A good start for Griffin Molino... and an even better finish
Griffin Molino's entire strategy was built around a quality start.
Photo by Don Rich
The South Williamsport junior was caught in a box early last year, which forced the harrier to play catch up the entire way.
On Saturday, Molino was having no part of that. He raced out to a solid start, surged past his competitors in the second mile and held strong in the final stretch as he took the PIAA Class A boys' championship in 15:54, tied for the second fastest time all day outside Class AAA champion Tony Russell.
"The second fastest time, no, I wasn't really expecting that," Molino said. "Especially considering the runners in AAA being as good as they are."
The South Williamsport runner certainly is a quick learner. His coaches, Ted Deljanovan and Ted DeBlander, said this was just his ninth race of his entire career.
With Molino running for a school that doesn't have a cross country team -- it's considered a club -- he didn't have the opportunity to race in dual meets this season.
That left him vying for position in invitationals, which he `excelled in. He placed second to Carlisle's Zack Brehm on Sept. 9 in the Harry Grove Spiked Shoe Invite in State College on Sept. 13, running a season PR of 15:54.
He followed up with a win in the Northeast Invitational in Bloomsburg on Sept. 28 in 16:13.
For the most part, Molino worked under the radar after finishing 8th at the state meet in 2012.
But every part of Molino hoped he would contend for a title this season. Last year's finish was a focal point of his training.
Photo by Patty Morgan
"Last year when I was here, I took 8th place and my start wasn't good," he said. "I got boxed in, got behind and my whole race was picking off other runners and making up time other runners.
"This year we concentrated on a good start, on establishing myself with the lead pack and making good position."
Molino was third at the mile, though took control on the hills. DeBlander said training in the weeks leading up to the race focused on faster 400s and 800s.
"The whole week, we concentrated on one thing," Molino said. "We said time doesn't matter. We just wanted to go out and run your our race and run to win. But the time is always nice. It was nice to break under 16 minutes on a tough course."
By the finish, he left nothing to regret and nothing to the imagination.
"I went after it to get a good time," he said.
