Even with many meets canceled, GCC’s Corinn Brewer finds a way to win this summer

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Wednesday, August 12, 2020 | 5:18 PM

Corinn Brewer went into her first — and last — track competition of the summer with an all-or-nothing approach.

Why would she not?

She had been training for the AAU Junior Olympics during the first five months of the covid-19 pandemic, and the rising junior at Greensburg Central Catholic wanted to make sure she performed at her best.

“A lot was canceled, so I didn’t have the meets aspect,” the multi-talented Brewer said.

Without a measuring stick to use as a build-up to the biggest meet of the year, she went all out at the four-day AAU national meet, held through Saturday in Satellite Beach, Fla.

Brewer won the 1,500-meter race in the 15-16 age division in a time of 4 minutes, 50 seconds.

She added a second-place finish in the 800-meter run in 2:17, while also taking 10th in the 100-meter hurdles.

With no WPIAL track and field season in 2020 due to the PIAA canceling spring sports, Brewer trained on her own and eyed a chance to compete again at the lone event on her offseason schedule.

“I am happy with my places,” she said. “I know I could have gone faster in the 1,500 and 800,” she said. “I had some strategies but it didn’t work out like I had planned.”

For instance, she had planned to hang behind the leaders in the 1,500 for the first two-and-a-half laps before making her final kick. Instead, she had to reset the pace and readjust after taking the lead.

Her competitors helped dictate her pace — and finishing times.

“Based on seeding I expected a (personal record in the 800),” she said. “If they had pushed harder … I feel like I had to kick it more.”

Her 1,500 time equates to about a 5:08 mile, and her best time in the latter event is 5:06. She wasn’t far from her best 800 time of 2:17.68.

A Division I college prospect, Brewer had hoped to compete at the U.S. Track and Field Championships and New Balance nationals, but those events were canceled.

At last year’s AAU games, Brewer won the 2,000-meter steeplechase, took second in the 3,000-meter run and finished eighth in both the heptathlon and pole vault.

Brewer was second in the pole vault and third in the 800 at the WPIAL Class AA championships as a freshman, and she went on to finish third in the 1,600-meter run and seventh in the pole vault at the PIAA meet.

She is hoping the WPIAL cross country season happens, beginning next month. The PIAA is expected to discuss the pros and cons of fall sports with Gov. Tom Wolf’s office in the coming days and possibly have a firm decision made in less than two weeks.

“I am going to take a week off, then start training again (for cross country),” Brewer said. “I think we’re going to get to run this season.”

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Greensburg C.C.