You might have been surprised to look at the District 7 results from last week and not see Griffin Mackey's name at the top. The Sewickley Academy junior was nursing a hamstring injury and placed second to Beaver Falls' Domenic Peretta.
The hamstring, which was still a little tender heading into Saturday's PIAA State Championship, didn't stop Mackey from going hard from the gun. Mackey took the lead early and never looked back. He went through the mile at 4:44. The field struggled to hang with him.
"Last Sunday, I hurt my hamstring so all week, I've been really trying to get it better," Mackey said. "I'm so thankful to be able to run the race, so before even today I was just like 'I'm going to go out fast and see how it handles.'
The aggressive strategy paid off. Mackey broke the tape first in 16:05, a 20 second improvement from his win at the Foundation Invitational earlier this season. The Class A champ has traveled all around in 2015. He made stops in Texas, North Carolina, and Eastern Pennsylvania this season alone. The frequent flyer didn't seem fazed by that during his state title romp.
"I've been strong on this course in the past because a lot of people don't like to take out as fast as I do," Mackey said. "On this course, you can't really gain ground once you get past the Alohas."
Mackey's first state title avenges some disappointment in the past. In track, he finished seventh in the 3200 meters. Last year at this state meet he was third. He'll surely bask in the glory of this title and maybe wrap his hamstring for a while.
"It means a lot to me," Mackey said. "I always wanted to be a state champion. In track in the two-mile, I had a rough go of it, so I really wanted to get this state championship."
Mackey's celebration didn't compare to the runner-ups', though. Noah Curtin, of Mercyhurst Prep, was one of the biggest surprises of the day, taking second overall. Coming in, Curtin expected to be somewhere around fifth to seventh with a goal time of around 16:30. He ran 16:14 on Saturday.
"In my training this summer, I felt really confident and it hadn't really shown," Curtin said. "When I got to a mile and half at the first hill, I was just like 'this is my race. I'm feeling good and I'm just going to leave it all out there.'"
Curtin's brother, Sebastian, was second in the A boys race last year. Noah took a page out of his big brother's book.
"I couldn't have been more thrilled," Curtin said. "I saw my brother, who was runner-up here a year ago, and I've kind of been running in his footsteps all these years and it just feels incredible to take a second place here my junior year. I'm on top of the world right now."