They battled before on the infield straightaway at Penn
State’s Multi-Sport Facility, and Ciara Leonard and Sierra Brabham-Lawrence
were back at it again Sunday in the race for indoor hurdle supremacy in
Pennsylvania and the U.S.
Their performances in the PTFCA Championships did not
disappoint as meet records and all-time indoor state records did not make it
through the preliminaries and final. In the end, the Cheltenham senior evened
the winner’s watch count with her hurdle rival, lowering the state record with
a T-US#1 8.39-second victory.
“I was aware that she was going to be here, but I had
not seen any times that she was running at all throughout the season,” said
Leonard, who finished second to Brabham-Lawrence’s state meet record 8.45
effort a year ago. “My only competition was Markeeta Thomas of Paul Robeson,
but me and Markeeta are really good friends so it’s a friendly competition.”
It did not take long for Brabham-Lawrence to make her
presence known to the other 25 hurdlers. The Harrisburg senior chopped her
season-best time down to 8.56 in leading all qualifiers in the preliminaries,
while Leonard ran 8.62 and Thomas posted an 8.80.
“I’ve been out all season,” Brabham-Lawrence said of a
string of injuries that had slowed her. “The only thing I wanted to do was to
get back to where I was last year at this time.
“That was my main goal. I’ve got to turn it up. Let me
turn my speed on.”
And she did just that in the semis, breaking the meet
record she shared with Abington’s Leah Nugent with an 8.40 that also tied
Leonard’s all-time state best from last year’s New Balance Indoor Nationals.
Leonard ran 8.49 to win the other semi, while Thomas was third best again at
8.65.
“That was a surprise,” Brabham-Lawrence said of her
short-lived meet record. “I didn’t know that she ran (8.49) in the heat before
me. I just had to turn it up.”
Noting recent trouble with her start, Leonard had no
difficulty in the final, owning the slightest edge at the first 33-inch
barrier. Brabham-Lawrence evened things up, and the pair ran side by side
through the next three hurdles.
“I really don’t think about anything when I’m in the
blocks and going over a hurdle, it’s kind of a repeat,” Leonard said of her
race routine. “1-2-3 hurdle. 1-2-3 hurdle. That’s basically what’s going on.”
Leonard kept the pressure on, and Brabham-Lawrence
clipped the fifth and final hurdle, providing the Cheltenham senior with a
comfortable margin of victory over Brabham-Lawrence’s 8.54.
“I try not to pay attention to the people next to me,
but when it comes down to it, if I see that somebody’s kind of inching up on
me, that kind of pushes me to go faster,” the winner said.
Although she was not able to add to her watch collection
with that race, Brabham-Lawrence was pleased with her performance.
“It was a good race,” she said. “Off of three injuries,
that is pretty amazing to me. I didn’t get a state championship, but that was
an amazing moment for me for my senior year. I just wanted to do my best for my
school.”
They battled before on the infield straightaway at Penn
State’s Multi-Sport Facility, and Ciara Leonard and Sierra Brabham-Lawrence
were back at it again Sunday in the race for indoor hurdle supremacy in
Pennsylvania and the U.S.
Their performances in the PTFCA Championships did not
disappoint as meet records and all-time indoor state records did not make it
through the preliminaries and final. In the end, the Cheltenham senior evened
the winner’s watch count with her hurdle rival, lowering the state record with
a T-US#1 8.39-second victory.
“I was aware that she was going to be here, but I had
not seen any times that she was running at all throughout the season,” said
Leonard, who finished second to Brabham-Lawrence’s state meet record 8.45
effort a year ago. “My only competition was Markeeta Thomas of Paul Robeson,
but me and Markeeta are really good friends so it’s a friendly competition.”
