It's hard to do a story about Baldwin High School track standout T.J. Hobart without including teammate David Adley.

Just as it was hard to do a cross country story on Adley in the fall without mentioning Hobart.

They are joined ... at the finish line.

Adley, a senior, won the WPIAL Class AAA title in cross country. He is a terrific distance runner who is headed for William & Mary.

Hobart, a junior who was fifth in the WPIAL in cross country, is a terrific middle-distance runner who is favored to win the 800- and 1,600-meter runs today at the WPIAL Class AAA championships at Baldwin Stadium.

He has run the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 16.24 seconds and the 800 in 1:56.12. His 1,600 time is the best in the state so far this season, and while his time in the 800 is good, he has run an 800-meter leg for the Highlanders' 3,200 relay in 1:53. The top time in the state in the 800 is 1:53.90.

"You can't use a relay split as a ranked time," said Rich Wright, who works with the middle-distance and distance runners at Baldwin. "But T.J. is capable of running that time. He did it in the relay and the only reason he hasn't done it in an open 800 is because he hasn't been pushed in that race."

A reason why Hobart has the top time in the 1,600 in the state is Adley, who has the third-fastest time in the 1,600 in the state at 4:16.63. Both marks came at the Baldwin Invitational.

"They are just good for each other," Wright said. "The reason they had those times at the invitational is because they pushed each other. Actually, they went out slow and then picked it up when David took the lead.

"They are friends and feed off each other. We've had some pretty good pairings at Baldwin in the past. We had Danny Mazzocco and Ryan Sheehan, but they were never healthy at the same time. T.J. and David are both running well."

Adley is one of the favorites to win the 3,200-meter run and is in the 1,600 with Hobart. They will both run legs on Baldwin's 3,200-meter relay, which has the third-best time in the state at 7:52.86. George Crompton and Dennis Logan run the other legs.

North Penn has the top 3,200 relay time of 7:44.39.

A junior, Hobart sported a bushy hairdo and fuzzy beard at the Baldwin Invitational. He said it was his "playoff beard" since Baldwin was in the WPIAL Class AAA team championships. The Highlanders finished second to Canon-McMillan.

When asked what his favorite event is, Hobart had a surprising response.

"I like the 200," he said, smiling. "I don't get many chances to run it except in scrimmages, but I like it the best."

The fact Hobart likes a sprint says something about his need for speed. Adley mentioned more than once during the cross country season that if Hobart was close to him at the end of a race, he was in trouble.

Hobart displayed his finishing speed in the 1,600-meter relay at the Baldwin Invitational. He ran down Erie McDowell's Jonny Dogun, who won the 400 earlier in the meet, on the anchor leg to give Baldwin first place.

"I don't know what his best race is ... maybe the 800 because of his speed," Wright said. "Maybe the 1,600, although David is right there with him in that one."

It will be interesting to see if Hobart and Adley repeat their one-two Baldwin Invitational performance in the 1,600 at the championships today.

Latrobe's Matt Molitor has the top-seeded time in the 1,600 at 4:22.96. Canon-McMillan's Julian Rankin and Gateway's Dan Krystek are also in the field, but Hobart and Adley are the 1 and 1-A favorites.

In the 800, Hobart will have to contend with Norwin's Dave Farina, Penn-Trafford's James Gnecco and Knoch's Brian Tackett. In the 3,200, Canon-McMillan's Kyle Gibson and North Allegheny's Matt Jacob have the top seeded times with Adley third.

But those are just seeded times. Wright isn't discounting anybody, but said if Hobart and Adley run their races, it could be a golden day for Baldwin.