Fantastic five
Laurel Highlands’ Baker leads quintet of local state qualifiers
WHITE OAK — Laurel Highlands senior Bella Baker led a group of five local runners who qualified for the state meet after crossing the finish line in fifth place on Thursday in the Class 2A girls race during the WPIAL Cross Country Championships at White Oak Park.
Junior teammate Taylor Schwertfeger will join Baker next Saturday on the Parkview Cross Country Course in Hershey.
A pair of sophomores also qualified in the Class 2A girls race with Belle Vernon’s Brooklyn Steeber and Uniontown’s Charley Murtha earning a berth in the state meet for the second time.
Geibel Catholic senior Emma Larkin made it four-for-four in qualifying for the state meet after placing 13th in the Class A girls race.
Baker will make a return trip to Hershey for her final cross country competition in high school. Baker, who runs middle distance during the track & field season in the spring, has committed to Davis & Elkins College to continue her academic and running careers.
The cold and dreary weather wasn’t ideal for the best times, and Baker fell short of her personal record (PR), but she was pleased with her overall performance.
“Due to the weather, it was harder to breathe out here today, and I think I do better when it’s warmer out,” Baker said. “We have had a pretty hot season, but the last few days have been pretty cold.”
Baker was in the lead at the one-mile mark on Thursday in running 5:58. She had five other runners, including Steeber, on her heels heading into the second mile. Baker fell to fifth place at the two-mile mark with a time of 12:32.30. She remained in fifth position the last mile-and-a-tenth and crossed the finish line in 19:37.
“Our team was in box No. 2, so it made it pretty hard to get out at the start,” Baker said. “We were trying to play catch-up in the first 200 meters, so I think that kind of affected it a little bit and I had to start quicker. We had to wait at the starting line for longer than normal, which made for a difficult start, but we all had to adjust.”
Schwertfeger’s brother, Matt, was a three-time state qualifier. Taylor earned a state berth last season, which was Matt’s senior campaign. She hopes to continue the siblings’ run of advancing to the state meet next year, but at this moment, Taylor Schwertfeger is focused on next Saturday.
“It is pretty cool that my brother and I have qualified for the state meet multiple times,” Taylor Schwertfeger said. “I really look up to him, and I try to follow in his footsteps as best as I can. I pretty much started running because of Matt.”
Schwertfeger was 19th on Thursday in 20:22.40 to grab one of the 15 non-team spots for state qualification.
“I felt pretty good today,” Schwertfeger said. “I think I have a pretty good kick because I run middle distance in track and we put in a lot of speed work. I hit my PR for this season, but I was about 10 seconds off my career PR.”
Murtha and Steeber have followed the path of finding Baker and staying as close to her as possible. Steeber was seventh in 19:45.60 and Murtha came in 15th at 20:10.20.
“It feels amazing to qualify for states a second time,” Murtha said. “I was happy I was able to stay with the top group the first part of the race. I ended up falling off their pace a little bit, but I was able to stay within striking distance. I was able to pass two girls in the final stretch. I also broke my PR today, which is great.”
Steeber worked to close the gap on Baker, which she hopes to do even further next week in Hershey.
“I kind of settled into my place after the first mile,” Steeber said. “Bella has been able to get the best of me this year, but I just work to stay as close to her as I can. Even though we are opponents, we always support each other.
“I didn’t break my PR today, which is unfortunate, but it was really cold. It was hard to adjust to the temperature because it has been pretty warm the majority of the season.”
For someone who is not fond of running, Larkin has done pretty well for herself. The Lady Gator was in 26th place at the one-mile mark before moving up eight spots after two miles. She passed five runners on the final mile-and-a-10th to cross the finish line in a PR of 20:41.60
“For my entire cross country career, my race plan has been to pace myself early in the race and take off in the last part,” Larkin said. “I ran the Red, White & Blue Invitational on this course earlier in the season, and I believe I ran in the 22s, so I was probably two minutes faster today. I am excited for the state meet. I haven’t had great results at the state meet, but I hope to turn that around this time, especially since it’s the last time I will run a cross country meet. It would be awesome if I was able to place in the top 25.”
For the record, Larkin completed the course on Sept. 5 in 22:25.70.
Larkin, who has been Geibel’s leading scorer on the basketball team the past three seasons, admits that her competitive nature takes over once she steps to the starting line.
“I have never been a fan of running, and that hasn’t changed, but once I start competing, my desire to do well takes over because I hate to lose,” said the Belmont Abbey College basketball commit. “I use running to stay in shape for basketball.”