Girard and Liberty High relays resume showdown in Dayton

The 4x100 squads will settle their year-long rivalry at this weekend's state meet.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Meet the Girard girls 4x100-meter relay team. Or, better yet, let freshman Cachet Murray introduce you.
"She's my head," Murray said, pointing to junior Jenny Sopkovich. "She's my mentor. She tells me what to do."
"She's my behind," Murray said, pointing to junior Stephanie Scarnecchia. "She's a great athlete."
Then pointed her thumb over at sophomore Erin Walters.
"And she's the lovable one -- the nut of the group," Murray said, adding, "I love them all."
They're the Indians' 4x100-meter relay team, which finished first at last weekend's Division II regional at Ravenna.
Finishing second was Liberty's 4x100 relay team of Jasmine Smith, Brittny Humphrey, Ami Markowitz and Jessica White.
For most of the season, Liberty was the better relay team. Now, no one's sure.
But they have one more meet to work it out because both qualified for this weekend's state track and field meet at Dayton's Welcome Stadium.
"It felt like we were never going to catch them," Walters said. "Every time we'd drop our time, they'd drop their time. To finally beat them going into state gives us some confidence."
They're also enjoying it. Each of them made stickers advertising their state berths to wear at school.
"We were walking around school with big smiles on our faces," Sopkovich said. "We're very excited."
All in the family
The two schools are friendly rivals, but they're definitely rivals. The two anchors, White and Murray, also are cousins and also will compete against each other in the 100 and 200.
"I'm the only one allowed to beat her and she's the only one allowed to beat me," Murray said of White. "We agreed to keep it in the family."
White, a junior, is the only one from the two schools who has run at state. For the past two years, she's made it in the 100, 200 and 400. Her best finish came as a freshman when she got second in the 200.
"I'm happy to have my teammates coming down with me this time," White, said. "I run faster in the relays anyway."
White will also run with Smith, Humphrey and Whitney Spence in the 4x200 relay, which they've only run for a few weeks.
Smith is struggling with a hip flexor, but is running through it.
"I shouldn't be running, but I'm helping my team out," Smith said. "Hopefully it will get better for state."
"We'd like to go down and win state," Humphrey added. "But if we can't, we'll do as well as we can do."
Markowitz has the added bonus of making it to state as a freshman. Are the other girls mentors?
"No, I wouldn't go that far," she said, laughing. "But they do make me run harder."
scalzo@vindy.com