Hello everybody! I know I keep saying this, but I apologize for the delays. Now that finals are over, and winter season is up and running, we should get back to the same kind of activity we had going during the XC season. We are officially now 2 weeks into the winter season, and we've already had some solid performances. Lets check them out!
Ursinus High School Invitational:
Last weekend, we saw some awesome debuts on the season. Ursinus isn't a blazing fast venue, but its one of the faster flat track surfaces in eastern PA.
With no big studs in the 800, the race was pretty open. No one was willing to take the race out hard, which opened the door for the top seed Jack Balick to kick his way to victory. While 2:02.99 isn't a time that will blow you away, I thought this was a great race for Balick. It is seemingly his first indoor race of his career, which as many people know, can sometimes be an adjustment. Seeing as that nowadays it takes right around 1:59 high to make the state meet, Balick has the rest of the season to drop 2-3 seconds. He seems like the kind of kid that could drop a 1:58-1:59 type mark up at Ocean Breeze in one of those January meets. While his inexperience may hurt him, I think Balick has a very high ceiling heading into this season. Rounding out the top 3 and list of guys under 2:05 were LaSalle's Michael Eastmond, and Boyertown's Payton Stanziani. The two seniors have had the experience of running under some incredible names in their respective programs during their high school career, and now both have the opportunity to join the ranks amongst the best on their team. Eastmond will likely be fighting for one of the spots on the relays that LaSalle is bound to send to states, while Stanziani will join McComb in trying to keep the Boyertown program afloat after a heavy loss to graduation last year.
In the 3000, we saw an awesome breakthrough race from Ben Kuhn. The Wyomissing junior ripped a 10 second PR with a 9:02.29 against out of stater Nicholas Garrett. This race puts Kuhn in the driver's seat of the 3000 in the early goings of the season. Obviously, that mark itself will likely not get Kuhn into the state meet, but that opening mark is a sign of big things to come for the heir to Joe Cullen's throne in Wyomissing distance running. Jeffrey Love fell off slightly in the latter part of this race, but a 9:15 season opener is still very solid nonetheless. The George School senior might only have an outside shot to sneak into the very small 3k field at states, but he is one of the most experienced distance runners in PA this year.
In the race of the day, we saw the anticipated matchup between Christian McComb and Cole Walker, two of District 1's finest. From the looks of things, Walker sat on McComb for the entirety of the race, and eventually caught McComb in the final stretch, with both guys breaking the 4:30 barrier. Walker seemingly let McComb do all of the work, and utilized the closing speed that got him a district title in XC. For McComb, this is still an excellent opener, seeing as that he really had to go out and do all the heavy lifting himself. Both guys are likely qualified for states, and have no pressure to get another qualifying mark in. However, I think both of these guys are candidates for the hot heat of the mile at states, which would mean they will have to lower their marks in the mid to low 4:20's. Obviously, it seems as if that should be no issue for either individual, but I'll be interested to see how much more we see Walker race this season.
In the 4x8, the Twin Valley boys cruised to a 8:28 victory. As we'll discuss in a few moments, this seemed to be nothing more than cruising rust buster for the talented guys on this relay.
TFCAofGP Meet #1:
Division 1-
In our first weekend of our typical eastern PA Lehigh meets, we didn't necessarily see some stunning performances, but we saw the emergence of some new names on the distance scene this year.
Kicking things off in the 800, we saw Bensalem junior Dabi Chanez pick up the win in 2:02.94. This was a big breakthrough race for Chanez, as his fastest indoor time from last year came from Ocean Breeze, where he only ran 2:04. Bensalem has a rich history of producing middle distance studs, and it seems that Chanez might just be the next budding star. With much of PA's top talent competing in the 600 or 1000 at Ocean Breeze this weekend, Chanez actually holds the fastest time in PA as of now. I also really liked Jake Boyd's race for 2nd. Boyd is apart of CR North squad that has seen a steep decline in talent after a brutal loss to graduation this past year, but that hasn't stopped Boyd from stepping up. This was arguably an even bigger breakthrough race for Boyd, as he came away with a 2:03.30 silver in this race after not breaking 2:08 indoor last year!
The mile in this one was very crowded up front, with the top 4 all finishing within 2 seconds of each other. Saint Joseph's Ricky Raup took the win in 4:40, getting some revenge over fellow D12 rival in Griffin Pumilia from LaSalle. Pumilia finished 2nd in 4:41, just .35 seconds off the win. Pumilia struggled this XC season, and so despite the loss, I thought this was a good sign for the LaSalle junior, as he looks get back to his 4:30's form. 800 specialist Chris Rudawsky came away with 3rd in this one, and is someone who I think is a deep sleeper in the 800 this year. He's clearing improved his endurance after running 16:30's this past fall, and having run 1:59, I think he has the potential to make some noise amongst the top 15 or so guys in a crowded 800 state picture. Bensalem's Danny Ling rounded out the top 4 in 4:42 as Bensalem begins to amass some pieces for a DMR...
In the 3000, D1 XC state qualifier Samir Razi took the win in 9:25. The North Penn guys Razi and Demis have proven to be much better on the grass than on the oval, but after the fall season they had, it'll be interesting if they can push each other anywhere near an SQS in the 3000. Sean Garrett added to Garnet Valley's solid day with a runner up finish in 9:31.
The DMR stole the show, with Pennridge and Boyertown battling to sub 11 marks. Ultimately, Pennridge came away victorious, running 10:57 to Boyertown's 10:59. From the sounds of things, Eissler blew the field away on the 1200 leg, and McComb just ran out of room to close the gap on the anchor leg. Truthfully, I didn't mention any either of these teams in my DMR preview, so shoutout to both teams for not only proving me wrong, but asserting themselves as legitimate medal threats in this event. Both the 800/DMR and mile/DMR doubles are possible for McComb and Eissler, so don't be surprised to see these guys very active at PSU in February.
Penn Wood hit the MOC standard, winning the 4x8 in 8:35.
Division 2-
The afternoon session also kicked off with the 800, with Twin Valley's Trey Hill kicking his way to victory in 2:03.30. While the time isn't all that flashy, I think Hill is a diamond in the rough. With guys like Servis and Schlegel, I think Hill's resume of 1:59/4:32 often gets overlooked. Although he'll likely be serving relay duty for a majority of his races, if he gets the chance to get into some open races this year, I think he has the chance to shine. Coming up with a big race for 2nd was Shane Coll. After opening up his season with just a 2:08 just last week, Coll blasted a 2:04 for a huge PR. While he still has a lot of work to do to start getting involved with the long list of sleepers in the 800, Coll showed some signs of life in the state qualifying picture for this season.
In the mile, it was a two horse race between Dylan Servis and Nick Rhodes. In a bit of an upset, Rhodes dropped a ridiculous last 400 in 63 seconds to pull away for the win. After this win, I think Rhodes is a very dangerous dark horse for this year. After being one of the first guys out of states in XC this fall out of D1, coupled with multiple marks in the 4:30's, along with a training partner in Charlie Hermann who made the mile field for indoor states last year, Rhodes has a lot of positives going for him to kick off this indoor season. As for Servis, the 4:27/1:57 stud certainly didn't have his best race, but from the splits, its clear this was a slow race, and he just couldn't quite match Rhode's closing speed. While I think he could make a great anchor for Twin Valley's DMR, I still think this team is still a 4x8 squad.
In what I think was the individual race of the weekend, the division II 3k saw some depth and breakthrough stars. With 4 guys dipping under 9:30, the story came from Saabir Ali's dominant win, storming to a 9:09 victory in which he won by 15 seconds. While Ali has well established PR's of 4:32 and 10:06 (3200), a 9:09 at Lehigh this time of year is another level. What makes his performance even more impressive is that he closed in a 29 last 200! That shows that Ali likely had even more left, which shows that he's close to 9 flat shape already. Simply put, this was probably my MVP performance of the weekend, and I'm super excited to see what Ali can do from here on out. Joey Litvin added to Lower Merion's great weekend with by finishing 2nd in 9:24, and Griffin Schlegel and Pat Wagner rounded out the top 4 under 9:30.
With the DMR's impressing from earlier in the day, West Chester East came away with a win themselves, pulling away from Radnor in 11:07. The biggest part of the story isn't necessarily West Chester East's win or time, but rather, the indoor debut of Josh Lewin, who reportedly anchored the relay to the win. Lewin not only gives his team a legitimate shot to contend at states in the DMR, but he also immediately shakes up the competitiveness of the mile and 3k fields. He ran 4:21 as just a sophomore last year, and may be one of the most talented guys in the state. Essentially, the big takeaway is, watch out for Josh Lewin. I still really liked the performance from the Radnor boys. I'd love to know the order of this relay, as they have some seriously legit pieces in guys like Ethan Zeh and Frank Brown. 11:12 isn't blazing, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement for this relay.
Bishop Loughlin Games:
Because there were so many different events run, and even races broke up by grade, I found that the best way to go through the results was to see the performances that each team from PA put up.
The first notable performance I noticed was Conestoga's Benjamin Horner picking up the win the frosh/soph 1000 in 2:45. Horner ran 2:06 as just a freshman last year, and his 1000 converts to around a 2:04 high. Given that this was his opening race as just a sophomore, I thought this was a great start for him.
Easton showcased some of their depth by putting 3 guys under 1:30 in the 600. While none of their times convert to any flashy marks, this shows that Easton has at least 3 guys that are at least in 2:05 shape right now, making them a big sleeper in the 4x8.
The statement of the weekend came from one of the biggest powerhouses for distance running in PA right now. After establishing themselves as one of the best XC teams in PA, Haverford Township showed that their widespread success is going to carry over into the indoor season. You didn't have to look very hard to find their success. The quartet of Brendan Campbell, Josh Fingerhut, Evan Peetros, and Mike Donnelly all dropped miles in the 4:34-4:43 range. Next, some assortment of their guys dropped a PA #1 8:19 in the 4x8. And finally, in the strongest race in PA this season, Aidan Tomov ripped a 2:33 1k to finish 2nd in the championship section. This is a monster race for Tomov, who put a much heavier emphasis on the mile last year, medaling with a 4:25 indoor, before lowering his time down to 4:29 in the spring. This 2:33 converts to about a 1:56 high, which is extremely rare for this time of year. This performance tells me that Tomov can hold his own with just about anyone in PA, and that he and his Haverford squad can contend for a state gold in either relay right now.
I also really liked Matt Varghese's performance in the mile. He isn't known for being super speedy in comparison to his 3200/5k resume, so for Varghese to open up his season sub 4:40 is very encouraging.
Roman Catholic's Sean Hamilton ran a solid 2:42 in the 1000. That converts to about a 2:03 which is right in line with his PR. It seems as if I keep mentioning a guy in the 2:02-2:04 range that has the chance to breakthrough this season, so expect there to be another very crowded race to snag those last 800 spots around 1:59-2:00 for states this year.
Lastly, while it might be wishful thinking, I would love to see the Saint Joseph's Prep duo hop in an 800 this year. Salim Epps and Denis Gallagher ran extremely quick 600's at 1:23/1:24, which put them in line with multiple 1:50's guys such as Kamil Jihad, their teammate Bobby Dupell, and Methacton's Michael Clark, all of whom graduated last year. While the duo seem to resemble more of Miles Green in the sprints than Dupell's 400/800 resume, I think either of them could excel if they decided to toe the line for an 800.
Armory Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational:
In the invitational mile, we saw Jonah Hoey open his season with a 4:35. While we've become accustomed to seeing Hoey's kick off the season with sub 4:20 US #1's, and some may see this as an underwhelming performance, it was still one of the fastest openers in PA this season. Hoey has raced sparsely in the latter half of 2018, and he very well may just be shaking off the rust. I still fully expect the Shanahan junior to be one of the favorites for state gold in whatever event he chooses to pursue.
-The RunningHub
In the 4x8, the Twin Valley boys cruised to a 8:28 victory. As we'll discuss in a few moments, this seemed to be nothing more than cruising rust buster for the talented guys on this relay.
TFCAofGP Meet #1:
Division 1-
In our first weekend of our typical eastern PA Lehigh meets, we didn't necessarily see some stunning performances, but we saw the emergence of some new names on the distance scene this year.
Kicking things off in the 800, we saw Bensalem junior Dabi Chanez pick up the win in 2:02.94. This was a big breakthrough race for Chanez, as his fastest indoor time from last year came from Ocean Breeze, where he only ran 2:04. Bensalem has a rich history of producing middle distance studs, and it seems that Chanez might just be the next budding star. With much of PA's top talent competing in the 600 or 1000 at Ocean Breeze this weekend, Chanez actually holds the fastest time in PA as of now. I also really liked Jake Boyd's race for 2nd. Boyd is apart of CR North squad that has seen a steep decline in talent after a brutal loss to graduation this past year, but that hasn't stopped Boyd from stepping up. This was arguably an even bigger breakthrough race for Boyd, as he came away with a 2:03.30 silver in this race after not breaking 2:08 indoor last year!
The mile in this one was very crowded up front, with the top 4 all finishing within 2 seconds of each other. Saint Joseph's Ricky Raup took the win in 4:40, getting some revenge over fellow D12 rival in Griffin Pumilia from LaSalle. Pumilia finished 2nd in 4:41, just .35 seconds off the win. Pumilia struggled this XC season, and so despite the loss, I thought this was a good sign for the LaSalle junior, as he looks get back to his 4:30's form. 800 specialist Chris Rudawsky came away with 3rd in this one, and is someone who I think is a deep sleeper in the 800 this year. He's clearing improved his endurance after running 16:30's this past fall, and having run 1:59, I think he has the potential to make some noise amongst the top 15 or so guys in a crowded 800 state picture. Bensalem's Danny Ling rounded out the top 4 in 4:42 as Bensalem begins to amass some pieces for a DMR...
In the 3000, D1 XC state qualifier Samir Razi took the win in 9:25. The North Penn guys Razi and Demis have proven to be much better on the grass than on the oval, but after the fall season they had, it'll be interesting if they can push each other anywhere near an SQS in the 3000. Sean Garrett added to Garnet Valley's solid day with a runner up finish in 9:31.
The DMR stole the show, with Pennridge and Boyertown battling to sub 11 marks. Ultimately, Pennridge came away victorious, running 10:57 to Boyertown's 10:59. From the sounds of things, Eissler blew the field away on the 1200 leg, and McComb just ran out of room to close the gap on the anchor leg. Truthfully, I didn't mention any either of these teams in my DMR preview, so shoutout to both teams for not only proving me wrong, but asserting themselves as legitimate medal threats in this event. Both the 800/DMR and mile/DMR doubles are possible for McComb and Eissler, so don't be surprised to see these guys very active at PSU in February.
Penn Wood hit the MOC standard, winning the 4x8 in 8:35.
Division 2-
The afternoon session also kicked off with the 800, with Twin Valley's Trey Hill kicking his way to victory in 2:03.30. While the time isn't all that flashy, I think Hill is a diamond in the rough. With guys like Servis and Schlegel, I think Hill's resume of 1:59/4:32 often gets overlooked. Although he'll likely be serving relay duty for a majority of his races, if he gets the chance to get into some open races this year, I think he has the chance to shine. Coming up with a big race for 2nd was Shane Coll. After opening up his season with just a 2:08 just last week, Coll blasted a 2:04 for a huge PR. While he still has a lot of work to do to start getting involved with the long list of sleepers in the 800, Coll showed some signs of life in the state qualifying picture for this season.
In the mile, it was a two horse race between Dylan Servis and Nick Rhodes. In a bit of an upset, Rhodes dropped a ridiculous last 400 in 63 seconds to pull away for the win. After this win, I think Rhodes is a very dangerous dark horse for this year. After being one of the first guys out of states in XC this fall out of D1, coupled with multiple marks in the 4:30's, along with a training partner in Charlie Hermann who made the mile field for indoor states last year, Rhodes has a lot of positives going for him to kick off this indoor season. As for Servis, the 4:27/1:57 stud certainly didn't have his best race, but from the splits, its clear this was a slow race, and he just couldn't quite match Rhode's closing speed. While I think he could make a great anchor for Twin Valley's DMR, I still think this team is still a 4x8 squad.
In what I think was the individual race of the weekend, the division II 3k saw some depth and breakthrough stars. With 4 guys dipping under 9:30, the story came from Saabir Ali's dominant win, storming to a 9:09 victory in which he won by 15 seconds. While Ali has well established PR's of 4:32 and 10:06 (3200), a 9:09 at Lehigh this time of year is another level. What makes his performance even more impressive is that he closed in a 29 last 200! That shows that Ali likely had even more left, which shows that he's close to 9 flat shape already. Simply put, this was probably my MVP performance of the weekend, and I'm super excited to see what Ali can do from here on out. Joey Litvin added to Lower Merion's great weekend with by finishing 2nd in 9:24, and Griffin Schlegel and Pat Wagner rounded out the top 4 under 9:30.
With the DMR's impressing from earlier in the day, West Chester East came away with a win themselves, pulling away from Radnor in 11:07. The biggest part of the story isn't necessarily West Chester East's win or time, but rather, the indoor debut of Josh Lewin, who reportedly anchored the relay to the win. Lewin not only gives his team a legitimate shot to contend at states in the DMR, but he also immediately shakes up the competitiveness of the mile and 3k fields. He ran 4:21 as just a sophomore last year, and may be one of the most talented guys in the state. Essentially, the big takeaway is, watch out for Josh Lewin. I still really liked the performance from the Radnor boys. I'd love to know the order of this relay, as they have some seriously legit pieces in guys like Ethan Zeh and Frank Brown. 11:12 isn't blazing, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement for this relay.
Bishop Loughlin Games:
Because there were so many different events run, and even races broke up by grade, I found that the best way to go through the results was to see the performances that each team from PA put up.
The first notable performance I noticed was Conestoga's Benjamin Horner picking up the win the frosh/soph 1000 in 2:45. Horner ran 2:06 as just a freshman last year, and his 1000 converts to around a 2:04 high. Given that this was his opening race as just a sophomore, I thought this was a great start for him.
Easton showcased some of their depth by putting 3 guys under 1:30 in the 600. While none of their times convert to any flashy marks, this shows that Easton has at least 3 guys that are at least in 2:05 shape right now, making them a big sleeper in the 4x8.
The statement of the weekend came from one of the biggest powerhouses for distance running in PA right now. After establishing themselves as one of the best XC teams in PA, Haverford Township showed that their widespread success is going to carry over into the indoor season. You didn't have to look very hard to find their success. The quartet of Brendan Campbell, Josh Fingerhut, Evan Peetros, and Mike Donnelly all dropped miles in the 4:34-4:43 range. Next, some assortment of their guys dropped a PA #1 8:19 in the 4x8. And finally, in the strongest race in PA this season, Aidan Tomov ripped a 2:33 1k to finish 2nd in the championship section. This is a monster race for Tomov, who put a much heavier emphasis on the mile last year, medaling with a 4:25 indoor, before lowering his time down to 4:29 in the spring. This 2:33 converts to about a 1:56 high, which is extremely rare for this time of year. This performance tells me that Tomov can hold his own with just about anyone in PA, and that he and his Haverford squad can contend for a state gold in either relay right now.
I also really liked Matt Varghese's performance in the mile. He isn't known for being super speedy in comparison to his 3200/5k resume, so for Varghese to open up his season sub 4:40 is very encouraging.
Roman Catholic's Sean Hamilton ran a solid 2:42 in the 1000. That converts to about a 2:03 which is right in line with his PR. It seems as if I keep mentioning a guy in the 2:02-2:04 range that has the chance to breakthrough this season, so expect there to be another very crowded race to snag those last 800 spots around 1:59-2:00 for states this year.
Lastly, while it might be wishful thinking, I would love to see the Saint Joseph's Prep duo hop in an 800 this year. Salim Epps and Denis Gallagher ran extremely quick 600's at 1:23/1:24, which put them in line with multiple 1:50's guys such as Kamil Jihad, their teammate Bobby Dupell, and Methacton's Michael Clark, all of whom graduated last year. While the duo seem to resemble more of Miles Green in the sprints than Dupell's 400/800 resume, I think either of them could excel if they decided to toe the line for an 800.
Armory Coaches Hall of Fame Invitational:
In the invitational mile, we saw Jonah Hoey open his season with a 4:35. While we've become accustomed to seeing Hoey's kick off the season with sub 4:20 US #1's, and some may see this as an underwhelming performance, it was still one of the fastest openers in PA this season. Hoey has raced sparsely in the latter half of 2018, and he very well may just be shaking off the rust. I still fully expect the Shanahan junior to be one of the favorites for state gold in whatever event he chooses to pursue.
-The RunningHub
Agree. Tomov and Ali were the performers of the week. I don’t think Haverford will win either of the relays though.
ReplyDeleteWill not running XC affect hoey’s base in the long run?
ReplyDeleteThat really depends on the training he was doing. Just because he wasn't racing doesn't mean he wasn't taking the time to build base. Unless he was hurt?
DeleteAny big performances yesterday?
ReplyDeleteColin Ochs ran 1:58.13, and Twin Valley had a big DMR ig al hop we can talk about it more in the next recap
Deleteweekend recap/weekend preview? Merry Christmas!
ReplyDelete