Green girls track team looking forward to successful
season
By Jeff Gorman
GREEN — The Green High School girls track team is looking forward to improving from last year’s season.
Green finished 9-3 last year with a 4-3 mark in the Suburban League. Unfortunately, the Lady Bulldogs didn’t fare well in the postseason, placing seventh in the league meet.
“Allison Humbert, one of our top hurdlers, was out with a neck injury,” said Green coach Dan Gourley. “Then in the warmups for the league meet, we lost our top high jumper (Kaycee Pirogowicz) to a dislocated shoulder.”
Humbert is now a cheerleader at The Ohio State University, while Pirogowicz has transferred to Ellet High School.
In their absence, sophomore Kelsie Ahbe has emerged as one of Green’s top athletes.
“As a freshman, she won the 400 meters at the Suburban League meet,” said Gourley. “Ten minutes later, she ran the 800 meters for the first time and finished fourth.”
Ahbe has continued to excel at the beginning of this season.
“She is already pole vaulting 10 feet,” said Gourley. “She is also running the 100 meters in 12.66 seconds.”
Senior Carrie Kayes is another leader of the Green squad. She holds the state record in the pole vault at 12 feet, 9 inches. She set the mark in the regional meet and ended up fourth in the state.
Senior high jumper Jill Walter placed fifth in the district in her first two years before suffering an injury as a junior. She is also competing in the long jump this year.
Junior Dana Bachman has performed well in a variety of events for the Lady Bulldogs this year, including the high jump, sprint events and relays.
Senior Kayla Schleis is throwing the discus 100 feet and the shot put almost 33 feet. Freshman Betsie Maione is already high jumping 5 feet. She also competes in the pole vault. Other strong performers for Green include junior long jumper Kara Lamb, senior sprinter Lauren Dellosa and sophomore high jumper Bridget Linton.
Distance running is another strong suit for Green. Senior Carolyn Payne is returning to the track team for the first time since her freshman year. She is competing in the 1- and 2-mile runs, and she reached the regionals in cross country in the fall.
Other top distance runners include sophomore Leslie Schmidt and freshman Lauren Buser.
“We have a little of everything on this team,” said Gourley. “However, we don’t have much depth. I think we will have a tremendous season if we can go 5-2 in the Suburban League.”
Green is already off to a 2-0 start in the league. The Lady Bulldogs beat Tallmadge High School 98-38 March 27 and crushed Barberton High School 125-10 two days later.
The Lady Bulldogs will visit Highland High School April 10. “It will be an uphill battle,” he added. “Highland has a good team with some great girls. Cloverleaf and Revere [high schools] are very strong. Then there’s Copley and Wadsworth [high schools]. We have some tough teams ahead of us. We’ll see what happens.”
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