With little sister Carly pushing her, Exeter miler Gabby Keith breaks golden barrier
Track and Field coverage sponsored by ATT Sports., Inc.
By Julie Pelchar Cohen — MikeDragoSports.com senior correspondent
When the ticks of the timing system stopped along with those of the stopwatches throughout the stadium, they totaled something special for Gabby Keith.
The Exeter junior had not only won her first county title, she completed four laps faster than she ever imagined.
Keith achieved a gold standard in high school distance running during last weekend’s Firing Meet, which serves as the county championships.
She broke the five-minute barrier in the 1600-meter run, joining only a handful of Berks girls who have touched four minutes since records were first kept more than 40 years ago.
“I was so shocked,” Keith said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
And did Keith ever race beautifully.
One of several favorites heading into this Berks mile showdown, Keith faced the likes of Gov. Mifflin’s Kaitlyn Highduch, Wyomissing’s Addie Cohen and Conrad Weiser’s Sydney Werner.
These girls have been racing each other since junior high and it was finally their time to shine with the Wilson duo of Caryn Rippey and Katie Dallas having graduated to NCAA Division I distance running.
Cohen held the fastest time heading into the championships, at 5:04.79. Highduch and Keith’s seeds were just several seconds slower.
Cohen and Highduch charged to the lead immediately after the gun, holding an anticipated swift pace through the first 800 meters. Keith patiently hung back before sliding behind Cohen heading into the gun lap.
The stage was set for a dramatic finish.
Cohen has shown she’s a strong and stubborn finisher. Keith has displayed speed with her impressive 800-meter times.
When Keith made her move at the start of the backstretch, her win seemed inevitable even if a sub-5 time did not.
Keith passed Cohen with less than 300 meters remaining and flew to the finish line with the speed of a quarter-miler for the seven-second margin of victory.
“It was like she shot out of a cannon,” said Russ Keith, Gabby’s father and an Exeter distance coach.
The ticks on the clock totaled 4 minutes and 59.42 seconds.
Keith missed a 19-year-old meet record by just two-hundredths of a second but lopped an astonishing nine seconds off her personal best.
The performance catapulted Keith into elite company.
She joined runners such as Hamburg’s Adriene Beltz, who owns the Firing mark, and Wilson standouts Rippey, Reagan Underwood and Alison Willingmyre, along with Gov. Mifflin’s Tess Mundell.
All ran sub-5 times and chased one of Berks County’s oldest track records — the 4:55.60 set by Boyertown’s Kristie Moser in 1993. It stands to this day.
“She was just trying to win the race,” Russ Keith said. “She didn’t see that coming.”
What makes Gabby Keith’s time – it currently ranks 12th in Pennsylvania heading into the upcoming district and state championships – more rewarding is that her dad and sister, Carly, congratulated her seconds after she crossed the finish line at Shillington.
Russ, a longtime coach and former collegiate runner at Kutztown, was instructing from the infield.
Carly, a freshman, finished only two runners behind Gabby. She ran a personal-best 5:10.06 to take bronze, a silver lining as she’s been nursing sore hips since the winter.
“I was happy that I had dropped some time,” Carly said of her five-second PR. “I felt pretty good during the race – better than I have this season.”
Russ certainly has something special with his daughters. The Keith girls have combined to set the standard in Berks distance running this year.
After an eye-catching junior high career, Carly earned Athlete of the Year honors for the 2022 Berks girls cross country season. She was runner-up at the Berks Conference Run and sixth in the ultra-competitive District 3 Class 3A race.
Carly ran a personal-best 18:32.50 at the Paul Short Invitational in September. No Berks girl ran faster last fall.
All the while Gabby finished uncannily close to Carly in every fall race – she was fifth at the Berks Conference Run and seventh at districts – and a smidgen faster in a few invitational meets.
The sisters are just as tight outside of racing.
Both run full-time after dropping soccer and basketball. They enjoy skiing together and are big sisters to sixth-grader Ally, another runner.
“They’re super close,” Keith said.
They train together whether it’s speed workouts on the track, threshold runs in the neighborhood or long offsite jaunts at Gring’s Mill or Blue Marsh.
That daily grind isn’t without wrinkles.
Of course there’s sibling rivalry even if it’s friendly and mild.
“I think for the most part it’s a good thing,” Gabby said. ”Sometimes we will get a little annoyed with each other. I’ll get a little annoyed with Carly in some workouts because she’s right behind me or making me run faster when I don’t feel like it.
“But we always have the mindset to push each other. The mindset is just there. We don’t really even have to say it. That helps a lot.”
Russ is seeing a transformation on the track, which he attributes to the sister relationship.
Gabby has always raced conservatively. She is reserved and laidback by nature.
Carly is inclined to race hard and fast, which matches her personality. While both girls are generally quiet in public, Carly is known as “the crazy sister” at home.
“Gabby has always figured the race out as she goes and lets somebody else do all the work,” Russ said. “She sits back and works her way up. Carly just wants to beat people right away.
“I see Gabby turning more to that way now, and I see Carly coming back and being smarter and more tactical. I think they have their personalities, but now they are balancing each other out a little more.”
That balance has helped produce two of the district’s fastest distance runners.
Gabby is seeded second in the 1600 for this weekend’s District 3 championships at Shippensburg. Carly is seventh in the 800 with a trip to the PIAA meet on the line for both girls.
No matter how they finish Saturday, the Keith sisters and Russ will be near the finish line waiting for each other.
“I really like training with Gabby,” Carly said. “I couldn’t imagine doing this by myself. It’s really nice.”
