Boys' 400 Meters Preview
Andersen Dimon of Pennridge asserted himself as the one to beat in the 400 meters at the indoor state meet this past week. The senior dropped a flat track 48.41 to win at the TFCAofGP Meet of Champs, which is the state's fastest time entering Sunday. Dimon has been unbeaten in the event this season and will look to keep that rolling by winning his first state title.
He'll have some challengers, who will be looking to take him down on race day. Savion Hebron of Neshaminy comes in at PA#2. He was second to Dimon at MOCs and has a season best of 48.56 in the 400.
Kai Cummings of Germantown Friends is the top returner from last year's state meet when he took fourth. This year, Cummings enters states at PA#4 with a season best of 49.29 Another returning medalist is Saint Joseph's Prep's Salim Epps, who took sixth. He went 49.07 to win at Ocean Breeze ahead of Cummings earlier this season and comes in at PA#3.
Upper Darby's Gbarwho Flahn made a statement with a 49.66 for third in that quick MOCs race with Dimon and Hebron. That was a nice 400 PR on a flat track and should mean a drop in some time on the banked track at PSU. Speaking of fast flat track times, Westtown School's Julian Klenner and Hill School's Bennett Booth-Genthe both ran flat track times that convert to sub-50 second times (per the PTFCA's conversions).
Girard College's Donovan Sanders has raced the 400 only once this season, but it was a fast 49.76, so look for the junior to be in the mix. Haverford School's Dan Whaley (49.85) will also be worth watching for in this field.
Lane and heat draws and how each race shakes out will certainly play a role here. But it's likely that the field will be chasing the favorite Dimon.
Entries:
Event 10 Boys 400 Meter Dash (20) ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 47.65 3/1/2003 Drew Eckman, Oxford Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Booth-genthe, Bennett 12 Hill School 2 Brown, Dominick 12 Chichester 3 Cummings, Kai 11 Germantwn Friend 4 DeCarmine, Zachary 11 State College 5 Dimon, Andersen 12 Pennridge 6 Epps, Salim 11 St. Joe Prep 7 Flahn, Gbarwho 12 Upper Darby 8 Gallagher, Denis 11 St. Joe Prep 9 Hebron, Savion 12 Neshaminy 10 Jessup, Jerome 12 Red Lion 11 Klenner, Julian 12 Westtown Sch 12 Langley, Malachi 11 Chester 13 O'Malley, Brendan 12 Baldwin 14 Odunjo, Timmy 11 Penn Wood 15 Ryu, Caleb 10 Hatboro Hors 16 Sanders, Donovan 11 Girard College 17 Stanziani, Payton 12 Boyertown 18 Wetzel, Calvin 12 Riverside (7 19 Whaley, Dan 12 Haverford School 20 Williams, David 10 Cumberland Val