Hopewell’s 800 meter winner Dolan ready for huge week
BAYVILLE » Sean Dolan has spent the entire school year travelling around the country to test himself against the best track competition there is to offer.
So why would the week before the Meet of Champions be any different?
Dolan booked his spot at New Jersey’s showcase event by winning the 800 in Group III with a time of 1:52.02 at Central Regional on Saturday, but that will only be the end of another challenging week for the Hopewell Valley junior.
Dolan plans to run the 800 at a national meet in Seattle on Friday, catch a redeye back east and then compete at the Meet of Champs on Saturday.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Dolan said. “Got to make sure my body is ready for it. I’m going to come back and run the Meet of Champions and give it all I have.”
Outside of a restart after a runner was knocked down, Dolan had no trouble automatically qualifying as he held off Colonial Valley Conference rival Atharv Kulkarni of West Windsor North (1:52.51).
“When we got called back, it was a little frustrating because I thought I had a great start, but second time around not as good,” Dolan said. “Huge shoutout to Atharv from North today because I wouldn’t be able to do this without him pushing me. He’s a great runner and I know he worked his butt off (on Friday) in the mile and 4x800, so I really thank him for taking that second 200 and really making me work for it.”
Dolan’s had a busy season and opted for the 800 over the 1600 despite running a mile time of 4:08.86 at the adidas Boost Boston Games, which stands as the top time of any NJ competitor.
Instead, he’ll challenge Passaic junior Luis Peralta in the 800. The two met earlier this season at a meet in Atlanta with Peralta edging Dolan at the line.
Peralta ran 1:50.41 at the Group IV meet in Franklin on Saturday.
“Peralta and I are going to battle for the next two years so we might as well make it a preview at Meet of Champs,” Dolan said. “A nice friendly rivalry . ... Really excited to keep racing him. Great athlete, great kid and he beat me at the line at Atlanta nationals, so still a little salty about that one.”
Dolan and his teammates won’t have a chance to run the 4x800 at the Meet of Champions — they would have been the favorite having posted the top time in the state entering the Group Meets — after Hopewell scratched on Friday night because the start time conflicted with the senior prom.
Amos Barnes, Tim Dolan and Teddy Meredith are all seniors.
“It’s a long year for them,” coach Aaron Oldfield said. “They do cross country, winter, spring, they’re going to nationals in a couple weeks. They’re all going to run in college, but yeah, it’s a tough pill to swallows.”
Oldfield said there was some thought to running star Sean Dolan with a group of underclassmen to try for a top a top six place that would qualify for them for the MoC.
Ultimately, it was a group decision to withdraw.
“Hopewell Valley created a great tradition for 4x800 and distance relays the last few years,” said Dolan of the quartet that captured a Penn Relays championship in the DMR. “Our seniors wanted to go to their prom and you can’t blame them. They deserve to go. We’ve done so much with our relays this year alone.”