SLIPPERY ROCK - Two years ago, Abby Basta watched Melissa Sopher run the hurdles events at Slippery Rock High School.

A junior high student at the time, Basta was in awe of Sopher's grace. She was enthralled by how smooth and effortless Sopher appeared as she cruised to state titles and school records.

Hurdling in Basta's future? Forget it.

"There was no way I thought I'd ever do that," she said.

Basta, now a sophomore on the Rockets girls track team, is doing it - and doing it well.

Basta has won the 100-meter and the 300-meter hurdles events at nearly every meet this season. Her time of 16.68 seconds in the 100 hurdles is good enough for second in Butler County, and her time of 50.5 in the 300 hurdles is third in the county.

Those times and her success have taken Basta by surprise, particularly when she thinks about her inauspicious start in the events last year.

"I was horrible," Basta said. "I'm still a bad hurdler. I admit it. I had a couple of falls, and I didn't really have a leg left when I was done at the first meet.

"But once you fall, you're not scared anymore."

Basta is still struggling with her technique. But what she lacks in that area, she makes up for with her will, tenacity and strength.

Slippery Rock hurdling coach Tom Meling, who first convinced Basta to compete in the events, said Basta's biggest asset is her pit-bull quality.

"With Abby, it's like, 'I'm a fullback and I'm going through the line,'" Meling said. "She's a strong, powerful runner. She's almost the complete opposite of Melissa."

That makes Basta a rare breed in the hurdling events, where technique usually reigns supreme and brute strength in rewarded with bruises and lacerations.

But Basta is relatively new at hurdling. She started running the event as a freshman last year and was thrust into the role as the top hurdler.

"Abby will run through a hurdle if she has to," Meling said. "Abby and Melissa are like Walter Payton and Gale Sayers. Melissa is like Gale Sayers because once she was in the open, she was gone. Abby is like Payton because she may not run away from you, but she'll run over you.

"She just guts it out and powers through it."

Basta prefers a less physical approach with the hurdles and has worked hard at trying to hone her skills.

She still admits to being lost sometimes in the hurdling events.

"I'll be honest," she says, "I really don't know what I'm doing. I run those events different every time."

Meling tries not to compare Basta to Sopher, or put the pressure of living up to Sopher on Basta's back.

Meling, though, thinks Basta can approach Sopher's mark in the 100 hurdles.

"Melissa was a once-in-a-lifetime hurdler," Meling said. "If it wasn't for Melissa, Abby would have the school records.

"In the (100 hurdles), Abby could approach 15 flat, but it's going to take a major breakthrough in technique."

Another strength Basta has is her sprinting speed.

She has won every 200-meter dash event she has competed in this season as well as winning several 100-meter dash events.

She has won four events in two meets this season.

If Basta has one weakness in the sprinting events, it's her tendency to fall behind early.

"I like to chase people," Basta said. "When I see people in front of me, that's when I realize I'm in a race and better catch up."