Mercersburg’s varsity winter track squad traveled to Ursinus College on Wednesday, December 12 to compete at the Hill Invitational.   The meet was the first on the winter slate.

On the women’s side, Mercersburg performed well in the field, sprints and distance events.  The 2007-2008 women’s team is the largest in winter track’s short history, with over twenty runners.  The mix of veterans and newcomers proved potent in the eleven-team field, racking up thirteen top-five finishes in the meet.  In the field, Paige Summers ’11 made a deep impact (pun intended) in the shot put with a 26’5.5” heave to place fifth.  This was her first meet with the heavier high school shot.  Asia Walker ’09, the Burg's all-time long jump record holder, started the season off well with a jump of 14' 10" which was long enough for a third place finish.

In the distance events, the 4x800m relay placed fifth with three team members running in their first ever track meet: Anika Kempe ’09, Ashley Irving ’09 and Sophia Buggisch ’10, joined by the experienced Lena Finucane ’09.   In the mile, senior Laura Diller placed fifth.  The 800m run was a big win for the Storm as fleet-footed Lena Finucane and Alicia Furnary ’09 finished first and second respectively!  Finishing up the distance, Paige Harry ‘10 and Mackenzie Riford ’11 (Herald Mail 1st Team cross country as a 9th grader) ran a steady 3k, placing fourth and fifth respectively, just ahead of teammate Sarah Duda ’10.  All three athletes were competing indoors for the first time!  Paige Harry is now the #1 winter 3k performer in the team’s brief history.

The sprints were also strong events for the Blue Storm as Asia Walker and Whitney Matthew ’08 began the season in blazing fashion, finishing second and third in the 55m dash, only separated by 1/100th of a second.  Both just missed the Pennsylvania state qualifying mark.  Matthew also grabbed second place in the 200m behind fantastic competition in an astounding early season 26.96 clocking, while Walker captured fifth place in that race.  The Storm ran three newcomers (to indoor track and to Mercersburg) in the 400m:  Deborah Adjibaba ’11, Kayleigh Kiser ’11 and Kristen Mazzei ’11.  The three girls ran fantastic races, led by Adjibaba in 64.09 (third place) and Kiser in 66.20 (fifth place).  Both the future and the present look bright with this trio.

Overall, several performances on the day met or exceeded the best ever by Mercersburg indoor track women.  The veterans demonstrated that they are ready to take it to another level this season, while the newcomers showed the talent and toughness that are needed to field an excellent track team.

--by coach Emory Mort