Boys' 800 Meters Preview
As the lone returning champion in the boys' schedule at Penn State, Tyler Shue certainly is the favorite to repeat in the 800 meters.
Add in the facts that the Ephrata senior finished second here and at Shippensburg in 2018, won the PIAA Class AAA 800 last May AND captured the New Balance Nationals Outdoor title in June in 1:50.39, one would correctly assume that all eyes will be on Shue. And that assumption might make this the most intriguing track final on Sunday.
Shue does have the fastest time so far this season, with his 1:52.88 good for fifth in a rabbited race against mainly college competition in last Friday's Penn State Tune-up. His fastest in 2020 against other preps has been bettered not once but twice by one of the brightest spots of the indoor season, Indiana Area's Kendall Branan.
Branan has a pair of 1:53s to his credit this year, along with a trio of 49-second 400s to rank in the top 5 in that event as well. The senior has shown he can close with the best of them.
And by the way, Shue has signed with Penn State, while Branan is headed to the University of Pittsburgh. Just a little extra bit of spice to what should be a great four laps.
In addition to Shue and Branan, a pair of juniors shouldn't be counted out in the run for gold. Central Bucks East's Holden Emery and Garnet Valley's Eric Albright both ran sub-1:55 at Ocean Breeze this winter, while Abington senior Michael Castor won the TFCAofGP 800 over Emery in 1:55.57. Central Bucks South's Owen Moelter and Quaker Valley's Daniel Ford are the others in the field with sub-1:57 efforts to their name this winter.
However, the action should be up front with the soon-to-be collegiate rivals.
Event 12 Boys 800 Meter Run ============================================================ =================== Meet Record: 1:50.55 3/1/2014 Kyle Francis, Bensalem 1:59.63 SGQ State Guideline Name Year School ============================== ============================== =================== 1 Albright, Eric 11 Garnet Valley 2 Belczyk, Colby 11 Riverside (7 3 Bernarding, Noah 12 Meadville 4 Branan, Kendall 12 Indiana Area 5 Campbell, Gavin 12 CB South 6 Castor, Michael 12 Abington 7 Emery, Holden 11 CB East 8 Ford, Daniel 12 Quaker Valley 9 Frazier, Cole 11 Hickory 10 Gallagher, Denis 12 St Joseph Prep 11 Haas, Kevin 12 Blue Mountain 12 Leedale-Brown, Oliver 10 Penn Charter 13 Lewin, Joshua 12 WC East 14 McCoy, Carson 10 Deer Lakes 15 Moelter, Owen 12 CB South 16 Schlegel, Griffin 12 Twin Valley 17 Scicchitano, Ryan 12 Cedar Crest 18 Shue, Tyler 12 Ephrata 19 Thimons, CJ 12 Highlands 20 Woolery, Andrew 12 Penncrest