Photo: Sun Valley's Gina Procaccio leading he first 100m of the state XC Champs in 1979 at Fort Indiantown Gap, when the class of '82 were sophomores.
Publisher's Note: The PA girls' class of 2008 is special. Two Foot Locker finalists as juniors. An 800 runner who medals at states in cross country, but also competes on the national stage against world class talent as a junior in the two-lapper. Pretty rare you say? Actually, it is. But it was a PA class of girls in 1982 who wrote the record books on those events, and whose records and accomplishments this current class is chasing. In this three-part series by Neely Spence (yes, that Neely Spence), she'll introduce you to this talented group, tell you about their accomplishments, and give you some perspective on why those marks still stand.
From Part Three: After High School – “College kind of killed my spirit; in high school I had the whole package… the coach, the team, the support. In college, I also had a great coach, but I really didn’t feel the same as I did in high school. Everyone on my team was great individually, but we never really worked together, we just competed.”
From Part Two: Their Senior Year – The shock from that victory was the impetus that propelled her training the next few weeks with one goal in mind for her first national showing. “ I wanted to win Kinney,” said Lois Brommer after her then all time best 17:04.7 at Van Cortlandt Park. (now all time #2).
From Part One: The Early Years – “She had one foot in High School and one in the world. All her training was based on a long-term scale. We were thinking not this race or even next year… eight years from now!” - Jack Fuery, Kim Gallagher's Upper Dublin coach.