PCL Championships (@Lehigh U.)
The Philadelphia Catholic League complete a stretch of three big meets in three days at Lehigh University. It should be a competitive day as teams compete for a PCL title. Last year, Cardinal O'Hara took the win over Archbishop Ryan, while LaSalle ran away with the boys title. Expect a close battle on both sides this year.
Monte Guess will look for the win in the 60m hurdles, where he's favored (Photo by Patty Morgan)
BOYS PREVIEW
RELAYS: The relays will be one of the main events of the day, as with most team championships. Let's dive into to what to expect. LaSalle comes into the 4x200 as the PA#1 and the odds on favorite, but St. Joesph's Prep and Cardinal O'Hara will be there lurking should the Pioneers slip up. The 4x400 features the state's second best squad by time, St. Joseph's Prep. Can anyone touch them in this? Maybe not. The 4x800 should be a good battle between LaSalle and Cardinal O'Hara. Both have the guns for fast teams. Of course, it will depend who decides to run what. That leads us to the DMR. Once again, O'Hara and LaSalle will be up there, but Bonner & Prendie will likely load up this relay, possibly looking to move up in the state rankings after their win at TFCAofGP last week. There will be some interesting strategy going on for sure in all the relays.
SPRINTS/HURDLES: Charles Headen of LaSalle will be favored in the 60 meters bringing in his sub-7 second performance from a week ago. D'Andre Swift of St. Joe's Prep will provide more than a test. Headen will come back in the 200 meters and he'll be bringing his friends Winton Eubanks and Chris Della Donna with him as the three top seeds. Will O'Hara Tamir Jones spoil the LaSalle party? In the 60 hurdles, it will be a race between the MG's. Monte Guess of Archbishop Ryan will look to make up for a fall last week at the TFC meet. Miles Green of St. Joe's Prep is the second seed and we'll expect a good race there. Green is also entered in the 400 meters, where he'll be challenged by Neumann Goretti's Kamil Jihad, St. Joe's Prep's Robert Dupell II, and LaSalle's Peter Nelson.
Ryan James and Rob Morro will be two big factors at PCLs in the distance events/relays (Photo by Patty Morgan)
DISTANCE: The 800 will be a very open event with no clear favorite. Stephen McClellan of St. Joe's Prep, Neumann's Jihad, O'Hara's Justin Jones, Roman Catholic's Luke Doughty, and LaSalle's Patrick Grant will all be in the mix. The mile is also wide open. Grant of LaSalle is the top seed, but LaSalle's Evan Addison, Roman Catholic's Sean Brown, Bonner & Prendie's Sean Sullivan, and the Cardinal O'Hara duo of Ryan James and Rob Morro are also in the field. But Morro and James are also the top seeds in the 3000 in a field that also includes Sullivan and LaSalle's Eddie Goebel and Stephen Paul. Who will double? Who will focus on relays? Plenty of strategy will be employed here.
FIELD: The long jump will be a close competition. St. Joe's Prep's Isaiah Ritchie is the top seed but a trio of jumpers over 20 feet will be looking to steal a win: Ryan's Guess, West Catholic's Dajonte Averett and LaSalle's Alex Sislo. Fresh off a win and a PR a week ago, Bonner & Prendie's Ethan Cook will be the top seed in thr triple jump. Ritchie will also compete in the triple jump. The top seeds in the high jump are LaSalle's Mike Wells and Jonathan Squadrito. LaSalle's Luke Crawford is favored in the pole vault. Noah Walker of LaSalle comes in as the highest ranked shot putter.
TEAM BATTLE: LaSalle and St. Joseph's Prep have the depth in the sprints, while O'Hara has that depth in the distance events. But LaSalle's distance and field prowess could be enough to lift them to another PCL title.
O'Hara's Olivia Arizin is entered and favored in both the 400 and 800 for Sunday's PCLs (Photo by Steven Pisano)
GIRLS PREVIEW
RELAYS: In the 4x200, Archbishop Ryan comes in as the top seed with their PA#21. Neumann Goretti and Cardinal O'Hara will look to challenge. But can anyone challenge O'Hara in the other relays? The Lions come in as the top seeds in every relay. We'll see if they try and scatter their pieces across to try for the sweep from 4x400-DMR.
SPRINTS/HURDLES: The two top seeds in the 60 dash are the Neumann Goretti teammates, Ariana Ruffin and Selah Dixon. Ruffin returns as the top seed in the 200, with Ryan's Kel-Lisa Sebwe threatening. In the 60 hurdles, look out for a tight race between Ryan's Alison Jones and Bonner & Prendie's Alaina Johnson. In the 400, Cardinal O'Hara's Olivia Arizin will be the top seed and she'll be doubling in the...
DISTANCE: ...800. Arizin will be the heavy favorite. She's in the midst of a great season and she'll look to continue it Sunday. Freshman Christine Mancini is also in the half mile field. She ran a 2:18 last month. In the mile, Elizabeth, Grace and Eleanor Mancini will all be in the field, possibly looking for a Mancini sweep for Cardinal O'Hara. In the 3000, Grace and Elizabeth Mancini come in as the top seeds if they decide to double back.
Janese Lynch of Neumann Goretti will look to improve on her PA#2 in the shot put (Photo by Don Rich)
FIELD: Janese Lynch of Neumann Goretti (PA#2) will have all eyes on her in the shot put. Alison Jones of Ryan will be the top seed in both the long and triple jump. Bonner & Prendie's Hannah Oropollo should also contend in the triple jump. The high jump is a toss up between three girls, who have cleared 4-10 this season. McDevitt's Blair Knuckle, Conwell-Egan's Erin Rottloff, Ryan's Sebwe will have their eyes on the league title. Sebwe is also favored in the pole vault, having cleared 9-0 this season.
TEAM BATTLE: It will be tough for anyone to deal with O'Hara's strength in a multitude of areas, but hey, that's why we run the races. There's always the possibility for surprises and we'll be watching on Sunday.