What to watch for (2/13 WKND): Carnival, SPIRE, TSTCA, Last Chance, PCLs

Feb 11, 2016

Will we see another epic battle between Sarah Walker and Gabrielle Wilkinson in the mile on Saturday? (Photo by Patty Morgan)

PTFCA Indoor Track Carnival (@Lehigh U.)

List of Accepted Entries

GIRLS PREVIEW

HURDLES: If you happen to be at Lehigh on Saturday, make sure you don't miss the 60 hurdles. Chanel Brissett, who holds the state record in the event, will give it another go for the first time since breaking the record a few weeks ago at the Kevin Dare Invitational. Is another record in the works? We'll wait and see. Yasmin Brooks (PA#3) of Susquehanna Township, Perkiomen Valley's Christina Warren, and Upper Darby's Victoria Robinson are also in the field.

RELAYS: While we may not who who plans on loading up their relays, we'll surely see some fast times dropped in all four at the Carnival. The girls 4x200 is an intriguing matchup between Susquehanna Township, Central Bucks East, Cheltenham, Pennridge, and Perkiomen Valley---5 of the state's top 11 teams in the event. The 4x400 could be equally exciting with PA#1 Penn Wood, Cheltenham, North Penn, Susquehanna Township, CB East and State College all entered in the relay. North Penn, CB West, Penn Wood, Villa Joseph Marie, and Conestoga are entered in what could be an exciting 4x800 to open up the meet. And then the DMR will be lead by Unionville. Perk Valley, North Penn, Cumberland Valley, and State College may all throw out good teams.

PA#1 Agnes Mansaray returns to the 400 on Saturday (Photo by Steven Pisano)

SPRINTS: The 60 dash field is stacked to say the least. It features three of the top five in the state and they're all freshmen! Bria Barnes of Cheltenham, Kouri Peace of Pennridge, and Thelma Davies of Penn Wood (though she's entered under Girard College HS) are entered in the field. After those three, the depth continues with Alysha Evans of Susquehanna Township, Taylor Givens of State College, and Grace Gillespie of Cedar Cliff. Suffice to say the top time in the state (7.68) is in some danger. The 200 has Peace, Evans, Davies, and Gillespie coming back, but it will also include Cheltenham's Alexis Crosby and Methacton's Caroline Duffy. The 400, too, is loaded with talent. Penn Wood's Agnes Mansaray brings her PA#1 into Saturday, with North Penn's Uche Nwogwugwu and Central Bucks West's Maddie Villalba looking for fast races.

DISTANCE: The mile will be one of the day's premiere events. The girls who went 1-2 in the state a year ago in the 800--Germantown Friends' Sarah Walker and Friends' Central's Gabrielle Wilkinson--will move up in distance for the mile. Both have already proven to be in stellar shape this year. Wilkinson has quite a bit of mile experience this year, qualifying for the Millrose Games High School Mile (EDIT: Wilkinson will not race Saturday) Rounding out the mile field will be Penn Wood's Terri Turner and Downingtown West's Emma Planck. In the simplest terms, it's going to be fast! The 3000 will be a matchup of a couple girls who are quite familiar with each other: Ally Rome and Erin Feeney. The District 2 opponents saw each other a lot in cross country, and even squared off at Summit University a few weeks ago. But the 3K is deeper than just those two. Germantown Academy's Maggie Hallahan, Cheltenham's MaryGrace Rittler, Strath Haven's Maia Mesyngier, Lansdale Catholic's Kayla Connelly, Wilson (3)'s Allison Willingmyre will make it a very exciting race for sure with no clear favorite. In the 800, North Penn's Mikaela Vlasic will look to build off a strong win at the DVGTCA meet last week. She leads in the half mile entries along with Carlisle's Maddie Kole.

Can anyone in PA stop Cocalico's Emily Satuffer in the shot put? She's in the Carnival field Saturday (Photo by Don Rich)

FIELD: What happens when you get the four best pole vaulters in the state in one place? Well, we don't know yet, but it will definitely mean a very competitive competition. South Williamsport's Katie Jones cleared 12-7 a week ago in Camp Hill, taking over as the new PA#1. But Council Rock South's Dominique Franco will looking to take back that title. Also entered is Liberty's Rachel Finn and Central York's Lexi Baublitz. Of course, you can't forget about the rest of the entries like Trinity's Megan Silva, Spring Grove's Nathalie Elliott, and North Pocano's Lucianne Burner. The high jump is up for grabs. Souderton's Moira O'Malley (PA#3) will go up against Cedar Cliff's Dazjanique Williams and Dallas' Katie Kravitsky (both PA#4). Also in the field is Holy Redeemer's Caroline Banas. Banas hasn't competed indoors yet, but cleared 5-6 to take third in the state outdoors last year. Like the pole vault, the long jump will feature some of the state's best in the event. PA#1 Madison Langley-Walker of Cheltenham will look to build off her state-leading jump from last week. Cedar Cliff's Williams and State College's Veronika Karpenko are also in the deep field. State College's Taylor Givens, who broke through two weeks ago at Susquehanna is not entered in the long jump. Cocalico's Emily Stauffer has been PA#1 in the shot put for about a month now at her season debut. She'll be the top seed in the shot put, going up against Lower Merion's Vanessa Poe, Cheltenham's Ashley Alexander, and Garnet Valley's Nina Gambacorta.

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BOYS PREVIEW

RELAYS: In the 4x800, Abington may look to take back their PA#1. Germantown Friends, Penn Wood, and State College are both in the field. State College may put their eggs in the DMR basket, though, with Neshaminy looking to move up after a good race at Poreda. Look out for an exciting 4x200 between State College, Downingtown East, Penn Wood, and Central Dauphin East. In the 4x400, Abington, Penn Wood, State College and CD East will come back looking to cap off their meets.

Anthony Maurent (shown in green shoes winning the 60m at Burdette) will look to drop some time from his PA#1 60m on Saturday (Photo by Don Rich)

SPRINTS/HURDLES: Anthony Maurent of GAR Memorial will look to improve on his great season and PA#1 in the 60 meters. MLK's Edward Marshall, Bloomsburg's Jahvel Hemphill, and Christopher Dock's Austin Kratz. Mason Weh of Upper Darby will race Souderton's Colin Harker in the 60 hurdles. Kratz will come back in the 200 meters to face off with Upper Darby's Gianni Lawrence, CD East's Aaron Arp, Abington's Isiah Smith, Cumberland Valley's Kier Miner, and Downingtown East's Jeremy Jennings. It may not be a banked track, but expect some fast times here. The 400 will be equally competitive. Smith and Miner will also race the quarter, joined by Ndiaga Seck of Penn Wood, and a pair of 800 meter speicalists---Matt Wisner of Carlisle and Grayson Hepp of Germantown Friends.

DISTANCE: The mile will be one of the better battles of the day on the boys side. Cooper Leslie (Camp Hill), Alex Milligan (State College), and Jeff Kirshenbaum (Methacton). Kirshenbaum is coming off a big 9:19 2 mile at Ocean Breeze and will certainly be one to watch in this race. The 3000 meters will also be an event to watch. Nathan Henderson of JP McCaskey, Liam Galligan of Springfield (Delco), Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin, and Souderton's Connor McMenamin will come in as the favorites. But the field is extremely deep and a good number of entries will have a shot at the win. We could see a lot of guys hit that sub-9 time. Dennis Manyeah of Penn Wood, who ran what was the US#1 at the time in the 800 at the Marine Corps Classic returns to the 800 for the first time since then. He'll be contested by David Fletcher of Mount Carmel (EDIT: Fletcher will not race Saturday at the Carnival) and Cameron Mitchell of Abington.

Dondre Pittman cleared 6-6 last week. He's the favorite for Saturday's Carnival (Photo by Patty Morgan)

FIELD: Like the girls high jump, the boys high jump is generally wide open. Coatesville's Dondre Pittman cleared 6-6 last week and he comes in as the top seed, but Darnell Randall of Perk Valley is looking to get back on track after clearing 6-5 at Burdette in December. Kyle Garland of germantown Academy will have a busy day in a number of events, but he also comes in with a clearance of 6-6. Qayyim Ali of Williamsport, Manyeah of Penn Wood, and Mifflin County's Jordan Fisher will also be lurking on the horizon looking for a breakout. In the long jump, PA#1 Kellin Valentine will return to the runway, hoping to go over 23 feet. Donoven Cook of New Media and Stephen Testa among others will look to move up in the state rankings in the long jump. In the pole vault, State College's Griffin Thompson is the top seed, having cleared 15 feet this season. Gregory Potter of Red Lion, Eastern York's Brady Gladfelter and East Pennsboro's Payton Morris, however, all have a legitimate shot for the upset. The shot put is a fairly open event as well. Chambersburg's Kelton Chastulik and Matt Slagus of North Pocano will be the favorites heading in.