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When Sports Were Played: Wash High’s Brock was PIAA meet’s golden girl

4 min read

For today’s “When Sports Were Played” we go back to May 25, 1996, when in one afternoon Washington’s Laila Brock won an amazing four gold medals at the PIAA Track & Field Championships.

SHIPPENSBURG – Make no mistake, the standard for excellence has been established at Washington High School.

And in Pennsylvania as well.

One year after winning two gold medals and one silver, sprinter Laila Brock made those accomplishments look almost miniscule Saturday at the PIAA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University.

Brock won four golds – three individual – and lifted Washington’s girls team to the state team title in Class AA.

Overall, the area produced several medalists. Washington’s Aaron Gatten, the defending PIAA 100-and 200-meter champion, finished second this year in those events. Ringgold’s Matt Murdock placed third in the Class AAA high jump, Washington’s Tam Nixon was fifth in the Class AA 100, McGuffey Kelly Weiss was sixth in the Class AAA 1,600 and Washington’s boys 1,600 relay team finished third.

“All (Friday) night long, that’s all our coach (Guy Montecalvo) kept saying,” said Brock, who won the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes in addition to anchoring the 400 relay team. “No doubt that was one of four goals coming into the season.”

Washington had never won a state team title.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Montecalvo. “I don’t know if any team from (the WPIAL) has won a (Class) Double-A title. To think we never had a runner win a gold entering last year’s meet and now we have so many is incredible.”

The day clearly belonged to Brock. The senior ran six races – winning them all – and didn’t have a break longer than 75 minutes. At one point, she received a gold medal for the 400, then directly returned to the track for the 400 relay.

“I felt pretty good all day long,” said Brock, who will run at Penn State next season. “The 400 takes a lot out of me, but I was able to get a little time in the tents to relax. You just have to come out and do what it takes.”

Her coaches had no doubt she could pull off the difficult task.

“A lot of people doubted us for putting her in all three sprints,” said Washington spring coach Tom Stock. “If there was a person who could pull it off, it’s her. Over the last two years, she has continually worked on her technique, doing whatever she had to in order to be the best.”

Brock, who set the PIAA meet record(55.50) in the 400 Friday, easily won that event with a time of 55.76. She also rolled in the 200 (25.31) to defend the title she won last season.

Her toughest test was expected to be in the 100, but even that turned into a rout as she won in 12.13, more than two-tenths of a second faster than Upper Dublin’s Dina Biddington.

“There was no room for second place today,” said Brock. “Last night, I sat in my hotel room and kept telling myself I had to win. If I think about a race and visualize it, I usually fare well. Visualization is very important to me.”

Brock earned 40 of Washington’s 45 team points. The other five points, which were needed to edge Lewisburg (43), came from sophomore Tam Nixon, who placed fifth in the 100 (12.65) and eighth in the 200 (27.18).

Brock and Nixon teamed with Dana Bryan and Nena Vallee to defend their title in the 400 relay.

“Nena and I knew this was our only race of the day, so we wanted to make it as easy for Tam and Laila,” said Bryant. “We’re a little disappointed that we didn’t set a record, but you have to be pleased with gold anytime.”

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