The wait is over. It is officially PTFCA Championship Week. With an action-packed meet on deck - we want to ensure you're as prepared as we are.
Throughout the week, we will release event-by-event previews of the action and what you can expect on Sunday. Today we have previews of the 800m, Mile and 3000m. Make sure to click through to each event to read event-by-event previews of the action.
800m | Mile | 3000m
3000m Run Preview
by Phil Grove
The Girls:
Doubles are never easy in track and field, and one of the more difficult indoors has to be the mile-3000 combination at the PTFCA finale.
Defending mile champion Logan St. John Kletter of Mt. Lebanon is the only athlete entered in both of the girls' individual distance races. With PRs this winter at both 3,200 meters and 2 miles, St. John Kletter has run well in races loaded with talent.
Sunday's 3,000 might come down to a sprint for the finish, but it's not likely to be a sit-and-kick type of race.
Brownsville Area standout JoJo Quarzo likes to run from the front and likely will do so again this weekend. The North Carolina State signee - and last year's runner-up - also has the fastest 3K/3,200/2M time in Pennsylvania this winter with a 10:19.26 in a stellar 3,200 at SPIRE that had the No. 7 runner cross in 10:26.82.
Almost half of the field (5 of 12) returns from a year ago. In addition to Quarzo, back for the 2023 15-lapper are North Allegheny sophomore sisters Wren Kucler (10:02.47 3K) and Robin Kucler (10:16.33 3K), Hatboro Horsham sophomore Lillian DiCola (10:14.54 3K) and Rustin senior Ellie Keefer (10:09.93 3K).
Others with solid credentials from the '23 indoor season include Pine-Richland senior and Class AAA XC champion Natalie McLean (10:01.65 3K) and senior Carolyn Tarpley (10:05.20 3K) of Downingtown West.
The Boys
Hatboro Horsham senior Brian DiCola enters Sunday's race with something his 11 competitors want - an indoor state title in the 3,000 meters.
Headed to Penn State in the fall, DiCola has a leg up on the field performance-wise this season as his 8:30.14 run way back on Dec. 17 on the flat 200 oval at Lehigh is PA#1 and US#12. That race unofficially wrapped up the senior's fall XC season as he stepped away from racing for training, returning in February with an array of 800s and 1,600s/miles.
A year ago, it was DiCola's speed over the final lap that propelled him to victory in 8:35.30.
Including DiCola, five return from last year's 3,000 field. Danville Area senior Rory Lieberman (8:41.54 3K) and Ringgold junior Ryan Pajak know each other very well, having finished fourth and fifth, respectively, last year and then 1-2 in the Class AA XC title race in the fall.
Susquehannock's Matthew O'Brien was 8th last year and has run 8:37.18 for 3,000 this season. The other returnee, sophomore Jack Bertram of North Allegheny, is the lone underclassman in the 2023 field, having run 8:33.03 last weekend to win the TSTCA race. He's coming in with fresh legs, having contested just a pair of 3Ks this indoor season.
Colin Whitaker of Lampeter Strasburg and Caleb Prettyman of Franklin Area are the others who have gone under 8:40 for 3K this year, while Pajak leads the 3,200 list at 9:02.86 and is one of only two under 9:14. DiCola and Brett Kroboth (9:17.06) of Peters Township are the lone mile-3K doublers this year.