Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Marlene Vandenneste and Megan Clugh
Hard to miss.
By now, after four years marking his name across Pennsylvania, Altoona High senior Wade Endress is well known in running circles.
Not just because of his running quality, which is can’t-miss. He committed to Penn State University recently, only a stone’s throw away from where grew up and earned a reputation for running smart, fast and hard.
But it’s also because of his hair. You can’t miss him. He’s got those inescapable reddish locks.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Better keep your eye on him.
On Saturday, during the PTFCA Indoor State Track Meet at Penn State University inside the Horace Ashenfelter Track Facility, Endress capped off his indoor winter season rather impressively, securing two indoor state gold medals as he was named the meet’s most outstanding athlete.
Endress picked up a state meet record in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:51.73 and another win in the mile with a finish of 4:13.34.
What he felt running at Penn State, however, was more important for the soon-to-be Nittany Lion.
“Going into it, after committing to Penn State, you don’t want to lose in front of a home crowd,” he said. “I like the winning feeling here, and I could get used to it here.”
If Saturday was any indication, Endress could be headed for a solid, if not spectacular career at Happy Valley.
Notable
Along with Endress, Cheltenham sprinter Matt Gilmore stood out with his exemplary effort. He won the 200 in 21.89, took the 400 in 49.23 and was the lead anchor in his team’s 4 x 200-meter relay win. He also almost brought his team's 4x400 back to a win.
Sophomore chip probably won’t last.
Williamsport sophomore Austin Rizzo likely won’t have to deal with overlooked syndrome much longer.
Despite his size, at about 5-foot-8, the quick and explosive Rizzo has already made a name for himself on the indoor track scene.
On Saturday he secured a state title in the long jump with his leap of 22 feet, 11.75 inches, which was over four inches better than his previous best. He did it despite being seeded just fifth entering the competition.
He said he didn’t expect to win. But then again, maybe no else did either.
“I was feeling the crowd, I was warmed up and stretched and I went out there and jumped as far as I could,” he said.
A natural leaper who began the sport in the seventh grade, Rizzo has often had to make up for his lack of size with oversized efforts. He doesn’t play football or basketball, he says, because he lacks the size required.
But track? A perfect fit.
“I’m too small for both” he says quite bluntly.
“Everybody else is always taller than me, always,” he then added. “But I just take that as a way to do better than them.”
So how did he prepare for Saturday? Was he thinking big?
Not exactly.
A handful of low-end finishes over the winter invitational season didn’t quite put him on the radar of the state’s best. He said last year he jumped about 19-10 at this same venue. Even this time around, he said, he wasn’t expecting the world.
Then a few fortunate bounces went his way. A few whiffs by the state’s highly ranked, actually.
Malvern Prep’s Rich D’Ambrosio and Penn Hills’ Richard Rouse, the No. 1 and 2 seeds entering Saturday, respectively, recorded submissions less than nine inches worse than their entry marks.
Rizzo, for his efforts, just wants to continue to get better.
“I just hope I can continue to do well in outdoor,” he said.
Speed, strength, mobility, this guy has it all.
Beau Whitman doesn’t have a name that yells pole vaulter. It sounds like he should be managing your hedge fund instead.
But don’t get it twisted, Whitman is quite the contortionist in the air.
On Saturday he connected for his first state indoor title in the event, securing a vault of 15-feet to become the only leaper who would break that mark on the day.
Two others reached 14-6, including third seed Eric Hunter of Northhampton and 13th seed Ryan Steinbugl of Altoona, while five others went as high as 14-0.
But truth be told, Whitman had the second best odds of winning the event. Two seeds usually get that distinction. Yet while he can’t be considered an underdog, he likes playing that role anyway.
He also likes creating a healthy competition.
“I hate the fact that if I go to a meet and I’m seeded first and I go to my first jump and there is no one there,” he said. “I’ll get down because there’s no one to battle against and I can’t challenge myself.”
It was just the second time over this indoor season Whitman recorded a vault of at least 15-feet. He got there steadily though, after connecting for a lift of 13-6 earlier in the campaign.
Ultimately, he said, he felt a measure of control on the runway.
“With indoor, it’s even,” he said. “The only thing we have to worry about is the runway. And this is the biggest meet everyone has trouble with because it’s fast.”
A former gymnast, Whitman says one of his biggest strengths is his ability to topswing in the air. It comes from his experience as a former gymnast.
“It’s been there since the beginning,” he said. “I used to be a gymnast, so it just came quick. But I’ve practiced with planting and once I had that plant foot, everything worked.”
He quit gymnastics at 14 to pursue track, where he picked up pole vaulting. But he had some help. His older sister, who now vaults at the University of Chicago, lent advice to the soon-to-be standout for Germantown Academy.
“She’s been an influence,” he said.
Lots of ice. That’s Ryan Gil’s secret.
Much like Endress, North Allegheny’s Ryan Gil has been all over the map in Pennsylvania when it comes to running.
On Saturday, he added another award on top of his lengthy career, securing the 3,000-meter state indoor title in 8:34.14.
It didn’t come easy.
Lasalle College’s Tom Trainer, who would finish second in 8:35.45, flanked his side nearly the entire race. At one point, Gil said, he felt Trainer closely on his shoulder.
Ultimately, though, Gil appreciated the close competition because he lost track of his split times.
“I had my splits worked out with my coach and I wanted to hit 33s and 34s going into the race,” Gil said. “And then I kind of lost track of the clock. I was kind of looking for it and I lost track one lap. So I kind of went down the toilet.
“But then Tom was right behind me the entire time sticking with me,” he continued. “So I worked to draw off him. It helped me today because I lost track of time. I wanted to run faster, but without Tom I wouldn’t have been able to run nearly as fast.”
Gil, coming off his outdoor state cross country title in Class AAA, continued to add to his awards tally over his final senior season.
His secret to staying healthy and fit?
Ice baths. Quite a few ice baths.
“I take a lot of ice baths,” he said. “They’re pretty big. I’ve taken after big workouts, sometimes if I triple in a dual meet or something.”
His recovery dives into the frigid ice have ultimately helped his body stay fresh through a plethora of races and training runs. Coupled with smart training tips from head coach John Neff, Gil hasn’t gotten burned out.
“Right now I feel good. I haven’t been running heavy mileage,” he said. “Coach Neff knows me really well and knows what workouts to put together. I’ve been fresh.”
The boys of fall.
It’s easy to spot the members of Central Bucks West’s 4 x 800-meter relay team.
Actually, it’s even easier now after their all-time indoor state record race of 7:45.12 on Saturday at Penn State, which knocked off former No. 1 Abington -- who broke the mark just three weeks ago at New Balance Collegiate -- and became the seventh all-time best nationally.
But distinctions? Very easy.
Lead-off man Michael May, the shortest of the group, sports a military style crew cut.
Matt McGarvey, who takes the first hand-off and is the second tallest of the group, wears his locks long and blonde, like a California surfer.
Matt Bee, taking the second to last hand-off and the third tallest in the group, parts his long blonde hair – though not as long as McGarvey’s – to the side, sporting perhaps the most polished look of the group.
And anchor leg Connor Manley, the tallest member of the group at about 6-foot-2, wears tight, short curls.
The biggest similarity between all four athletes? They sport sub-two minute 800s. And they’re all comedians.
“We’re pretty much jokesters all of us. We all have fun,” Bee said.
The group felt they had the ability to challenge Abington. But they didn’t they would still be this good. It was just May’s third 800 ever.
“I didn’t know whether we could stick with them (Abington),” said May, who had a first leg split of about 1:55. “But we hung.”
Taking the first-hand off, McGarvey was in first place and had to maintain a heavy responsibility. He did exactly that, handing off to Bee, who had to keep faith that his team could continue to surprise the favorites
“I just had to keep believing,” he said. “We had to take it home and go for the victory.”
When Manley received the final hand-off, he had one single objective.
“I tried to go out fast,” he said.
All four members completed their legs in the range of 1:54-56, but for May, who was relatively new, he banked on his teammates supporting him.
“They helped me out the whole way,” he said.
A memorable and quite surreal first experience.
This was the first, and probably the only time, Trinity High senior Mike McClelland would have the chance to do a slow clap.
But if he had the audience’s attention, he was going to utilize it.
So after a jump of 6 feet, 10 inches gave him the state indoor title, McClelland drew a slow clap from the crowd as he prepared to go for a 7-foot height.
He missed on all three attempts. He didn’t miss on the slow clap.
“I’ve never been in the situation where I could slow clap in my life, so it was awesome,” McClelland said. “When I caught 6-10 and everyone was paying attention, I skied over it and then at that point the whole crowd was paying attention to the high jump.”
The state meet record in the event was just 6-10.5, but McClelland was so hyped up by the crowd’s attention, he went straight for 7-feet after hitting 6-10.
He doesn’t regret it.
“My goal was to win and I wanted 6-11, but after I cleared 6-10 I was pretty hyped up so I went straight to 7-0,” he said.
Girard College’s Hiree Peoples, who came in as the 12th and final seed, performed remarkably, soaring over the bar for a second place finishing at 6-8. He jumped five inches over his seed height.
Peoples was the first to draw applause from the crowd. Seeing this, McClelland jumped on the wagon and steered the ship after Peoples failed to reach 6-10.
McClelland felt he performed better with the attention on him.
“A lot of people are opposite of that,” McClelland said. “I do better the bigger the meet. I like the pressure.”
A third-place finisher last year, McClelland quit football over the fall and concentrated solely on jumping. He used advice from his coach Terry Grantz and improved his technique significantly.
“I was actually really sloppy last year,” he said. “I spent the entire summer working on my form. I quit football and spent the entire fall perfecting my approach and my takeoff and my form over the bar.”
At just 6-foot-3, McClelland is relatively short when it comes to the event’s traditional standards. McClelland said most successful collegiate jumpers are about two inches taller.
But there’s one upside, he said. He’s still growing.
For him, so might his high jump height.
Remaining State Recap
As for the remaining boys events, Tyler Smith of Norristown was getting the best of T.J. Elliott of Central Dauphin East in the first two rounds of the 60 meter dash, but Elliott got the best of Smith when it mattered, winning the final round in 6.92 over Smith's 6.94. Chris Williams of Strath Haven rebounded nicely from his 6th place performance at the Meet of Champions, winning the state title in a US#4 time of 7.89. The meet record is 7.84 and he will have one more year to try and achieve that.
Matt Gilmore of Cheltenham got his moment in the sun after being in the shadow of Brady Gehret in last year's championships. Gilmore ran 49.23 to win the 400 meter dash and then came back to run 21.89 in the 200 meter dash, a US#9 performance. Gilmore anchored his 4x200 meter relay team to their 2nd consecutive gold medal with a winning time of 1:30.32. All eight scoring teams broke 1:32.
For the first time in the history of the indoor state championship meet, a team championship was decided on the final event of the meet with the two teams who were tied for the lead in the seeded section going head to head for the title. Cheltenham and Abington were tied with 30 points and matched up in the 4x400 meter relay. Abington had been the best team all year while Cheltenham was looking to defend their title. When it was said and done, Abington was .38 seconds better than Cheltenham and took home the team title with their time of 3:18.80. Wissahickon came away with the distance medley relay crown, winning the event with a PA#2 time of 10:28.02.
In the remaining field events, Imani Brown of Reading won the triple jump ahead of the guy who took his top seed last week, Richard Rouse of Penn Hills with a T-US#6 mark of 48-5.50. Finally in the shot put, the previously undefeated and only 60+ foot thrower Darrell Hill of Penn Wood was bit by the upset bug named Scott Rushton of Episcopla Academy. After throwing over 57 feet the week before, Rushton threw 59-00.25 to beat Hill by 8 inches.
Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Marlene Vandenneste and Megan Clugh
Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Marlene Vandenneste and Megan Clugh
Hard to miss.
By now, after four years marking his name across Pennsylvania, Altoona High senior Wade Endress is well known in running circles.
Not just because of his running quality, which is can’t-miss. He committed to Penn State University recently, only a stone’s throw away from where grew up and earned a reputation for running smart, fast and hard.
But it’s also because of his hair. You can’t miss him. He’s got those inescapable reddish locks.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Better keep your eye on him.
On Saturday, during the PTFCA Indoor State Track Meet at Penn State University inside the Horace Ashenfelter Track Facility, Endress capped off his indoor winter season rather impressively, securing two indoor state gold medals as he was named the meet’s most outstanding athlete.
Endress picked up a state meet record in the 800-meter dash with a time of 1:51.73 and another win in the mile with a finish of 4:13.34.
What he felt running at Penn State, however, was more important for the soon-to-be Nittany Lion.
“Going into it, after committing to Penn State, you don’t want to lose in front of a home crowd,” he said. “I like the winning feeling here, and I could get used to it here.”
If Saturday was any indication, Endress could be headed for a solid, if not spectacular career at Happy Valley.
Notable
Along with Endress, Cheltenham sprinter Matt Gilmore stood out with his exemplary effort. He won the 200 in 21.89, took the 400 in 49.23 and was the lead anchor in his team’s 4 x 200-meter relay win. He also almost brought his team's 4x400 back to a win.