Mustangs’ 3200 duo looks golden on opening day of Firing Victory Meet
Track and Field coverage sponsored by ATT Sports., Inc.
By Sam Cavalieri — MikeDragoSports.com correspondent
Kaitlyn Highduch and Zack Zerbe took different paths to gold in the 3200 finals at the 80th annual William H. Firing Meet.
The Gov. Mifflin juniors were dominant Thursday, with Highduch finishing in 11:03.28 and Zerbe in 9:28.51
Highduch was prominent throughout, sitting just off Wyomissing junior Addie Cohen. Cohen, who finished second in 11:22.47, set the pace through the early laps. Highduch took over on the third lap and continued to widen her lead the rest of the race.
“We had a plan except the problem with that plan is I’m not always great at kicking it in so I decided to go a little earlier than planned,” Highduch said. “I thought that would be best considering my abilities.”
Highduch came into the race with the fastest time of the field but that was from the District 3 Championship Meet last year. Her seed time coming into this race placed her behind Cohen, a winner last week at the Shaner Meet, and top seed Gabby Keith of Exeter, who did not run. Despite the change of plans, Highduch remained locked in mentally to see out the finish.
“I never want to celebrate too soon because that’s how you get lazy and lose the lead,” Highduch said. “Always stay paranoid when you are up there so you keep running.”
Zerbe had maybe one slight millisecond of paranoia in his victory. He was content early to stay near the front letting other runners set the pace.
Zerbe began to assume command a bit earlier than expected, but the top of the field was still relatively bunched up.
“I was expecting Anthony Engle to take the lead and try to push me out, run a fast time and try to tire me out,” Zerbe said.
Engle, the defending Firing champ in the 3200 from Twin Valley, never took the lead and finished third.
Engle’s teammate Ben Meister made a bold move at Zerbe. The final turn of the second-to-last lap saw Meister move up on the outside and draw up even with Zerbe.
Zerbe quickly turned him away and opened up a clear lead for the final lap.
“He (Meister) surprised me, he really did,” Zerbe said. “I was just planning on getting through that lap and then all of a sudden he came up right next to me.
“I was like, ‘Shoot, this is it. If I want to be a champion I’ve got 500 (meters) to go. I better give everything I’ve got.’ ”
Meister finished in 9:34.49, Engle in 9:37.15.
While Zerbe was cognizant of the Meister challenge he also is extremely confident in his final lap speed.
“If I can get through seven (laps) with the lead I’ve got it in the bag,” Zerbe figures. “That’s all that was going through my head. I kept counting down to seven, not eight. Seven, because once I get to the last lap it’s over.”
