2013 A Year In Review - Part 1 of 4

2013 – A year in Review!

Now I know that the year is not yet over, but I had some extra time during this nice holiday break to write up a review on the 2013 year! Before I begin, I would like to apologize to the female viewing audience. I did not follow much of the female scene last year and I didn’t believe I could do the year justice for all of you. That being said, let’s get down to it!

January

January is usually a down month for runners as the winter track season is just getting started, but we did see some strong results from around PA. Ross Wilson showed some early speed during 4:29 in the Mile to beat out Sam Webb, Alec Brand, Connor Quinn, and Chris Berry in one of the best races to hit the TFCAofGP scene, while later that day the LaSalle squad showed just how good they would be in the DMR running a blazing 10:33 for a meet record on just January 5^th. . . Talk about starting the right! 

Just a few weeks later the Henderson and GTF squads traveled up to Yale with Great Valley to run some fast 3k’s. Tony Russell placed second in 8:38.01, while Sami Aziz and Reiny Barchet also ran some quick times of 8:49 and 8:51 to boot! Lyle Wistar won the slower heat in 8:47 and his quick pace helped Seamus Collins qualify for states in 8:59.15! Behind them we saw 7 other PA runners break 9:10. The next day at Kevin Dare the PA boys who stayed in state wouldn’t be outdone with Logue and Kunzweiler battling in the 800m for 1:56.60 and 1:57.61 respectively while Jack Huemmler broke Wade Endress’ mile MR in a 4:20.74 effort. Jon Colwell shocked the PA scene as he dropped a 8:45 3k out of seemingly nowhere! Things were very bright for PA early. The next day CRN showed some strong DMR potential running 10:38.9.

On that same weekend I opened my collegiate running career with a heat victory in a fantastic 2:10.16 leading start to finish. Wow I am slow!

February

The PCL Championships proved to be the first big meet in Febuary with LaSalle and O’Hara battling it out on the distance side in every event with Tom Coyle running a 4:20, 8:46 for the double gold! Dan Savage showed off his 3k prowess as well with an 8:48 for second. LaSalle came out on top 136 to 99. Just 4 days later Cumberland Valley ran 10:29.90 for a new state lead in the DMR to show they too were a relay threat. 

Right before the state meet were the Meet of Champions on both the east and the west sides of PA. On the east side, O’Hara ran 10:27 to overtake CV’s DMR state lead, while James Zingarini and Ross Wilson took victories in the Mile and 3k respectively. Out west the Martin Twins threw down 8:47 and 8:51 3k’s to show the state that they were no joke.

It’s now February 23^rd, time for the PA State meet. Distance was started off in the Mile with Jack Huemmler recovering from a poor showing at the Millrose games running 4:17.95 with a big kick for the victory as he grabbed his first state title! Russell, Coyle, and Zingarini followed all running sub 4:21. 

Brad Rivera ran what could be seen as the most impressive performance of the day leading wire to wire in the 800m with a fantastic time of 1:52.43, a race that could easily be argued as his best of the year. Christian Sanders finished off his amazing indoor season with a second place finish out leaning the lean champion, Jeff Wiseman, for second place. 

Max Norris continued his comeback running 8:28 off of a massive kick to take the win in the 3k. The race was lead out by Ross Wilson and Tony Russell as they went through in 60 and then 4:30 through the Mile allowing the top 8 to break 8:45 in the deepest 3k field PA has ever seen. Both runners paid for it however placing 8^th and 9^th respectively. XC studs Martin, Savage, Quinn and Shearn all showed they could run fast in February after extended XC seasons. 

Bensalem made the 4x8 win seem easy as Rivera ran a solid double and Kyle Francis blew away the field running a 27 last 200 for the win. The DMR saw a battle of the milers as LaSalle, CRN, and Strath Haven’s Coyle, Zingarini, and Huemmler all came off the double to anchor their squads putting out very strong efforts to all run under 10:21! In the end Coyle’s kick brought home the team victory to hold off charging runners. Mac Emery came off mono to split 3:09 in the 1200, shocking many as he was thought to be a pure distance guy.

March

After such a fantastic (and deep!) indoor track state meet it was only fitting for PA to show off at the national stage.

The kicker Max Norris was out dueled  in the 5k, but placed second in 14:55 none the less! Ben Ritz won his heat of the Mile in 4:14.67 just missing that top 8, finishing 9^th overall. 

Ethan Martin came back off his 8:33 3k to run 9:16 in the 2 mile, proving that it was no fluke and he would be a major threat outdoors in the 3200.

Despite all of this success, PA made the biggest splashes in the relays. In the 4xMile CRN opened the day running 17:40 in a solo effort out of the slowest of 3 heats. In the end this would hold out to be strong enough for 9^th, causing them to just miss All-American. In the fast heat, O’Hara mixed it up out front the entire race, placing 3^rd in 17:25! Tony Russell however ran his best race of the year bring his team back from inside the pack as he challenged for and took the lead with 600m to go. His 4:10 split would not be enough to hold off CBA as Jack Boyle charged home for the victory. Henderson finished in 17:23.43 for second place. Cardinal O’Hara doubled back in the DMR running 10:13.13 making a statement to LaSalle that they were the best DMR squad in the state. This statement, as we will see later on, is answered at Penn Relays. All in all it was a great set up towards the outdoor season.

Before the month could end, Kevin James and Ben Ritz met at the Pennsylvania Track Classic on the 30^th with James outlasting Ritz in the 3200, running a very fast 9:15.72! Ritz ran 9:19, while Jack Macualey of NP came off injury to run 9:24 for 3^rd place. I was also able to open up my outdoor season in a solid 2:12! Luckily I didn't run that poorly for too long.

Look out for parts 2, 3, and 4 in the coming days and Happy Holidays to All!

--ForrestCRN