We have reached the business portion of the 2014-15 indoor season , and the big meet of the weekend will be taking place at the NYC Armory on Saturday at the annual Hispanic Games!
The invitational event entries have been released and PA will be well represented!
Starting with the girls events, four will represent PA in the invitational 3000 meter run, led by mile state leader Marissa Sheva of Pennridge. In her last NYC appearance, she booked her 3rd straight ticket to the Millrose Games with a 4:50.73 mile win. This will be her 2nd career indoor 3000 meter run, and her first in over 2 years for the reigning outdoor 3200 meter champion. Hannah Molloy of Pennsbury has a 5:18 mile to her name this season and a 10:21 3k personal best. Lizzie Morris of Central Bucks East ran 10:40.11 in a narrow 2nd place finish 3 weeks ago, and is coming off anchoring two relay wins for her team the Burdette Classic last week. Teammate Jackie Kinkead ran 10:51 last week at Burdette to finish 3rd, a lifetime best.
A trio of girls will look to book their ticket to the February 14th Millrose Games by earning victory in the invitational mile run. Gabrielle Wilkinson of Friends Central is coming off a pair of 2:20 800 meter performances, but has a 5:16 1600 meter split on her team's distance medley relay team. Olivia Sargent of Pennsbury will be looking for her first Millrose appearance and her first sub 5 minute indoor performance (5:07.61 indoor best). Karli Visconto of Nazareth Academy has a 5:16.05 mile to her name this season, far and away her lifetime best, and is also sitting 2nd in the state in the 800 meter run.
In the girls 400, the Springside Chestnut Hill duo of Brooklynn Broadwater and Alexandria Kitchell will take part. Both runners are members of their state leading 4x400 meter team. Broadwater has been on top of the state list in the 400 meter dash since the opening day of the season (57.55). Kitchell has the 2nd fastest time in the freshmen class (1:00.98). Husniyyah Rogers of Pennsbury will be running her first indoor 400 since finishing 4th at the 2013 Indoor State Meet (56.83). She was a bronze medalist outdoors at the District 1 championships last May.
For the boys, Sam Ritz of Germantown Academy will look to book his ticket to the Millrose Games by winning the invitational mile. Although Ritz has run 4:14 this season, that happened at a college meet, meaning it wouldn't be eligible for state meet entry. This will be his first mile against high school competition. The senior has been on a roll, winning his last two Armory appearance in the 1000 and the 800 meters with US#1 performances. Andrew Marston of Conestoga will be making his season debut in the unseeded mile.
In the 400, it's the champion against the runner up from last season, John Lewis of Cheltenham against Charles Snorweah of Pennsbury. Lewis has been leading his title defending 4x400 meter relay to the top of the state, while reaching new heights in the 800 meter run with a US#2 1:52.88. Snorweah has been competing in the short sprints, winning the 200 meter dash at Burdette, and earning top three finishes in the 55 and 60 meter dashes in a 24 hour period last week. Last time these two went head to head indoors, Lewis defeated Snorweah for the state gold. Should they end up in the same heat, it will be a fantastic clash!