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Saturday, November 24, 2001
Northeast US Regional Foot Locker Championships
Van Cortlandt Park, New York
5000 meters
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Jessica Cickay
and Stephanie Madia borrow each other's race tactics for a day,
and it works well for both – each can now be called a Foot
Locker Finalist!
From season-long observation, Jessica Cickay is a front-runner.
Go out hard and make everyone else try to catch you. And it worked
to perfection through an undefeated season, until dehydration
on a hot day caught up with her, along with Madia, as she was
passed at the line in the AAA state championships.
And Madia is a confident, cunning runner who knows her strengths
and uses her race experience to bide her time and run from behind.
The tactic got her a state championship in the spring in the AAA
1600 against Cickay, and a state AAA XC championship this fall.
Madia is just behind the leaders
approaching the mile. Erin Franklin is in the top ten at this
point. Jessica Cickay is, as planned, hanging back.
But at Van Cortlandt Park in the Northeast Foot Locker Championships,
the two elite runners reversed roles. Cickay stayed back. Madia
pushed to the front. And what do you know? They're both going
to nationals!
Cickay said the plan was to hang back. "No
way to go out in the lead. No way to start too fast. I was just
trying to feel relaxed, especially the first mile." The lead
pack blistered that first mile in 5:25, which according to Cickay,
was her normal mile time. "But I felt comfortable. I felt
good. The whole race I felt good."
And for an eastern PA athlete, she even enjoyed the hills, which
shouldn't be surprising coming from the course record holder at
Philly's Belmont Plateau. "I was tired at the end –
struggling, of course. Someone passed me in the end. I wouldn't
have let them pass me if the place was on the line."
Madia, on the other hand, had a new idea for this race, which
sounded a lot like a Cickay plan. "My goal was to be 4th
at the mile, and that's where I was." 
Cickay finishes just behind Liz
Gesel of New Hampshire as the top sophomore (and only Finalist)
on the day. (Photo by DyeStat)
Last week at the Mid-East Regional Championships was Madia's first
experience running in a race loaded with Foot Locker-caliber athletes.
(Indeed, two girls who beat her in Ohio, Jessica Gall of Ohio
and Kristina Roth of Indiana, finished 5th and 4th respectively
in the Midwest Regional 11/24,and the other Michelle Rafferty
of Indiania, was 11th.) "I was a little nervous because I
hadn't been here before. I knew that a lot of girls were really
experienced at this kind of race. But I was really confident after
Mid-East because I went out fast the first mile and started getting
accustomed to that, and being able to hang on. So I used the same
strategy. I think I went out a little fast today, but my goal
was to qualify and that's what happened."
This was Cickay's first experience against so many elite athletes,
and following the unexpected finish at States, her confidence
was bruised a bit. "States was definitely dehydration. I
don't do well in hot weather. It affects me. But a lot of hard
workouts helped in the last few weeks to give me confidence."
Madia crosses the line in the
8th and final spot for the Foot Locker finals.
Cickay admits to working herself up about big meets, so she dealt
with the Foot Locker pressure by having a good talk with herself.
"I told myself to calm down. I tried to say there's no pressure.
No one really knows about this. At least from my school. People
weren't bugging me all week. If I didn't do well, no one would
have to know. I just told myself, calm down, and run your own
race."
And the racing from behind tactic worked, as she passed people
on the hilly second mile until she found herself in 5th as they
crossed the bridge coming out of the woods. "I felt good.
I think I was in fifth, and I said I can let one person pass me
and I'll still be OK. Knowing that I had a little bit of leeway
felt good."
Madia's experience running from the front was entirely different.
Having achieved her goal of being in 4th at the mile, she settled
in to try to maintain the pace. She was confident, as is any top
runner from western PA who sees hills in virtually every race.
But this time she ran into a little trouble as she raced up the
switchback hills approaching two miles. "Going up some of
those hills, my legs started to tighten up a little bit. And my
second mile didn't go as well as I wanted. But it's just dealing
with adversity."
Cickay
and coach Cliff Robbins, who noted after the race that "some
athletes get near the top and look over the edge and like what
they see. Jessica is one of of those."
But she re-focused and used "adrenaline and the gifts I've
been given" to maintain contact. "I was in 10th for
a while. People were yelling, 'you're ten-you're ten'. The girls
were always within reach. That was my goal, to just never give
up, so I could try to out kick them at the end."
Coming out of the woods she got a boost from her coach, Liz Bollens,
and Baldwin coach Rich Wright. "They were yelling my place
to me with about 800 to go. I moved into 8th with about 400 to
go, and just kept on going and didn't look back."
Both are pleased with their seasons. But Cickay says that getting
to be a Foot Locker Finalist was a direct result of "a lot
of hard work, hard workouts, especially the last couple of weeks.
But it's just been a great year. We've had a lot of fun together!"
Madia is thrilled to be running in two weeks with "a group
of girls that are so talented. My senior season has been really,
really special, and God has blessed me a lot. It's still all sinking
in. I feel like I've reached the first hurdle, and I'm really
looking forward to Nationals."
Madia, (7th place finisher Lindsay
Van Alstine, NJ) and Cickay, on the awards stand.
Madia and Cickay haven't had much time to get
to know each other. After passing Cickay at States, Madia turned
around to congratulate her, only to find she was being taken care
of after going down. And Cickay wanted to congratulate Madia,
but was so dehydrated, she was taken to the hospital.
They'll have plenty time in Orlando.
Madia
is congratulated by 2000 Foot Locker Finalist Julia Pudlin, who
was at the meet to "support Baldwin School teammates and
PA."
"I'm really excited to have another PA girls
going," says Madia. "It shows that PA is deep, and that
we're very good competitively with other states. But it's a shame
that Julia (Pudlin, 3rd NE, 8th Nationals in 2000) couldn't be
with us. It's just awesome that we can have two Pennsylvania girls."
