Awarded to the best race, from either Cross Country or Track and Field, featuring a PA athlete. This is not best performance, meant to highlight an individual’s performance, but rather best race meant to highlight an exciting, impressive or particularly memorable event.
And the nominees are ....
The WPIAL 3200 crew made it's first big statement for the 2016 outdoor season, perhaps foreshadowing things to come. They produced 7 runners under the magical 9:20 barrier and 11 under 9:30 with almost exclusively District 7 runners. Nick Wolk won with a 9:12 but the 2nd and 3rd place finishers (Migliozzi and Gunzenhauser) were just behind him. Two of the top AA runners in the state, Zach Skolnekovich and Will Loevner, also dropped impressive PRs at 9:16 to put themselves in the state title discussion in their small school classification.
District 12 AAA 800m
In a year of crazy races at the state meet, the District 12 AAA 800 set the stage for a wild weekend at Shippensburg. Three of the top overall seeds in the state meet, including a pair of freshly minted 1:53 guys in Dave Whitfield and Stephen McClellan, came from this meet and caused Etrain to dub the state 800 "Madness". The race went out in about 53 seconds, with Justin Jones of O'Hara leading the charge and he pulled everybody to some crazy fast times unlike anything the district had seen before.
CB East first put the state on notice about their relay potential for the 2016 indoor season thanks to a 10:39 mark at the Lavino Relays in a race that featured 3 top 10 US times in an epic anchor leg dual. PA put on a big performance in the meet overall, representing on New Jersey soil.
One of PA's greatest teams, Downingtown West, entered the meet as a big favorite and their top 3 runners delivered, all finishing in the top 6 and each running 15:53 or faster. The race also featured a jaw dropping 9 runners under 16 minutes on the brutal Hershey course (there were just 6 sub 16 marks total in the first 16 runs on the course). But what really made the race special was the fantastic duel between Jaxson Hoey and Jake Brophy. Both runners finished in an all out sprint to the finish, going neck and neck all the way until the final stretch, with Brophy just barely holding on to his state title from the year prior.
State legend Domenic Perretta took the track for the last time in his prestigious career, looking to take one last shot at the state record he had most coveted. But early on it looked like Perretta wouldn't even defend his state gold as one of the most talented AA fields in PA history rolled through the opening lap. But ultimately, Perretta delivered and ran his fastest 800 ever.
State College had been the class of the 4x8 all year, but they knew they would get a big challenge from the army of district one schools that had rolled at Coatesville the previous week. Ultimately, SC rose to the occasion, setting the tone for a team title run with a massive 7:37 victory in the 4x8, putting them in the top 5 ever for Pennsylvania. But the race was just getting started as a pack of Abington, CB West, Pennridge, North Penn and CR North fought tooth and nail for the rest of the top five spots.
PIAA
AAA Outdoor State 4x400m
Sure, it's not a distance event, but the PA State 4x400m was a monumental event in the 2016 Outdoor State Championship. State College and Downingtown West were more or less going head to head for the state title. West ran 3:15 for the victory, a blazing fast 4x4 especially when you factor in all their legs were doubling. But State College responded with a 3:16, finishing second in their heat. Would it be enough? After they went to the monitor it was revealed SC did indeed take the silver, which guaranteed them the state title by just 1 point!
I'm not sure we've mentioned State College at all recently? Or maybe the Outdoor Team Title? Well State College needed every point they could get at Shippensburg, but one place they weren't expecting to really maximize those points was the 1600. Alex Milligan passed on the 800 for the 1600 in a surprise to some (like me) and was projected to finish behind the 1-2 punch of Kolor and Josh Hoey considering he was doubling off the 4x8. After splitting a 1:52 PR, Milligan doubled back, ran poised in the pack and then unleashed a monster kick to surprise for the victory with a huge 4:10 PR. Second and third place also dropped 4:11 times, separated by about a thousandth of a second.
Domenic Perretta competed in his first and only indoor state championship at his future home track. How would he handle the pressure? How would he handle his first look at AAA competition? The answer proved to be "pretty well". Perretta took down a field of 3 future 1:51 guys in Matt Wisner, Mike Kolor and Jaxson Hoey en route to his 5th state title of his career.
In a battle of two-time state champions, XC AAA champ Jake Brophy took on XC AA champ Dominic Hockenbury in the 3k. Hockenbury had an extra bit of motivation after having been outkicked a year early. Dominic put in a hard surge mid race and broke things open, but Jake Brophy found an extra gear on the final lap, uncorking a split well under 30 seconds to run down Hock in thrilling fashion and grab his first state title on the track.
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