Evan Dorenkamp surprised himself with his performance on Saturday afternoon.
The senior from Manheim Township was on his second race of the day in the 800 meters at the Bruce Dallas Invitational. But that didn't stop him from posting the state's top time in the event. Dorenkamp ran away with the win and state lead in a time of 1:55.97 after running a strong 4:25.59 in the 1600 meters for second place to Warwick's Connor Shields earlier in the day.
| BOYS 800 METER RUN FINALS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLACE | ATHLETE | TEAM | RESULT | WIND | H# | |||
| 1 | Evan Dorenkamp | 12 | Manheim Township | 1:55.94 | 3 | |||
| 2 | Josh Willard | 12 | Cumberland Valley | 1:59.97 | 3 | |||
| 3 | John Williams | 10 | Cumberland Valley | 2:01.34 | 3 | |||
| 4 | Kody Evans | 11 | Susquehanna Township | 2:01.35 | 3 | |||
| 5 | Riley Horton | 11 | Manheim Township | 2:01.68 | 3 | |||
Dorenkamp bided his time in the 800 pack through the first lap. Then on the backstretch with 300 meters to go, he took off. No one chad an answer for the Penn State recruit's move and he was home free for the victory.
"I had no idea," he said of his 800. "At the last 50 (meters), I thought I saw 1:57 and I was like 'aw, I'm not even going to get under 2,' and then I was wrong and I sped up. I was happy with it."
Dorenkamp said he still has room to improve. He battled patella tendonitis during the indoor season, which sidelined him in the winter. Now the knee is healthy and he's looking forward to getting his cardio up.
His Manheim Township teammate Ian Miller went 9:25 in the 3200 meters later in the meet to take home the win, rounding out a strong day for the distance teammates. Check out an interview with Dorenkamp and Miller below: