Weekend 1/24/15 Meet Result Analysis

I highly apologize for not posting this past week. I had an extremely busy week, and that won’t happen again. Kevin James’ 8:40 3k was the most impressive race of the weekend in my opinion, but it’s too late for a recap, so lets move on to today, where we’ve getting live results in from Kevin Dare!

Mile: I’m furious I didn’t put up predictions for this race, because I wanted to call so much of this race. McDevitt was a shoe-in win for me. He ran 4:23 last weekend after running the mile leg of the DMR the night before. On fresh legs McDevitt kicks home very strong on this field for a win in 4:23.62. I bet he’s in ~4:20/21 shape right now. Kyle Shinn had a solid, but not spectacular XC season, but he’s really turned up his came on the track. He out kicks Brad Foust to take 2^nd place in 4:25.39 to Foust’s 4:25.48. Wyomissing might have a really good DMR in store for us this season. It’s good to see Foust running well indoors. I bet we see Altoona take a top 2 spot in the 4x8 later today.

Another prediction that I wanted to make was Murray beating out Marston as he does with a 4:26.04 and 4:26.15. I really have no idea what ‘Stoga is planning for the state meet, but I’m banking on the DMR right now. Although Murray and Marston are both steadily improving I don’t see either medaling in the Mile, but their combined efforts could place them under 10:30.

Alex Milligan opened this season very strong, but as State College usually does in the middle of the season they seem to plateau. This 4:27.85 doesn’t worry me at all. I have a feeling he’ll be a 4:22 guy by the state meet with a real shot at a medal. I’m excited to see how he doubles back. Liam Galligan ran 4:32. The sophomore might have gone a bit over his head at the beginning, but it’s great to see hi mixing it up in these races. 

3000m: Pennsbury disappeared from the Kevin Dare Invitational, but I do hope that there team is healthy. The snow might have forced them and other teams to cancel. Because of that the 3k turned from potentially the top race of the day to not much at all. Casey Comber won in 9:02.75 and doesn’t even grab the SGS during his first open race of the season. Jerrod Sunderland of Altoona ran very well as he takes 2^nd in 9:07.64! I wouldn’t have seen that coming and this Altoona team might be able to drop a solid DMR if he and Foust team up on two nice legs. Matthew Beyerle also dropped his PR quite a bit with a 9:14 for 5^th place. Zach Seiger has a tough race running 9:16.68 for 7^th place. How about Tucker Desko of Pennridge coming out of nowhere and running 9:16 for 3k! He’s just a junior. I’m interested to see what he can do for this team. We saw solid raes from DiGiacomo and Kirshenbaum who both hit 9:18.

4x800: Well Alex Milligan must have doubled back with something pretty strong as State College takes the win in 8:05.64! I believe that’s a PA #1 time right now. Milligan, Degleris, and Feffer are all returners and Milligan has really made quite a jump this season. I think we can expect to see the same from Feffer next season. I bet Milligan makes the same double at the state meet. If so this relay will be fresh and pretty dangerous. 

Pennridge placed second in 8:07.19. Dan Williams must have had a solid anchor split and hopefully Masgai is still in about 2 flat shape. I think this team will challenge the 8 flat mark at the state meet and I bet they keep everyone fresh. Williams went from a breakout middle relay man last season and now he’s their anchor. It’ll be interesting to see if he can handle the pressure as the season progresses. Behind them was the most even squad in the state – Strath Haven. Basically everyone on this team runs 2:02, which makes perfect sense for their 8:08.05 time. Hopefully each guy can take off a second or so to put them under 8:05 by season’s end. It’s tough to compete with such an even marked line-up, but I think they sneak into the state meet and their competition at practice will be helpful to a quick development. 

Altoona put together a decent 4x8 in 8:11.25. I really wish they would run a fast DMR this year, since I think it’s a much better even for them. TV had a rough day running 8:20 flat, while keeping everyone fresh. Sometimes things don’t come together, and it’s a shame, since this is one of the best shots for a fast time that this team will get to qualify this season. Stoga was doubling people back and they raced 8:29, so they’ll have to work on that double for Marston and Murray.

New Balance Invitational

DMR – Penncrest comes out the best PA team in 5^th place with a 10:48.36. These guys are made for the 4x8, so I’m pretty impressed with this result. It’s nice to see them mixing it up in the relays. I think they’re one of the top PA 4x8’s in the state. Avon Grove had a decent race with a 10:54.20. It can be tough to pull a great DMR together, but this team has more time to qualify. I’m thinking they’ll drop a 10:45ish around or at the meet of champions. Radnor had an off day with an 11:15.86 8^th place finish. I’m not sure what we’ll see from this team, but it seems as though they’d have a better shot at making the 4x8 top 12 than the DMR.

Mile – It was a tough outing for PA all around. Kevin James has an uncharacteristic bad race with a 4:26.01 10^th place finish. If I had to guess, I would say his back flared up again. That being said I hope James is alright, and I’m not too worried. He’s a total stud and his 8:40 shows just how strong he is right now. Khai Samuel’s also had a tough outing for Pleasant Valley with a 4:31.77. It’s not a bad time, but I bet he wanted to break 4:30 at least. Ryan Paradise was a bit over his head and got dropped by the field and finished in 4:45.96. These D11 guys haven’t raced as much and sometimes these guys have a lot of rust to bust. I have no doubt Paradise is in good shape right now.

2 Mile – Undercover Ryan Rastatter of Archbishop Prep almost snuck past me, but his 9:51.96 is a strong time for this early in the season as he places 10^th overall. There were a lot of big names in this race and he navigated himself very well. It could be a sign of big things to come.

That's all for now Folks!

 --ForrestCRN