PTFCA Indoor DMR Preview

We are back with more indoor previews folks! And happy holidays as we approach one of the best times of the year! We are now 3 weeks out from opening weekend, and even PennTrack is starting to release some of their first returning lists of the year.

Some quick side notes for all of you. The Warrior Classic went down this past week at Henderson. The 2 mile tune-up for the regionals races have produced some blazing times in the past years (see Dahl, Affolder, Ritz). While the races were slow this year, it gave us an idea of who to expect to toe the line at NXR or FL regionals in the coming week.  Valderrabano picked up the individual victory, being the lone athlete to dip under 9:40. Although Sewall did not make an appearance in this race, I fully expect to see Dwest up at NXR, as Barnhill also dipped under 10 in this race. While the Whippets' chances of making it over to the west coast for NXN are very unlikely, they could uncork a big performance in the northeast region after they left states with a bitter taste in their mouth from taking 3rd. The two big names I was very happy to see in this race were Christian McComb and Mitchell Rome. Oh, that rhymes. That's awesome. Anyways, I am actually really pumped to see what McComb can do. I was hoping he wouldn't end his season after he had a really off day at the state meet. While many may forget, Christian McComb had the fastest time of any PA athlete up at Manhattan. This kid can run fast in NY against out of state guys, so depending on what meet he ends up picking, does the Boyertown junior have a chance to shock the northeast and get a PA guy to nationals? While I think Mitchell Rome may be a long shot, I'm very excited to see how he does. He is riding a ton of momentum after his big finish at states, and he might just go for all the glory at regionals. He took the lead after 2 miles in the AA race and he was almost rewarded with one of the biggest XC upsets in years.

Lastly, before we get into the main action, congrats to our PA alum in their respective NCAA national races. Casey Comber of Villanova was the top D1 finisher for PA in 34th, and Liam Galligan was the top D3 finisher for PA in 63rd.

Back to the indoor preview! Our next event up in our series is the Distance Medley Relay. There are plenty of squads with the ability to find themselves in contention to qualify for the state meet this winter. If you look at the 8 fastest times run from last year, 5 of the schools suffered some pretty heavy losses to graduation (Spring Ford, CB West, Shanahan, Council Rock North, Butler), so its fair to say that we should expect a new landscape of teams up at the front this season.

Despite what I just said, there will still be our usual suspects. The defending champs in Seneca Valley return their biggest pieces in Sam Owori and Seth Ketler, and while Volk-Klos isn't necessarily a speedster, he's run 4:24, so he can easily be developed into another contributing leg for this relay. Of course, the LaSalle army will be on full display. We know they have the depth, but the question becomes, do they have the firepower to compete for a title? Twomey, Seiberlich, Zilligen, and Ghantous all ran sub 4:30 last spring. Seiberlich and Costonis were the only two guys at 2 flat or faster. I think LaSalle does have the pieces to win this thing, but it will all come down to how they use their personnel. If Costonis can dip under 2 and allow Siebelich to run the 12 and have Twomey chase down Ketler, I think this could shape up to be an excellent championship race. While obviously we still have a whole season to see who does what, I think these two are the big time preseason favorites heading into December.

The next big team up with DMR hopes would have to be the Dwest boys. Similarly to LaSalle, they have so many pieces to work with in the 1200/1600 leg, but they'll need to develop an 800 leg to have a shot at contending for state gold. They don't return a single runner that has run sub 2 indoors. The key for this relay will be Sewall. Despite being one of the best XC runners in all of PA, he doesn't hold a sub 4:30 mile to his name. With Valderrabano having run 4:24, its hard to predict who would run what leg on this relay. I imagine Chamoun will take the 800 leg, and after that, your guess is as good as mine. I've said it already, and I will say it again. Its incredible how much the LaSalle and Downingtown West programs mirror each other at this point. I think LaSalle is a little more seasoned on the track than the Whippets may be, but I still believe Valderrabano can help this team contend for a title.

The big sleeper here of course, would be the XC state champions from North Allegheny. The x-factor for this relay would have to be Dan McGoey. Just like Payton Sewall, despite being one of the PA phenoms, Dan McGoey doesn't have much to show on his track resume under the 3200. With a 2 flat leg in Luke Turkovich, and the obvious 4:14 stud anchor in Kinne, its hard to ignore how good this relay could be. Although his resume is basically blank, I find it hard to believe McGoey, a 9:24 stud, couldn't drop down in distance and give the Tigers a legit leadoff leg. Even if he ends up only being a 3:15-3:20 guy, does anyone really have an anchor to hold off the likes of Zach Kinne?

After these big names, there is a host of schools who have the right pieces to contend for a state medal. To list the notable ones, we have Central Bucks East, West Chester East, Great Valley, Mifflin County, Haverford Township, and Greensburg Salem. Each of these schools either has a legit ace, or just an army of guys to pick from.

CB East has the 1:55 phenom in Endres, and a 4:27 miler in Alex Bardwell.

West Chester East is a big question mark, as we have yet to see Lewin run indoor. If he chooses to, the 4:21 miler paired with Domenic Moser could form a dirty relay.

Great Valley returns 4 milers in the 4:30's, having plenty of options to experiment with in the 1200/1600.

Mifflin County is a BIG one. You've got a 1:55 kid in Seth Phillips, and a 4:20 miler in Chayce Macknair. Throw in a XC state medalist Brayden Harris on the 1200 leg, and this is suddenly a DMR that can win the title on paper.

Haverford Township is another big one. They've got an ace of an anchor in the 4:20 miler Aidan Tomov, and with Brendan Campbell and Erik McCallion both sub 2, they've got very solid 800/1200 pieces lined up.

Lastly, the AA state champions in Greensburg Salem. The Binda twins paired with Mark Brown can run in any formation in the DMR and still be a contender for a medal. I'll be very interested to see who takes which leg on this relay if they do opt to run it.

Let me know who you guys expect to standout this indoor season, and let me know if you think I missed any sleepers!

-The RunningHub