Runners find strength in numbers

Guy Cipriano

- gciprian@centredaily.com

STATE COLLEGE — State College's Chloe Schmidt and Lucia Sofo trotted together for the first, second and third miles during Wednesday's dual meet against Altoona.

CDT/Michelle Bixby

State College's Chloe Schmidt, left, and Lucia Sofo run toward the finish line in unison during the cross country track meet against Altoona Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009. CDT/Michelle Bixby

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Both runners then had a minute to decide whether to pull away or store her energy for a later date.

The decision was simple. Schmidt and Sofo both crossed the finish line in 20 minutes, 28 seconds to lead the Lady Little Lions past the Lady Mountain Lions 17-42. Sofo even glanced toward Schmidt and smiled as they ended another race.

“We decided with 200 meters to go we would cross together,” Schmidt said.

The scene repeated itself in the boys’ race as Altoona’s Wade Endress, Mike Harf and Tyler Lidwell finished together at 17:13 to lead a 15-50 victory.

The State College girls and Altoona boys share a major characteristic: They possess enough speed and depth to become serious factors anywhere they compete.

This created a dicey situation for State College girls coach Rebecca Donaghue.

The Lady Little Lions will compete in Saturday’s Carlisle Meet of Champions, a major invitational featuring some of the state’s best teams. Running two hard races within four days is undesirable in a sport in which top adult performers rarely compete more than three times per month.

Donaghue can relate to what her athletes experience. Donaghue, one of the nation’s best female distance runners, ran a personal-best 15:30 to place second at Sunday’s United States 5K Championships in Providence, R.I.

“It’s tricky because we have a big invitational Saturday,” Donaghue said. “I debated whether to hold out the top seven completely, but I figured let’s run this race as a workout for the top seven. They did the first two miles as a tempo run, which is good for switching gears and not killing themselves so they are fresh for Saturday.”

Donaghue’s athletes are good listeners. Schmidt said they were told to run the first mile around 6:45. A group consisting of Schmidt, Sofo, Anne Balogh and Tatum Del Bosco completed the mile in 6:48.

“We were told to start out at 6:45 and not to worry about Altoona,” Schmidt said. “We just tried to keep that pace up the last two miles.”

An ideal symmetry existed among the top four, with Sofo (senior), Schmidt (junior), Balogh (sophomore) and Del Bosco (freshman) covering all four grades. Balogh finished third in 20:43 and Del Bosco, who moved to State College from Los Angeles, placed fourth in 21:02. Kathryn McNaughton completed State College’s top five by placing seventh in 21:40.

“I was worried,” said Donaghue, whose team was running its first dual meet. “We wanted a win, but we have big things to look forward to at the end of the season. If we didn’t win, it wasn’t going to be the end of the world. I think it was a good workout for our top girls. We got the win, they got a workout in and I think they are really ready for Saturday.”

The Altoona boys also appear primed for big things, but coach Lee Baranik approached Wednesday different from Donaghue. Knowing State College runs in a tight pack, Baranik prepared his team for a competitive meet.

“We always enjoy the competition and there have always been good athletes here,” Baranik said. “We talked about it on the bus and the one thing we wanted to guard against was a letdown.”

Baranik wanted his team to race alongside State College’s lead runner and assess the situation at the 11/ 2-mile mark before pulling away.

The Mountain Lions executed their plan perfectly, sweeping the top six spots. Paul Crowe led State College in 17:29 followed by Peter Lin and Nick Dudukovich. Only eight seconds separated the Little Lion top three. Shawn Ziff (11th, 17:43) and John Crowe (12th, 17:49) completed State College’s top five.

A pack of five runners finishing in under 18 minutes — a feat that would win many dual meets — satisfied State College boys coach Dave Felice.

“We knew we were up against the No. 3 team in the state, no doubt about it,” Felice said. “We come into a race like this thinking all we can do is get better and let’s make a good showing. As a result, you see guys running PRs because they are running against great competition.”

Wednesday’s meets filled the land around the South Building. A total of 126 athletes competed, including 31 boys who broke 20 minutes and 36 girls who finished below 25 minutes.

Both schools will compete in Carlisle this weekend. The Lady Little Lions also won the Big Valley and Spiked Shoe Invitationals earlier this season.

“Ideally, you don’t want to race too much so you are fresh for the end of the season,” Donaghue said. “But you do have to race so you are sharp. You can get stale if you don’t race.”