RUNNING AWAY: St. Marys’ Gabby Pistner Breaking Tape and Records as a Sophomore

ST. MARYS, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Gabby Pistner had been haunted by the number .04.

That was how close the St. Marys sophomore was to breaking the school record in the 800-meter run.

Just .04 seconds.

That’s a blink of an eye. A breath. A snap of the fingers.

She no long has that number hanging over her.

(Pictured above, St. Marys sophomore Gabby Pistner atop the podium after winning the 800 with a school-record time at the Butler Invitational on Friday.)

At the Butler Track and Field Invitational on Friday, Pistner ran a time of 2 minutes, 15.47 seconds — nearly two seconds better than the record she was chasing.

“I was really nervous to start,” Pistner said. “And then once I started running, I got some adrenalin going and got more pumped up. It was really exciting to get there and run against faster runners. It helped push me.”

When she crossed the finish line in first place, she had no idea just how fast she had run.

Then that realization set in.

“I was in shock,” Pistner said. “The week before I was really close to breaking the record and I just couldn’t believe I actually broke it.”

Shattered is more like it. The previous mark was 2:17.75 set by Adair Gennocro a decade ago.

“Definitely that was one of my goals for the year was to break that 800 record,” Pistner said. “I was kind of close to breaking it last year at the district meet, so I really wanted to break it this year.”

It has Pistner think big for the rest of her season.

St. Marys is a Class 3A school in track and field, but her time now in the event would have been good enough last year to medal.

That’s the ultimate goal for Pistner this year in the 800.

Pistner is also a part of the St. Marys 4×800 relay, which has already accomplished some big things in 2023.

And is looking for even better things.

The relay team of Lucia Hayes, Christina Frontz, Mary Defilippi and Pistner ran a time of 9:40.32 at the Butler Invite for the win.

That relay team is among the fastest, not only in the state, but the nation.

They placed fifth at the Adidas Indoor Track Nationals in March.

This Friday, they will run at the prestigious Penn Relays.

“It’s almost more exciting to be running with a team and doing that good,” Pistner said. “We made it to the Penn Relays and that’s really exciting. I was kind of shocked again when we qualified.”

The team still doesn’t have the school record.

Yet.

(Members of the St. Marys 4×800 relay that won at the Butler Invite are, from left: Christina Frontz, Gabby Pistner, Mary DiFilippi and Lucia Hayes/Submitted photo)

“We’re hoping to get that, too,” Pistner said. “We’re less than 10 seconds off. We’re hoping to do it (at the Penn Relays).”

Pistner runs the anchor leg, which she admits carries with it a great deal of responsibility.

She craves it.

“It’s definitely nerve wracking, but it also pushes me because I have that little more pressure,” she said. “I feel like it helps me to run better.”

Pistner is also on the cross country and swimming teams at St. Marys.

Pistner said all of her sports feed off of one another.

“Swimming helps me with my endurance,” Pistner said.

Whether it’s racing by water or by land, Pistner is competitive and dedicated to her craft.

She was once a soccer player, too, and did that and cross country during the fall of her freshman year.

That’s a lot of running. And a lot of conflict.

Ultimately, balancing the two became too difficult. She had to chose one.

“That’s when I really started to get serious about running,” Pistner said. “My goals in cross country were bigger, so I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m just going to do cross country and see how this goes.’”

Pistner finished 12th at the PIAA Cross Country Championships in Hershey in the fall, finishing the course in 20:15.80.

When She originally started running in the eighth grade, Pistner wanted to be a sprinter.

But the junior high team at St. Marys was loaded with speedsters, so Pistner migrated to mid-distance races.

Turns out that was a fortuitous move.

The St. Marys record books and the rest of the state is finding that out right now.

“I just kind of got shoved into distance,” Pistner said. “I guess it worked out.”