SHIPPENSBURG — Peters Township freshman Katie Froelich found herself in a familiar place Friday, and she can thank some familial assistance for putting her there.
Engaged in yet another duel with South Fayette sophomore Angela Zeng, Froelich needed a strong final kick to hold off Zeng and climb to the top of the medal podium in the Class 3A 1,600-meter run at the PIAA track and field championships.
“My dad always told me to feel the burn,” Froelich explained, “and I was really feeling the burn, so I ripped it.”
All the way to a gold medal and into the record books.
Froelich became the first WPIAL Class 3A freshman girl to win a PIAA title since Connellsville’s Madison Wiltrout claimed the javelin title in 2014.
“It’s really cool since I still have three more years, so hopefully I can get better and better each year and maybe win a couple more in the future,” Froelich said.
Gold medal No. 2 could come as early as Saturday when Froelich takes part in the 3,200, an event in which she is the No. 1 seed and Zeng No. 2.
But first thing’s first, and Froelich made her PIAA championship debut by running a winning time of 4 minutes, 48.08 seconds, which topped Zeng (4:48.49) by less than a half second.
Froelich was in second place and Zeng fourth heading into the final lap. But once Froelich jumped into the lead early in that last 400, she never let go of it. That includes during the final 100 when she and Zeng were running nearly side by side.
“It honestly wasn’t as I expected,” Froelich said. “I thought the pack was going to separate, so it was a little weird having everyone all together.”
Added Zeng, “My goal was just to stick with everybody, so when I felt myself getting busted, I tried to move out before I got in too much trouble. And once I was able to find a good position, I tried to maintain it and just conserve my position and not let anybody else kick me out.”
Norwin’s Annie Czajkowski placed fifth (4:50.57).
The Froelich-Zeng rivalry — a friendly one at that — has become a major one and, considering their classes, should continue for two more years.
A week earlier, Froelich (4:53.10) edged Zeng (4:54.27) for the WPIAL title. And get this: Friday’s narrow race wasn’t even the closest between the two. Froelich (4:47.42) also topped Zeng (4:47.82) to win the mile at the PTFCA state indoor championships.
“I’d say it’s a very good (rivalry) because I know we both really want it so much,” Froelich said. “We kind of just pace each other.”
Montagnese repeats
Jonah Montagnese came into last year’s championships as an underdog before capturing a title in the Class 2A 1,600.
The Quaker Valley junior returned Friday as the big dog, and the result was the same.
Montagnese repeated as champion after running a time of 4:11.35. He took home the title as the top seed after doing it as the third seed a season earlier.
“Coming in knowing I had a little more of that experience from last year and just having confidence in myself, it kind of made a difference coming into this meet,” Montagnese said. “I didn’t really feel as much of an underdog, and I think that kind of changed the tone of the race a little bit.”
Montagnese climbed from sixth place to second during the third lap before surging ahead in the last lap. The only other placewinner from the WPIAL was Ellwood City’s Lucas Bleakney (4:16.39), who was fifth.
A year earlier, Montagnese finished in 4:11.06 to slip past Mohawk’s Jaxon Schoedel and Freeport’s Michael Braun.
Montagnese was one of the biggest stars at last week’s WPIAL championships when he finished with four titles — 800, 1,600, 3,200 and 3,200 relay. He’ll take part in three events Saturday.
“I have four events at this meet so I have a lot of work to do for the rest of the weekend,” Montagnese said, “so I’m kind of just making sure I was as cozy as possible for as long as possible and then just making a really decisive move when I had to.”