by Frank Aceto
Associate Sports Editor
It's a battle for second in the first-year Northeast Ohio Conference River Division.
Just ask Cuyahoga Falls second-year head girls track and field coach Dan Scourfield.
"Twinsburg is loaded," he said. "I think Twinsburg is going to be the favorite."
Twinsburg finished 7-0 in the final year of the Western Reserve Conference. The Lady Black Tigers finished seventh.
The two teams will be rivals in the new NOC River Division. Other division foes include former WRC opponents Brush, Mayfield, Nordonia and Stow-Munroe Falls.
Falls lost three key performers to graduation. They are thrower Lauren Noe, a regional performer in 2007, hurdler Erin Childers and sprinter Emily Stroup.
The Lady Black Tigers' top distance runner, however, is back. Senior Chrissy Zimmermann hopes to contribute in either the 400-, 800-, 1,600- or 3,200-meter races. She recently finished sixth in the 800 race at an indoor state track meet in Akron.
Other returnees include senior thrower Rachel King (thrower); junior distance runners Lindsay Marion and Michelle Porter; and sophomore distance runners Mackenzie Hendrock and Chelsey Bruce.
The hurdlers consist of juniors Ariell Akel and Kaitlin Jereb; and sophomores Kelly Whittaker and Ivy Meloy, who also will compete in the high jump.
"I think we'll be pretty strong in the hurdles even though we lost Erin," Scourfield said.
Akel also will compete in the high jump and the pole vault. She just missed qualifying to regionals in the high jump last year.
The other pole vaulter is freshman Haleigh Bartlett.
"She looks great," Scourfield said. "We're really excited about her."
The other thrower is Katy Roth. Sprinters include juniors Alex Taylor and Jaimee Post; sophomores Hannah King and Emily Mariani; and freshman Timmyra Morrow.
"Our sprinters are a little young and inexperienced, but we like our talent," Scourfield said.
Scourfield's assistants are 2002 Falls graduates Joe Taylor (sprinters) and Andrea VanBuskirk (distance), 2004 Falls graduate Jeremy Glass (throwers), Don Noe (throwers) and pole vault coaches Allison Bragger, Mike Wirick and Tom Priesse.
The Lady Black Tigers are scheduled to make their debut against Akron Firestone April 3 at Laybourne Sports Complex. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m.
They are scheduled to visit Western Reserve Academy in Hudson for the Longstreth Relays April 5 at 10 a.m.
E-mail: faceto@recordpub.com
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