Defending state champion Olivia Cieslak of Haverford got the early lead in the PIAA Class 3A 1,600-meter run Friday at Shippensburg University but was overtaken in the bell lap by Logan St. John Kletter of Mount Lebanon, who won by almost seven seconds to collect gold.
Kletter ran the final lap in 70-degree heat and 80 percent humidity in just 65 seconds to complete the race in 4:38.54. Last year she finished fifth in 4:53.88, almost five seconds behind Cieslak.
Cieslak managed a 72-second final lap enroute to finishing second in 4:45.35. It was her first loss in the 1,600 in a PIAA event since she was 20th in the 2022 Class 3A state championships.
“I just knew that I had to push in the middle,” Kletter told Pa.Milesplit.com. “This race did not go for me as planned last year so I just needed to take control and run my own race. And I’m a frontrunner, so I just put myself up in the front after a 69 (second) first lap and just held those 71s. She was still with me at the bell lap but I felt amazing and so smooth and strong. I’ve never closed in 65 before in my life. That’s pretty crazy. I just had a lot of adrenaline and really wanted to win so badly. I think that’s what pulled me through.”
Cieslak was drained after the race and needed time to “bounce back” according to her mother. She ran in Haverford’s 4 X 400 relay in the preliminaries late Friday afternoon.
It was clear that Cieslak began running out of gas with a little more than a lap to go. Kletter took the lead near the end of the third lap and then pulled away.
“I was just going to push her,” Kletter said. “If she was there, she was there. I knew if I ran strong in the middle, she wasn’t going to have much of a kick.”
Sophia Kurtis of Springfield finished 14th in the 1,600 in 4:58.30.
The PIAA record for the 1,600 of 4:37.07 was set in 2019.
Cieslak finished sixth in the open mile at the Penn Relays and was seventh at the Arcadia Invitational in April. She and Kletter were the only PIAA runners to finish better than 4:52 this season in the 1,600.
Cieslak ran 4:48.28 to win the District 1 championship while Kletter clocked 4:52.59 in the District 7 championships.
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In the girls Class 3A pole vault, Veronica Vacca of Mount Saint Joseph took the gold in a PIAA record of 14-0.
The meet record had been 13-9.
Maddy Kelly of Villa Marie and Sara Frey of Kennett tied for second at 12-6 and Kathryn Ohm of Penncrest jumped 11-6 to tie for an eighth-place medal. Sophia Hall of Radnor jumped 10-6 to finish 18th.
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In other performances from the first day of states:
In the boys’ 1,600, Jackson Kane of Ridley finished 12th in 4:13.72, the fastest Delco runner in the competition. … In the girls’ Class 2A discus sophomore Jessica Cooper of Delco Christian was 23rd in 86-11. Competing for medals in the 3A girls’ 100-meter dash Saturday will be Jorden Gore of Cardinal O’Hara, who clocked 11.89 to finish third in her heat, and Alasia Mosley of Chester, fifth in 12.06. … In the 3A boys’ 100-meter prelims, Joshua Dean of Academy Park qualified for the finals with a time of 10.69. … The top qualifier in the 3A girls’ 100-meter hurdles was sophomore Damira Allen of Chester, who clocked 14:16. … In the 3A boys’ 110-meter hurdles, George Bostwick of Penncrest qualified with a time of 14.45, good for sixth.
In the Class 3A 400 meters, JaNaisa Darry of Chester ran 55.16 to finish second and qualify for the finals, and sophomore Ava Cavanaugh of Haverford qualified in 56.80. … In the 3A boys’ 400, the finals qualifiers were Collins (48.20) of O’Hara and Jesufifunmi Olugbenga (48.74) of Ridley. … In the 3A 200 meters, Deary of Chester qualified in 24.82, good for second. … Qualifying in the boys’ 3A at 200 meters were Logan Maloney of O’Hara, Jaelyn Galloway of Haverford and Dean of AP. … In the 3A 4 X 400, Chester was first in 3:51.49, Haverford third in 3:53.75 to qualify for the finals. … In the boys’ Class 2A 4 X 400, Archbishop Carroll (Gabriel Cuffey, Himien Jones, Lowell Kamanousa, Ryan Martin) was third in a qualifying time of 3:24.75. … Qualifying in the 3A 4 X 400 were O’Hara (3:17.05) and Strath Haven (3:17.29), who were second and fifth.
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Elsewhere with relays: Qualifying in the Class 3A 4 X 100 prelims was the Garnet Valley team of Laura Wert, Avery McCrimon, Rebekah Burnshaw and Felicia Grimmelbein. They ran 48.25. … Delco 3A boys’ teams Cardinals O’Hara (Danny Schikel, Logan Maloney, Jaden Collins, Zion Knox) and Academy Park (Joshua Dean, Camir Jones, Maurice Richardson, Shaun Moat) qualified in the 4 X 400. O’Hara ran 42.14, Academy Park 42.48.
