Bungo Sends a Message to the City of Brotherly Love: 'I'll Be Back'

Call it a scouting trip, a precursor of things to come, or what ever you'd like, one thing is for certain, senior Caitlin Bungo’s trip to historic Franklin Field for the 118th running of the Penn Relays gave Philadelphia track and field fans a taste of what they have to look forward to.

Bungo, who will be attending the nearby Villanova University in the fall, took the track Thursday night in the Championship of America 3,000-meter run. She ran alongside the most elite field of 25 assembled this year in the United States including Jamaica and Ontario, Canada.

Bungo, throughout her time at Sewickley Academy, was a soccer player who also participated in track and field before deciding to take up cross country last year. She's been sprinting fast ever since.

The diminutive 18-year-old from Gibsonia, who made the five-hour trek to compete with best in the country, did not disappoint as she battled early on for the lead before getting snarled in traffic that closely resembled what the average Philadelphian endures each day on the Schuylkil Expressway during their morning commute.

“I have been to Philadelphia a couple of times visiting Villanova,” said Bungo, who spent the day Friday taking in some sites before heading back home. “Wow what a group of runners, it was a fine line not to go out too fast, yet not get left behind, I felt really good early but then I just kind of got caught up in the traffic.”

Bungo battled her way to the fifth place spot at the 2,000-meter mark, until she was shuffled back as Lake Braddock teammates Sophie Chase and Hannah Christen set a blistering pace, leaving Bungo to finish 22nd overall with a time of 10:08.30.

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t sprint out in the beginning, because you have to have something left in the late stages of the race,” Bungo said. “When it was time to make the move, there were just too many people to get around and the front group had moved away from the field.”

“This has been an amazing experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the word,” said Bungo, a future Wildcat, who coincidently enough wore the number 13, as she did in soccer.

“Hopefully I get a chance over the next few years to run here in this event again, to hear more than 20,000 people cheering and going crazy is almost surreal.”

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Some of the world's best runners are competing today as part of USA versus the World day at Franklin Field. NBC is broadcasting the Olympic-level events from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

High School Girls' 3,000 Meter Championship

9:42.92

Meghan McGovern

Jaimie Phelan

Amy Darlington

Oakton (Vienna, VA)

Winters Mill (Westminster, MD)

10:01.91

Durham (Durham, NC)