Deer Lakes’ Carson McCoy defends 1,600-meter title at PIAA championships

By: Chris Harlan
Friday, May 27, 2022 | 2:55 PM

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SHIPPENSBURG — Carson McCoy maybe isn’t a front runner, yet the Deer Lakes senior usually crosses the finish line first.

His patient, wait-for-your-moment strategy worked again Friday as he surged down the stretch to defend his PIAA Class 2A title in the boys 1,600 meters at the state track championships at Shippensburg University.

This was the second year in a row that McCoy celebrated at Seth Grove Stadium, and each time he came from behind to win.

“I’ve always been a sit-and-kick kind of racer,” he said. “I don’t like to lead races, so I just try to stay as comfortable as I can. I tend to find something with 150 left.”

McCoy edged Schuylkill Valley senior Luke Seymour by less than two seconds, chasing down the same opponent as a year ago.

His winning time Friday (4 minutes, 13.14 seconds) was a personal best by five hundredths of a second. The time also was more than three seconds better than his winning mark here last year.

McCoy came to Shippensburg a year ago with a much lower profile as the WPIAL runner-up. This time, he wore the bright target of a reigning state champion.

“I was expected to win, so I felt a little more pressure,” he said. “Last year, I came in as a lower seed, so I was like, ‘Whatever. Let’s just go give them my best.’ ”

But winning last year assured him he already had a successful strategy. McCoy was running fifth in his heat after the first lap Friday and was third for the next two. Near the end of his fourth time around the track, McCoy caught and passed Seymour in front of the football stadium’s bleachers.

Last spring, his winning margin was four-hundredths of a second. This time he won by 1.67 seconds.

“My plan was to just hang in the pack,” McCoy said, “stay nice and comfortable and make my move with about 150 or so to go.”

WPIAL runners won three of the four 1,600-meter races. Moon’s Mia Cochran won the Class 3A girls title and Brownsville’s Jolena Quarzo won 2A girls.

Archbishop Wood senior Gary Martin defended his title in the Class 3A boys race and set a PIAA championship record at 4 minutes, 1.56 seconds.

The 1,600 was the only track final run Friday.

With one gold medal around his neck, McCoy hopes to add a couple of more medals Saturday in the 800 meters and 1,600-meter relay.

His relay team finished third in Friday’s preliminaries, earning one of the eight spots in Saturday’s finals. McCoy, Nathan Buechel, Aidan Herman and Fletcher Hammond finished about three seconds behind favorite Imhotep Charter.

McCoy is the top seed in the 800, with a two-second lead over Archbishop Carroll’s Gabriel Cuffey in a 25-person field.

The PIAA changed its championship schedule this year by eliminating all preliminary rounds for the 1,600 and moving that race to 9 a.m. Friday. That lightened workload let McCoy run three events this weekend.

Under the previous championship format, he likely would’ve skipped the relay.

“I’d have to run a 1,600 prelim, an 800 prelim and a 4-by-4 prelim,” he said. “That would be six races in two days. That would be brutal. Four is enough.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes, Riverview