Boys' State Distance Preview: 3 Straight for Perretta/Hockenbury?; Hoeys look for 8/16 wins

AA Boys' 1600 meters

Domenic Perretta competes at the 2015 state meet (Photo by Don Rich)

Domenic Perretta of Beaver Falls will attempt the first half of his 800/1600 double in the finals of the 1600 on Saturday. Perretta ran 4:13 to win it last year. It remains to be seen how he'll approach the race; if he'll shoot for a fast 1600 time and leave it all out there, or if he'll try to conserve something for the 800. Regardless, he's the strong favorite here.

The next four seeds come from Perretta's District 7. Sewickley Academy's Griffin Mackey, the Class-A XC champion, along with Winchester Thurston's Tristan Forsythe, Freedom's Jarrett Boyd, and Beaver Area's Riley Lamsion could all factor into this race.

Camp Hill's Cooper Leslie has had a strong season and you can expect him up near the front. He boasts a season best of 4:20 in the 1600. South Williamsport's Hunter Crawley could also make some noise in this race.

They'll all be chasing Perretta, though, who is also chasing history.