Saturday, April 23, 2011
Girls team builds on youth
By Greg Gulas
The Boardman girls track team returns 49 hopefuls with 15 letterwinners also returning from a season ago. Gorski enters her 29th year as head coach of the Lady Spartans and her 33rd overall with the program.
She will be assisted by distance coach Bruce Breunig, jumps coach Glenn Sivak, hurdles coach John DePietro, throwing coach Tim Swartz, vault coach George Mavrikis and sprint coach Carrie Davis.
“We have many shoes to fill of the 23 departed seniors from a season ago. Last year, we won the county meet for the 10th year in a row and won the district title for the first time since 2004. We have a young team that is working very hard and has a lot of heart. We just need to develop depth in several key areas,” said Gorski.
Eight seniors lead the way, including Sarah Craven, Shelby Dofka, Chelsea Dunn, Emily Gabriele, Katie Heney, Anne Kandray, Carissa Plourde and Nicole Vlad.
There are 11 juniors, 17 sophomores and 13 freshmen rounding out the roster. Her biggest challenge will be filling the gaps created by the loss of 23 seniors from last year’s county and district championship team.
Leading the way in the hurdle events will be Vlad in the 100 and 300; Dunn in the 300s; junior Gina Devicchio and freshman Gianna Napoli. The sprint group will be led by Vlad and junior Lesley Koch; two returners from the state-qualifying and school record breaking 4x100 relay unit.
Adding depth in the sprints are junior Carissa Plourde and sophomores Julia Barnett and Christina Claybrook. Freshman Nicole Hilliard will make an immediate impact in the short sprints. Freshman Morgan Hambrick will also challenge in the sprints and will be one of the top high jumpers, along with Claybrook.
In the distance events, Tori Moore and Sydni Ogilvie will be the pacesetters in the middle distance events with Katie Heney, Daisy Corso, Kaitlyn Emery and Audrey Keleman among those in the long distance events. Newcomers Emma Schwendeman, Brandi Gatte, Breanna Gatte and Tony Triglia will give added depth in the distance events.
The long jump will be led by Plourde and freshman Taylor Romeo, while the pole vault returns three veterans: Dofka, junior Jen Bresnahan and sophomore Sarina Mauerman
The throwers include junior Megan Howard and sophomores Katrina Watkins, Giovanna Silvestri, Daisy Robinson and Jenni Burnett.
“The Federal League is once again very strong and I expect North Canton Hoover, Canton GlenOak and Austintown Fitch to be the front runners.” Gorski stated.