It's not Paige Miller II.
It's Erin Franklin I.
(but the results are the same).
In 2000, Wissahickon's Erin Franklin was the #2 runner on a very good team. And the team leader, one Paige Miller (now competing and succeeding for a solid program at Duke), was garnering most of the attention. Wissahickon took the prestigious Steel City Invitational, and then advanced to win the AAA District One championship. With all that talent and success, expectations were high. But at States, they slipped to seventh.
Paige Miller and Erin Franklin celebrate their team win at the 2000 Steel City Invitational.
Their coach, Mike Walker, believes they left their best race at Steel City last year, so they'll be skipping the meet this year, in hopes of improving on their State performance.
Franklin says that Paige was the only one on her team who performed well that day (Miller was state champ. Franklin was 58th). And with ten months to get ready for this year, she decided to make some changes in her summer preparation. She had some additional time to work out a plan, because she was diagnosed with a "pending stress fracture in her shin", just after the District One T&F Championships in May.
She hit the pool and gym to stay in shape. "I just worked really hard this summer." She ran (35-40 miles per week), lifted weights, and cross-trained to add to her conditioning. "I'm a lot stronger this year."
Her 18:35 at Rose Tree was the fastest of the day at the 9/29/01 Bulldog Invitational.
And it shows in performances to date. In addition to her 18:35 on a tough Rose Tree Park course at the 9/29 Bulldog Invitational, she set a course record at the Abington Invitational, running 18:34 to take 26 seconds off the course record of, you guessed it, Paige Miller. She has also run 18:55 on her home course, which eclipses Miller's school record time of 19:11.
Franklin had set performance goals such as these. Having already surpassed some of her season's goals surprises her a little bit. She wants to be in the top group at both Districts and States, and to lead the team to a better finish than last year. "Coach (Miller) tells us we're better than last year, so it's on our minds."
Beyond that, she has plans to join one of the strongest groups to represent PA at the Northeast Footlocker Regional Qualifier on November 24 at Van Cortlandt Park in NYC. The top eight go to the national championships two weeks later in Orlando. Franklin's time on Rose Tree is in the neighborhood of Footlocker Finalist Sheila Klick.
She believes that it is her focus and determination that have helped her to her early success this season. "Set goals. And every time you achieve one, set a higher one."
She has high goals for college, too. Franklin is looking to make an early decision on a Division One school with strong academics. On her short list are William & Mary, Villanova, Bucknell, LaSalle and Syracuse.