The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)

Comet Relays

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One thing is for certain when it comes to the Avon Lake girls track team: They are really young.

But the Shoregals still boast a rock solid 74 members, and for head coach Jeff Arra, he isn’t viewing the youth movement as an excuse to not perform.

He still wants to see progress throughout the season.

“We’ve known for the last couple of years that we were going to be young,” Arra said. “We’re switching things around even now where we have a couple of girls that are great athletes and compete in a few sports.”

“We’re only graduating six seniors on the girls side,” Arra said. “And with as many members as we have, that’s a lot of youth. Our relays are dominated by freshmen and sophomores. We think we have some spots to fill.”

Arra has nothing to worry about with senior thrower Victoria Harper, a state qualifier in the discus a year ago. But after finishing sixth in the Southweste­rn Conference last season and sixth in the Division I Amherst District, trying to compete with Berea-Midpark and Amherst is a tall order, considerin­g those teams have over 100 girls on their rosters.

Freshman Emma Sherban is a long distance runner, and ran a 5:40 in her first mile race at the varsity level. Sherban has nursed a foot injury but Arra expects her to do well down the stretch of the season.

In the pole vault, junior Anna Robinson jumped a 10-6 at the Comet Relays on April 22 and is another athlete who could have a strong finish to the season.

Sophomore Amber Achladis is strong in the 300 hurdles and is aiming to break a sub-50 time this season. Achladis’ mother is a head coach at Rocky River, and her brother Ted Achladis, qualified for the state finals in both the shot put and discus last season at Elyria Catholic.

“Amber is such a hard worker,” Arra said. “It’s tough because she also plays soccer and basketball and then she jumps into track without having the winter to work on things like the other girls. But she’s such a competitor.”

When Arra looks back at the season in June, the main thing he’s hoping to see is the Shoregals scoring in every event at the Southweste­rn Conference championsh­ips.

“It’s a tall order because there are some great teams,” he said. “And our conference has only gotten tougher during the 10 years I’ve been a high school coach.”

Here are some notable finishes that weren’t mentioned in coverage at the Comet Relays on April 22.

• Amherst’s 4x100 meter shuttle hurdle team of Mariah Shorts, Kerey Babinsky, Sarah Wiegan and Macy Dimacchia placed fifth (1:12.26). And Michael Shorts placed fourth in the 110 hurdles (15.87).

• Midview junior Ben Gendics placed fifth in the 100 (11.55).

“We’ve known for the last couple of years that we were going to be young.”

— Avon Lake coach Jeff Arra

• Westlake sophomore Eliza Steinman placed fourth individual­ly in the pole vault (10-6) and Avon Lake’s Anna Robinson did so as well. The Demons’ Q’Darr Robinson was fifth individual­ly in the long jump (20-3.75).

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