SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. -- There was no jubilant celebration. No shouts of joy. No index finger pointing to the sky. Heck, there was barely a smile when they put the gold medal around his neck.
Sam Bair, a junior at Shaler Area, won the Class AAA 1,600-meter run at the PIAA track and field championships yesterday and set another record. With all the success he has had this spring, you couldn't blame Bair if he stepped up to the winners' stand afterward, pounded his chest and exclaimed "Sam I am."
But Bair doesn't run on emotion. Maybe it's because these broken records are starting to sound like a broken record.
In every big meet this year, Bair has set a record. He did it at the Butler Invitational, running the fastest 800 in WPIAL history. He set records at the Baldwin Invitational and the WPIAL Class AAA championship in the 1,600.
Then yesterday, he gave more credence to the notion that he just might be the best distance runner in WPIAL history as he became the first from the WPIAL to win the 1,600 two years in a row in the largest classification.
Bair's winning time of 4 minutes, 9.61 seconds broke a 20-year-old record. The record was 4:11.41, set by Ken Lowry of Wissahickon in 1982.
Just don't expect Bair to get jacked over this stuff.
"It's not really that big of a deal," he said. "I'm looking more to moving up among the best times in the country."
Bair already had the third-fastest time in the country this year with a 4:09.69 at the Baldwin Invitational. The No. 1 time is 4:08.35. Bair's 800 time from Butler is the second fastest in the country.
With two PIAA titles to his credit, what can Bair do for an encore next year? He took almost five seconds off his winning time a year ago.
"Next year, I want to see how close I can come to 4:05," Bair said.
A year ago, Alan Webb of Reston, Va., became the first high schooler to break the four-minute mile.
"I want to set something that's within my reach," Bair said. "I think 4:05 is. I'd rather shoot for that than say I want to run four minutes."
Bair is the only PIAA champion in Shaler history.
"I kind of wanted to run below 4:09 today, but I knew I probably wouldn't be able to because I ran some heats [Friday]," Bair said. "That takes something out of you."
Bair is known for running a strong final lap, and he did it again yesterday, pulling away from a few runners who were close to him.
"Right when we hit the bell lap, I started moving a little and I knew I had it won," he said.
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