Jul 1, 2017 5 min read

She had the greatest resurrection in PIAA Track & Field Championships history.

Brenna Cavanaugh went from flop to first in a dazzling display of fortitude and determination that earned her a gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles, making her a state champion for the second time this year and earning her the Observer-Reporter Girls Athlete of the Year.

“I learned to never give up,” said Cavanaugh, a junior from Bentworth High School. “I think it’s more special now because I realize what I’ve accomplished with the falling and everything. I thought, ‘Oh my God, that is totally crazy.’ I think people are going to remember more about the way I fell than winning the race. I appreciate this more. I worked so hard and it was nearly taken away from me. It taught me not to take anything for granted because it can be taken away in a moment in time.”

Cavanaugh entered the state meet in Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University over Memorial Day weekend as the favorite to win the 100 hurdles in Class AA, and she didn’t disappoint in the preliminaries, winning easily. It was in the semifinals where disaster struck. Cavanaugh, holding a huge lead heading to the final hurdle, clipped it with her right foot and headed for the ground in Lane 4.

“The main thing that was running through my mind was whether she got up in time to (advance),” said Bentworth head coach Jerome Nixon. “I had extreme confidence in her winning after that. I told her that there is nothing that says you can’t win the state championship from Lane 8. I looked at it as a fluke. She doesn’t hit hurdles that often. It didn’t happen at the right time but she was able to get through it.”

Suddenly, making it to the finals appeared unreachable. But a few things saved Cavanaugh.

1. Her fall was not a belly flop but a tumble. Had her belly hit first, Cavanaugh would never have made it up in time to qualify for the finals.

2. Gymnastic training showed her how to tumble out of a fall so as not to be injured. Instead of flopping, she rolled through to her feet and crossed the line, making the final spot in the finals by just a fraction of a second.

3. The top three finishers in the two semifinals and the next two fastest times earned a spot in the finals. So Cavanaugh needed to beat the time of the eighth-place finisher, Sophia Barnett, a senior from St. Basil. Cavanaugh did, beating that time by .04 of a second, about the time it takes to blink your eyes.

“When I made the finals, it gave me more confidence I could do it,” Cavanaugh said. “It gave me more of a push. I was really nervous that I didn’t make the final. I was in tears. I thought I ruined everything because I fell.”

The next, ahem, hurdle for Cavanaugh was her spot in the finals: Lane 8. No sprinter or hurdler had ever won a gold medal going out from Lane 8. It’s the track equivalent of Siberia, where the slowest times in the semifinal go to fill in the card.

The other problem running in Lane 8 is the distraction that comes from the fans along the fenceline. The fence is no more than two feet from the runner and it’s lined with bodies and overhanging hands in one’s eyesight as they try to get a look at the runners when the gun goes off.

With a second chance most runners would not have, Cavanaugh burst from the start and breezed down Lane 8 and into history. She crossed in 14.44, .33 ahead of Skylar Wilson of Susquehanna. No other hurdler in that final was under 15.02.

The celebration took place on the track for a while but it intensified when she arrived home.

“Everyone was really happy that I won,”‘ she said. “They were saying, ‘That was awesome, you pulled it off.’ I was happy, too, happy with myself. It’s something to remember.”

Cavanaugh’s first state title came under less dramatic circumstances – no falls – and more favorable conditions – indoor – and in a different event – the long jump – at State College in February. Cavanaugh was third in the long jump in Shippensburg with a leap of 18-9. Cavanaugh won the indoor long jump title with a leap of 19-7 1/4, nearly six feet farther than second-place Khyasia Caldwell, a senior from Pocono Mountain East. Interestingly, Cavanaugh finished 11th in the 60-meter hurdles in the semifinals, failing to qualify for the finals.

Cavanaugh, who finished second in the 100 hurdles at last year’s state outdoor championship, is now spending more time fielding contacts from NCAA Division I programs after her remarkable effort in Shippensburg.

“I see myself in college track,” she said. “I see myself in that type of environment, with a college team.”

And Nixon believes with her build and strong legs, the heptathlon might be her best event in college. The heptathlon is made up of seven events: the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.

“That’s what I think,” he said. “I think coaches are going to look at her and make her a heptathlete. I could be wrong … but I think she can do that.”