By Bill West
Published: Saturday, May 24, 2014 11:54 p.m.
Breaking 9 minutes
As much as he cared about titles this season, Fox Chapel senior Colin Martin used the desire to break 9 minutesin the 3,200 to drive him.
Martin pulled off the feat in his final race for the Foxes. He placed third in the PIAA Class AAA 3,200 with a time of 8:59.90. The two runners who bested him, Council Rock North’s Ross Wilson and West Chester Henderson’s Tony Russell, broke the state record (8:58.90).
“I knew these guys would want a fast pace right off the gun, so it was nice when we came out running 67s (67-second laps),” Martin said. “We just wanted to give the people a show.”
Martin, a Michigan recruit, made his push for the title during the final two laps. With about 200 meters left, he closed to within a few strides of Russell, who led until the last 50 meters before losing to Wilson. But both Wilson and Russell broke away around the home turn.
Redemption for Foxes
Fox Chapel senior Brian Papich and Brandon Mitchell accepted Friday that they wouldn’t leave the PIAA championships with relay medals. The 400 and 1,600 relay teams fell short of qualifying for the final heats.
But Papich and Mitchell made sure they earned individual hardware.
Mitchell, a PIAA place winner in Class AAA 110 hurdles last season, added a fourth-place finish (38.15) in the 300 hurdles to the mix. His performance helped ease his frustrating experience in 2013, when he failed to advance out of the 300 hurdle prelims.
Papich also exorcised some demons with his sixth-place finish (23-0) in the long jump. A season ago, he came in 25th with a jump of 21-31⁄4 after entering the event as the No. 3 seed — scratching on two of three jumps didn’t help his cause.