There were two fantastic finishes at the WPIAL cross country championships yesterday afternoon at Slippery Rock University, but no fantastic finish to an outstanding career.
 |
 |
|
Brentwood's Dan Erny passes Greensburg Central Catholic's Steve New just before the finish line to win the Class AA boys' title in thrilling fashion. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette) |
Lauren Bricker, a Hempfield High School senior who was bidding to become the first runner to win four consecutive girls' individual titles, had an off day and placed 13th in Class AAA. West Allegheny senior Christine Taranto won the 3.1-mile race in 19 minutes, 6 seconds, well ahead of Penn Hills freshman Kaitlin Grimm. Bricker finished in 20:13.
The fantastic finishes came from Shaler's Sam Bair and Brentwood's Dan Erny. They ran down titles with great kicks. Bair won the Class AAA title, Erny was first in Class AA.
Quaker Valley's Maxine Markfield cruised to the girls' Class AA title and joined an elite group of runners. Markfield, a senior, finished in 19:49 and is the sixth girl to win three consecutive WPIAL individual titles. Freshman Anna Hoffman of Mohawk was second at 20:10.
In the team competition, two schools were double winners. Mt. Lebanon captured the boys' and girls' Class AAA titles. It is the fourth consecutive WPIAL team title for the Blue Devils' boys. They edged North Hills, 100-109. Mt. Lebanon's girls finished ahead of perennial power North Allegheny, 181-198.
Quaker Valley won the Class AA boys' and girls' team titles. The Quakers' girls showed how strong they are by finishing with just 40 points. Center was second with 140. The Quaker Valley boys edged Ellwood City, 63-83.
The top four teams in each race and the top 20 individuals who are not a member of one of those four teams advanced to the PIAA championships Nov. 2 in Hershey.
Bair's victory was the most impressive. He was at least 20 yards behind Ian Fitzgerald of North Hills with about 800 yards to go and caught Fitzgerald before the finish line. Bair's time was 16:10 with Fitzgerald two seconds behind.
"I didn't know if I could catch him or not at the top of that long straightaway to the finish," said Bair, who is one of the top scholastic 800-meter runners in the country. "But I looked around and saw there wasn't anybody close to me, so I just said, 'What the heck, I might as well go after him,' because nobody was going to pass me at the end and the worst I could do was second.
"Coming down the hill, I just sort of picked it up, but I didn't go real fast. But then when I got a little closer and a little closer I decided I was going to go after him. I just took off and, with about 200 [yards] to go, I had the lead and I just sort of glanced back to see where he was."
Heading into the third mile of the Class AAA boys' race there was a lead pack that included Fitzgerald, Thadeus Meyers of Bethel Park, Andy Tomaswick of Highlands and Jim O'Toole of Mt. Lebanon. Bair was fifth, but only a couple strides back.
"I just kind of hung back, figuring there was still a long way to go," Bair said. "I figured if they took off up the hill there wasn't much I could do but see how close I could stay to them. And the next thing I knew we were at the top of the hill and I was still there."
Fitzgerald did the right thing in starting his drive for the finish early. He didn't want to be shoulder to shoulder with Bair with 400 yards left. Not with the speed Bair has. Against an ordinary runner, Fitzgerald would have been fine. Bair is extraordinary.
Erny doesn't have Bair's foot speed, but he does have plenty of guts. He was able to get past Steve New of Greensburg Central Catholic in the final 100 yards to take the title. Erny's time was 16:41, a second faster than New's.
"He's probably faster than me. I don't have great speed but I wasn't going to be denied," Erny said.
New and Erny ran most of the final mile together. New pulled away with about 400 yards remaining and looked as if he would win until Erny put on his burst at the end.
Bricker has been bothered by a sore back in recent weeks and hasn't run her best. There was also the pressure of going for a fourth title, and it didn't help that Hempfield's bus didn't get to Slippery Rock until just 30 minutes before the race.
Hempfield Coach Ron Colland didn't use any of that as an excuse. He said Bricker struggled through sections of the race.
"There were times when it looked like she might be pulling things together, but it just wasn't her day," Colland said. "I'm disappointed for her, but she did OK, and the sun's going to come up tomorrow."
It was Taranto's day. She moved into the lead and past Laurel Highlands' Michol Monaghan and Grimm at about the 1 1/2-mile mark. Taranto picked up her pace on the long uphill at the end of the third mile to take a comfortable lead over Grimm.
"I didn't really have a race strategy. I just felt at that point it was time for me to go, and that's what I did," Taranto said.
It would be hard to call Taranto's victory an upset. She was fourth at the WPIAL championships last year. What helped is that she won the Tri-State Coaches Association meet on the same course last week in the rain and wind.
"Winning that race gave me a lot of confidence for today," she said. "I figured if I could win in such bad conditions I could do it when it wasn't so bad."
E-mail this story 
