Latrobe hurdler Campbell has eye on state meet after quick start to season

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | 5:04 PM

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For Latrobe senior Brennan Campbell, it’s time to shine.

That’s what he did April 8 at the annual Lady Spartan/Wildcat Invitational at Latrobe Memorial Stadium.

Campbell breezed to wins in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, a good start to his final season. He repeated his titles at the invitational and bettered his times.

While Campbell is proud of his accomplishment, his motivation is just missing earning a berth in the state meet. He finished fifth in the 110 hurdles and missed by less than a second of reaching the qualifying time.

The top four finishers received automatic berths to the state tournament. Those who finished in the top eight and met a pre-determined qualifying time also made it.

Campbell ran 15.23 seconds in the preliminaries, which made the qualifying standard, but he ran 15.36 seconds in the final, which did not meet qualifying standard.

“I had a pretty good run in the preliminaries,” Campbell said. “But I came out hot in the finals, which is unusual for me, and I ended up hitting four or five hurdles and just missed qualifying. It was definitely frustrating.

“It was one of the things I couldn’t stop thinking about. It keeps me going at practice, and it motivates me.”

At the invitational he ran a 15.52 in the 110 hurdles and 42.0 in the 300. Both times were faster than his runs (16.03 and 42.37) in 2021.

“Winning the invitational again was pretty good,” Campbell said. “It showed improvement. I ran faster at this time that I did last year. I still have work to do.”

Campbell also runs the lead leg of the 1,600-meter relay team along with Noah Pittman, Matt McCreery and Tyler Mondock. He also will run the anchor leg — if needed — on the 400 relay team.

“Running the relay teaches you to be aggressive from the start,” Campbell said. “Because of the staggered start, it forces you to run as fast as you can.

“Running the relays help you prepare for my individual events. The 1,600 relay and running the 400 in the race helps your endurance. The 400 relay helps improve your power.”

Campbell said he isn’t sure if he will catch Jeff Elam, who owns the school record in the hurdles.

“I’m within .7 seconds in the 110 hurdles and a few seconds behind him in the 300,” Campbell said. “When I run, I always feel like I’m chasing Jeff.”

Campbell’s goals are simple: qualify for the WPIALs again and see how high he gets on the podium.

“The main goal is to make to states,” Campbell said.

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: Latrobe