Elizabeth Chikotas had a plan for each part of the course. Winning was the final part.
The race almost had Elizabeth Chikotas in disbelief. Or the Saucon Valley senior runner simply didn’t want to sit down and soak it in.
Immediately after winning the PIAA Class AA girls’ championship on Saturday in 18:43, the Penn State recruit led reporters on a series of twists and turns through the terrain at Hershey’s Parkview course.
Nearly 10 minutes later, she finally calmed to a halt and examined what made this race so special.
“Since I was in the seventh grade [I’ve had this dream],” she said of winning the title. “I remember my coaches giving me times and looking at the runners and thinking how this would be so amazing. I never thought I could, but just thinking about it with a goal in mind.”
Chikotas certainly has spend a great deal of time on the Hershey course. She was second a season ago to Adair Gennocro, running a personal best time of 19:08.
But almost a year later, at the Foundation Invitational, she stumbled to a time of 20:28, letting the hills and the terrain get the best of her.
With that experience in tow, she used that knowledge to her advantage, taking each section with a specific strategy.
“I let my legs go on the downhill because this course is so difficult,” she said. “You have to make up any kind of time on the downhills.”
By the two-mile mark, Chikotas, who flew off to a first mile of 5:27, used the hills to exert a growing lead. She led second-place Regan Rome (19:10) by almost a 20 second gap. West Allegheny’s Alexis O’Shea, who had stuck with Chikotas for much of the race, finished in third in 19:22.
“I was getting a little fatigued, because I took it out a little faster than what I’m used to, especially with the hills,” Chikotas said. “But the adrenaline kept me going, being in the front and going through each section.”
After the win, Chikotas celebrated with her family, which included her mother, father and aunt. Her parents had been state champion cyclists nearly 18 years her junior, she said, so the win gave new meaning to the family hierarchy.
“Their little joke was, ‘Well we’re both state champions, so you have something to live up to.’”