by Steve Batko

Correspondent

It was a wake-up call and the Lady Tigers responded even amidst some injuries.

The Twinsburg girls track and field squad has been without key sprinters Kenya Garner (a senior with a back injury) and Lauren Macer (a junior who pulled a hamstring), but that hasn't slowed down Twinsburg, which captured the 22-team crown with 98 points at the 13th annual Poland Seminary Invitational April 26.

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy placed second at Poland with 87 points, followed by Reynoldsburg with 83.

The Lady Tigers also remained undefeated in the Northeast Ohio Conference at 3-0 with a 97.5-39.5 win at Stow-Munroe Falls April 23.

The Lady Tigers were scheduled to compete against Northeast Ohio Conference Lake Division rival Nordonia April 30, but results weren't available at press time. Twinsburg is set to host Lake foe Cuyahoga Falls May 7 at 4:30 p.m.

"At Stow, we had some concerns that a few of our athletes might be starting to become overconfident," said head coach Craig Taylor. "The girls responded with outstanding performances, many of which were individual personal records. One was a meet record and a freshman athlete [Jasmine Smith] was honored as the meet MVP [Most Valuable Performer] of the 2008 Poland Invitational."

Smith's heroics (four titles at Poland) aside, Taylor knows he has a gifted team that has some youth. He wants his squad to remain focused.

"We definitely have potential to send a few athletes to Columbus in June," he said. "However, keeping in mind that we are dealing with kids, sometimes you have to redraw that line in the sand and remind them not to step over

"More importantly, we talked about distractions and remaining focused on our goals," he added. "Again, I believe the response was reflected in their performances."

At Poland, Hudson placed fourth (62), followed by Poland (35), Warren Harding (34) and Austintown Fitch (25).

Smith won the open 400-meter race, the 200 and ran in the champion 800 and 1,600 relays.

"Jasmine had a great meet as just a freshman," said Taylor.

Smith's time in the 400 was 56.93 seconds while she ran a 25.78 in the 200 as she beat Harding star Shanae Butler (26.67) and CVCA's Jeannette Pettigrew (26.79). In the preliminaries, Smith had a 25.5.

The Lady Tigers 800 relay broke the meet record set by GlenOak in 2006 (1:43.81). The team's time was 1:42.1 as Twinsburg won by more than three seconds.

Smith ran the anchor leg in the 800 relay that also included senior Melissa Pickett and freshmen Samantha Eberman and Taylor Coghlan. The 1,600 relay included Pickett, senior Danielle Kirkpatrick, and Eberman. Their time was 4:05.85.

Eberman won the 300 hurdles (46.71) over Chaney freshman sensation Shatasia Walker (46.81).

Kirkpatrick placed second overall in the 1,600 (5:22.63) and 800 (2:22.40).

Sophomore Jasmine Wilson placed second (16.64) as the eighth seed in the finals of the 100 hurdles.

Pickett had a strong meet as she was third in the 400 (58.66). The 400 relay also was third (50.81) with sophomore Amber Dudley, junior Sydnee Carter, freshman LaDawn Manuel and Coghlan. The 3,200 relay was fifth (9:46.2) behind juniors Jessica D'Isidoro and Missy Boyes, sophomore Amanda Marlow and senior Kelley Fox.

Senior Ashley Davis placed seventh in the shot put with a toss of 45 feet, 4.5 inches. Coghlan ran seventh in the 100 (12.99) and Wilson was eighth in the 300 hurdles (52.02).

"Right now, we have been fortunate as far as not having any serious injuries; however, our schedule continues to get much tougher each week," said Taylor.

Twinsburg is scheduled to compete in the May 3 28th annual Austintown Fitch Optimist Invitational (9:15 a.m.).

"The Optimist will be a great test for us and will enable us to guage where we currently are and where we need to improve," Taylor said. "We made some great strides, but we can't back off. We must continue to improve each week to achieve our postseason goals."

In the win over Stow, the 3,200 relay of D'Isidoro, Smith, Pickett and Boyes beat a strong Bulldog unit. Davis won the shot put (34-5) and junior Lauren Sowell captured the discus (85-10).

Junior Taylor Brown won the 100 (12.4) while the 800 relay won (1:47.26) with senior Amanda Buck, senior Brittany Buck, Eberman and Smith. Brown, Pickett, Carter and Coghlan comprised the winning 400 relay (49.7).

Kaitlyn Sandercock, a junior, captured the pole vault with an effort of 9 feet. Smith also won the 400 (58.9) and the 200 (25.5). Eberman placed first in the 300 hurdles (48.3) as did Wilson in the 100 hurdles (17.8), while the 1,600 relay won (4:14.65) behind the Buck twins, Dudley and Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick ran into Stow's gifted distance runner Abby Koch. Kirkpatrick had a pair of seconds in the 800 (2:24.4) and 1,600 (5:25.3).

Junior Miani Reamer was second in the 100 hurdles (18.2) and sophomore Joy Floyd had a good toss of 31-10 in the shot put for second. Davis and senior Kristen Boyd went second and third, respectively, in the discus. Freshman Noelle Brunett was third in the shot.

Pickett ran to a second in the 400 (1:01.2) and third in the 200, just behind Brown (25.8). Coghlan was second in the 100 (12.8) and Brittany Buck placed third in the 400.

Carter finished second in the long jump (15-5.5) while Marlow was second in the 3,200 (13:02.2).

Freshman Emily Garred was third in the high jump (4-10) as was Manual in the long jump (15-0). D'Isidoro ran third in the 800 and Dudley was third in the 100 hurdles.

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