There is a reason running events are conducted when they are at a track meet.

They are set up in what, to some, seems like a helter-skelter order to give athletes who specialize in certain areas a chance to rest and reload between races. It wouldn't make sense to have the 100- and 200-meter dashes right after each other because the same sprinters usually compete in both events.

The same is true for the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs. Distance runners wouldn't do a very good job in either if they had to run them back-to-back. So, the 1,600 is run near the start of the meet and the 3,200 near the end.

With that in mind, meet Kristen Lang, a junior at West Allegheny High School. Most of this season and last she has been competing in the 400-meter dash and the 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

What's the big deal?

Those two races are separated by just one event, the 400-meter relay, in a meet.

Understand, the 400 and the 300 intermediate hurdles are arguably the most grueling races in a high school meet. Running those two within 30 minutes of each other isn't like running the 100-meter dash and the 100-meter hurdles back to back. The dashes don't beat the body up the way the 400 and 300 hurdles can.

"It's really hard," Lang said. "After the 400 my legs feel like they weigh 500 pounds."

The amazing part of the unusual double is that Lang is outstanding at both races.

At the Midwestern Athletic Conference championships at Mars High School April 23, she won both races and set a meet record of 45.01 seconds in the 300 intermediates, the second of the two. Her time in the 400 that night was a solid 58.73 and she had to hold off Hopewell's Elise Farris in the final 80 meters.

Lang also ran the 200 at the MAC meet, placing second, and ran a leg on West Allegheny's winning 1,600-meter relay team. Not surprisingly, she was the girls' track MVP that night.

Lang competed in the same double at the Baldwin Invitational this past Friday with about the same results. She was third in the 400 in 58.35 and then turned around and won the 300 intermediate hurdles in a meet-record time of 44.15. The old record was 44.18 by Melissa Sopher of Slippery Rock in 2002.

"The 300 by far is my favorite," Lang said. "Some people say the 300s is the toughest race, but I love it."

West Allegheny coach James Hamilton is the one who decided Lang had the stamina to compete in the 400 and the 300 intermediates despite their closeness in the order of events.

"She's a tough individual," Hamilton said. "She probably didn't tell you that the week before the MAC meet she had strep throat, but it didn't seem to slow her down much. She's one of those individuals who can do just about everything well.

"When we asked her to run the 300s after doing the 400, I told her she could handle it. She's a total team player and just said 'Alright.'"

What impressed Hamilton at the MAC championships was that Lang helped set three meet records. Her time in the 400 bettered the old mark of 59.35 and West Allegheny's 1,600 relay bettered the record of 4:10.77 set by Mars in 2004.

He agrees the 300 intermediate hurdles is Lang's best race. She has the best time in it in the WPIAL this season. But her best 400-meter time is fourth best and her 200 time of 25.7 seconds is fifth best.

The WPIAL Class AAA individual championships are a week from today at Baldwin High School. In Tuesday's qualifier, Lang competed in the 300 hurdles and the 200 and qualified in both. She also ran a leg on the Indians 1,600 relay that qualified.

With record-setting victories at the MAC meet and Baldwin Invitational, Lang has stamped herself as the favorite to win the 300 intermediate hurdles at the Class AAA championships even though she didn't place in the event last year.

Track isn't the only sport she's involved in at West Allegheny. She's a setter on the volleyball team in the fall. But most of all she's a competitor.

"She's an interesting kid," Hamilton said. "She gets all giddy before big races. I tell her 'Don't get too excited.'"