PIAA States Preview: Boys' Distance

Photo by Don Rich

AAA Boys' 3200m Preview

More so than any other event, it can be argued that the 3200 meters creates more craziness and unpredictability than any other event at the PIAA state meet. With a number of very talented entries in the AAA field, we're in for what should be a very exciting race nonetheless.

JP McCaskey's Nathan Henderson comes in as the top seed and the top AAA runner on the season so far with a 9:03 to win his league championship (in an incredible triple!). Henderson was battling an injury last year and ended up ninth at states, but the heathy senior has been on a tear this season. He won the indoor state title this winter, and just went 9:06 to win against a loaded field in the heat of the District 3 Championships. 

He'll be challenged by a familiar face and district rival in Sam Affolder of Carlisle. The super sophomore was third in District 3 during what was a busy meet for him, but Affolder has run 4:08 for 1600 meters this year and has the talent to win this thing. Another District 3 runner, Zach Lefever of Ephrata, was second in that district meet. He took sixth in this AAA 3200 meters last year and always comes on at the right time. Don't sleep on him.


District 1 brings a ton of talent to the table this weekend. Neshaminy's Rusty Kujdych won a dramatic district meet by .03 over Cheltenham's Will Griffen this past weekend. Kujdych was second at the indoor states 3K and could be taking home gold when all is said and done Saturday. Districts was a huge PR for Griffen, who will look to carry that into states. Souderton's Connor McMenamin, CB West's Brian Mass, CR North's Ryan Campbell, and Lower Merion's Matthew D'Aquila are among the other D1 names with hopes of a high finish this weekend.

Butler's Noah Beveridge posted a strong PR of 9:20 to win the WPIAL title. He was fifth at XC states, so he's no stranger to stepping up on the big stage and has to be one to watch for. At the District 2 Championships, North Pocono's David Haines and Dallas' Jack Zardecki had a thrilling race to the finish, with Haines taking the win in 9:22.67, just a few tenths better than Zardecki. Pleasant Valley's Seth Slavin won the District 11 title and the senior could be looked at as a serious contender here. Cardinal O'Hara's Ryan James won the District 12 title and should be expected to mix it up near the front.

Don't miss this race.

Entries:

Event 710  Boys 3200 Meter Run AAA (28)
===============================================================================
 NFHS Record:  8:24.23  2008        German Fernandez, RiverbankHS, CA          
 PIAA Record:  8:55.60  2015        Zach Brehm, Carlisle 03                    
NFHS Hnr Rol:  9:02.00                                                         
               9:31.71  SQS
           Name                        Year School                 Seed     Finals
===============================================================================
  1    302 Henderson, Nathan             12 J.P. McCaskey 03    9:06.69  SQS   
  2    392 Kujdych, Rusty                11 Neshaminy 01        9:07.00  SQS   
  3    123 Griffen, Will                 12 Cheltenham 01       9:07.03  SQS   
  4    547 McMenamin, Connor             12 Souderton 01        9:13.72  SQS   
  5    108 Mass, Brian                   12 CB West 01          9:14.39  SQS   
  6    143 Campbell, Ryan                11 CR North 01         9:15.04  SQS   
  7    195 Lefever, Zach                 12 Ephrata 03          9:17.46  SQS   
  8    341 D'Aquila, Matthew             12 Lower Merion 01     9:18.43  SQS   
  9     75 Affolder, Sam                 10 Carlisle 03         9:20.71  SQS   
 10     72 Beveridge, Noah               11 Butler 07           9:20.85  SQS   
 11    415 Haines, David                 12 North Pocono 02     9:22.67  SQS   
 12    165 Zardecki, Jack                11 Dallas 02           9:22.90  SQS   
 13    146 Haas, Tim                     12 CR North 01         9:24.86  SQS   
 14    177 Rollins, Tyler                11 D-Town West 01      9:25.58  SQS   
 15    487 Slavin, Seth                  12 Pleasant Vly 11     9:25.63  SQS   
 16    539 Razanauskas, Trey             12 Seneca Valley 07    9:25.65  SQS   
 17     22 Conboy, Casey                 12 Baldwin 07          9:30.34  SQS   
 18    652 Underwood, Jake               11 Wilson 03           9:30.92  SQS   
 19    203 Provenzo, Mark                12 Franklin Reg 07     9:31.05  SQS   
 20    566 Etter, Mitchell               11 State College 06    9:32.10        
 21    557 Cramer, Colin                 11 Sthrn Lehigh 11     9:33.54        
 22    371 Cupp, Morgan                  11 Mechanicsburg 03    9:33.65        
 23     73 James, Ryan                   12 Crdnl O'Hara 12     9:37.85        
 24    212 Price, Nate                   10 Gen McLane 10       9:48.33        
 25    310 Davis, Isaac                  11 Jersey Shore 04     9:49.39        
 26    322 Paul, Stephen                 12 La Salle Cllg 12    9:54.26        
 27    587 Diallo, Amadou                12 Allderdice 08      10:02.50        
 28     64 Caruso, Logan                 11 Bradford Area 09   10:09.52