Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Kathy Leister and Jim Spisak
Sweet redemption earned on a quest for a title
SHIPPENSBURG -- Rico Galassi had played the cat and mouse game before and lost. So as North Schuylkill's Brendan Shearn turned the gears with 300 meters left in the 3,200-meter run on Saturday at the PIAA Class AA Championships, the Holy Cross High product needed to make a decision.
Go with Shearn, the defending champion, or hold the needle just a little bit longer, just long enough to keep him within an arm's reach.
Galassi's decision turned out to be the correct one, as it led to his biggest reward: his first state championship.
He out-kicked Shearn in the final straightaway to win in 9 minutes, 12.48 seconds and captured a race that had alluded him during his scholastic career.
"Last year he did that to me and yeah, it killed me on the last 400," said Galassi, who will run at Duquesne University next season. "But this year, I don't want to say I knew he was going to do it, but I had a feeling he was going to pull that again. I took that into account. I stayed the course and didn't go with him.
"It was a four-year long quest," he added. "It's a great feeling to know I'm the top in the state for the 3,200."
Shearn crossed the line in 9:13.33, putting an end to one of the state's best duals over the last several years.
"We run that race 10 times, I think we both take five," Shearn said. "He just got the better of me today."
This race struck a familiar pastiche. In the 2012 version, it was Galassi who finished second to Shearn, in an almost identical race that saw the North Schuylkill product out-kick him in the end.
Galassi knew Shearn had the potential to do the same this season, to pick up and change gears at will, so he spent the season altering his training. He rarely focused on the 3,200, instead entering into open 400s and 800s.
"Throughout the season, my coaches put me in 800s and 4 x 400s to get the speed in," Galassi said.
These races, Galassi said, taught him valuable lessons. They provided glimpses into the foot speed that he would need in a race like the 3,200.
On Saturday, it all came together. After taking the race out early and leading for the first three laps, Galassi relented and Shearn capitalized, taking control of the race. He accrued consistent splits (1:11, 1:10, 1:11) over the next three laps before pressing.
He clocked a 68 second split in the seventh leg, but didn't lose Galassi, so he made a significant adjustment at the 300 mark.
"I know he's got a good kick and I didn't really want it to come down to 100 like it did," said Shearn, a University of Pennsylvania commit. "I wanted to push and put him in the pain until the end. But it ended up hurting."
Galassi closed unlike he's ever done before, putting a stamp to an already otherwise successful season.
"I know we both train really hard," Galassi said. "We both wanted it. I think I just wanted it more and it came down to the last 100."
Dreams do come true
Clay Allen will tell you a hundred times he had no right to win the long jump.
But sometimes logic just doesn't make any sense.
On the last leap of the morning in the Class AA, in front of a growing contingent on the Shippensburg University grandstands, the West Middlesex senior let loose.
His 23-foot jump turned into his best of the day, the best of his year and led to the most impressive haul of the entire state championships this weekend.
Allen proceeded to win gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash and the 4 x 100-meter relay to help West Middlesex claim a team championship in Class AA.
"Clay was down by a foot in the long jump," West Middlesex head coach Ed Pikna said. "And then he went 23 feet. He's done that in practice, but to come down here before 4- or 5,000 people on your last jump when he was running back and forth between prelims -- he had to be back for 4 x 100 -- he's such a competitor. I've been here 23 years and you coach one maybe two kids your entire career that are like him."
The long jump was without question the most surprising of the day. He was heading toward a sixth place medal with a previous jump of 22-2.
"I was just hoping to get on the medal stand," Allen said. "I didn't expect it at all. This is my first year. I've done it a couple times, maybe sophomore year, but nothing really serious."
Allen was more confident in the sprints, where he claimed a win in the 100 with a time of 10.72 seconds and a win in the 200 with a result of 22.29 seconds.
In the 100, he overcame a strong performance from Hickory competitor De'Shon Coleman -- in reality, these two had locked horns more than a few times during the season, being from District 10.
"I knew it would be me and him," Coleman said. "I knew it would be me and him. That was the turnout I was looking for -- 1-2 -- but I wanted to be on top."
He added a win in the 4 x 100 relay, anchoring the team to a 43.41 second finish.
"We've had some great female and male athletes in the past, but as far as medal counts, he's the first to take home four, let alone four golds," Pickna said.
Twice the threat
Kennedy Weisner ran two very different races on Saturday. One was more tactical, the other an immense demonstration of will.
Both explain just how versatile the Elk County Catholic product can be on a given day.
In the 1,600-meter run, which Kennedy claimed in 5:01.14, she exercised her control, taking out the four-lap event with a sizable gap.
She held second-place Adair Gennocro (5:06.38) within a manageable window the entire way, deciding after two laps that conditions weren't ideal for a record setting day -- Weisner decided early on not to go for a PR.
"I came out and took the lead right away," she said. "It was not windy, so I tried to work through that. My time was kind of slower, but I was happy to win it."
In the 800, a significantly faster race, Weisner fell behind early and almost didn't recover.
Trinity's Shannon Quinn, who finished second in 2:13.66, was on pace to claim her first state title. But Weisner orchestrated an impressive kick, legging out the final meters for a win in 2:13.27.
Still, Weisner wasn't going to go as far as say her kick was her biggest reason for the victory. In the end, it was her pace, her ability to close over the last 400.
"I've been out-kicked a lot," Weisner said. "I've been trying to find that extra something in the last stretch, just to really kick a lot."
After finishing second in both races a year ago to Angel Piccirillo -- now at Villanova -- Weisner came into the meet with something to prove.
That she did. And still a junior, she could possibly do it again in 2014.
"Hopefully I can come back next year and do it again and run faster," she said.
Fast development
Curt Jewett saw his chance to make a move, and he didn't have to think about it. The accomplished Northeast Bradford distance runner had but a moment to make his move, so he did.
It could have backfired, considered Jewett had but a few races under his belt in the 800, but experience had taught him that instinct was his best ally.
Jewett began to kick at 300 meters on Saturday in the Class AA 800 and hoped for the best. His decision proved to be a good one, as he won the event in a time of 1:58.25.
The time didn't set any records, but from a tactical standpoint, Jewett said, it was a solid race.
"I saw the flags drop, instantly I knew it was my chance to go," said Jewett, a Pennsylvania State University commit. "I took it and it led to the win."
The 800 was an interesting development. Jewett was more of a long distance runner by nature, having finished fourth during the Class A cross country season. He was disqualified in the 1,600 earlier in the day, after a minor infraction, he said.
He had only broken two minutes in the event for the first time this year, and even then it came in a 4 x 800.
"I wasn't serious about it until a couple weeks ago when I went 1:55 in a split," he said.
But there was some unearthed foot speed lying in Jewett. The senior helped Northeast Bradford qualify for the 4 x 800 at his district meet -- they finished fifth at states -- and then focused on his open 800 on Saturday.
"It's my first state title," Jewett said. "I'm really excited."
Big punch in a small package
She isn't the most powerful sprinter on the track. In fact, considering her size, you may even miss her depending on how hard you look.
But make no mistake, Washington Area's Alyssa Wise is no joke.
The junior sprinter claimed her second straight 100-meter and 200-meter titles on Saturday at the PIAA Class AA Championships.
Wise captured the 100 in 11.85 seconds and finished with a 24.85 performance in the 200.
She's captured six medals at states since her freshman year, including two third places a year ago and two gold's today in the meet's most prominent events.
"It's amazing," Wise said. "To be here as a freshman, to get two eighth places. As a sophomore, get two gold medals and then come here and get two firsts, it's just amazing."
At barely 5-foot-5, Wise is tiny but muscular. She says over the last two seasons she's focused on getting stronger. In an event that requires power and precision, she tucks into her lane like a bull, but explodes out of the blocks, which she says is her biggest strength.
"I was a little puny thing freshman year," Wise said. "Yeah, these girls are like super strong. I didn't know that freshman year. I'm a little smarter, looking at what goes on."
To prepare for the endurance of the 200, she says, Washington coaches worked her through 300-meter workouts. The repetitive drills stained her legs with drive.
Ultimately, she said, that experience is leading to big results.
"The 100 is my main event," Wise said. "That's what I wanted to get gold at. That's about it."
An exciting new experience
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
That's basically how Swenson Arts & Technology sprinter Tichina Rhodes could describe her experience in the PIAA Class AA Championships.
On Saturday, she became the bride for the first time.
The senior captured the 400-meter run in 58.41 seconds, narrowly escaping her teammate Imani Harris-Quillen (58.94) in the process.
"I'm really happy," said Rhodes, who later helped Swenson win the 4 x 400 relay en route to a Class AA team title. "This is my first state title as an individual. And the times were off, but all I wanted was the win. At this point, I know the weather was off, so I wasn't expecting anything crazy."
Indeed, the wind WAS crazy. Late on Saturday, the blustery conditions turned for the worse, swaying more than a number of the lithe athletes on the track, including Rhodes.
"It was so windy," she said. "I'm not sure if it's because I'm skinny, but on the last turn, I just felt like I wasn't moving anyway. It was pushing me back almost the whole way."
Strategically, however, Rhodes had one goal. She wanted to win. She said she knew her time wouldn't become a personal best -- she also had a few minor injuries. So in that event, she said, she just wanted to compete.
"My legs are a little tight and my ankles have been bothering me lately, so it's hurting right now," she said, "but I just wanted to finish the race."
Lesson Learned
To say Jenna Lucas learned from past experiences may be a little bit of an understatement.
The Fort Cherry junior qualified for the PIAA Class AA Championships in the javelin a year ago, but made the decision to go to the prom a day earlier.
A few things contributed to her sixth-place finish. A four hour car ride. A few hours of sleep. And maybe just overall grogginess.
Lucas didn't make the same decision again. Instead, she focused on competing on Saturday and was rewarded, earning the state title with a throw of 147-1.
It marked the second straight year a Fort Cherry thrower has claimed the state's top mark -- Jessie Merckle, now at Wake Forest, did it a year ago.
Lucas earned the mark on her second attempt. She managed to outlast Tamaqua senior Christine Streisel, the event's state champ as a sophomore, despite a less than ideal rest of the day.
"After my 147, I think I got progressively got a lot worse," she said. "I threw 120s and last time I threw 120s was the beginning of last year. The wind was in my face and I kept trying to wait, but I would wait 45 seconds and I would have to go."
Perhaps Streisel was in her head, too.
"I've been thinking about her since the beginning of my year," Lucas said. "I knew she would be a lot of competition. I knew she was a senior and I knew she wanted to go for it. I thought I would have a chance and I'm so happy I pulled it off."
And the reward for her hard work?
Her friends Face Timed her on Friday, catching her up on prom details and gossip.
"This was better," Lucas later admitted.