NOTE: Coming this week. Distance & Relay race progress pix
Distance
Kate Vernon, Gwynedd Mercy, wins both AA 800 and 1600 races, while Lewisburg's Chris Spooner accomplishes the same feat in AA boys. Both athletes also anchored their teams to wins in the 4x800 earlier in the day. Monster races from sophomore Craig Miller, Manheim Township, in the AAA 1600, and Ian Fitzgerald, North Hills, in the AAA boys 3200.
800
Lewisburg ace Chris Spooner got his 3rd gold of the meet by controlling the early pace, and the closing charge to go 1:54.27. Spooner's splits were 57.2, 57.0. In girls' AAA, freshman Liz Kearins of Central Bucks West wasn't intimidated by all the senior talent, pulling away on the final stretch to win in 2:12.98. Henderson's Melissa Ferry was less than a second back. Seniors took places 2-7. Kate Vernon finished her individual golds with the 8000 win in 2:15.01, holding off fellow junior Faye Korich of Springfield (Montco), just .06 back. In AAA boys, the west remained in charge as Connellsville junior Ken King ran the perfect race, steadily picking up the pace from 200 in to win in 1:53.94. Shaler's John Balouris was 2nd in 2:54.19.
1600
In the AAA boys 1600 Craig Miller wanted to sit on the pace for the first 800 meters and then try to negative split and hope that no one went with him. He did exactly that, as he pulled away from the field after halfway, leaving the other runners to fight it out for second place. Miller's time of 4:09.61 set a new PIAA record The old record of 4:09.61 was set by Sam Bair in 2002. Miller ran the first half of the race with splits of 63.6 and 64.6, before dropping the hammer for a 2:01 last 800, with splits of 60.7 and 60.3. James O'Toole, Rich Ryan, and Brian Fuller all finished within .04 seconds for 2nd through 4th places with respective times of 4:14.72, 4:14.75, and 4:14.76.
In the AA boys race Chris Spooner ran unchallenged from the gun, winning in a time of 4:13.99. Spooner established his lead with a 59.9 opening lap, before running a 64.1 2nd lap and a 66.8 second lap. He then closed in a 63.1. Spooner was followed across the line by David Mock who turned in a time of 4:19.71 only an hour after winning the 3200 meters.
In the AAA girls race Frances Koons ran away with the race after 800 meters, finishing with a time of 4:48.78. Koons was 2:26.5 at the 800, before negative splitting to close out the last 800 in 2:22.1. Koons had lead her team to a 2nd place in the girls' AAA 4x800, splitting 2:09-point to nearly close a 30 meter gap on champion Haverford.
In the AA girls race the Gwynedd Mercy duo of Kate Vernon and Kahki Mealey finished 1-2 (PHOTO ABOVE) with times of 5:00.98 and 5:02.11. Vernon closed in a 71.3.
3200
William & Mary-bound duo win 3200 meter titles. Ian Fitzgerald, North Hills, wins in 9:01.49 with a dominating performance over Sam Luff of Emmaus. In the AAA boys race Ian Fitzgerald took the lead from the gun and ran the first mile of the race in 4:31. He ran the next few laps slower than he would have liked and came in to the final lap having to run a 61 to break 9 minutes. He ran a 62 point to seal his victory in 9:01.49. Also under 9:20 in the race were Sam Luff, 9:10.14, Jeff Weiss, McGuffy, 9:12.26, and Brian Soder, Harbor Creek, 9:18.34.
In the AA boys race David Mock took to the lead from the first lap and led the whole race with Jake Strayer trailing closely behind. With two laps to go Strayer took the lead and Mock was content to sit on him until 200 meters to go in the race. Then Mock opened up a 20 meter lead and held it to the finish to win in a time of 9:10.95. Strayer was timed in 9:14.61. Mock split 4:37.4 for the 1600. Also under 9:20 was sophomore Jacob Walker with a time of 9:16.41.
In girls' AAA, AA XC Champ Adriene Beltz set much of the pace, trailed closely by two juniors, Freedom's Lauren Dezubay and Unionville's Katie Thaeder. With a couple of laps remaining, Dezubay broke to the lead, followed only the Thaeder. Dezubay pulled away over the final 300 to win in 10:34.13, four second ahead. Beltz was 3rd, with Kylee Schuler, Chambersburg, 4th, also under 10:50.Dezubay split 5:17.2 at the 1600.
The AA race belonged to Palisades senior Christa Plummer, who beat the defending champ, Lynn Morelli of St. Basil Academy, by eight seconds, going 10:49.42.