Boys' 60-Meter Dash Preview
One of the most interesting state meet fields comes in the boys 60 meters. No one in the field has finals experience from last year's indoor state meet, which is an added wrinkle to this already wide open event. With 3 total rounds, expect some interesting developments throughout the day.
The top seed and PA#1 is Shawn Brown (above) of Central Dauphin East. The junior broke through in a big way last spring, taking third in the 100 meter state final outdoors and he's followed that up with an impressive winter campaign so far. He went 6.90 at Susquehanna earlier this year. He's on the rise and very well could be a state champ in the 60 by day's end. His teammate Stephon Brown (one half of the state-leading 4x2) will also be a factor. He sits at T-PA#3 with a best of 6.95 this season.
Also at T-PA#3 is Devon Tate of Lower Merion is hitting his stride at the right time. After a Varsity Classic win in NY, he took home the TFCAofGP Meet of Champs title in the 60. Look for him to contend for the win. Also in that MOC final was Coatesville's Eric Kirk (2nd in 7.00) and The Haverford School's Daiyaan Hawkins, who ran a PA#2 6.92 earlier in the season. Norristown's Austin Montgomery has earned some notable wins this season (Burdette Classic and New Balance Games) in the 60 and 55, so expect the junior to be in the mix here. Harry S. Truman's James Koliyah is another TFCAofGP runner with a sub-7 time from earlier in the season (6.97). That quartet will be dangerous in this field, too.
Lampeter Strasburg's Ezra Mellinger is the long jump favorite, but he's also one to watch in the 60 dash. Mellinger won at the Carnival and has a pair of sub-7 times on the season (his best is 6.96 from an F&M meet). From the TSTCA, Greater Latrobe's Joseph Piper has the fastest time of the season (6.99), but it was Kamden Martin of Canon McMillan that went 7.00 to win the TSTCA title this past week. Both will be shooting for the final and high finishes on Sunday.
The top returner from last year's state meet is Chambersburg's Tyeshawn Worrell, who just missed the state final, taking ninth in the prelims. He comes in at T-PA#9 and could make some noise with some motivation from last winter.
The key to taking home the win here is surviving those opening rounds and getting out well in the final. This one, folks, is going to be close.
Entries:
Event 6 Boys 60 Meter Dash (24) Prelims ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 6.73 2/25/2018 Austin Kratz, Dock Mennonite Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Abbas, Laminu 11 Motivation H 2 Adedokun, Azeez 12 Perk Valley 3 Ampofo, Emmanuel 12 Neshaminy 4 Baker, Bryce 11 CD East 5 Benson, Luke 12 CB West 6 Brown, Shawn 11 CD East 7 Brown, Stephon 12 CD East 8 Byrd, Tyler 12 Bish McDevitt 9 Cannon Jr, Michael 12 CB South 10 Day, Kamere 11 Harrisburg H 11 Hagans, Sahmir 10 St. Joe Prep 12 Hairston II, Jason 11 Moon Area 13 Hawkins, Daiyaan 11 Haverford School 14 Kirk, Eric 12 Coatesville 15 Koliyah, James 12 Harry S Trum 16 Manning, Dejon 11 J.P. McCaskey 17 Martin, Kamden 12 Canon-McMill 18 Mellinger, Ezra 12 Lampeter Str 19 Montgomery, Austin 11 Norristown 20 Piper, Joseph 12 Greater Latrobe 21 Roman, Drew 12 E Pennsboro 22 Tate, Davon 12 Lower Merion 23 Tate, Devon 12 Lower Merion 24 Worrell, Tyeshawn 11 Chambersburg