opening time for a guy who never had really fast track times (or XC times quite frankly til this year).
Vinny Todaro had a solid weekend for himself as well, qualifying for states on 1600m conversion from 4:30 and running a decent 2 mile on the double against Brendan Shearn who ran a pretty sweet 9:47 flat track 3200m. Converting to around 9:09ish for 3k in a solo effort to open his season. I'd like to see the guy step on the track at Lehigh at the Carnival and push with a top field to see if he can hit the states standard. It's definitely the toughest standard to hit of the standards.
Lastly Wissahickon ran a nice 4x4 this weekend at the Armory not to be overlooked as a team that can compete for the title this winter. And of course CR North doesn't fail to get their name back in the championship conversation with a 10:44 blow out win at Lavino, with potential to even run faster in the coming weeks. After seeing the splits you can see a few places where they have seconds to spare.
It will be an interesting next couple of weeks leading up to the state championships.
But this isn't about me folks, this is about the weekend that was in PA track and field. Obviously Kevin Dare was awesome, but there was much, much more to talk about, including Ned Willig and his 1:51.25 state record performance that is (depending on where you look) #8 or #10 all time. Dyestat gave it 8th, penntrack gave it 10th.
So naturally I will call it 8th.
Now we look at what Ned did in a race where he blew away the competition and a lot of things jump to mind. First of all, I still am not convinced that Ned's best event is the 800 (I used to be convinced it was the 2 mile but obviously that was wrong), I think he is a miler, which means he has a shot at the state record if it's a fast pace at Millrose. I think the record is somewhere in the low 4:11 range off the top of my head I can't remember.
And there are plenty of other speculations that come with this performance. Does Ned skip the mile at states and a dual with Magaha in favor of running the 800 fresh at states and pursuing not just a PR and new state record, but a top 5 all time mark for indoor high school half milers?
He can also try both races, I think he could definitely win both (a feat which has not been done for a while at the indoor state championships), but a tiring dual with Magaha (or Dustin Wilson even if Magaha is still sick and what not, because honestly sometimes I just don't know what the kid is going to do) and then a doubling effort that may require him to take the pace for all 800m to avoid things getting tactical will certainly hurt his chances of playing hero for a team with high hopes in the DMR (we will get to that soon).
Lastly, does Willig have a shot at the national record? There is only one national meet and if Willig chooses to give fresh legs to the meet, he would almost certainly have a shot at becoming only the second high schooler under 1:50 in indoor track history. If Strymar Livingston throws his hat in the ring fresh of his unbelievable 500m USR (61 seconds, it's just as fast as any collegiate has run this year so far) and Zavon Watkins the defending champ who boasts a PR of 1:47.99 on a relay split from Outdoor Nats as a sophomore and recent winner of the New Balance games mile Ned will have ideal competition to shoot for a top time. It could be a scary fast race if everything plays out according to plan.
But enough about Ned Willig's 800, let's talk about Ned Willig's DMR. PA #1 10:27 with ideal competition but still a very fast time for this weekend. There is no doubt with 4 fresh legs this relay could not lose to anyone else in the state. I just don't see the talent to beat these guys and I feel Ned can chase down just about any relay. When it comes to the DMR I am in love with teams with fast anchors. Maybe its because guys like Ferry, Crits, Kaulbach, Palmisano, Lee, Kellar, and Endress have serious hardware for anchoring their teams over the years.
10:27 is pretty quick and Ned I'd imagine split fairly fast (making the 1:51.25 the next day more impressive) and right now it's 6 seconds faster than any other relay in the state. If LaSalle goes all in for the DMR instead of the 4x8 and open events I can see them having a shot at GV. Strath Haven looks good, but again they have to go all in for this race. Great Valley, however, also has to keep at least a relatively fresh squad. A tripling Ned Willig complicates things.
I picked Great Valley last year, it didn't work out. This year I am strong on the bandwagon once again. We shall see what happens.
BUT there was more action than just the stuff over at Yale.
For starters how about Pennwood with a sick 1:29 4x2. Haneef Hardy and Swenson have some quick sprint relays as well.
This was from a couple weekends back at PCLs but I just recently saw results, pretty sick work by O'Hara and LaSalle. Stone running really fast in the 1:57s flat rack. O'Hara stacking the mile and running train on everyone in that race. Then O'Hara ran two 4x8s that qualfied for states! 8:12 and 8:15! Wow that's pretty sick depth for O'Hara. I wonder if they spread the talent evenly or if they stacked one and not the other and the other just was clutch and ran out of their minds. It's more likely the first one I suppose, which means there is a lot of potential for O'Hara in both the 4x8 and the DMR.
Dan Jaskowak opened up with a 4:28 mile, I haven't seen results from this meet yet, but that's a pretty nice opening time for a guy who never had really fast track times (or XC times quite frankly til this year).
Vinny Todaro had a solid weekend for himself as well, qualifying for states on 1600m conversion from 4:30 and running a decent 2 mile on the double against Brendan Shearn who ran a pretty sweet 9:47 flat track 3200m. Converting to around 9:09ish for 3k in a solo effort to open his season. I'd like to see the guy step on the track at Lehigh at the Carnival and push with a top field to see if he can hit the states standard. It's definitely the toughest standard to hit of the standards.
Lastly Wissahickon ran a nice 4x4 this weekend at the Armory not to be overlooked as a team that can compete for the title this winter. And of course CR North doesn't fail to get their name back in the championship conversation with a 10:44 blow out win at Lavino, with potential to even run faster in the coming weeks. After seeing the splits you can see a few places where they have seconds to spare.
It will be an interesting next couple of weeks leading up to the state championships.
Weekend Action (There's A Lot)
Alright so it's very hard to figure out which meets to start with because a lot of crazy stuff happened this weekend and as expected Kevin Dare was very quick. So here is what I am going to do. I am going to just talk about Kevin Dare today and focus my thoughts on this one meet and then as the week goes on talk about the other madness and Ned Willig's record setting performance (as well as CR North's DMR at Lavino, a debut by the AA state champion, and Ed Cheserek and Strymar Livingston and so much more).
But let's start at PSU and of course it wouldn't be a week on the blog if we didn't talk about Drew Magaha. While Ned takes a step to the next level, Magaha gets very sick and pukes before and after his race. Not a great sign that Drew's best mile time this season is around 4:26 considering he is a guy who should be chasing state records this winter. Honestly, historically Drew has probably never taken indoors as seriously as he has this year (same with cross country), the results themselves compared to outdoors prove these facts.
Does this mean he is breaking down early? I certainly hope not, it's not like he was dropping huge mileage over the summer or anything that would burn him out. He has had problems with sickness before (he probably could have won states as a soph if he hadn't gotten sick, no guarentees but that's a debate for another time), so I hope he won't have problems by states time. Drew is usually good for about 1 or 2 of these kind of head scratching weekends a season. Keep your fingers crossed this is the last time we see anything about even 4:2x from Drew Magaha on a bank track like Penn State's.
But enough about Drew, he's sick, he'll get healthy, but we gotta talk about the guys making moves in etrain's books.
First of all I don't talk about this kind of stuff much, but holy crap Chris Williams you are a boss. Beautiful 60m HH time over his teammate who is pretty good Zaza. 7.87. Blazing. He and Eric should be pretty fun to watch this season.
How about the kids from Upper Moreland not named Drew Magaha? Tyler Whitmore a freshman who ran 7.08 and 22.35? They have a nice 4x4 shaping up with a 3:29.46 (without Whitmore who maybe can move up? and a sick Drew?)
Strath Haven continues a hot start, and Huemmler is leading the charge. Another big win in the mile with a 4:22.26 PR to beat Horgan who ran a respectable 4:23.73 for second. The question no becomes with Huemmler being a legit top 5 miler in the state, maybe even top 3 depending on how things shape up with guys like Wilson and Willig etc, will Strath Haven opt to keep a fresh group for the relays? And without a fresh group are they a legit title contender in the 4x8 or the DMR? Dan Lincoln is the first guy all year under 50 appearently so he's a 400m favorite too and Seelaus is no joke either.
Jack MacCauley ran a nice 4:26, proving he is still a top young gun in the mile. And of course the same question can be asked about North Penn's relays. Only thing is rumors have told me North Penn is looking to keep all their guys fresh indoors in pursuit of a DMR state title. Things can change and North Penn has always gone 4x8 at states so take that information with a grain of salt.
DTWest would be a very interesting relay squad of Devlin were still in the picture. Maybe outdoors we will see something. Leidel and Jenkins both had solid days. I don't see either of them as state medalists open, so maybe they can team up and snag a 4x800m medal indoors. Should be fun to watch.
I'm just gonna throw this out there now, when the heck did Penncrest get all this middle distance talent. No offense but I didn't see them being this solid this year. Ali in the 4 runs a solid 51, Miller in the mile (already sub 2 flat track) runs solid mid 4:30s, and then Nate Emmanuel 1:57.5? Who? Kid beat Chris Trimble soundly and Trimble has gotten much more pub than Nate. And oh yeah they also dropped in one more solid 2 flat guy in the race and two sub 9:20 3k guys to boot. 3:25 4x4 capped of the day nicely for the squad.
The other team with Penn starting their name, Pennridge, is also pretty dangerous. They got some talented runners over there and they will have a very solid 4x800m relay if they keep their legs fresh.
Lastly I'll mention the 3k, Sam Hibbs ran great, its nice to see this kind of bounce back race. No Conner Quinn? Interesting, not sure of the reason, but its a shame considering he is the reigning state champ. Hibbs is going to be a factor this indoor season and they may have a solid DMR as well, they had a 4 and 8 guy run pretty solid so they can be a factor for a top spot at states. Hibbs can be a factor for top 3 in the 3k at states no doubt.
Good job by Nissley, also missing his partner in crime Jeff Groh, qualifying for states in the 3k is a big deal. This year if you hit the standard you are guarenteed a decent shot at a state medal. If you have a good day you are practically guarenteed one, especially when you qualify this early and can run miles and train for speed over the coming month or so.
But let's start at PSU and of course it wouldn't be a week on the blog if we didn't talk about Drew Magaha. While Ned takes a step to the next level, Magaha gets very sick and pukes before and after his race. Not a great sign that Drew's best mile time this season is around 4:26 considering he is a guy who should be chasing state records this winter. Honestly, historically Drew has probably never taken indoors as seriously as he has this year (same with cross country), the results themselves compared to outdoors prove these facts.
Does this mean he is breaking down early? I certainly hope not, it's not like he was dropping huge mileage over the summer or anything that would burn him out. He has had problems with sickness before (he probably could have won states as a soph if he hadn't gotten sick, no guarentees but that's a debate for another time), so I hope he won't have problems by states time. Drew is usually good for about 1 or 2 of these kind of head scratching weekends a season. Keep your fingers crossed this is the last time we see anything about even 4:2x from Drew Magaha on a bank track like Penn State's.
But enough about Drew, he's sick, he'll get healthy, but we gotta talk about the guys making moves in etrain's books.
First of all I don't talk about this kind of stuff much, but holy crap Chris Williams you are a boss. Beautiful 60m HH time over his teammate who is pretty good Zaza. 7.87. Blazing. He and Eric should be pretty fun to watch this season.
How about the kids from Upper Moreland not named Drew Magaha? Tyler Whitmore a freshman who ran 7.08 and 22.35? They have a nice 4x4 shaping up with a 3:29.46 (without Whitmore who maybe can move up? and a sick Drew?)
Strath Haven continues a hot start, and Huemmler is leading the charge. Another big win in the mile with a 4:22.26 PR to beat Horgan who ran a respectable 4:23.73 for second. The question no becomes with Huemmler being a legit top 5 miler in the state, maybe even top 3 depending on how things shape up with guys like Wilson and Willig etc, will Strath Haven opt to keep a fresh group for the relays? And without a fresh group are they a legit title contender in the 4x8 or the DMR? Dan Lincoln is the first guy all year under 50 appearently so he's a 400m favorite too and Seelaus is no joke either.
Jack MacCauley ran a nice 4:26, proving he is still a top young gun in the mile. And of course the same question can be asked about North Penn's relays. Only thing is rumors have told me North Penn is looking to keep all their guys fresh indoors in pursuit of a DMR state title. Things can change and North Penn has always gone 4x8 at states so take that information with a grain of salt.
DTWest would be a very interesting relay squad of Devlin were still in the picture. Maybe outdoors we will see something. Leidel and Jenkins both had solid days. I don't see either of them as state medalists open, so maybe they can team up and snag a 4x800m medal indoors. Should be fun to watch.
I'm just gonna throw this out there now, when the heck did Penncrest get all this middle distance talent. No offense but I didn't see them being this solid this year. Ali in the 4 runs a solid 51, Miller in the mile (already sub 2 flat track) runs solid mid 4:30s, and then Nate Emmanuel 1:57.5? Who? Kid beat Chris Trimble soundly and Trimble has gotten much more pub than Nate. And oh yeah they also dropped in one more solid 2 flat guy in the race and two sub 9:20 3k guys to boot. 3:25 4x4 capped of the day nicely for the squad.
The other team with Penn starting their name, Pennridge, is also pretty dangerous. They got some talented runners over there and they will have a very solid 4x800m relay if they keep their legs fresh.
Lastly I'll mention the 3k, Sam Hibbs ran great, its nice to see this kind of bounce back race. No Conner Quinn? Interesting, not sure of the reason, but its a shame considering he is the reigning state champ. Hibbs is going to be a factor this indoor season and they may have a solid DMR as well, they had a 4 and 8 guy run pretty solid so they can be a factor for a top spot at states. Hibbs can be a factor for top 3 in the 3k at states no doubt.
Good job by Nissley, also missing his partner in crime Jeff Groh, qualifying for states in the 3k is a big deal. This year if you hit the standard you are guarenteed a decent shot at a state medal. If you have a good day you are practically guarenteed one, especially when you qualify this early and can run miles and train for speed over the coming month or so.
Post Streak
So folks I'm not gonna lie to you I had a fairly busy day, and I am not going to be able to look over all of this weekend's action until tomorrow and then I can give you guys my full report. Congrats to Ned on the record, not surprised to see this based on his early pace, but now you have to keep in mind this is beyond PA record, it's national record territory. Only one man has ever broken 1:50 indoors as a high schooler (my man crush Robby Andrews), and Ned is already in 1:51 shape in January. Who knows how this could translate into early March when he has ideal competition on the fastest tracks in the country at Nationals and you can make the argument states (although I still am not sure he will opt for the 8 over the mile, which now seems kind of silly, but yeah I'll get into it tomorrow, I'm kind of rambling in this set of parentheses but yeah I'm sorry).
But anyway that's all I know as of now and unfortunately that is all I have to say right now :( I had a good first race back and now I am looking forward to a relaxing night inside where there is not slippery icy ground waiting to once again put me on the IR and I can just relax with a movie and my favorite person in the world. Yeah so I'll talk to everyone tomorrow.
Not gonna lie, the only reason I made this post is to save my post streak ... So I'm kind of cheating, but it still counts. So yeah, I'm counting it.
Don't hate.
-train
But anyway that's all I know as of now and unfortunately that is all I have to say right now :( I had a good first race back and now I am looking forward to a relaxing night inside where there is not slippery icy ground waiting to once again put me on the IR and I can just relax with a movie and my favorite person in the world. Yeah so I'll talk to everyone tomorrow.
Not gonna lie, the only reason I made this post is to save my post streak ... So I'm kind of cheating, but it still counts. So yeah, I'm counting it.
Don't hate.
-train
My Penntrack Account
Alright so I have some interesting news. First of all I want to point out that penntrack eliminated the forum that etrain69 started about the oscars on penntrack? Interesting, I don't really remember anything that was that bad being said on there. I mean he did say penntrack was going downhill and I suppose they didn't appreciate that. But really? Deleting that forum? And not deleting the who's hot forum until very late in the game? That is quite something.
So needless to say I went on penntrack today to check around, make sure that I wasn't imagining that this had been eliminated, and indeed upon further inspection the forum was still not there.
Since I was already on penntrack, I figured I'd just get on my account and check for any messages from any of you guys out there who read the blog. BUT today I was unable to log onto my penntrack account. Maybe it is just a coincidence, just a problem with the site or something, but I am positive my password is correct and has been unchanged for a while now, yet I can not log on.
Needless to say this concerns me. Is it at all possible that penntrack has decided that I must also take the fall for this most recent forum post and they have deactivated my account? It seems unlikley, I can only assume the computer I am on right now has bad access to penntrack or something like that.
But to be safe, I figured I would shoot a text to my friend etrain69 and ask him if he had recieved any sort of message about why his forum got removed. Well unfortunately etrain69 was also unable to log onto his account today. He reset his password but that did not solve the problem.
Overall, we are not exactly sure if our accounts have been deleted or suspended or anything like that, but I will be sure to update you guys as to the status of my penntrack account so that, if you so choose, you can message me there.
Other then that I'm not sure what to say. If they did indeed delete my account or something like that, I think that's pretty cool. It would mean they are scared of my blog, scared that is competition or something like that. Hopefully. Either that or they just don't like me using penntrack's name in association with my rinky dink oscars campaign.
But really trainstation all I can say is if my account is gone it will not slow my progress on the blog, it will only inspire me to work more and improve more. I feel like I would die a hero if my account has been deleted. A symbol of what else is out there in terms of PA track knowledge. It isn't just all about Penntrack articles and previews, we over here on the blog know a thing or two about the track scene and can produce solid articles and previews and conversations as well.
-train
So needless to say I went on penntrack today to check around, make sure that I wasn't imagining that this had been eliminated, and indeed upon further inspection the forum was still not there.
Since I was already on penntrack, I figured I'd just get on my account and check for any messages from any of you guys out there who read the blog. BUT today I was unable to log onto my penntrack account. Maybe it is just a coincidence, just a problem with the site or something, but I am positive my password is correct and has been unchanged for a while now, yet I can not log on.
Needless to say this concerns me. Is it at all possible that penntrack has decided that I must also take the fall for this most recent forum post and they have deactivated my account? It seems unlikley, I can only assume the computer I am on right now has bad access to penntrack or something like that.
But to be safe, I figured I would shoot a text to my friend etrain69 and ask him if he had recieved any sort of message about why his forum got removed. Well unfortunately etrain69 was also unable to log onto his account today. He reset his password but that did not solve the problem.
Overall, we are not exactly sure if our accounts have been deleted or suspended or anything like that, but I will be sure to update you guys as to the status of my penntrack account so that, if you so choose, you can message me there.
Other then that I'm not sure what to say. If they did indeed delete my account or something like that, I think that's pretty cool. It would mean they are scared of my blog, scared that is competition or something like that. Hopefully. Either that or they just don't like me using penntrack's name in association with my rinky dink oscars campaign.
But really trainstation all I can say is if my account is gone it will not slow my progress on the blog, it will only inspire me to work more and improve more. I feel like I would die a hero if my account has been deleted. A symbol of what else is out there in terms of PA track knowledge. It isn't just all about Penntrack articles and previews, we over here on the blog know a thing or two about the track scene and can produce solid articles and previews and conversations as well.
-train
Ideas
Now I know last year was kind of a let down in terms of the Oscars. I didn't really put together any type of results video and I didn't get any acceptance videos back or anything like that so ultimately things didn't work out. But I am hoping this year will be better.
But then again, how am I supposed to prevent myself from falling into the same traps as before? I know I am going to have work this semester and running practices and there are lots of people I am going to want to hang out with (I'm getting my toes painted Saturday night) so it will be tough to bust out anything super professional for the awards video.
That being said, I think I can make things better. Maybe releasing multiple videos for each category? Maybe shrinking the number of categories talked about in the video? Maybe not having a video if people don't think it'd be cool?
I'm down for whatever. I can make a rap again, I can try and make another video like I did last time with the interviews, I can open up the voting for a longer period of time, open up the ways you get in contact with me. Anything you guys are thinking, please don't hesitate to let me know.
I want this to be a much better event than last time so any help is much appreciated. Just leave your suggestions here and your nominations here or in the other post, I have a pretty updated list that just needs a bit more tidying up before it is ready to be voted on.
And yeah this weekend I'll get back to talking about the current racers and the indoor season and stuff like that, just wanted to get this Oscars thing underway before it was too late.
Sweet, hope to hear from you guys soon. Peace.
-train
But then again, how am I supposed to prevent myself from falling into the same traps as before? I know I am going to have work this semester and running practices and there are lots of people I am going to want to hang out with (I'm getting my toes painted Saturday night) so it will be tough to bust out anything super professional for the awards video.
That being said, I think I can make things better. Maybe releasing multiple videos for each category? Maybe shrinking the number of categories talked about in the video? Maybe not having a video if people don't think it'd be cool?
I'm down for whatever. I can make a rap again, I can try and make another video like I did last time with the interviews, I can open up the voting for a longer period of time, open up the ways you get in contact with me. Anything you guys are thinking, please don't hesitate to let me know.
I want this to be a much better event than last time so any help is much appreciated. Just leave your suggestions here and your nominations here or in the other post, I have a pretty updated list that just needs a bit more tidying up before it is ready to be voted on.
And yeah this weekend I'll get back to talking about the current racers and the indoor season and stuff like that, just wanted to get this Oscars thing underway before it was too late.
Sweet, hope to hear from you guys soon. Peace.
-train
Some Clarification
I just wanted to put some things down in writing in a post so everyone knew what I was looking for in these nominations. I'm sorry for my lack proper wording in the last post, but hopefully this clears things up.
For the Supporting Actor and Actress Awards I don't mean #2 Runner in all of PA, I mean best #2 runner on a team in PA. For example, say we have the CB West 4x800m relay team. Connor Manley was the #1 guy and the fastest relay split man, but Matt McGarvey or Matt Bee or one of those other guys would be a good fit for a nominee for a best supporting actor award. Also someone like Chris Trimble, Dan Davis or Mike Billotta for helping their XC team without being their #1 guy at states. People like that. Hopefully that clears things up.
For Best Animated Feature, when I say Underclassmen I mean like Freshman and Sophomore so sorry for any confusion. Juniors don't count for this award.
Also the voting time period starts from around Indoor States last year in 2011 (Endress, Gilmore, Abington the big winners) until right now and up until February 1st, so just keep that in mind when you are nominating and such.
Also you can nominate as many people as you want for each category and as long as I feel it fits the category properly your nomination will appear on the official ballets which will be produced sooner rather than later. I still need a lot of help in a lot of categories, especially female nominations, so keep the nominations coming!
One last thing, to give you an idea of which kind of runners would be good to nominate for each category, I will list off last years winners for you. You can also check my old posts from last February to see a full list of nominees for each category.
2011 Oscar Winners
Best Art Direction (Winner: Lehigh)
Best Documentary Feature (Winner: Runthrowjump)
Best Film Editing (Winner: Lindsey Rheiner)
Best Supporting Actress (Winner: Jenny Guidera)
Best Animated Feature (Winner: Drew Magaha)
Best Visual Effects (Winner: Brady Gehret)
Best Make-Up (Winner: North Hills)
Best Costume Design (Winner: Henderson)
Best Original Song (Winner: “Not Afraid”)
Best Sound Editing (Winner: Wade Endress)
Best Supporting Actor (Winner: Juris Silenieks)
Best Foreign Film (Winner: Verzbicas)
Best Cinematography (Winner: Penn Relays)
Best Adapted Screen Play (Winner: Sam Ellison)
Best Original Screen Play (Winner: North Hills Trio)
Best Director (Winner: Henderson)
Best Actress (Winner: Angel Piccirillo)
Best Actor (Winner: Tom Mallon)
Best Picture (Winner: Outdoor Girls 3200m)
For the Supporting Actor and Actress Awards I don't mean #2 Runner in all of PA, I mean best #2 runner on a team in PA. For example, say we have the CB West 4x800m relay team. Connor Manley was the #1 guy and the fastest relay split man, but Matt McGarvey or Matt Bee or one of those other guys would be a good fit for a nominee for a best supporting actor award. Also someone like Chris Trimble, Dan Davis or Mike Billotta for helping their XC team without being their #1 guy at states. People like that. Hopefully that clears things up.
For Best Animated Feature, when I say Underclassmen I mean like Freshman and Sophomore so sorry for any confusion. Juniors don't count for this award.
Also the voting time period starts from around Indoor States last year in 2011 (Endress, Gilmore, Abington the big winners) until right now and up until February 1st, so just keep that in mind when you are nominating and such.
Also you can nominate as many people as you want for each category and as long as I feel it fits the category properly your nomination will appear on the official ballets which will be produced sooner rather than later. I still need a lot of help in a lot of categories, especially female nominations, so keep the nominations coming!
One last thing, to give you an idea of which kind of runners would be good to nominate for each category, I will list off last years winners for you. You can also check my old posts from last February to see a full list of nominees for each category.
2011 Oscar Winners
Best Art Direction (Winner: Lehigh)
Best Documentary Feature (Winner: Runthrowjump)
Best Film Editing (Winner: Lindsey Rheiner)
Best Supporting Actress (Winner: Jenny Guidera)
Best Animated Feature (Winner: Drew Magaha)
Best Visual Effects (Winner: Brady Gehret)
Best Make-Up (Winner: North Hills)
Best Costume Design (Winner: Henderson)
Best Original Song (Winner: “Not Afraid”)
Best Sound Editing (Winner: Wade Endress)
Best Supporting Actor (Winner: Juris Silenieks)
Best Foreign Film (Winner: Verzbicas)
Best Cinematography (Winner: Penn Relays)
Best Adapted Screen Play (Winner: Sam Ellison)
Best Original Screen Play (Winner: North Hills Trio)
Best Director (Winner: Henderson)
Best Actress (Winner: Angel Piccirillo)
Best Actor (Winner: Tom Mallon)
Best Picture (Winner: Outdoor Girls 3200m)
2012 Penntrack Oscars
Appearently yesterday I made my 200th ever post on the blog? Wow, um, not exactly sure how I missed an opportunity to make a big deal out of a little thing (it's kind of my speciality) but I did.
I got to thinking, geez I made a lot of posts over the past few months and I have had a lot of varied success, but the two points where I think the blog was most successful and most talked about were this past cross country season and the time when I tried to implement the penntrack oscars.
So the Oscars, overall, didn't turn out to be too much of a success, I made a couple videos to promote it, an interview video and a rap video about the state of Pennsylvania and such which was fun and I think hopefully we got a few laughs out of them, but in the end the oscars didn't really work out. I didn't put together quite the show I was hoping for, but hey, you win some, you lose some.
This year I have hopes again, for at least an improvement from last year. If requested, I can make another rap song updated to be a bit more relevant to the newer fans of the blog and newer followers of state events, and of course we have to have voting and determine this years Oscar winners! Yay!
Yeah, so maybe I am the only one enthusiastic about this, but I don't really mind. Here's the deal, I need some nominations for the categories for this upcoming Oscars. Remember Oscar season goes from Indoor States last year, to approximately Febuary 1st of this year 2012. That gives you a lot of seasons to choose from for nominees. In fact, most of the nominees will probably be guys who graduated already from high school. But don't let me influence you too much. Here are the categories:
Best Actor in a Leading Role (AKA Male Runner of the Year PA High School)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Best Actress in a Leading Role (AKA Female Runner of the Year PA HS)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Best Adapted Screen Play (AKA Best Breakout Performance)
Best Animated Feature (AKA Best Performance by an Underclassman)
Best Art Direction (AKA Best Cross Country Course of the Year)
Best Cinematography (AKA Best Track Meet of the Year)
Best Costume Design (AKA Coolest Uniforms of the Year)
Best Director (AKA Coach of the Year)
Best Documentary Feature (AKA Best New Penntrack Poster)
Best Film Editing (AKA Best Upset of the Year)
Best Foreign Language Film (AKA Best High School Race Outside of PA)
Best Make-Up (AKA Best Team of the Year)
Best Original Screenplay (AKA Best Storyline of the Year)
Best Original Song (AKA Best Song to Run to of the Year)
Best Picture (AKA Best Race of the Year)
Best Visual Effects (AKA Most Exciting Runner of the Year)
Best Sound Editing (AKA Best Interview of the Year)
I got to thinking, geez I made a lot of posts over the past few months and I have had a lot of varied success, but the two points where I think the blog was most successful and most talked about were this past cross country season and the time when I tried to implement the penntrack oscars.
So the Oscars, overall, didn't turn out to be too much of a success, I made a couple videos to promote it, an interview video and a rap video about the state of Pennsylvania and such which was fun and I think hopefully we got a few laughs out of them, but in the end the oscars didn't really work out. I didn't put together quite the show I was hoping for, but hey, you win some, you lose some.
This year I have hopes again, for at least an improvement from last year. If requested, I can make another rap song updated to be a bit more relevant to the newer fans of the blog and newer followers of state events, and of course we have to have voting and determine this years Oscar winners! Yay!
Yeah, so maybe I am the only one enthusiastic about this, but I don't really mind. Here's the deal, I need some nominations for the categories for this upcoming Oscars. Remember Oscar season goes from Indoor States last year, to approximately Febuary 1st of this year 2012. That gives you a lot of seasons to choose from for nominees. In fact, most of the nominees will probably be guys who graduated already from high school. But don't let me influence you too much. Here are the categories:
Best Actor in a Leading Role (AKA Male Runner of the Year PA High School)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Best Actress in a Leading Role (AKA Female Runner of the Year PA HS)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role (AKA Best #2 Runner of PA High School)
Best Adapted Screen Play (AKA Best Breakout Performance)
Best Animated Feature (AKA Best Performance by an Underclassman)
Best Art Direction (AKA Best Cross Country Course of the Year)
Best Cinematography (AKA Best Track Meet of the Year)
Best Costume Design (AKA Coolest Uniforms of the Year)
Best Director (AKA Coach of the Year)
Best Documentary Feature (AKA Best New Penntrack Poster)
Best Film Editing (AKA Best Upset of the Year)
Best Foreign Language Film (AKA Best High School Race Outside of PA)
Best Make-Up (AKA Best Team of the Year)
Best Original Screenplay (AKA Best Storyline of the Year)
Best Original Song (AKA Best Song to Run to of the Year)
Best Picture (AKA Best Race of the Year)
Best Visual Effects (AKA Most Exciting Runner of the Year)
Best Sound Editing (AKA Best Interview of the Year)
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