Boys' One Mile Run Preview
Both Patrick Anderson of Mt. Lebanon and Garrett Baublitz of Juniata are a perfect 3-for-3 this winter in mile races. Based on their performances thus far in 2020, a fourth victory over 5,280 feet seems likely Sunday from one of these two middle-distance aces who would much rather lead than follow.
Headed to North Carolina in the fall, Anderson will be on a banked track for the first time this season. The senior dropped several seconds each time he set foot on the 236.621-meter oval at Edinboro for a mile race.
Meanwhile, Baublitz is very familiar with Penn State's banked oval, having run each of his miles this season on the 200-meter track. The Navy recruit also has a slight edge in 1,600 PRs, with his 4:11.54 last May in Shippensburg winning the PIAA AA title.
Both athletes have range, with Baublitz putting emphasis on the 800 and Anderson able to grind opponents into submission up to 5K. IT should be a great second heat.
No one else in the 20-runner field has gone sub-4:20 thus far in 2020, but all have run well under the PTFCA qualifying guideline time. Juniors Devon Comber of Hatboro Horsham and Gabe Nichols of Grove City Area are next on the performance list and have been closest to this year's fastest milers - Anderson and Germantown Academy's Robert DiDonato, who is opting to run only the 3K.
Comber and senior teammate Stefano Isabella were in line behind DiDonato in the Philadelphia Public League Invite, while Nichols pulled up to Anderson with a lap to go in the TSTCA Champs mile final. The next half-dozen in the field all have run under 4:25.4 and all have at least one more year in high school, including another set of teammates (Declan Rymer and Holden Betz from Downingtown West) and Meadville sophomore Matthew Puleio.
Event 8 Boys 1 Mile Run ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 4:09.56 3/1/2015 Sam Ritz, Germantown Acad 4:31.73 SGQ State Guideline Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Anderson, Patrick 12 Mount Lebanon 2 Asher, Barak 11 Mount Lebanon 3 Aulbach, Jack 12 Blackhawk 4 Barnhill, Aiden 11 Dtown West 5 Baublitz, Garrett 12 Juniata 6 Betz, Holden 11 Dtown West 7 Clifford, Tyler 12 Perk Valley 8 Comber, Devon 11 Hatboro Horsham 9 Isabella, Stefano 12 Hatboro Horsham 10 Lera-Lozano, Diego 11 Pennridge 11 Long, Weber 10 Greencastle-Antr 12 Martin, Gary 10 Arch Wood 13 Miller, Luke 11 Jenkintown 14 Nichols, Gabe 11 Grove City A 15 Puleio, Matthew 10 Meadville 16 Puleo, Gabe 12 Phoenixville 17 Rymer, Declan 11 Dtown West 18 Spielman-Rodriguez, Diego 11 Friends' Cen 19 Stewart, Kirk 11 South Park 20 Vavro, Skyler 11 Butler