Monday, September 29, 2014

Paul Short Preview: Short version

I saw the post about the teams list, and after looking at it for about 10 seconds I knew I was going to take a break from homework and write a post.



Brown Race Teams: Bensalem, Conestoga, Cumberland Valley, Easton, Freedom, Hershey, Malvern Prep, GTF, Parkland, Pottsgove?  Scranton Prep? South Williamsport, Spring Ford

Brown Race Individuals: Matthew Scarpill (CBS), Diestelow,  Holm

Ben Szuhaj of Penn Charter will take on the White race. 

To be honest I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay around to watch the boys High school Brown race at 3:15, since I finish my race around 2:15 and I have a concert to attend that begins at 3PM, but it’s going to be worth going late to see this epic high school race. This could just be bigger than the state meet will be:

PA#1 Colin Abert, PA #2 Jaxson Hoey, PA#3 Paul Power, PA#4 Griffin Molino, and PA #7 Andrew Marston. This race is going to absolutely insane up front. Abert loves to take it out fast, and Molino is always ready to roll. These two runners both ran 15:54 at states last season in different races and are ready to bang. Molino has yet to run against any real competition, and boy will he get some here. He started out the year as PA#1 and he will look to reclaim that spot with a win. Hoey has taken down James, Brophy, and I’m going to count Zach Brehm in there as well. Now he will have the opportunity to attack the best from ‘A’ and ‘AAA’ in a very quick race. Hopefully he’ll have recovered well from the dehydration, which can be very difficult. Paul Power will look to prove his 15:50 on the state course was not a onetime thing. He’ll have the opportunity here to really show his chops on a quick course. Andrew Marston will debut in his first 5k, yes Jarrett I’m not counting that 3 Mile race. I think he’s better on hilly courses since he likes to run even, but this group will take it out hard. His 14:31 over Bryce Millar does show me however that he’s ready to close hard and is in ~15:10 shape for 5k. Get excited because this front pack will be on fire out front. We might even see a sub 15 minute race. Frankly, I expect it.

(I also didn’t even mention the sophomore sensation Nick Dahl who ran 15:29 for his first 5k. I have no doubt he’ll continue that trend here, but he might hurt a bit at the end if he ends up going out with this pack of 5, which I expect him too. He’s gutsy and good, but I think one of these guys would have to have an off day to lose to him this early in the season, but look for him to be up front and under 15:30 granted it’s a fast day). 

Behind this studly group of 5 runners we’ll get to see runners like Scarpill and Diestelow go against Killan from ‘Stoga and Hepp from GTF along with what should be a great battle between Malvern Prep’s runners and ‘Stoga’s guys. I think this will really show us who the top team in the state is. Both have strong low sticks with a nice 2-3 combo, but frankly Malvern Prep looks better all around. Maybe ‘Stoga’s #5 will be better, but even that should be a close battle. MP looks fantastic and I really think they’re one of the top teams in the region, but the two will be within 15 points of each other no doubt. Germantown friends is another team to watch for in this battle. They tied ‘Stoga in a 3000m race, but have no looked as good since. This will be another opportunity for them to get on the Top 10 list.

Connor Holm will look to have a big race after a disappointing 17:05 season opener at Rose-Tree. 

We get to see a District 11 preview as well with Easton, Parkland, and Freedom all attending. This will be Freedom’s biggest race of the season before Districts and they’ve got something to prove with that pack after Easton got off to a pretty impressive start at PTXC. Easton has by far the best 1-2 combination, but Freedom’s pack will look to interrupt them. Parkland is an underdog here, but could very well be the top D11 team at the end of the day with Newman and Kyvelos in the lead and we might see a big jump from sophomore Michael Geiger.

We’ve also got some big D3 names in Cumberland Valley and Hershey who will be looking to mix it up with some of the District 1 schools like Pottsgrove, Bensalem, and potentially Spring Ford. CV could make a move into the Top 10 teams list with a 3rd or 4th place finish in this race.

Again, Hope to see many of you there!
--ForrestCRN

64 comments:

  1. I believe in his interview, Marston said they will be taking the weekend off and then going to Manhattan next weekend.
    -Evan

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  2. Freedom's Ben Zeigler missed Carlisle meet and could be questionable (plus their 5 is out for season) so I look for Easton and Parkland to battle for D11 honors at this meet. Parkland was impressive at Carlisle but Easton is rested and will look to make a statement. Abert wins race.

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  3. Albert 15:12 - Comes in fresh and ready to roll.
    Molino 15:15 - Time to show he is top 3 in state. Will he go with Albert?
    Hoey 15:16 - Would have picked him over Molino but has had a few hard races the last 3 weeks + a tough race last week. Will be recover?
    Marston 15:22: More of a hill runner. Still 15:22 is a great time and should not be dissappointed.
    Power 15:24: time to prove that his 15:50 in Hershey was no fluke
    Dahl 15:28: Watch out for this guy. I don't think he wins this race but a few more competive races under his belt and he is dangerous.

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    1. Abert and Molino go under 15:00 (maybe Power). Hoey needs to rest, especially if hot like last year. Abert proved he can take the heat at Kutztown.

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  4. Listen, I know Hoey is all that, blah,blah, blah. Not to take away anything from his talent, but kid is straight up over - racing.
    Hey dad, listen up - he will pay for it eventually. There are times to dial it back for the kids sake and his future running career.

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    1. He is over-racing. Definitely shouldn't have run Carlisle. Where was the rest of the team?? On the other hand keep in mind he doesn't run districts or PIAA states.

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    2. It's mid season, if the whole team isn't going to a meet then stay home and train with them or take the day off.

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    3. Racing into shape is another way of training. A lot of teams race hard on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In high school due to the racing schedule of dual meets a lot of training is thrown off and racing hard often isn't actually a bad idea. Plus it is important to remember that Malvern Prep will have a very minimal race schedule in the middle of October, since they are not in the PIAA.

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    4. Sorry, I didn’t mean to create an issue with my post above. I think you can race hard every week but it really depends on the individual and their schedule during the week. 2007, 2008 and 2009 NP teams participated in every big invitations and still managed to win team title in 2007/2008. Miles won individual title 2009….. 2011 NP squad scaled back quite a bit and won the title. That said, there is no hard proof evidence that running meets every week hurts you. Again, largely depends on individual.

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    5. He has run some real hard races already and I know Nationals in December is the goal. Hope he has a good plan to keep it fresh over the next 2+ months.
      I recall reading on this site criticism of Cummings for racing too hard, too early too. Maybe it was why he had difficulty towards the end of his seasons?

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  6. I honestly don’t think the top 3 guys at this point of the season can better Russell’s mark last year. Russell 14:59 was just phenomenal. I would say their time might be slightly better than what Wilson ran (15:15) in D1. Furthermore, there is rain in the forecast (bummer).

    Abert: 15: 11: He had a goal of breaking 15. Initially I thought he might be closed but the best mark since 2007 was run by Doug Smith 15:10 (incredible HS runner from NJ). Furcht ran 15:19. Kaulbach (sp), Dustin Wilson, Shearn, M. Norris ran no better than 15:27
    Molino 15:18 -Should try to run his race, but I have a feeling he might want to go with Abert. Curious to know how he will respond. A pair of 15:43 wins uncontested and with Abert/Hoey leading the way, he should shave at least 20secs from his PR.
    Hoey 15:21 - Like he did w/ Russell last year, I think he will go with Abert. Has had to run hard races almost every weekend so the question is will he have the energy to go out hard once again?
    Marston15:29: Gradually building up . I think he will peak well come states. Might be disappointed with 4th place finished but 15:29 with a month to go before states is a great time.
    Powers 15:33 -15:50 in Hershey came out of the blue so not sure what to get from him. I can see him staying w/ the top 5 but I really need to see one more great run before I lumped him in w/ those guys.
    Dahl 15:38 - Potential is there. Like Powers would like to see him run another great race

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    1. Abert must have read my post above to prove me wrong..lol.. I'm in awe with his 14:55 this early in the season. I had high hopes since i pick him to be in the top 10 in footlocker. Congrats to him.
      Molino 15:18 Definitely in shape and will challenge again to make nationals.
      Hoey 15:36 slightly slower than i preditcted but still a solid time. Not worried about him.
      Powers: 15:24 well his good a couple of great races under his belt. I see him now as being a contender for top 5
      Dahl 15:41. Another great race from him. Top 10-15 in the states

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  7. Valid points about difficulty in breaking 15:00, but I do think Abert has the best shot if weather is cool and dry. Consider that Abert bested Shearn's D11 time by 30 seconds last year and Abert is at least 30 seconds faster this year than last year (when looking at Kutztown and Easton home course times). Throw in that this course is his backyard, he will be chasing the ghost of Toni Russell, and the competition is stellar.

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    1. Nobody is breaking 15:00 at Paul Short, even if the weather is perfect. It's too early in the season and these guys aren't in Russell's class....yet.

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    2. I agree. No one will break 15 Russell was one of the best to ever come out of the state and no one is in that kind of shape this early in the season. The winning time will be around 15:10 15:15

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    3. 100% chance of rain on Saturday.That will slow people down

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    4. I really hate to say I told you so about Abert...but I told you so. He would've gone 10 seconds faster in better conditions.

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    5. Hate to say I told you so...wait...wait...but I told you so. If conditions were better Abert would have broken 15:50.

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  8. I also wanted to throw the name Kieran Tuntivate out there from Charter School of Wilmington (DE). He ran 4:13 at the Henderson Distance Festival last year and ran 16:10 on this course as a sophomore (he is now a senior). He could surprise and will be racing with that top group.

    I am also happy that Penn Charter got moved into the Brown race!

    That is all for now,

    --ForrestCRN

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  9. A note on this Josh Hoey thing that appeared on Penntrack today:

    "My Dad's friend, Terrence Mahon, writes the workouts and my Mom comes and makes sure we do them properly."

    Not sure how well-versed in the sport the readers of this blog are, but Terrence Mahon coached Ryan Hall for 5 years, as well as some other pros, and was a 2:13 marathoner himself.

    Not to take anything at all away from the Hoey brothers' remarkable talent...

    ...but what the fuck? I wish I'd had a professional running coach writing me workouts in HS.

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    1. That's a formula to plateau in high school and burn out after a year or two of college running.

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    2. threshold runs baby!

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    3. Few WCH make an impact in college and it is discussed out there at the next level. Lefebure is the probably the only one and he didn't do XC so wasn't as stressed.

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  11. Paul Short results will be available on runhigh.com

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  12. What happened at the Dwest WCH dual meet? Anybody have results?

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    1. Sappey,Knapp,Barchet,Swart,R.Barton for the top 5 WCH wins 26-30

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    2. Wow. WCH is pretty legit then.

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    3. Dwest is coming up small with all that talent.

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    4. Or WCH is actually pretty legit... They've got a pretty good coach I've heard...

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    5. People just need to follow history. Henderson will always find a way to be compete. If you look at yesterdays results, in a bigger race (like Districts) DWest will prevail because of the spread between Henderson's 4 and 5 and DWest should get all 7 runners in before Henderson's #5. Nice win for Henderson but it really doesn't change the overall picture at districts.

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    6. Isn't dwest missing a couple of top guys with lyme disease or mono or something like that?

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    7. Actually WCH put their 5 and 6 in front of DWest's 7 and their 5 finished a second behind DWest's 6... And yes, drew alansky is out with back problems, but he's the only one and he's been out since the start of the season

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  13. DWest ran a fantastic race on a tough course and had probably 12 of the top 20 placers. Henderson's top 5 were just more than Dwest could handle.

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    1. Hendersons 4 and 5 are freshman. No way they have it in them to survive Chesmonts let alone States. Henderson doesn't make States this year. Trust.

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    2. Henderson has a young team with 4 and 5 being a freshman and a sophomore. Kelly knows what he doing though.

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  14. Sappey is having a great year. The rest of the DWest squad needs to tone down the rhetoric until they can step it up a notch.

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  15. Freedom's Ben Ziegler is battling with a shin splint also Jason Lopez of Freedom has had a recent groin injury.

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  16. Don't rule out Liam Conway, freshman at Owen J. Roberts. The kid is legit

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  17. Why would you say this about a freshman...talented and promising maybe, but a kid like this will be finish way behind the states top talent.

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  19. It is funny how this blog started supporting DWest based on times. Their times gave reason to believe that they would beat WCH. Early season this logic was affirmed by the results at Oakbourne relays, Cherokee, and (to an extent) Carlisle. Now that this blog, for the most part, has been proven wrong, it has fallen into baseless, unconfirmed sputtering of reasons why Henderson's achievement is unimportant.
    "West was holding back"

    "Henderson's 4 and 5 have peaked"

    "West's coach is a raging asshole"(The only one i can confirm as false)

    One poster even said "when WE meet at districts, Dwest will bury them[Henderson]." All of these have no proof. I think the one about west's level of effort may be most insulting if false. If that was everything they had and it was seen as a halfhearted attempt i would be insulted.

    On top of all of the DWest vs. Henderson drama, I do not understand the Hoey drama. Maybe it is the association with the ever so evil Henderson, but all i can tell is that Hoey is a great runner with a lot of heart and a great running family. All of that makes me respect him. Just my opinion on these comments. Hope we can go back to being classy and logical and best of luck to all the runners in the state. Hope to see some even more interesting results coming up from Paul Short.

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    1. People up there who are acting like this are ridiculous. This is Cross country folks, get over yourselves. Let the racing do the talking.

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  20. How did this get into a posf about the Paul Short preview.

    I think it posters were not allowed to be anonymous, people would be less obnoxious.

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  21. The hoeys are coached by the coach of Malvern Mike Koenig just like everyone else on Malvern. Terrance Mahon is a friend of Mr. Hoey and is used purely for advice none of which has to do with our training. All of the training for everyone on the team is written up by Koenig. So stop trashing Malvern and the Hoey family on here and talk about our performances and times and not the school or anything else. This is a running blog not a blog to disrespect other families or schools.

    Billy McDevitt

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  22. You guys do realize you're fighting over a blog post about a bunch of 15-18 year old runners, right?
    -Evan

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  23. When I went to bed last night I was disgusted with this thread. And while some of the posts may still be immature, I have changed my perspective a little.

    I think it's sort of great that the sport of XC has developed a little bit of drama and rivalry like other more main stream sports. Tennis in the 70s and 80s benefited greatly from some drama and rivalry. Football at HS, college and pros, all benefit from drama and rivalry.

    So in hind site, if we can stay away from some of the ad hominem attacks, bring on the drama. It's good for the sport. Things will always get settled on the course eventually.

    Just one parents thoughts.

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    1. Agree about the XC drama. It gets too personal at times, but why should we expect XC to be excluded from the same level of competition and trash talking any other sport thrives on?

      It's good to have some friction. Makes the sport a little more interesting because lets face it, it suffers from a reputation of being boring and prissy.

      Furthermore, although sometimes things are stated in an inappropriate manner, there is often some really good points for discussion in the comments of this blog. I mean, I always wondered about different coaching styles too. And I think to learn about the runner(s) on everybody's top list, we should understand the background a little. If a kid admits to receiving private or professional training, I am curious to know more about that. Does that qualify me as a creep or nosy? Hardly, I'm a runner and a fan of the sport-that's why I read all the running publications I can get my hands on. And I suppose like anyone who has achieved a level of skill that exceeds most of his peers, there will be animosity. Those are the breaks, kid. Greatness has its drawbacks.

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  24. This race will be the best chance of seeing PA's top runners go head-to-head in PA since Hoey and Dahl will not run States as independents, and Molino is in A. Only Abert and Powers will meet in AAA (along with James, Marston, Brophy and Brehm, who all will not be at this meet). Still the best individual matchup in PA this season. To echo ETrain, PA needs a 'Meet of Champions' like New Jersey has had for years to crown one State Champ!

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  25. Forrest, why did you remove Knapp's post defending his team and yet keep up McDevitt's?
    That seems a little one-sided on your part.
    I get that some of those posts you removed were baseless and inappropriate but not all of them. It gives you a sort of "don-like" characteristic when you clean up things about people you maybe don't want to piss off and yet leave up some questionable stuff.
    To have differing perspectives on some coaching styles is thought provoking and frankly, of great interest to many readers. I'd like to read more about that-the factual stuff as well as the varying opinions. Don't sanitize this whole site because of the intimidating influence of a few.

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    1. ^definitely agree. Interesting dynamic there.
      Good luck at Paul Short, Forrest!

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  26. Forrest,

    People have come to this blog more than 300,000 times because it is a unique place for hard core XC fans. There ends up being so much "thread drift" on the different topics here, where users get off topic. Often times the new direction is interesting. People run off about WCH and DWest on Paul Short Preview thread because there is no other place on this blog for it.

    Is there anyway to have a perpetual open thread more for general banter? I would still like to hear about WCH vs DWest, but who is going to find it at the bottom of a Paul Short thread?

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    1. @Forrest I completely agree. There should be a general discussion post for all of the dual meet debate and whatnot.

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    2. Idk if it's possible with blogspot but maybe a sticky thread at the top?

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  27. The blogs always get a little goofy around Paul Short. Must be the stress of the upcoming championship season.

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  28. Does anybody know what places medal in the JV and varsity races? I've heard top 20, 30, and 50, but I'm not sure. I need to get that cleared up. Thanks in advance.

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  29. did a freshman really run a 16:10??

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  30. I think that Paul Short T shirts were awarded to the top 25 in each of the varsity races. JV runners are doing it for the glory of running,

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