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Jeff Wiseman of CRS is racing the 800 this weekend in the Caribbean meet. I really hope he does well; he is also in the 18 man final at NBoN. Not sure if they have heats for that. Either way, he’s got a lot of potential and he has had misfortune in his past two races. I think at NB he can run in the 1:50’s if they go out hard enough. He’s really gusty and I think that’ll pay off in the next few weeks.

Open 1 Mile: Ben and Sam Ritz are the PA guys here, I wish Brehm was going, but it makes sense for him to take some time off. Sam had a huge race at Henderson’s Distance Festival, but I think Ben will really step it up. He did indoors, running 4:12 for a full mile and I believe he goes sub 4:10. I’m not sure if Sam can repeat his success, but I hope he proves me wrong. I have him at 4:14.

2 Mile: Really interesting choice here by Barchet. He’s also in the 4x1 Mile relay for Henderson. Barchet from what I’ve heard didn’t feel great the past few weeks, but I hope his luck changes and I’m really pulling for him to step it up. He’s done that the past two national meets, and I think he does it again, but I do not believe he has what it takes to get All-American in this race. But then again I didn’t think he’d be top 50 at XC Nat’s and he was 21^st. I think he’s 10^th in 9:05. Shearn will be at Nat’s again looking for some redemption after getting beat out by Galassi in the last 100, Shearn has been the best 3200 runner for PA this year (Norris was the beat 3k guy) and I think he’s ready to roll. I’m going bold here and saying 8:58.98 for Shearn with All-American honors. (Remember that it’s two full miles not 3200).

5000m: Wow, this is stacked for PA and I’m really excited about it. Galassi, Shearn, Russell, Todaro, Kennedy, and Williams. Not sure how to predict this because we haven’t seen these guys race since XC, but we got 4 XC state champs, a runner-up, and a total stud in Sam Williams (I think he was 3^rd or 4^th, but I can’t remember and don’t have much time to write this up). Russell was unreal in XC, but his 3200/3k finishes have really worried me and I think he may have been pushing too much towards the mile and speed stuff this winter and spring, but at the same time he was so dominant I can’t count him out. I think two of these guys will get All-American, and it could be any of them. This will also be all of their first races.

Russell - 14:45

Todaro – 14:52

Shearn – 14: 54

Galassi – 15:02.1

Kennedy – 15:02.3

Williams – 15:18

I believe they all have the ability to break 15, but it’s tough for all of them to have a good day. I really hope this goes well for PA, because we’ve got a lot of potential here for some big races. And I think some of these guys could go even faster. I hope Russell pulls off like 14:35.

2000m Steeple Chase: Well Alec Coburn is moving up, we saw him race this earlier in the season and do quite well on his own running 6:09 if I can recall correctly (let me know how off I am on that!). But this should be a good race. I don’t know much about the field or how good his time really was, but what I do know is that Coburn is a boss. I think he can win this race as 5:55 won it last year and sub 6:10 was top 6. If he’s with the leaders or close to them with 400 to go I bet his 800 strength kicks in and he wins it.  Sam Williams will also be in the race and he’ll be coming off a tough 5k. These are two brutal distances races to run in a weekend and I don’t know if he’ll be able to double that well, but then again his double at states was phenomenal.  I think he gets the last All-American spot in a time of 6:13.

4x1Mile Relay: First off, I’m shocked not to see the O’Hara boys in this race. They did seem to begin burning out at the end of the season, but still they’re a team of studs that were 3^rd indoors in this event. The big guns from the south and Cali will be at this meet and they weren’t there indoor, so competition will be fierce. Henderson has a shot of winning, but then again they’ll have Russell on the double (I believe the 3200 is the next day, correct me if I’m wrong). 4:12(Russell), 4:18(Moy), 4:22(Barchet), and 4:20(Stratman) is what I have Henderson at. 17:12 would get them the meet record by 5 seconds, and I think to win this race they’ll need to break that record. I do see them winning, but watch out for Chantilly. Sean McGorty won Penn Relays in 4:04 and he will be gunning for Russell. They have another 4:12 guy. Hummelstown is another PA squad, I don’t know much about Santeusanio and Weidner, hopefully I’ll have time to do some research later, but it looks as though they’re preparing for next year since they all return (it could be the making of a really solid XC team). I think they’ll break 18 flat, but nothing crazy.

I’m in total disbelief that there are no PA teams right now in the 4x8 and DMR. I guess La Salle bagged nationals which I’m frankly shocked at. They may not have been planning to go from the start, but I was really excited at their possibilities for both relays especially as COA DMR champs.  Best of luck to all those guys at college though.

EE800 – Christian Hunter has really come through with this move up in distance and has been quite successful with a string of 1:56’s. I think he pops off a 1:55 low to end his high school career.

I’m off to go clubbing, I’ll finish this post later on J

Have a great weekend everyone!

That’s all for now Folks

--ForrestCRN