In poker, players are always looking for their opponent's tell ... a sign that lets them know if the other person is bluffing or has a solid hand.

Here's a tip for those girls going against Latrobe High School's Natalie Bower in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs at today's WPIAL Class AAA track and field championships at Baldwin High School. Watch Bower as she warms up before running a leg on the 3,200-meter relay. If she's smiling and appears to be feeling good, the rest of the runners in the 1,600 and 3,200 are in trouble.

A junior, Bower felt good before running at the Baldwin Invitational two weeks ago. All she did that night was win the 1,600 in 4 minutes, 56.76 seconds; the 3,200 in 10:55.22; and help the 3,200 relay to a first-place finish.

Her times in the 1,600 and 3,200 that day happen to be the best marks in those two races in the WPIAL so far this year.

"You know how you just go out and warm up and you can tell if you're going run well," Bower said. "That's how I felt that night and I was really happy with my times."

Today's WPIAL championships are on the same track and this just might be the spring Bower's accomplishments in track equal what she has done in cross country.

Bower has won three consecutive WPIAL Class AAA cross country titles from 2005-07 and will take a shot at an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal in the fall.

While she has been one of the better track runners in recent years, she hasn't had that impressive WPIAL championship meet ... yet.

As a freshman, she won the 1,600 at the WPIAL championships and was fifth in the 800. Last year, she was second to Penn-Trafford's Diana Filtz in the 1,600 and helped Latrobe's 3,200 and 1,600 relays to first- and second-place finishes, respectively.

This year she wants to do well in the 1,600 and combine with Abby Hewitt, Lizzy Harkins and Nicole Egan to win the 3,200-meter relay. They are all juniors and the relay has the best time in the WPIAL this season. But don't be surprised if Bower also wins the 3,200, even though she said that eight-lap race is a lot of going around in circles.

"I've always liked the 1,600 the most in track," she said. "I guess it's because I've been running it since seventh grade. I didn't start running the 3,200 until high school."

"She's just more mature this year," Latrobe coach Andrew Wnek said. "It isn't as if she has run poorly at the championships in the past."

Bower is outstanding on the relay because she is a better 800-meter runner than many people think. She has run that distance in 2:15.

One reason she is confident coming into the championships is because Latrobe coaches were careful not to run Bower too much this spring.

"That's something we always do. We always try to watch how much individuals race," Wnek said. "The thing about Natalie is that she's such a competitor and such a hard worker."

Bower got a jump on the outdoor season by running indoor track this past winter.

She also still competed on the Latrobe swim team in the breaststroke, individual medley and freestyle events. The cross training apparently worked. At the Pennsylvania Track Coaches Association indoor championships at Penn State in early March Bower was fifth in the 1,600- and 3,000-meter runs.

And remember, the indoor state championships attract all of the top runners regardless of classification or where their school is a PIAA member.

At the Tri-State Track Coaches Association championships at Robert Morris University in February, she won the mile and 3,000-meter run.

"I like to rest my legs in the winter, but I think running indoors helped," Bower said.

When asked about who she thought her main competition would be today in the 1,600 and 3,200 Bower laughed. "I'm not sure because I've run against people in both classifications in the bigger meets," she said.

Bower is seeded third in the 1,600 behind Stephanie Bonk of Montour and Samantha Carl of Mt. Lebanon. She beat Bonk at the Baldwin Invitational. In the 3,200, she is seeded second behind Hampton's Elaina Balouris.