By Alex Frazier
It takes a team.
Seven girls in the case of the Pennsbury girls cross country team.
The Falcons were favored to win the PIAA State Cross Championships, but as coach Don Little knew, anything can happen on a given day.
Like having your number one runner and defending state champion finish sixth.After running the table last year as a freshman, Sara Sargent struggled a bit in the District One meet, finishing fourth. At states, she dropped another two places.
“Maybe it’s just the growing pains of being the best,” said Little. “It’s hard to perform at the top level all the time. I wouldn’t say there’s something wrong. I would just say right now she’s not performing to her potential.”
But a team is a team, not one individual, so the rest of the girls worked a little harder and took up the slack.
With five girls finishing in the top 26, the Falcons won their first PIAA State Championship, outdistancing West Chester Henderson 81-119.
“Throughout the season, I thought the team was running very well,” said Little. “They were progressing at a very good rate. On paper we looked great and the girls looked great in practice, but they had to do it on the day of the meet.”
It wasn’t until the two-mile mark that Little believed they could do it.
“I had a really good spot at the two-mile, and I counted the best I could,” he said. “At that point it was looking very good.”
Junior Ann Herman (19:21), second on the team; freshman Erica Gray (19:42), third; senior Morgan Perry (19:57), fourth; senior Anastasia Diamond (20:07), fifth; and sophomore Elizabeth Widekind (20:17) all ran personal best times.
“Five of the seven girls had their PRs for the day, four on that course for that day,” said Little.
Little has been the head coach at Pennsbury for five years, and the program has improved every year under him.
“It took us that long to develop the program,” he said. “We also have some really talented kids. The program allowed them to run well, but at the same time if you have the caliber of kids that I have, you can go a long way.”
Each of the runners has contributed to the team.
Sargent, of course, has been the face of the Pennsbury team.
“She was a huge impact,” said Perry. “Her coming in in general gave us high hopes. She pushed us a little bit harder, made our times drop a lot faster.
“Our coach went from trying his hardest to get two girls into states to getting the whole team into states. It was a complete 360 from what the program used to be.”
Perry and Diamond were the two captains.
“They definitely brought some maturity and leadership to the team,” said Little.
Perry flowered this year.
Originally she thought of herself as a sprinter. In middle school, she ran the 400 in track.
She was a reluctant distance runner
When she arrived in high school, she didn’t run cross country at all. Little coaxed her into trying it as a sophomore but she only went to a couple of summer practices and muddled through the season.
“I didn’t feel like it was my thing,” she said. “Cross country, it just sounded so long. I had it in my head for so long a time that I was a 400 and 200 runner because that’s what I ran in middle school.”
In her junior year, she just turned her physical in on time.
It wasn’t until this year that she made a complete commitment.
“I finally got it all together,” she said. “Now I love it. I wish I could re-do all my years. I wish I had run my freshman year because I’d have improved a lot more. And if I’d been in it more my sophomore year, I would have improved more.”
Now she plans to continue running in college.
Gray, who is only a freshman, brought some levity to the team.
“She has a lot of personality,” said Little. “She’s the entertainer of the group.”
Sargent and Herman lead by example.
“The girls see them out there and want to run fast like them,” said Little.
Wedekind and Stephanie Radzinski are good kids that balance the team.
“They all bring their own personality to the table,” said Little.
Last year the Falcons won the SOL, finished second at districts and third at states. This year they ran the table.
Despite graduating two seniors, the future looks bright.
“The girls are constantly improving,” said Perry. “I could definitely see state titles for the next three years. This is just the beginning for them.”
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