By JORDAN LAUTERBACH
“It’s embarrassing to fall in front of all those people,” he said.
He wanted redemption and he got it. There was nothing embarrassing about what Panico did Monday, winning the 400 intermediate hurdles in 59.41 seconds and the 110 high hurdles in 16.57 seconds at the NSCHSAA Easter Classic at St. Anthony’s High School.
The 400 hurdles came first and featured the dreaded “wall,” the final 200-meter stretch that made Panico shudder when he began describing it.
“Getting through that is the hardest part of the race,” he said. “You start out and put so much energy in. Then you slowly lose that. Your legs feel like Jell-O. It’s not a fun feeling.”
Once that wall is hit, the race morphs into a test of mental strength. “I just keep on pumping my arms to make myself go forward,” he said.
Panico said he felt good when he came to the wall Monday, crediting that to his strong start.
“The start is the race,” he said. “If you have a bad start, you’re going to have a bad race. I got to the first hurdle really quick and that shot me forward.”
Next up was the 110 hurdles. The shorter distance puts a larger emphasis on technique.
“The steps in between the hurdles are a lot shorter,” Panico said. “The 400 intermediate hurdles is just like running a 400, and the hurdles are there. But, with the 110 high hurdles, you have to get your steps down or else you’ll do poorly. The hurdles are so close together that there’s no time to calculate your steps. It has to be exact.”
Friars’ Hurd wins 1,600
St. Anthony’s Patrick Hurd won the 1,600 in 4:34.45. “For the first half of the race, I stuck on [Kellenberg’s Dietrich Mosel], who was running great,” Hurd said. “I went all-out in the final 400 and tried to stay with it.”
Mosel finished second in 4:35.40 . . . Our Lady of Mercy’s Charlotte Molloy won the girls 1,500 in 4:53.44.