Photo by: Jackson Polin
This weekend, we will see many state champions crowned. Some will be new and first-time state champs, and some will have already won a state title in the past. We wanted to take a deep dive to see which state meet records could fall.
The first one is pretty obvious if it's a fast race, as Carter Smith of Mifflin County has already gone under the 800m state meet record multiple times and once this season in his only 800m run of the year, running 1:49.30 in practically a solo effort. The meet record now stands at 1:50.55 by Kyle Francis back in 2014, and it looks very likely that the 2 time state champ is in line to shatter that.
Kaddel Howard of Cedar Crest has to be the next name on people's list, as she is almost a full second under the current record of 53.82. Kaddel is looking to 4-pete over the 400m this year, and it's shaping up to be in meet record fashion as she has already run 52.83, a U.S. #2 time.
Some of the other records that look to be in jeopardy come from the relay side of things, with both the boys and girls DMRs and 4X400m, and a potential boys 4x200m meet record could be in store for this weekend. The now-standing meet records are 10:13 for the boys DMR, with 4 teams already running faster than that this year. We could be in store for one of the best races of the day, with 7 of the top 9 in the U.S. being from PA teams. On the girls' side of things, the squad from Penn Charter has to be the clear favorite if they are at full steam running U.S. #2 time of 11:55 back at the VA Showcase. The current record stands at 12:04. Both 4x4s also have a shot of the meet record getting broken on the boys' side of things; we could see any of the top 3 seeds taking it. The current record stands with Downingtown West from last year, running 3:18.03, and with Episcopal Academy and Haverford School for Boys already running faster, and D West being very close, any of those 3 teams could go under. On the girls' side of things, the squad from Downingtown West has to be the clear favorite already running 3:50.30 and being almost 6 seconds faster than the 2nd seed we could see the record of 3:49.25 go down. The final relay record that we could see fall comes from the boys' 4x200m, with again any of those 3 teams taking it: Haverford School for Boys, Episcopal Academy, or Downingtown West. All three of them are currently under the meet record, which stands at 1:28.10.
Going back to the open events, we could see both the boys and girls 200m fall. On the boys' side, Abaas Hunter of Episcopal Academy has already run 21.14, which is only .06 seconds off the current record from Jesse Meyers last year. To switch over to the girls, Kaddel Howard is once again the favorite as she has almost a full second on the entire field, running 23.63 this year and only .12 seconds off the state meet record.
The last few events that could be in danger are the girls' 3000m run and the boys 60mh and 60m dash. The girls' 3k has a few names you could throw into the mix of things, with the reigning state champ, Kendra Williamson, who already has the meet record, being one, and others consisting of Julia Kelly, who has run faster than the meet record this year, Mackenzie Skelly, and Virginia Kraus. To go over to the boys' short sprints and hurdles, these are more of a long shot to happen, but definitely still a huge possibility. The boys' 60 mH is between 2 athletes realiticaly who are Daniel Chukwu and Grayson Riggins, who have run 7.77 and 7.81, respectively, this year. The meet record stands at 7.70 from a year ago. In the boys' 60m dash, the meet record stands at 6.72, and with 5 athletes being inside .1 seconds of the record, it could shape up to be a very fast race.