PIAA championships

The PIAA track and field championships will be tomorrow and Saturday at Seth Grove Stadium on the Shippensburg University campus.

Preliminaries in running events start at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Finals in running events start at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Finals in field events are both days with action starting at 9 a.m.

For a list of event times go to www.piaa.org.

Whether it is true or not, different high schools in the WPIAL have a reputation for excellence in specific areas when it comes to track and field.

Baldwin, for example, is known for its shot put, discus and javelin people. Butler has produced outstanding pole vaulters and jumpers. Penn Hills always seems to have dynamite sprinters.

Mention North Allegheny and quality middle-distance and distance runners come to mind. Championship sprinters? Not at North Allegheny, at least not on the boys' team.

Say hello to Brian Austin ... perception breaker.

A junior, Austin surprised everyone by winning the 100-meter dash at the WPIAL Class AAA track championships last week at Baldwin High School. He finished in 10.92 seconds, edging Montour's Matt Bellay (11.03) and Plum's Jeff Robinson (11.09).

He is seeded seventh in the event for the PIAA championships that get under way at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Shippensburg University and conclude Saturday.

Years from now, Austin will be the answer to a trivia question: Who was the first North Allegheny athlete to win a WPIAL title in the 100.

"Rob Theissen, one of our assistants, ran track here and graduated in 1969. He said nobody from the school, that he's aware of, ever won the 100," North Allegheny coach John Neff said. "So, we're pretty sure nobody has done it since 1966.

"Maybe some one did it between 1956 and that time, but we don't know of anyone."

North Allegheny has not been void of runners with speed over the years. Ryan Tolhurst was outstanding in the 200- and 400-meter dashes. Hurdler Derrick Brinkley also had outstanding speed. But neither ran the 100 in the championship.

Austin, who is 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds and plays receiver in football, never envisioned himself as the WPIAL's speed king when the season started.

"I was just trying to make the finals," he said. "But as the year went on and I started to win some races, I thought I could make it. I wasn't sure, but I guess I proved it."

Neff said Austin got out of the blocks slowly when the season began because he didn't run indoor track. A football injury kept him for doing that.

Despite being hindered by the lack of a winter training schedule, Austin still managed to place third in the 100 at the Tri-State Track Coaches Association championships at West Mifflin in early April.

"I think doing that well surprised him some and gave him some confidence," Neff said.

It also helped that there was no super sprinter in the WPIAL this season, no one with the "guy you have to beat" tag. Instead, there has been a group of very good sprinters that includes, Bellay, Tristan Stagger and Ndubisi Ezekoye of Central Catholic, Robinson, Brandon Hill of Penn Hills, Clifford Meriwether of McKeesport and Arthur James of Thomas Jefferson.

When he looked at the group at the starting line for the WPIAL 100 final, he knew he could run with any of the other seven.

"Everybody was within a tenth or two-tenths of a second from everyone else," he said. "It was anybody's race."

Earlier in the season it appeared as if the 200 was going to be Austin's strongest race. Neff said Austin ran a 200 in 22.6 seconds in a meet and followed that with a 22.5.

"We were pretty excited. He was just a couple tenths off the PIAA qualifying time," Neff said. "But Brian said he wanted to see what he could do in the 100. I think running the 200s helped. After running that event, the 100 seems really short."

The reason Austin was competing in more 200s at that time was because he was having trouble finishing off the 100. He would get great starts and be in good shape through 50 or 60 meters, but would then fade.

He started running with a parachute strapped to him, just like in the television commercials. He worked on his strength.

"I knew my start was good enough and I knew the last 40 or 30 [meters] wasn't, and that's what I had to work on and I did," he said.

Austin also made a strategic move and pulled out of the 200. He figured that would give him an edge against Bellay, Stagger and anyone else competing in both sprints.

"They had the semifinals in the 200 right before the break and then would come back and start with the [meet] finals," he said. "I figured there wouldn't be much more than a 30-minute gap between the 200 semis and the start of the finals.

"I thought if I didn't run the 200, that maybe I could squeak one in out there. It worked out."

Confidence also played a part in his victory.

"You've got to say to yourself, 'I can win it.' And then go do it," he said.

"I could see him get more confident in running the 100," Neff said. "He certainly deserved it with all the hard work he puts in, juggling football, weight lifting and track. He's usually the one who turns the lights out in the weight room ... the last one off the track."

And presumably the first from his school to win a WPIAL gold medal in the 100.