(EDITOR’S NOTE: Since May of 1999, the Times News Sports Department has featured an On This Date practically every day, highlighting an event that happened in the past. With the coronavirus putting a halt to sports locally and nationally, the On This Dates have been expanded to the stories that actually ran in the next day’s newspaper. Today’s On This Date story is from May 11, 2000).

By Joe Plasko

jplasko@tnonline.com

MOUNT CARMEL - For the average runner, competing in 800 and 3200 meter races back-to-back with little recovery time in between is a monumental task.

Liz Manness is no ordinary runner, however.

The Tamaqua freshman phenom continues to amaze with her ability to dominate races ranging from the two-lap 800 to four times that amount.

Manness swept both the 800 and 3200 events at the Schuylkill League Track and Field championships at Mount Carmel’s Silver Bowl Thursday, adding a third gold as the anchor of the Lady Raiders 3200 meter relay.

Other TIMES NEWS area athletes capturing first places at leagues included Tamaqua’s Margaret Benny in the 100 meter hurdles; Marian’s Kristen Samec in the discus; and Fillies’ pole vaulter Jess Gallagher, who set a new meet mark in winning the gold.

Manness, who is the District 11 AA cross country champion, likes to run at one speed: fast. She is continually pushing the parameters as to just how fast her slender frame will go.

The afternoon started with Manness running a 2:19 split for her anchor leg of the Raiders’ winning 4x800 relay, which set a new Tamaqua school record of 9:46.85. Randi Wagner, Alice Krasley and Jen Paisley all added strong performances to Manness’ efforts.

That was just a warm up. In the 800, Manness, who was seeded second to Nativity freshman Sara Leymeister, broke down the field early with a 62 second opening lap.

By the time she crossed the finish line, Manness had not only broken the meet record but shattered it. Her clocking of 2:17.83 topped the meet mark of 2:23.8 by a full six seconds. The old record was shared by Joanne Menapace of Mount Carmel and Kim Gunderman of West Hazleton.

Manness also surpassed the Schuylkill League record of 2:19 set by Eileen McGeever in 1996.

“I was happy to get a first,” said Manness. “I thought I might get a second in the 800 because Sara had run a 2:20 before while I had a 2:21.

“I started out good on the first lap, but I might have gone out too fast, because I slowed down a bit at the end,” she said.

Manness still had plenty of gas left in her tank, as she recovered during the boys 800 and the boys and girls 200 finals, for an encore in the 3200, taking the gold in 11:38.91.

Tamaqua’s other golden girl was Benny, a junior hurdler who raced to a first place time of 16.68 in the 100 meter hurdles. Benny finished second to Mount Carmel’s Raquel Greco in the 300 intermediates with a time of 48.3. Both times were season’s bests.

“I was seeded first in the 100’s, so I thought I’d have a better shot there,” said Benny. “I knew Raqui (Greco) was good in the 300’s, and it was close.”

Marian’s Gallagher, a junior, set a new league meet milestone in the pole vault, a second year event. Gallagher cleared 8-3 to edge Tamaqua’s Brandy Blasko.

The Fillies’ Samec came up with her season’s best effort of 101-11 for the discus gold. Samec’s previous best this spring was 100 feet even. She also placed fourth in the shot put (32-11).

In addition to the silver medals earned by Benny and Blasko, the Tamaqua girls also had three other second place finishes: Lori Zehner in the shot put (33-4), Jamie Frey in the triple jump (32-5 1/4) and the Lady Raider 1600 relay (4:17.91).

TIMES NEWS area third place performers included Tamaqua’s Shanna Hill in the 200 (28.5), Adriane Miller in the 400 (1:04.29) and Jen Paisley in the 1600 (5:39). Panther Valley’s Diana Bruch was third in the javelin with a distance of 109-7.

Fourth place finishers including Samec in the shot were Hill in the 100 (13.78), Tamaqua’s Brooke Reed in the pole vault (8-0) and the Tamaqua girls 400 meter relay (54.1).