The girls track team has crossed the finish line after being in the top 10 consistently throughout the season. The only teams ahead of this powerhouse lineup were top five ranked teams that included Ridge and Franklin. This was something the Lady Raiders had to overcome due to the fact that they competed against those teams quite often throughout the season. Aside from this, the team had many strengths which allowed them to perform at their best.

“We were pretty balanced,” head coach Richard Refi explained. “We scored in sprints, distance, throws, and we went 1-2 in the triple jump at the sectional meet.”

This could only be accomplished by the strong lineup filled with seniors. In fact, the top performers were mostly all seniors. Seniors Stephanie Mauer, Paige Novak, Lauren Smith, Kelsey Vieira, and Gifty Adombire brought the talent, the personality, and the capability to bring the team success. Viera led the team by winning championships in the long triple jump while Novak proved she had what it takes when she won counties in the mile run. Adombire had a great season doing what she does best: throwing. Now that the top of lineup is not going to be returning for another, one tends to wonder who is going to be able to fill the void.

“They improve at all different kinds of rates so it’s hard to say,” Refi said. “We had seven freshmen letter this year which has never happened before.”

This amount of lettered freshmen is no small feat. Perhaps this will be a sign of things to come and incoming eighth graders will possibly continue the trend and break into varsity ranks next season.

Bringing it back to the present, sophomore Camille Aitcheson wowed the track world when she became the conference champ in the triple jump, indicating future potential to be in the team’s top three.

Some of the other accomplishments the girls had this year were placing second in the county relays, third in the county overall, fourth in the Skylands Conference, and fifth in their state sectional. These achievements fully met the team’s goals, being that it was simply to score as high as they could at every meet in which they participated in. With this strategy in mind, the Lady Raiders once again turned in another solid campaign.