2001 Women’s Track and Field Outlook |
East Stroudsburg women's track and field returns eight athletes who combined to score 77 points in last year's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championships.
And now all those point-scorers are older and more experienced and they will be joined by some talented newcomers. "This should be the best women's track and field team in the school's history," claims 15-year coach Joe Koch. "We should be in the mix for the conference title along with Kutztown, Lock Haven and Slippery Rock. Whichever team puts it together that day will win," he said. The Warriors' best finish in women's track conference competition was second in 1979, 1980 and 1982. They placed fourth of the 14 PSAC schools last year. All four members of the school's conference championship 4 x 400-meter relay team return in Cheryl Griffin, Shavanna Ross, Jenn Eye and Jackie Babbini. They turned in a school and conference record time of 3:51.99. Griffin also placed second in both the 100 and 200-meter dashes and broke school records in both events with times of 12.14 and 24.59, respectively.
The Warriors had three other conference runners-up. Ross was second in the 400 hurdles in a school-record 61.39 and qualified for the NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships but did not place. Jester was second in the triple jump at 38-9 1/2, also a school record, and tied for second in the high jump with teammate Kelli Strickler at 5-3 1/4. Strickler was runner-up in the heptathlon with 4,211 points, best ever at the school. Jenn Grubb finished third in the javelin throw at 141-5 and went on to place fifth in the NCAA nationals with a school-record 146-7 to gain All-America honors. Christel Hibbard rounded out the place-winner with a fifth in the 3,000-meter run.^M There are seven other letter-winners returning including one former PSAC place-winner in Brooke Garman, sixth in the heptathlon in 1999. Also back are sprinter Diane Portzline, sprinter-jumper Becky Fitz, middle distance runners Heather Bjorndahl and Melissa Werner, distance runner Danielle Centurione and thrower Marissa Gynn. Bjorndahl missed by 2/100th of a second making the conference finals in the 800-meter run last year. Fitz was on the 4 x 100-meter relay team which was one of the PSAC favorites, but was disqualified. The freshman group is headed by Angela Gray, a sub-60.0 quarter miler who won the 400 at the Bucknell Invitational in December. Other top newcomers include Steph Hippman, a state place-winner in the javelin; pole vaulters Hollie Smith, Kristen Lautenbocher and Katie Washburn, all of whom could threaten the school, and distance runners Nicole Royer and Erin Coyne.^M The team's best event could be the high jump with Jester, Strickler and Ross and the javelin with Grube, Babbini and Hippman Koch feels all the events are the covered with the possible exception of the shot put and discus. There is one new women's event, the 3,000- meter steeplechase in which he plans to try Hibbard, Centurione and Stacey Gallagher.^M "We have a lot of potential conference champions and national qualifiers, but there isn't much depth behind them so we'll have to stay away from injuries," said Koch. "If we stay healthy, this team and these athletes have the ability to be remembered as the best in the school's history," he stressed. With an All-America and seven Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference place-winners back, East Stroudsburg could have the best women's track and field team in the school's history, says Coach Joe Koch.