« 2003 Top 10 Athletes
West Penn Dominates at Pittsylvania XC Challenge »
Jun 06 2004

West Penn Breaks Six Records, Establishes Two at Pittsylvania Mile Run; Rogus, Nemeth Win Event

Posted by: John Harwick in Results, Achievements, Members

FINISH LINES

Runners from a dozen high schools ran in either the 14-15 or 16-19 races: Butler, Central Catholic, Franklin Regional, Gateway, Indiana, Kiski Area, Moon, North Allegheny, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Penn-Trafford, Pine-Richland, and Somerset.

Four sets of siblings ran: Chelsea and Marissa Cooper; Brighid, Dighan, and George Kelly; Deirde and Seamus Love; and Annie, Eleanor, and John Nemeth. And three other siblings–Katie, Mary Carolyn, and Mike Harwick–worked as volunteers.

Drew Dershimer, women’s XC coach at Carnegie Mellon University, started the races, and Mark Schwartz, long-time USATF national official, served as the referee.

West Penn’s George Dieffenbach–for the third year in a row–won the consistency award. George ran 5:28.8 in 2001, 5:28.2 in 2002, 5:26.2 in 2003, and 5:24.9 this year. Pitt’s tennis coach improves every year.

Two runners have competed in each of the five meets (2000-2004): West Penn’s Elmer Gasper and Dan Holland of the Pharaoh Hounds. West Penn’s Lee Zelkowicz missed for the first time, but the highly successful Penn Hills coach worked the finish line.

Fourteen runners or walkers competed in both 2003 and 2004. Seven of them improved the second time around: West Penn’s Elmer Gasper (55.7 seconds) and Carmella Salem (13.3 seconds), BK Kosmach (9.6 seconds) of the South Park Runners, Duquesne University’s Brent Rogus (7.5 seconds), Indiana High’s Rachel Umbel (2.9 seconds), West Penn’s George Dieffenbach (1.3 seconds), and consistent Dan Holland of the Pharaoh Hounds (0.3 seconds).

West Penn had three parent/child duos in action: John and Bob Harwick, Karen Mizikar and Amanda Rubis (St. Vincent), and Richard and Brent Rogus (Duquesne University).

Runners ranged in age from 6-year-old Dighan Kelly to 80-year-old Sam Madia, both of whom are West Penners.

Participation jumped from 58 in 2002 and 63 in 2003 to a record 72. That just topped the 71 in 2001. Forty-six participated the first year. Twenty-five of the 72 participants (35%) represented West Penn, but–as usual–the men outnumbered the women 19-6 (21-5 in 2002 and 22-11 in 2003).

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