Silver lining for Bentworth’s Cavanaugh
SHIPPENSBURG – Most athletes say one of the biggest adjustments to the PIAA Track & Field Championships is finding a way to ignore the large crowds and top competition.
Focusing too much on either can distract an athlete from the task at hand.
The stage wasn’t too big and the competition wasn’t too overwhelming for Bentworth sophomore Brenna Cavanaugh. She looked like a veteran of the meet when placed first in her heat of the semifinals and took second in the finals of the Class AA 100-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 14.88.
Cavanaugh, who finished sixth at the PIAA Championships last May, wasn’t intimidated by Sewickley Academy senior Summer Thorpe’s impressive times and wasn’t thinking of her sore foot.
Her only complaint was the PIAA switching from a starting gun to a loud beep.
“I’m not going to complain,” Cavanaugh said of the result. “I (had a personal best), so I’ll take it. I focused more on myself rather than everyone around me. I wasn’t used to the surroundings and now it doesn’t bother me.”
Cavanaugh now has two years to try to capture the elusive gold medal and it will start this summer when she attends camps. The goal is to perfect the positioning of her lead leg on the hurdles as she enters 2017 as the likely favorite in PIAA Class AA.
Tajah Gordon is used to the weird looks. The Wash High senior doesn’t use blocks for the 400-meter dash, much to the chagrin of her father, but in a race that requires a methodical approach, Gordon doesn’t want to start too fast.
It leads to her often trailing down the back stretch, but it’s her kick that helps her gain ground.
The strategy worked Saturday and despite nursing a leg injury, Gordon, who didn’t run track last season, finished sixth in the Class AA 400-meter dash with a time of 57.75 to take home her second state medal in three years.
“I knew I was going to get a medal coming into today and I’ve been having leg problems all season, so I wasn’t going to completely push it to the limit where it tears or something,” Gordon said. “I was going to run it the way I usually run it. I was able to get that kick in the end, but the other girls kicked well, too.”
In Class AAA, South Fayette sophomore Rachel Helbling, who repeated as the WPIAL champion in the 400-meter dash, took fifth with a time of 56.27.
Peters Township junior Laura Ehrenberger took 10th in the Class AAA 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.47.