District 6AA and 5AA Meet results

[WPIAL~Titan]

Running the 1600m and 800m double with heats on Friday and finals on Saturday is plenty.

I did see the results from yesterday and Piccarillo DID run the 4x800m event as well, and HC qualified for states. I am guessing that she will scratch in the 400m and run the 16, 8, and 4x8. That's still 6 tough races in 2 days...

Even if the girl WANTS TO RUN the 16, 4, 8, and 4x4, any sane coach would not permit her to do it for her own good.

[roadrunner13]

i completely agree with you

[WPIAL~Titan]

I saw one of the McCartney brothers from Mount Union run the 1600m, 400m, 800m, and 200m in a dual meet. Anyone who knows of the McCartneys knows that they were crazy enough to do this. He also saw the back of my spikes in the 1600m and 800m as I sat on his shoulder and embarassed him the last 100m of both races, hoping to teach him and his coach a lesson not to be so stupid again.

[usatf oldguy]

I saw that the piccarillo girl ran those races and thought wow!! She ran quality times against great competition,were they thinking they had a crack at the team title? That would be the only logic I could understand.I'm impressed with dunchack and her quest for a 4th straight gold in the ladies high jump.She has been consistent all year and should win again. The boys 400m will be interesting at ship.Both classes will have alot of local interest in them.Congrats to NBC on there first ever district track title for the boys.I'm afraid district 5 will be down a little this year as far as medals go at states. I don't know that there are any sure things this year.My guesses would be on the girls side: vault,hj,100 and shot.The boys I would say tj,discus, 300 hurdles.My guess is a total of 4 this year to up to 7 if everything goes right.Good Luck to all the athletes!

[brlnsoccerchick19]

Piccirillo pulled the 1600-400-800 combo a few weeks ago at the West Central Coaches Meet as well. She didn't run the 4x8 -- I believe she was the only HC athlete there, actually. I remember going through the seedings packet during the day, seeing that she was scheduled to run that and I thought it was either a misprint or that she would scratch out of the 400m. GUESS NOT.

As awesome as it is to watch someone of the caliber of athleticism that that young lady has, I do have to agree that it is irresponsible to have her run that combination of events continuously. It would be really unfortunate for her talent to be wasted and basically be a flash in the pan.

I can (kind of) understand running all of those events once a year at districts, seeing the times, and then deciding which events to scratch out of...provided you've seen the times from the other districts' competition from meets that already occurred. However, I still think it's pretty dumb. Why not take her 400m ability and throw her into a 4x4? I would think that if you've got three other girls that can run an 800 well enough to get a 4x8 to states, they ought to be able to run a decent enough 400 as well.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Good point about the 4x4...Piccarillo could, at districts and maybe the yearly conference meet run the 4x8, 1600, 800, and 4x4. From what I have seen and heard, though, she has run the 1600m and 400m back to back in almost every meet this season.

Given this, at PIAAs, she could decide what events to run. In class AA, she could be competitive in all 4 events because the talent level is not as high or deep as it is in AAA, and her talent level is exceptional. Thus, she could possibly conserve some energy in the heats by running just to qualify. With that said, you never know how heats are going to go because you always have some nitwits who run hard in the heats, or less talented kids who have lower seed time who need to run their hardest in the heats, which can make heats more difficult to run.

If Piccarillo runs all 4 events (4x8, 16, 4, and 8), I predict that Seymour will get her in the 1600 or 800. It would also not surprise me to see Piccarillo get a lower place in the 400m (surely top 8, but maybe 4th or 5th) because :58, although an excellent performance, will not likely win states in AA girls.

To have her run the 1600m, then the open 400m on short rest is not a smart move. She should run the 4x8, 16, and 8 at most.

[zonebreaker]

altoona mirror article notes section at the end said piccirillo would not run 400 at states.

[Head Roadie]

Southpaw said "I know people on here complain about basketball/football and catholic schools. One trip to the state track meet and they would see that the catholic schools pale in comparison to the utter disgrace of private schools, magnet schools, or charter school, or open enrollment allowed in pittsburgh and philly."

Southpaw is so right on with this....wait till track people see the seedings and some of the AA sprint times coming out of Philadelphia! Sprinters from our area that would normally seem to be medal threats are WAY down the seedings while the Philly Discus and Shot throwers would not have even qualified to compete in the D5 or D6 meets.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Even worse than the weight events are the distance events above 800m for Philly and Pgh Publics.

The Phila Catholic league usually has some solid performers in various events, though.

[usatf oldguy]

Does anyone think Gehret will get the state record in the 400?I think he was a tenth off at districts.Close in the 200 also.Should be fun to watch!