UPDATED (12/29 12:20AM): Robert Burdette Meet Preview @ Bottom. Also Meet Results

TFCA of GP Meeting #2

I didn’t get a chance to talk about this meet in my last post, so I’m going to throw up some quick interesting information here.

Twin Valley is always an interesting team to look at for the 4x8 and it seems like every year I wait for them to break out, so I’m not going to make anything bold, but it’s nice to see Josh Coakley open up his season with a 2:02.6 for the win over a solid runner in Julian Degroot-Lutzner, while his teammate Colin Geary placed 2^nd in the Mile with a time of 4:42.72, and Dominic Digiacomo also placed 2^nd for TV in the 3k with a nice time of 9:22. These guys have some interesting pieces and I’m thinking about an 11 flat for the DMR by the end of the season.

Malvern Prep drops a nice DMR time of 11:02 for a meet record. I wish we could see who was on the relay, but I’m guessing something like Wills on the 1200 leg and McDevitt on the anchor. I can’t wait to see those guys in open events however! Without Hoey will they go for the relay or will they let McDevitt take on the 3k again this indoor season? I bet the go for the DMR.

Out in Division I we saw 800m stud Dylan Eddinger run 51.98 to beat out Oliver Boucher (52.33) in the open 400. I love to see 800m guys go after the 400 early on in the season to warm their legs up. I wonder what CB East will do this season with their pieces. Boucher proved to be a solid leg last season splitting 1:57 I believe and they’ve got Brophy would could probably go 1:55 indoors (even off the 3k… or Mile?). But I guess we shall see.

But serious, biggest result we’ve seen this indoor season in my opinion is the 2:02.42 by Chester’s FRESHMAN Kamil Jihad! I mean come on! That’s just ridiculous to open up your season with and he beat out Ryan Tung and Keelan O’Reilly, two proven 800m runners. I’m stoked about this kid.

I’m pretty happy about Brian Arita’s opening 4:33 in the Mile and he is too. I believe his splits were 2:18/2:15, which is a nice race for him early in the season and he beat out Ian Davies of CB West (who ran 4:39).

La Salle’s Stephen Paul ran 9:24 in the 3k, and I’d love to see all of La Salle’s XC squad race the 3k at their small meet in a few days. I think most of La Salle’s varsity XC team could hit between 9:10-9:20, which would be awesome to watch.

Neshaminy’s 4x8 team got a really nice win, and the SQS (exactly for that matter) with the time of 8:22.06! They beat out LaSalle and Bensalem by just over a second and also a CBW squad that ran 8:29. They’ve got potential folks (just check out Etrains post), but the biggest relay event of the day was the battle between CR South and Saint Joseph’s Prep that ended in both teams going sub 11 with times of 10:53.53 and 10:54.72 respectively. I think this event is perfect for both squads who have some stud legs to work with in the 1200 and the Mile and I think both will medal at states. I’m thinking about 10:40 or faster for both teams at the state meet and maybe low 10:30’s if things come together really nicely.

Wm. H. Emrey Christmas City Relays

Once again Colin Abert gets a slow start to an indoor season where he placed 3^rd overall in a time of 4:39.68 with Seth Slavin placing 6^th in 4:43.06. Abert ran 4:39.01 at the Burdette Indoor Classic this time last season, so in some ways it’s nothing to worry about (finished his season running 4:16 for 1600m). 

Pleasant Valley’s Khai Samuels placed 2^nd overall in the open 800 with a time of 2:02.8.

I really like that Pleasant Valley guys Slavin and Khai were able to double back strongly in the DMR for a solid time of 11:10. Slavin took the 1200 leg and Khai the 1600, which was an interesting choice for the team, but overall that time looks great on paper right now and this relay squad has got DMR qualifying potential.

I like the relays that Pennridge dropped as well. They ran 11:11 in the DMR and 8:31 in the 4x8 by only doubling Justin Musco and Dan Williams. Alex Masgai has been a staple for this 4x8 team the past two years running some solid 2 flat splits and may be in for a breakout season while Williams ran 1:57 last season as well. I’m betting this team will drop around an 8:10 4x8 time by the end of January.

Marine Corps Holiday Classic Meet Entries

Men’s 800m Invitational

John Lewis is not messing around this year as his seed time is 1:50.10 to start off the season. Boy I am excited to watch him take on this event. There are 4 runners behind him seeded at under 1:57 and it should be fun to see how low he can go. I’m thinking a low 1:54 for the win.

What is also exciting about this race is Penn Wood entering two runners: Senior Ahmere Ponzo (1:57.55) and sophomore Dennis Manyeah (1:59.55). This race could be over both of their heads, since we know Penn Wood as the PA Sprint Corps, but it should be good early season strength to watch them move up in distance. There 4x4 is always a potent one, but if they could mix it up in the 4x8, things could get scary for the distance teams of PA.

Robert J. Burdett Indoor Classic Meet Look Back (Preview will come once the Performance List arrives)

Looking quickly at least year’s results I want to point out a few things: the 800m winner Connor Holm (2:01.02) went on to medal indoors running 1:56 to win the slow heat, but 4^th place finisher was Eli Mercado who ran 2:03.71 and he went on to run 1:55.33 in the open 800 on the double from his amazing 1:53 split in the 4x8 earlier that day at the outdoor state championships. Maybe we’ll have a similar break out star this year in the event.

The Mile held quite a few studs in Jaxson Hoey (4:26 win) over Billy Caldwell (went on the place 2^nd outdoors in the 1600) along with 800m studs like Dave Garton (5^th), while Austin Cooper and Watson Hanson who placed 3^rd and 4^th respectively didn’t make the huge jumps we may have expected. Colin Abert also placed 7^th in this race in 4:39 and went on to run 4:16.90 outdoors.

The 3k was blazing with Brophy breaking 9 minutes to beat out Belfatto and Comber, while Billy McDevitt faltered to place 8^th in 9:40, but went on to run 8:55 at states later that indoor season. That showing of finishing speed from Brophy exhibited itself with his 1:55 split at states outdoors and his 8:42 3^rd place finish in the 3k indoors.

Robert J. Burdette Indoor Classic – Meet Preview

Mile – The Interesting Stories:

Jack Carmody had a big time breakout XC season with a 37^th place finish at States. He ran at regionals and took some time off it seems like since he has run 9:28/2:13 double to start his season about a week ago. A sub 4:40 would be great to see from him to open his season. Freshman Liam Conway will open up his track season with the Mile and we’ve seen a 4:49 from the youngest Power and I think Conway could break 4:50 as well. We get to Dominic Digiacomo and Keelan O’Reilly take to the Mile as well after solid performances at the TFCAofGP Meet #2 in the 3k and 800m respectively. 

The “Big Names”: We’ve usually see one to two runners break 4:30 in the Mile at this meet and I think this year should be no exception. Paul Power has run 8:55 to start his indoor season and he’ll be taking on XC medalist Kevin Lapsansky, but his biggest competition will come from Andrew Hanna who has already run 9:13 for 3k, but was part of a very strong 10:53 State leading DMR squad. Colin Wills also has some strong miles under his belt and he ran a quick 1200m for Malvern Prep last weekend when they ran 11:02 for the DMR. Ryan Tung also looks to run low 4:30’s in this race as well. Sean Sullivan could also surprise (I see him at 4:37). I also totally missed John Daly from St. Joes Prep, who should be able to run low 4:30's.

400m –

We get to see the career opener from John Brophy… yeah, and we get to see Malvern’s new 400m DMR leg Elijah King perform. 

800m –

I think this race has got some really solid potential. Oliver Boucher opened his season with a 52 low in the 400 and now is moving up in distance. He’ll be fighting indoor medalist Connor Holm who won this race last season. They’ll be challenged by Khai Samuel’s who just ran 2:02 on the double and Alek Sauer who recently ran 2:31 for the 1000m at the Armoury. I think we’ll see a 1:58ish for the win with 3 runners breaking 2 minutes, that is if they go for it from the beginning. If it slows down at all it should be an easy win for Sauer, but the meet record is only 1:58.20 by Palmisano (Etrain’s UD teammate) and I think it could get broken. Also it's going to be great to see how the freshman Kamil Jihad stack up against some of these 800m vets.

3000m –

This race should be really run to watch. Colin Abert will be battling Billy McDevitt and CR South’s Joe McGuire for the win. Both McGuire and McDevitt have only been a part of relays this season and I think McDevitt will take the win, fairly easily in ~9:05. Abert and Mcguire will battle it out around the 9:15 range with guys like Degroot, Marcelis, and Davies racing in the low 9:20’s. I’m excited to see how Connor McMenamin does in his season opener after a really great season in XC, but sometimes that’s tough to translate to the track early on for young guys. Seth Slavin has started out his season pretty solid and should be in the 9:30 range. 

DMR –

I’m really not sure what to think about this race. Brophy and Comber aren’t entered in open races and I think it’d be awesome to see them open up their seasons with a 1200m race. . . A man can dream right?  Spring Ford might see the Power brothers teaming up and O’Hara doesn’t have anyone entered either and we haven’t seen anything from James yet either… OMG this 1200 has so much potential (but yeah it’s totally not happening).

4x8 –

It’s hard to tell what will happen in races like this, but Cheltenham might drop something without John Lewis, which could be fun. I’m sure we’ll see CR South run ~8:20 with Hanna and McGuire on the double depending on how they race and we’ll also see something pretty solid from Easton Area and potentially teams like North Penn, Penncrest, or Pennsbury could surprise. Plus Pleasant Valley ran 11:11 in the DMR and could run sub 8:30 with guys on the double as well and then there is always Neshaminy who doesn’t have anyone in open events and have already hit the SQS.

That's all for Now Folks!

--ForrestCRN