Championship times

The WPIAL team track championships will be decided today at 2 p.m. at West Mifflin High School.

In Class AAA, North Allegheny's boys' and girls' teams will be going after titles. Butler is in the boys' field and Seneca Valley is in the girls.

In Class AA, Mars is one of four teams seeking the boys' title, while Quaker Valley is in the girls' field.

Individual championships are next week. The Class AA meet is at South Side Beaver Tuesday with the Class AAA championships May 15 at Baldwin High School. Both start at 2 p.m.

Knoch track coach Wes Brahler heard the talk more frequently than he would have liked.

Brahler listened to others in the track community give their opinions on who they believed were the top 800- and 1,600-meter runners in the area, and he would hear the same three or four names mentioned each time.

But as talented as those runners are, Brahler couldn't help but think the list had one glaring omission.

"How about Brian Tackett from Knoch?" he would ask.

"He's been waiting," Brahler added. "It's time for him to make a name for himself. I tell him, 'You're one of the names now. You're part of this, too, now.'"

Part of this now, indeed.

Tackett, a junior, has carved out a niche as one of the top middle-distance runners in the WPIAL. This past Friday at the Pine-Richland Invitational, Tackett raced to first place finishes in the 800 and 1,600, and helped the Knights 3,200-meter relay team top the field, as well.

Two weeks earlier at the Butler Invitational, Tackett claimed top honors in the 800 and placed fourth in the 1,600. Outings like those have highlighted what has become a breakout season for Tackett, one in which has others speaking his name regularly.

"I trained real hard over the winter and was expecting big things," Tackett said. "I'm really happy with how I've been doing this year."

Tackett's best race is the 800, an event he wins just about every time he steps on the track. His time of 1:58.48 at the Pine-Richland Invitational broke the meet record and is one of the top times in the WPIAL this season.

Tackett qualified for Thursday's WPIAL Class AAA championships in the 800 and on the 1,600 relay at the Northern qualifier Tuesday at Butler.

"In the 800, I'm feeling pretty good," Tackett said. "Last year around this time I was running pretty well, and I was able to drop about one or two seconds off my time. If I do that again, it would probably put me around second or third in the WPIAL [Class AAA championships]. And even if I drop a little more than a second, it would probably qualify me for states."

Reaching the PIAA championships is a big goal of Tackett's. He placed seventh in the 800 at last year's WPIAL championships and his time of 1:59.46 fell short of the PIAA qualifying standard of 1:57.32. Tackett said that no longer than five minutes after the race had concluded, he was already thinking about earning a trip this season.

As Tackett heads into the most important stretch of the season, one aspect will almost certainly not derail his performance -- nerves. Some runners appear tense before a race, but the same cannot be said for Tackett, whose cool demeanor is always on display.

"I just think he hides his emotions well," Brahler said. "He's very level-headed and knows how to prepare mentally for his races."

Tackett said this focus can be attributed to, of all things, a book he read recently. Tackett is a key contributor on the Knights cross country team, which Brahler also coaches. Every year, Brahler encourages his runners to read a book which he chooses. This year, the junior class was given a selection entitled "Running Within."

"It sounds weird, but I really think it helps out," said Tackett, who has been running track since the fifth grade. "Sometimes when you see kids before a race, they're a little jittery or they look like they don't know what's going to happen. While I'm running the race, I really enjoy it, so there's nothing to worry about before."

With the WPIAL and PIAA championships right around the corner, that calmness should not only enhance Tackett's chances of finishing high, but should also continue to make his name one people will hear a lot of in the foreseeable future.

Said Tackett, "I think I'm right up there with the top guys in the WPIAL, but I guess we'll find out in the next few weeks."