Penn-Trafford’s Amelia Barilla achieves personal record, takes 2nd place at WCCA meet

By: Paul Schofield
Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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Penn-Trafford senior Amelia Barilla’s plan during the annual Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association meet was to stay with Kiski Area senior Eliza Miller and hopefully out kick her at the end.

Miller had her own plan — break the 18-minute mark. Miller achieved her goal by running 17:59.6 and claiming her third title Oct. 11 at the Westmoreland County Community College course near Youngwood.

Though Barilla fell short of her goal of winning the race, she was pleased with her second-place performance.

She ran a strong race, finishing in 18:28.3, to set her up for the final month of the season.

Barilla has her eyes now set on the WPIAL championship Oct. 26 at White Oak Park and then the PIAA championships Nov. 4 in Hershey.

“I had a super small personal record, but this was the fastest I’ve ran a 5K,” Barilla said. “I wanted to run a little faster, but my goal was achieved.”

Still, winning was the other goal and Barilla resigned herself to second place when Miller went out fast.

“I didn’t want her quick start to get into my head,” Barilla said. “I stayed composed and didn’t let the other girls gain too much ground on me. She’s a super strong runner, so I’m not mad that I lost to her. I didn’t want to kill myself trying to catch her. I just wanted that good time.”

Barilla said she’s been satisfied with how the season as gone so far.

She plans on taking a different approach to the championship meets in a few weeks.

“We haven’t run too many big meets,” Barilla said. “I really want to medal at states.

“I’m going to try to taper my practices the next few weeks. I tapered too early last year, and I wasn’t at my peak for WPIAL and states. I’ve trained differently, and hopefully I’ll be at my best for the championships.”

Barilla also is excited about the change of venues for the WPIAL championships. She said she’s not going to miss the killer hill at the Cal (Pa.) course.

“White Oak is probably my favorite course,” she said. “It’s super fast and a good personal record race. I’m excited to have a chance to run my lifetime best.”

Penn-Trafford’s other runners at the WCCA meet included Lily Gaal (24^th), Carena Whipkey (53^rd), Megan Ditter (64^th) and Adelina Truschel (66^th).

The Penn-Trafford boys didn’t have anyone place. Their best finisher was Jake McGhee (20^th overall).

Others competing included Justin Martin Jr. (36^th), Jacob Dormire (39^th), Alex Otto (44^th), Kaj Colby (46^th), John Premozic (47^th) and Christopher Schader (48^th).

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Penn-Trafford