PIAA States Preview: Boys' Distance


AA Boys' 3,200m Preview

The District 3 Championships provided a good preview of what to expect in the AA boys 3,200 meters and not just because it took place on Shippensburg's track.

That raced produced four of the top five seeds for Saturday's states race. At the top was Brenden Miller from Upper Dauphin. The talented distance runner, who took second in 1A XC at states has had a terrific outdoor season. He's run a quick 2K steeple, but on Friday at D3, he posted a nice PR of 9:21.05 to win the district. After a third place finish last year, the senior Miller looks to be the one to beat this weekend.

That D3 group will look to reverse their fortune against Miller, though. Wyomissing Area had a strong pair up there in Ben Kuhn (second) and Matthew Driben (fourth). Look for them to be in the mix. The same goes for Lancaster Mennonite's Logan Horst, who PR'd at D3 to take third.

District 4 brings a strong contingent in to Saturday. Loyalsock's Quinn Serfass went 9:37 to win that race. He was sixth a year ago and will look to improve upon that. His teammate Ryan Sullivan was second at D4. Milton Area's Tanner Walter and Mount Carmel Area's Krystof Lapotsky will also aim to get inside the medals.

Miller's best challenger to the top spot may be North East's Josh Lewis. The junior went 9:26.38 to take third in a loaded race at the Baldwin Invite. He only had to run 10:03 to win District 10, but expect him to be a major factor near the front and threaten for the win.

Southern Huntingdon's Andrew Stanley has run 9:43 this season and could factor in. He outlasted the Penns Valley freshman duo of Colton Sands and Brendan Colwell to win at District 6. Andrew Healey of Holy Cross has had a strong season and could mix it up near the front. Trinity Christian's Zachary Gould (WPIAL runner-up) and Winchester Thurston's Scott Routledge (WPIAL third place finisher) will also be medal hopefuls in this field.

ENTRIES:

Event 610  Boys 3200 Meter Run AA (28)
===============================================================================
 NFHS Record:  8:34.23  2008        German Fernandez, Riverbank HS, CA         
 PIAA Record:  9:04.09  1997        Chris Dugan, So Moreland 7                 
NFHS Hnr Rol:  9:02.00                                                         
               9:48.01  SQS
           Name                        Year School                 Seed     Finals
===============================================================================
  1        Miller, Brenden               12 Upper Dauphin 03    9:21.05  SQS   
  2        Kuhn, Ben                     10 Wyomissing 03       9:32.69  SQS   
  3        Horst, Logan                  11 Lanc Mnnonite 03    9:37.65  SQS   
  4        Serfass, Quinn                12 Loyalsock 04        9:37.91  SQS   
  5        Driben, Matthew               12 Wyomissing 03       9:39.15  SQS   
  6        Sullivan, Ryan                12 Loyalsock 04        9:42.80  SQS   
  7        Gould, Zachary                11 Trinty Chrstn 07    9:45.13  SQS   
  8        Walter, Tanner                10 Milton Area 04      9:45.29  SQS   
  9        Lapotsky, Krystof             10 Mount Carmel 04     9:46.02  SQS   
 10        Routledge, Scott              10 WnchstrThrstn 07    9:46.34  SQS   
 11        Stanley, Andrew               12 Sthrn Hntngdn 06    9:46.89  SQS   
 12        Hessler, Adam                 10 Freedom Area 07     9:47.04  SQS   
 13        Healey, Andrew                10 Holy Cross 02       9:50.91        
 14        Sands, Colton                  9 Penns Valley 06     9:51.05        
 15        Colwell, Brendan               9 Penns Valley 06     9:52.74        
 16        Hoffman, Ben                  10 Elk County 09       9:56.14        
 17        Malone, Patrick                9 WnchstrThrstn 07    9:58.73        
 18        Gregory, Darion               11 Smethport 09       10:00.73        
 19        Miller, Jack                  11 Jenkintown 01      10:02.02        
 20        Lewis, Josh                   11 North East 10      10:03.77        
 21        McNichol, Dylan               12 Palisades 11       10:09.37        
 22        Barnes, Ben                   12 Riverview 07       10:10.99        
 23        Eckenroad, Silas              12 BrlnBrthrsvly 05   10:14.00        
 24        Koons, John                   11 Notre Dame GP 11   10:16.81        
 25        Smith, Brock                  10 Seneca 10          10:19.80        
 26        Colon, Isaac                  12 Masterman 12       10:21.87        
 27        Capella, Jeremy               11 Conwell-Egan 12    10:26.45        
 28        Njiru, Stephen                11 Masterman 12       10:36.74