Seminary’s Kretchik 7th; Lake-lehman’s Quest For Glory Goes Sour The Black Knights’ Baird Finishes 9th At The Piaa Cross Country Championships In Hershey.
By JOE PETRUCCI [email protected]
Sunday, November 04, 2001 Page: 5C
HERSHEY – After four years of regular-season success, postseason and
invitational meets have been disappointing for Bonnie Kretchik. So she changed
things up Friday night, about 14 hours before the PIAA Cross Country
Championships at the hilly 3.1-mile Hersheypark Stadium White Course.
She ate a light dinner – a small salad with a bit of chicken – and went to
bed at about 9 p.m. after watching the movie “Hook” in her hotel room.
And just like Tinkerbell convinced Peter Bannnig that he used to be Peter
Pan in Steven Speilberg’s adaptation of “Peter Pan,” the Wyoming Seminary
senior pixie persuaded herself she could recapture her old magic at Hershey as
she finished seventh in the Class 2A girls race on Saturday.
Kretchik was the top Wyoming Valley Cross Country League finisher on a day
where the 3A fields overwhelmed local runners.
Lake-Lehman’s Brad Baird finished ninth (2A boys), but the Black Knights’
quest to crack the top 10 ended when its next two runners, Ryan Post and Kelby
Morgan became injured and didn’t finish the race.
Tunkhannock also was plagued by a non-finish, as District 2 3A champ Ella
Daniels suffered a cramp in her side at about the two-mile mark and could not
continue. Teammate Abbey Valvano was the top local 3A finisher, placing 82nd.
But it was Kretchik, who seemingly came from nowhere, who stole the show.
After having not performed well at last year’s districts, this season’s
Wyoming Valley Cross Country Coaches Association meet and last week’s D-2
competition, Kretchik came in with a surprisingly confident attitude.
“I knew what happened at other races ... like when I went out too fast,”
said Kretchik, who finished 97th at states in 2000. “I’m real strong on
hills, so after walking this course, I knew if I took my time and just worked
the hills, I’d pass people.”
That’s exactly what she did when she came around the final corner off the
second hill with about 600 meters to go.
“I was like `this is it,’ ” Kretchik said. “This is the last time I have
to prove anything. I said to myself `I’m going.’ ”
She passed five girls, including Western Wayne’s Meaghan Robbins, who
finished 18 places ahead of Kretchik at districts, to finish in 19:57.44.
“When I got to the finish line, I said `I can’t believe I just did that,’
” Kretchik said. “I barely made it here. Today, I knew after the first mile,
with how strong I felt, that all the hard work paid off.”
Baird has been working hard himself, finally healthy enough to rack up some
practice mileage after missing much of the regular season with a hip injury.
The 2000 sixth-placewinner in Maryland had a simple strategy: stay with D-2
champ Jonathan Pastore of Scranton Prep.
It worked, as Baird traded places with Pastore several times but the Prep
junior went ahead for good off the back hill for the final 800 meters. Baird
finished in 16:56.6, less than six seconds behind Pastore, who finished two
places and 35 seconds ahead of the Black Knight at districts.
“The start was crazy,” Baird said of the 263 other 2A runners. “I just
wanted to get out strong because of the hills. And I figured if I found
Pastore, I’ll know where I’m going. I’m really happy.”
That gave Lehman coach Ed Radzinski a bright spot as a promising day turned
disastrous. Post had been running between 10th and 13th and Morgan 43rd-48th
when they went down. Post collided with another runner who had stopped short
and fell down a hill, injuring his thighs, while Morgan had come in with a
head cold and suffered oxygen debt about midway through the race.
“My Nos. 2 and 3 guys get carried off the field. How do you compensate for
that?” said Radzinski, whose team finished second at districts. “It’s
unfortunate. Thank God for Brad so we can get some consolation out of this.”
Tunkhannock’s girls, the D-2 3A champs, stuck with their strategy – start
slow and pick people off. But that backfired when the Tigers couldn’t pass
near the start of the first hill because the course got so narrow and runners
bunched together. Valvano and teammates were able to start passing girls after
the 1.5-mile mark, but it was too little late. Valvano finished in 20:52.5
while teammate Kim Murley was 89th in 20:57.4.
“I told the kids be careful going out and they did. But the problem is,
you don’t make it up here,” said Tunkhannock coach Dick Daniels. “When
there’s 200-plus of the best in the state, it’s almost impossible.
Dick Daniels thought he’d figured out his daughter Ella’s reoccurring cramp
problems, but he was still puzzled after she bowed out of Saturday’s race.
“With Ella, just when we think we have it figured out, she gets a
sidestich. We have to take her for blood tests or something. We thought it was
calcium. I don’t know what to think. I thought we solved it with the breathing
pattern, but then today ...”
Hazleton Area’s Greg Rarick was the best local boy in the 3A race,
finishing 84th in 17:36.4.
Notes: Bishop Hafey was one of four teams to qualify for non-team
individuals, the most at Saturday’s championships. The others were Easton and
Liberty’s girls and Pottsville’s boys. ... There are nine individual champions
and a pair of team champs from Wyoming Valley schools. Individuals are Meyers’
Mary Wazeter (2A, 1980) and R. Mrochko (3A, 1967), Wyoming Area’s Judd Jarden
(3A, 1988), GAR’s Rebbeca Mack (2A, 1995), Hanover Area’s Theresa Dennis (2A,
Bishop Hoban’s Jim Lyons (3A, 1974) and Ryan Buckley (2A, 1993). Teams are
Hanover Area (2A girls, 1998) and Meyers boys (2A, 1979). ... Saturday’s meet
was originally scheduled to be at Penn State, but the Nittany Lions football
team’s game with Southern Mississippi, which was switched from Week 2 with the
Virginia Thursday night, Sept. 11 game, was played on Saturday at Beaver
Stadium. The PIAA championships had been held in State College eight times in
the past 15 years. ...
