Bethel Park sprinter breaking records
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Artemis Conaboy grits out a victory in the 100-meter dash during a recent triangular meet with Peters Township and Baldwin. This spring, the Bethel Park junior has shattered both the 100 and 400-meter school records. She is on the cusp of also breaking the school mark in the 200 event.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Artemis Conaboy stretches out after winning her races during a recent track meet. The Bethel Park junior has shattered long-standing school records in the 100- and 400-meter dashes this spring. She also is on track to own the school mark in the 200 as well.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Artemis Conaboy stretches out after winning her races during a recent track meet. The Bethel Park junior has shattered long-standing school records in the 100- and 400-dashes this spring. She is also on track to own the school mark in the 200 as well.
Track records continue to fall at Bethel Park High School this spring, and Artemis Conaboy is responsible for many of the time drops.
Just a junior, she shattered long-standing marks in the 100- and 400-meter dashes, and she is closing in on standard in the 200.
“Artemis has done really well this year,” said BP track coach Scott Steranko. “Her work ethic makes her so good. She’s a great kid. Always attending practice. Always training real hard.”
A rigorous offseason prepared Conaboy. She made significant strides after a successful indoor season in the winter, where she qualified for national championships for the second year in a row, as well as after a highly competitive outdoor soccer campaign with the Lady Hawks in the fall.
Conaboy opened the 2023 spring track season by shattering the 400-meter mark at the Mt. Lebanon Invitational. She smashed the 49-year-old school record set by Janice Irwin with a blistering time of 58.15.
The record came as a surprise to Conaboy because she wasn’t planning to run that race. At the last minute, she was asked to compete.
“I just felt fast. Around 30 meters, I made my move. When I crossed the finish line, I felt good,” she said.
“I was like so excited about the record because I was working so hard in indoor and I kept getting the same consistent times. I was so frustrated because I wanted that 58. When I was told I got the record, I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been waiting the whole season for this.”
Conaboy didn’t have to wait long for faster times.
She continued her hot streak in the event, lowering her mark to 57.71 by placing third at the TSTCA Championships held at West Mifflin.
Conaboy also combined with Lauren Heh, Jenna Lang and Sadie Orie to win the gold medal in the 4×400 relay. The unit broke the school record that had stood since 1977. A time of 3:59.11 also qualified the foursome for the New Balance Outdoor Nationals to be held in June at the University of Pennsylvania’s legendary Franklin Field.
On April 12, again at Mt. Lebanon during a triangular meet, Conaboy eclipsed the school record in the 100-meter dash. She clocked a 12.48, shaving six-hundreds of a second off the previous record of 12:54 set by Melanie Denson in 1993.
At Mt. Lebanon, Conaboy came close to beating the 200 record of 25:74 set by Toni Jackson in 1977 when she ran a 25.84 time.
“The goal is to get the 200 record when weather conditions improve,” Steranko said. “Artemis will have the 100, 200 and 400 records and will be the GOAT then.”
Because she was consistently running 59 and 60 seconds in the 400 indoors, Steranko anticipated Conaboy would easily drop two seconds once the outdoor season started. Expectations are for her to running a high 56 or low 57 by the end of the season.
Abbie Huey from Indiana is the defending WPIAL champion. As a junior last spring, she won the 400 in 56.90. Conaboy finished fifth with a time of 60.13
“Abbie is very talented and there are some other real good girls in the 400,” Steranko said. “We are hoping for Artemis to continue to get better, be top 3 in the WPIAL and then go on and run well at states. We’d like to see her qualify in other events and with the relay. We have some talented, hard-working girls in that group. They have been running a lot.”
Conaboy runs a lot because she also plays soccer for the Lady Hawks, just like Heh. Orie plays on the basketball team and Lang is also a standout in cross country.
Conaboy started playing soccer around age 3 with the recreation programs in the community. She picked up track as a seventh-grade middle school student.
“When I first started playing soccer, I hated it. I told my dad, I don’t like sports. I don’t want to do this but he and my mom were very encouraging. They told me to believe and once I did I was okay,” said the daughter of Thomas and Vickie Conaboy.
“Soccer and track help each other.”
“Soccer taught me a lot about short sprints and bursts of energy. Snap and you go,” she continued.
“So in track, I have that speed because I’m chasing after a ball all the time. Not only does it help my sprints but it helps my endurance because I am running a lot.”
This winter, she did not play indoor soccer. Rather, she focused on track. That enabled Conaboy to experience her breakthrough this spring.
“We worked really hard. On an indoor track, there are a lot of turns. Instead of four turns outdoors, there are eight,” she noted. “Those can really mess up your speeds or getting caught behind people. Outdoors, it like a whole new day. The sun. The air. And a lot more leg room. So, I can run full out,” she said.
Conaboy’s workouts are grueling. She does plenty of 200 sprints to build strength. The repeats enable her to fight through the last 100 meters of any event.
“So I have that kick at the very end,” she explained.
In May, Conaboy anticipates kicking it up a notch. She must be in her highest gear for the WPIAL Championships set May 17 at Slippery Rock University. Only the top finishers and those meeting the state qualifying standards advance to the PIAA Championships set for May 26-27 at Seth Grove Stadium on the Shippensburg University campus.
It promises to be a busy Memorial Day weekend for at least two Lady Hawks as both Conaboy and Lang have qualified for states in the past. However, this year’s PIAA qualifiers fall on the day of the Bethel Park High School prom.
“It’s a dilemma. We have to figure it out,” Conaboy said. “Jenna and I plan to go up and run and come back home (for the prom) and then go back up again. Jenna’s runs are in the morning and mine are a lunch time.
“As seniors, next year, Jenna and I plan to get on the prom committee and make sure there are no conflicts, Conaboy said.
Off the track and pitch, Conaboy is a busy lady. She maintains a 4.5 GPA in the classroom. She is vice president of the Best Buddies Club and should be president next year. She was recently inducted into the National Honor Society and is a member of Student Government and the Interact Club.
In her spare time, she is a sales associate for OFFLINE By Aerie Collection at South Hills Village Mall and belongs to the youth group at the Greek Orthodox Church in Mt. Lebanon.
“I have so much going on,” she admitted. “My parents say that I never sleep, but I do. You just have to make priorities.”
Conaboy’s primary objective next year is to earn an athletic scholarship. She is interested in track because she can compete at the Division II level but she has interest from D-III schools where she could participate in both sports. She wants to become a teacher and plans to major in education.
“I want to come back here. Teach and coach,” she said. “I love Bethel Park. I honestly do. I love where I am at. I love my family, my friends. I love this community.”
Steranka wouldn’t mind having Conaboy on his staff.
“She’s very coachable,” he said. “She listens to everybody and takes it all in. Just the strides I have seen her make, how well she is doing and competing, particularly at the national level, makes me believe that she is just coming into her own.
“Artemis will do fine no matter where she goes to college. Keeping her local would be even better but we encourage them to go where they want. Since she wants to be a teacher and a coach, we would love for her to stay local and come back here.”
Who is she: A junior that has broken long-standing sprinting records at Bethel Park.
Parents: Thomas and Vickie. He was a standout athlete in in wrestling and baseball at South Allegheny before attending Duquesne University and IUP to earn his college degree. She is a Bethel Park graduate.
Siblings: Michael. He played football and ran track at Bethel.
Sports: Track, soccer
GPA: 4.5
College choices: Offers from Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schools such as Seton Hill, Slippery Rock and IUP as well as Division III interest from schools like Washington and Jefferson College.
Career goals: Become a teacher and coach.
Best book: Kite Runner. “It was awesome. I like non-fiction, too. I really enjoyed “Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy”
Favorite food: “I am a big pasta eater but I love Sushi. I can’t eat it before a race. The last time I ate stuffed peppers, I ran real well. It’s usually yogurt or Cheerios before a run.”
Restaurant: Little Tokyo
Dream Destination: Rome. “I want to see the Coliseum because I have heard so many stories about it, like how they filled it with water.”
People might be surprised to know this about you: “I took Latin for three years. It helps in my English classes but it’s way harder than any of my other courses.”
Life lesson sports has taught: Be reliable and communication. There are so many different people and different things going on with team sports, that you need to stay in the loop and be reliable, especially if you are a captain. You never want to be the only person to not know what’s going on.”