Unionville reverses states fortunes with big-time run by frosh Elizabeth Edwards
The team met 100 feet from its lane assignment before its biggest race of the season. The runners huddled together, wrapping their arms around each other like sisters.
Awards photo by Megan Clugh
They understood what was at stake. They understood what they had been working toward for so long. They understood that their hopes and dreams were in the process of being realized in the next 19 minutes.
Unionville assembled one last time before the PIAA Class AAA girls’ championship and said one last decree: DIFL.
The acronym, Do It For Lacianca, was an inside declaration of what Unionville had been striving to do since the start of the 2013 season: To win the state championship for their coach, Mark Lacianca.
And this, too: To finally dismantle Pennsbury from the run of titles it had accrued over the last three seasons, the last two which were at the hands of Unionville, who finished as runner-up in 2011 and 2012.
Nineteen minutes later, after the team scored its five point-scorers in the top 20, the dream was realized. Unionville scored 51 points to Pennsbury’s 57. The role reversal had finally happened.
State champs.
“We knew what the goal was,” said Unionville senior Courtney Smith, who was second in 18:06. “We knew it would be a long term goal, but we knew we would keep working for it. And then this season, we knew we were ready. This is the best team we’ve ever had.”
Competing without one of its best runners, Emily Fisher, who was diagnosed with mono recently, the Indians went with the punches and still managed to assemble one of the most impressive results of the day.
Smith was first in 18:06, junior Olivia Young was sixth in 18:36 (5 points), sophomore Kacie Breeding was ninth in 18:51 (8 points) and junior Gretchen Mills was 21st in 19:24 (16 points). Then came the runner-from-the-wings, freshman Elizabeth Edwards, who was 26th in 19:29 (20 points).
“We learned we had the 15th fastest average in the nation without Emily running,” Young said of the team’s research beforehand. “And that definitely gave us confidence. We knew it would be close. But we knew we had to give it everything today. We were confident if we ran how we knew to, we would win.”
Edwards culminated the season with an emphatic finish. Not expected to contribute this late in the year, she still managed to be the clinching factor.
“It’s hard to explain, but I just didn’t want to let my team down,” Edwards said. “Courtney has been working all three years to get to this point. I didn’t want us to lose, so I had to do my best.”
Unionville had lost to Pennsbury convincingly in 2011, but was thought to be a contender a season ago.
The Indians went into the meet with high expectations only to falter when Pennsbury put together an exceptional performance and finished its first four runners in the top 10, finishing 43 points to Unionville’s 86 points.
That was a result the Indians ultimately learned from, Young said. Lacianca knew solid training, coupled with experience, would put the team back on the right path. And when the final result came, the reward was worth the sacrifice.
And like all good coaches, he acted as if he’d been there before, displaying a stoic pose amid all the triumph.
“We suddenly had a new challenge, which is running without the sixth or seventh best runner in the race today,” he said of being without Fisher. “And we still got it done. We knew our five had to run to do well. Liz was 26th. We were there and proud of what we did.”