Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Marlene Vandenneste and Megan Clugh
No splitting hairs with Piccirillo.
Hitting split times is a touchy subject matter for Homer Center junior Angel Piccirillo.
The reigning Gatorade XC Runner of the Year has the cognitive wherewithal to understand what her coach is asking her to do. But to go out and do it?
More difficult than it sounds, she says.
Despite winning the girls' one mile race at the PTFCA Indoor State Meet on Saturday inside Penn State Unversity?s Horace Ashenfelter Facility -- where she broke the five minute mark for the third time this year after only doing it three times in all of 2010 -- the distance harrier still wasn?t satisfied.
"If I go in with the goal of hitting my splits I usually don't,' said Piccirillo, who also ran a personal best in the 3,000-meters with a 10:02. "I'm not very good at it. That's what I'm trying to work on."
Still, she was pretty impressive.
Over the course of eight laps around the indoor track, Piccirillo rarely overstrided. Her arms moved in equal wavelengths. Her breaths were slow and steady. Her eyes were fixated. Her legs effortlessly moved one step over the other.
"I'm really trying to focus to run in the front and hitting my splits and not worrying about other people behind me," she said.
By the eighth lap, Piccirillo hit another gear. She glided away from State College's Chloe Schmidt, who was on her tail through seven laps, and calmly made her way to the finish.
"I was happy to win this and leave good things good," she said. "I'm excited for outdoor to start. It gets kind of hard in outdoor, which I'm kind of iffy about. But I like indoor. I feel like people don't focus on it as much as outdoor so it's relaxed and I can try some different things."
About the only thing worrying the two-time indoor mile champion is her split times.
"It's hard to hit my splits, especially in a race like today," she said. "Because I didn't know whether I was on or not. I try and I'll keep working on it."
Getting there, she thinks, comes from dedication. And there?s no shortage of it. She's changed up her training to help her body improve and fight lulls.
The junior records low mileage through the week, maybe hitting a max of about eight or ten miles, though performs at high intensity to prepare for the grind of race day.
She also lifts weights and even puts herself through hurdle workouts to change things up.
"I've been doing different things to see a few different gears," she said.
Now, if only she could get those split times down.
Third time is a charm.
There was a perfect and logical explanation for why State College senior Chloe Schmidt, the two-time reigning 800-meter girls champion, was not the prohibitive favorite going into the same race on Saturday.
It was because only once during the 2010-11 indoor season did Schmidt actually compete in her go-to event.
And yes, there was also that stress fracture injury she was coming off of in the fall.
Still, never doubt a former champion. She certainly didn't.
The University of Illinois commit performed like she never gave it up in the first place, running a resourceful race built on intelligence and experience. Claiming her third straight indoor championship with a time of 2:12.02, Schmidt barely even smiled when she received her medal.
"It was good," she said of receiving the award, "but I was kind of tired I guess."
That and she probably wasn't happy. She was three seconds off her personal best. Perhaps that's what you get when you don't run it for nearly a month.
Her last win came at the Kevin Dare Invitational in late January, when she ran a time of 2:14.39. Maybe that's all the evidence she needed.
It still didn't take away from the fact that she was a darkhorse contender entering the action on Saturday.
She didn't disappear, but she certainly wasn't burning up the charts, either.
Penn Charter's Elyse Wilkinson, who finished third overall in 2:12.80, was the top seed at 2:11.90. Gwynedd-Mercy's Emma Keenan, the second-place finisher in 2:12.26, was the event's second seed at 2:12.
Both had considerable skill, but Schmidt knew there was a flaw in at least one of the runners. Maybe it was the closing speed, the final kick. Her gameplan reflected her thoughts.
?I was going to sit behind her (Wilkinson) and once she slowed down, I was going to pass her," Schmidt said.
That's exactly what happened, even though it took until the final two laps for Schmidt to show that historically good kick - not to mention a fiery last effort from Keenan, which nearly yielded a remarkable win of her own.
"I definitely wanted to go for the win and that's what I went for," said Schmidt.
It was a busy day for Schmidt altogether. She finished second to Homer Center's Angel Piccirillo in the mile and she also ran lead-off for State College in the 4 x 400-meter relay, which placed eighth overall.
Your own worst enemy.
Larissa Debich likes to think she's got nothing to fear but fear itself. A good mental approach is the name of the game in a sport like track, especially in an event like pole vault.
She knows that every mistake is amplified.
She also knew on Saturday that she was the overwhelming favorite to win the pole vault. Only two female competitors had crossed the 12-foot barrier.
She was one of them.
No problem.
Debich connected on a vault of 12 feet, 3 inches and became the indoor state champion for the first time in her career. She was a runner-up finisher last spring during the PIAA Class AAA outdoor championships.
"It (the state title) means a lot because last year in outdoor I got second and missed out," she said.
Using a 13-foot pole, Debich cleared 12-3 without much hassle. She went on to try attempts at 12-8 -, but missed on all three submissions.
"My second and third jumps were really close," she said.
When it came to actual competition, Debich only felt there was one worthy challenger. That was Monica Pechanec, who finished second overall with a vault of 12-0.
The pair were the only two athletes to have cleared 12-feet over the indoor season.
"I knew Monica had jumped 12-3 before and she was a senior," Debich said. "I hadn?t competed against her before, so I didn?t know how she would do. But honestly, I'm my own best competition."
A little cocky, for sure, but Debich was dished a side of modesty early on in her attempts.
"I missed my opening height," adding that the height was at 11-6. "And after that I was like, "OK, I need to do this now. Focus."
"It was kind of like a wakeup call," she continued. "I said to myself, "This is states. This isn't just a regular meet."
Debich hopes to continue her good run of success in two weeks at the national track & field meet, which is being held at the NY Armory.
Did I really do that?
Only do you realize certain watermark moments in a sports career until they hit a chord in real life.
Like jumping over yourself?
Essentially, that's what Pennridge High junior Anne Holland did on Saturday, winning the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 10 inches.
The 5-foot-9 leaper, who also recorded an outdoor title in the spring, was thoroughly amused by her accomplishment.
"Did I high jump over my actual height?" she asked curiously. "I didn't even realize that until now."
Now the question is: Just how high can she go?
She thinks the possibilities could start in two weeks, when she intends to compete in the national meet at the New York Armory. A realistic goal, she feels, is reaching 6-0.
If not in two weeks, how about in the spring?
"I don?t think it's that far out of my ability," she said. "I see it happening in the spring season honestly."
On Saturday, she hit every standard mark relatively easily before reaching 5-10. She sailed over the bar on her first try during attempts at 5-2, 5-4, 5-6 and 5-8.
She missed her first at 5-10, but cleared it on her second try and then aimed for a higher standard.
She wanted 6-0 -, but didn't get it.
At this point, she said, she's taking one step at a time.
"Once I got to 5-8, then that was really the first time I thought about that height," she said. "I felt pretty confident. I don't like to think about it too much. I just try to do it rather than think."
Her progression is coming along smoothly. Her title win in states last spring came at the height of 5-8. On Saturday, she added a couple inches.
And that's really all she's worried about right now.
"Winning states, you can't complain about it," she said.
If once you fail, if twice you fail - well, just try three times. You'll probably have it by then.
Abington High junior Jordan Matthews wasn't worried.
Or was she?
"You're sitting there stressed and thinking "God, I really have to hit this mark on my last jump,?" she said of faulting twice in the long jump during the preliminaries. "So I prayed and God helped me out."
Turns out she prayed twice.
Matthews somehow faulted in both the preliminaries and the finals of the long jump, but still managed to break through. She leapt 18 feet, 11 inches, a few inches off her seed mark, and left with a state indoor title.
"It was nerves, mostly," Matthews said. "And I got out there, I tried to be as focused as I could. I tried to jump what I needed to jump."
She had some experience, which helped. She qualified in the event as a freshman, though she didn't reach the finals.
"I guess I was overwhelmed with the whole situation," she said.
She might have been overwhelmed here, too, but it didn't ultimately cost her as much.
"It gives my confidence a real boost," she said. "If I can sit here and do this in indoor, which isn't even my best, I can do it outdoor and jump farther."
The junior, a key part of Abington's winning 4 x 200-meter and 4 x 400-meter winning relay teams, remains steadfast she can do better.
"I'm not really satisfied. I know I can jump higher," she said.
The talent isn't a question. It's there. Perhaps she has to calm her nerves a bit.
The hype was worth the wait.
This one was fun.
Photo by Patty Morgan
It certainly lived up to its billing, a race not only between the state's top three 60-meter girls' hurdles, but also a race between three of the top 10 nationally.
From the preliminary heat until the final race, all three hurdlers showed up. They didn't leave much to the imagination.
And while Abington's Leah Nugent came away with a well deserved win and more than enough recognition for her efforts, James Coughlin's Shelley Black and Plymouth Whitemarsh's Emerald Walden weren't so bad either.
Let's start with Nugent, who it seems like by fibers, beat Black to the finish line in 8.45 seconds. The mark was a new meet record and just two hundredths of a second off the all-time state mark.
Then there was Black, who came later in 8.46. She was satisfied with her race despite the second-place finish.
"I knew it was going to be a close race," she said. "We're all within the top percentage in the country, so I heard the gun go off and I heard Leah beside me the entire race. And I just went for it."
Black went from a time of 8.92 in late December to 8.46 in a little less than two months. Nugent was even better. She went from a time of 9.27 in the middle of January to the second best national time in a little over a month.
"I definitely like running when there is competition, because I feel like I get better and that gets me better," Black said.
Rounding out the list was Walden, who wasn't far behind in 8.76.
Nugent and Back moved up to No. 2 and No. 3 on the national list. Walden remained in the No 8 position.
Remaining State Recap
The short sprints provided some surprise, as Lydia Ali of Radnor took home the 60 meter dash over favorite Cierra White of Engineering in Science by .01 seconds with a time of 7.53. White would get some redemption over Ali with her win in the 200 meter dash, winning with a new national elading time of 24.16 and was only .12 seconds off the state meet record of 24.02. She has next year to try and break that mark.
Taylor Ellis-Watson of Springside repeated the success she had on this very track back on February 10 by winning the 400 meter dash over Michelle Davis of West Catholic (2nd place for the 2nd straight year) and top seed Jordan Matthews of Abington with a winning time of 56.15.
In the relays, Abington upended defending champion and state meet record holder West Catholic and top seeded Upper Darby to win the 4x200 meter relay in a US#4 time of 1:41.20. The top ten teams all broke 1:45. Abington also took care of business in the 4x400 meter relay by capping off their undefeated winter in the event with their winning time of 3:56.03. Central Bucks West was 2nd to Abington for the 2nd straight week with a time of 3:56.39, a PA#2 mark. Strath Haven proved once again that they had the best 4x800 meter relay team in the state. Although their state record attempt fell short, they still improved on their season and US#4 time of 9:17.66. North Penn on the other hand did earn a state record performance in the distance medley and made it look easy as well with their US#9 performance of 12:08.32.
In the remaining field events, Gabby Becattini of Methacton culminated her successful triple jump season with a state championship with a winning mark of 37 feet even. Rachel Serafin of Hempfield repeated as shot put champion in 2011, continuing the success the Western part of PA has had over the East with her winning mark of 43-5.50.
Photos by Don Rich, Patty Morgan, Marlene Vandenneste and Megan Clugh