NTL TRACK & FIELD: NEB'S LAUDERMILCH TAKES SEVENTH IN THE 3200 (2025-05-24)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
SHIPPENSBURG — NEB’s Gracelyn Laudermilch got that elusive 3200 meter medal, taking seventh in the girls Class AA race to take seventh in 11:00.43 during the PIAA Track and Field Championships Saturday.

She just missed as a sophomore, and last year as a junior she dropped out of the race.

“Last year was really, really hard,” Laudermilch said. “To come here today, and just to be able to battle through a lot of memories, and a lot of brokenness was really huge - it just says how much I’ve grown over the past year.”

Laudermilch was 10th after the first lap, then moved into sixth on her third lap. 

She fell back to seventh with three laps to go, then moved back up to sixth on the bell lap. 

Her final lap she held off Fort Cherry’s Emily Frankovich by two seconds to take seventh, and over 13 seconds ahead of ninth place.

“My plan was to just do 40’s the whole time,” explained Laudermilch. “I don’t know when I feel off the most, but my main goal was to not go out too fast because I went out too fast for the mile, and then really felt it, so my goal was to not go out too fast, and I did that. But then, instead of keeping in my 40’s, I think I gaged out with other people and fell back, which is kind of frustrating, but I also battled a lot mentally during that race, and that’s what I’m most proud of. The time is the time, the place is the place, but I what I overcame during that race is something that I’ll always be proud of.”

Laudermilch wasn’t focused on place and time, which she felt hurt her in last year’s race, but instead focused inwardly.

“I kind of roughly knew where I was, but mentally I was going through a lot of feeling, and really talking truth over myself, so I wasn’t focused on that. I was focusing on the truth that my people have spoken, the truth that Jesus speaks over me, and aligning that truth with my life, and racing out of that truth instead of racing out of fear.”

Laudermilch finished her high school career by taking 19th in the 800 in 2:24.97.

Going forward Laudermilch is going to keep the mindset she’s had her senior season.

“I think the number one thing I’ll focus on is continuing to believe in myself, to trust in God, to lean on my people,” she said. “I think that this year was really a testament of what happens when I lean on people. I had some pretty amazing people, from my parents, my siblings, I got in touch with some people that it was clear that God just brought them into my life. My private coaches, they have just spoken so much life into me, and they’ve always believe in me, and that’s been really big this year because this year was a lot of healing, and a lot of growth that had happened. I’m a different person because of that, and I’m a different person than I was my freshman year, a different person than I was as a sophomore, a very different person than I was as a junior. I really just wanted to let my older self lead my younger self, and say, ‘hey, we can grow up from what happened last year, and we can be a stronger, more holistic person.’ That’s what I was.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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