PA only has one sub 7 second 60 meter dash, but the state has plenty of guys who have a chance to get under themselves. Charles Snorweah of Pennsbury has had success at 55 meters and will look to translate that to 60 meter success. Same statement applies to Pat Monahan of North Pocono and Quincy Palmer of Red Lion. AA 100 meter champion Jahvel Hemphill of Bloomsburg will compete for the first time at an indoor meet in this event. Will Snorweah’s experience prevail?
In the 200, Snorweah will return to the track and faceoff against Charlie Wells of Penn Wood and Corey Davenport of Norristown. Davenport ran a big 22.11 at Franklin and Marshall 2 weeks ago, and he’ll want to prove that he belongs with the best in the state. The 400 will have Ndiaga Seck of Penn Wood look to take his relay success to an open race. He will take on PA#8 Luke Everidge of Central Dauphin East, who has run 51.42 this season.
His teammate Charles Bowman Jr will look to reclaim the top spot in the 60 meter hurdles that he once held back as recently as two weeks ago. Kornelius Klah of Pennsbury will be challenging Bowman Jr, but it will be his first run at 60 meters. Klah is 3rd in the state in the 55 meter hurdles.
In the distance races, Khai Samuels of Pleasant Valley will compete in the 800 meter run. He is currently PA#6 in the event at 1:57.89. Brett Wolfinger of Quakertown is PA#10 at 1:58.99, while Alex Milligan has run 1:59.3. The rest of the field, such as Kilian Nelson of Conestoga and Grayson Hepp of Germantown Friends is on the cusp of breaking two minutes.
The mile will feature the consistent Eric Diestelow of West Chester East, who has won three of the five mile races he has competed in this season. His best time this season is 4:26.92 from the Yale Classic in January. PJ Murray of Conestoga has a quicker time than Diestelow thanks to his 4:26.04 at the Kevin Dare Invite 3 weeks ago. The two of them will dual it out for the gold and a seasonal best performance.
In the 3000 meters, Colin Abert of Easton and Paul Power of Spring Ford will look to climb back to the PA#1 and 2 spots they use to hold at the start of the season. They both ran 8:55 in December, and Saturday will be their chance to get back into state title contention. They will face the top ranked 3000 meter runner Dominic Hockenbury of Lake Lehman, PA#3 Nick Dahl of Germantown Friends, and PA#6 Andrew Marston of Conestoga.
In the relays, Penn Wood will look to keep their state title credentials alive as they take on the chase pack in the 4x2 and 4x400 meter relays. Penn Wood is PA#3 in the 4x2 and PA#2 in the 4x4. They were US#2 in the 4x4 a mere three weeks ago. The PA#5 squad Delaware Valley Charter and PA#9 State College will look to stay close to Penn Wood in the 4x2. Both teams are sub 1:33 performers. In the 4x4, PA#6 Neshaminy and PA#7 Pennsbury will challenge Penn Wood. Both of those teams have run 3:29 this season.
PA#4 Germantown Friends will contest the distance medley relay and are the only team in the field to have broken 11 minutes this season. Holy Ghost Prep sits at PA#15 and will need to cut some time off to be in contention for state qualification. In the 4x8, JP McCaskey will look to break in to the top 12, as their 8:18.95 from January 30 sits at number 16 at the moment. Central Bucks South, Radnor, Neshaminy, and Penn Wood will look to chase the top seed.
In the field, a big match up will take place in the long jump, as 23 foot jumper Kellin Valentine of State College will face one of last spring’s top jumpers, Isa Paschall of Carlisle. Valentine is PA#3, while Paschall is #4. Paschall hasn’t competed in the long jump since the opening day of the season. Will the state lead of 23-6 be surpassed?
In the high jump, PA#2 Chris Petraskie of Shamokin will look to become the state leader by getting over 6-6 on Saturday. Alex McCord of Warwick and Scott Schlegel of Emmaus have both cleared 6-4 this season and are in the state top five. This will be the closest thing we have to a state preview in the field events this weekend.
Keith Steele of Northern will look to be victorious in the pole vault. He enters as the only 14 foot vaulter. He will be challenged by Gurjeet Rai of Marple Newtown and Colin Waitzman of Strath Haven, who have had their own personal dual this season in the TFCAofGP meets. Both cleared 13-10 last Saturday.
In the shot put, Matt Slagus of North Pocono enters as the lone 50 foot thrower in the field. His competition will include two state top 20 throwers, Khalaf of Jihad of Chester and Kelton Chastulik of Chambersburg.