Liebold still soaring as Cheyney’s track coach
Brianna Liebold shows off her PIAA Class AA gold-medal winning form in the long jump in this May 2005 picture.
Chartiers-Houston High School’s Brianna Liebold successfully defended her PIAA Class AA long jump championship May 26, 2006 at Shippensburg University. Published May 27, 2006.
There are times when Brianna Liebold looks at the 30 members of Cheyney University’s men’s and women’s track team and struggles to understand what she’s seeing.
Liebold readily admits her occasional wonder is more a product of her make up than any problems with her student-athletes.
“I can’t get that competitive edge out of me. I’m still so competitive,” Liebold said. “My athletes look at me and say, ‘You’re old. Give it up. Shouldn’t you be having kids by now?’ But I can’t stop being a soccer player. I can’t stop being an athlete.”
Liebold’s competitive edge drove her to exceptional heights, first as a standout multi-sport athlete at Chartiers-Houston High School, briefly at Penn State University and, finally, at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
These days, she instills her desire to compete to track athletes at Division II Cheyney, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. She started there five years ago as an assistant track coach. Last year, she was named interim head track coach and is prepping for another year with the Wolves.
Coaching college-age athletes can be a test of Liebold’s patience, but it’s proven to be a fulfilling career choice.
“When I first got into coaching, I had to get myself out of the mindset that I can’t get into their bodies and do it for them. I had to learn what’s easy for me is not always easy for them. That’s been the hardest part. It’s definitely been a challenge,” said the 28-year-old Liebold. “I’m not an athlete anymore, no matter how much I want to be one. Now, I love coaching and I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
And Cheyney’s track program is in capable hands.
Not only did the Wolves enjoy their best season in several years in 2016, they’re learning from a former PIAA champion, Division II All-American and the 2006 Observer-Reporter Girls Athlete of the Year.
Liebold left Chartiers-Houston as, arguably, the school’s most decorated athlete.
A four-year starter in soccer, Liebold scored a school-record 149 goals, including 39 in her senior season. She was a two-time selection to the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Association All-State team and picked up valuable coaching tips to be used later in life while playing for her father, John.
“My dad has definitely talked me through some tough situations as a coach,” Liebold said. “He’s played a big part in helping get to where I am.”
Liebold’s soccer credentials were exemplary, but she made her biggest splash as a member of the Bucs’ track team.
Liebold won four WPIAL Class AA gold medals – long jump (2005, 2006) and triple jump (2005, 2006). She replicated her gold medal form at the PIAA championships, becoming only the third female athlete in Washington County history – joining Washington-Greene County Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame members Laila Brock of Washington and Elaine Sobansky of Trinity – to win at least four PIAA events.
Despite her medal haul and serious attention from college coaches, Liebold, who also works as an assistant girls soccer coach at Phoenixville High School, considered herself a soccer player. That’s why she originally decided to attend Penn State.
“I was never a huge track fan until my junior year in college. That’s when I fell in love with track,” Liebold said. “Before that, it was always my second sport. Even when I transferred to IUP, I played soccer my first year.”
Oddly enough, Liebold looks back at her Chartiers-Houston days with a tinge of regret.
“I wish I would’ve taken track more seriously. I could’ve been better,” she said. “I have mixed feelings when I think about high school because of that. But I miss it. Sometimes I miss being that shining star.”
Liebold’s star still shined at IUP, where she earned All-American indoor honors in the long jump (2010, 2011) and was an outdoor All-American in 2011. Liebold was a three-time PSAC champion in the long jump, triple jump and indoor long jump. Those accomplishments came in spite of two key injuries. Liebold had knee surgery and she tore a tendon in an ankle while triple jumping.
The latter injury led to her love of track.
“I learned I was a lot stronger than I probably thought I was,” said Liebold, who recently earned a roster spot in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, which she turned down to concentrate on coaching duties. “I wasn’t going to let injuries get in the way of what I want to achieve.”
Mike Kovak is assistant night editor at the Observer-Reporter.