There was no stopping Abdalah. Not even a defending state champion.
As she turned the corner and closed on the final straightaway, Marianne Abdalah caught some interesting looks from the fans.
In a race where most thought last year’s state champion, Elk County Catholic senior Kennedy Weisner, would pull away in an early display of dominance, the Vincentian Academy freshman surprised with a stellar run of her own.
PHOTO BY DAVID BEYERLE
Abdalah raised her hands in triumph and smiled with joy as she crossed the finish line in 18 minutes, 24 seconds and won the PIAA Class A girls’ championship Saturday at Hershey’s Parkview course.
“It’s great,” Abdalah said afterward. “Now my goal is to win every states after that and hopefully be a four year champion.”
While the result was a little surprising at face value, it wasn’t so shocking on paper. The freshman stood toe-to-toe with Weisner when it came to the season’s best time, earning a 17:49 in September at the Red, White & Blue Classic in Pittsburgh.
But nobody knew a race in September would speak so clearly about a race in November. Well, perhaps aside from her coach, Dan Carlino.
“We knew she was pretty great to open the season,” Carlino said. “And we knew she had a shot to win states and had a shot to win her district meet. We definitely had high expectations for her, but she definitely fulfilled them.
There wasn’t much question to that, especially after defeating the 2012 Foot Locker Finalist Weisner, who was third in 19:20. Weisner won last year’s race in 18:29, but said on Saturday she didn’t have the same kick that was present in that race a season ago.
“I never gave up hope,” said Weisner, who will move on to Foot Locker Regionals later in November in New York. “The whole race I was trying to keep pushing and close the gap. But it didn’t happen.
“I pushed as hard as I could and didn’t have it today. I can’t be disappointed. I would have loved to win, but didn’t have it today.”
So the credit goes to Abdalah, who paced out to a first mile of 5:25 before releasing most of her destruction on those fabled Hershey hills.
“I told myself that, if mentally I thought I could win, then that’s what I was going to do,” Abdalah said.
Having developed a passion for running at the age of seven, Abdalah said she had trained for state’s difficult hills in North Park in Pittsburgh. They ultimately prepared her for her signature win of the season.
“Once we hit that mile,” she said. “I knew I had to surge and pull away from her. I knew she had a kick.”
