All-15th anniversary girls dual team unveiled

To cap a two‑part series, Chris Lillstrung unveils his all‑15th anniversary area high school girls track and field dual team by event, headlined by Euclid great and four‑time D‑I 400 state champ Jessica Beard.

Last week, to mark 15 years covering area high school track and field for The NewsHerald, I picked an all-anniversary area boys dual team by event.

This week, it’s time for the girls side of the mix.

If selecting a boys team was a walk in the park, paring down the girls team was like a hike through the most remote mountainous terrain.

I have a tendency in my work to refer to our area’s best athletes at their craft as hammers. Well, in this instance, it’s the equivalent of a Home Depot aisle.

Before I share my girls selections, a few caveats, admittedly repeating some things to ensure we’re on the same page: • Read the disclaimer. • The premise: If I could take any area track and field athlete since 2003, at the height of their high school career, and use them in a mythical dual, who would I trust to finish the job by event?

• This is News-Herald coverage area schools only — not the entirety of Greater Cleveland. So, yes, Collinwood was fun to watch in the 2000s. Shaker Heights 400 runners Shaniqua McGinnis and Naleta Andrews were great. Solon has had its share of talent across the facility, and Orange’s Jasmine Harris was an outstanding hurdler. But those schools and the rest of Greater Cleveland are not part of this.

• There are exceptions to every rule, and this caused some controversy among my boys selections with some reasonable points being made. But I stand by the fact, in order to make this list, you had to qualify for state at least once in an individual event or been a key cog on a state-placing relay.

• If you’re the area record-holder, suffice to say you have a spot.

• Beaumont was added to our coverage area in 2009. It’s not fair to Beaumont, or to the rest of the area, to retroactively call Aareon Payne or Emily Infeld area athletes when they weren’t. So only Blue Streaks standouts from 2009 on were considered.

Here’s my list: SHOT PUT: >> Rashida Harris, Euclid and Gianna DiPippo, Mayfield DISCUS >> Kristi Welty, North and Kendra Zbinovec, NDCL POLE VAULT >> Ally Thompson, Geneva and Audrey Rabe, West Geauga LONG JUMP >> Chantel Richardson, West Geauga and Tamica Harbour, Euclid HIGH JUMP >> Katelyn Williams, West Geauga and Heather Palmer, Euclid 4X800 >> Rachel Banks, Chardon, Bekka Simko, Gilmour, Brittany Aveni, Geneva, Jessica Beard, Euclid 100 HURDLES >> Chantel Richardson, West Geauga and Je’Rica Sanders, Lake Catholic 100 >> Taylor Jackson and Candace Longino-Thomas, Gilmour 4X200 >> Mia Cannata, Beaumont, Caisja Chandler, Euclid, Monique Dowell, Brush, Brook Turner, Hawken 1,600 >> Bekka Simko, Gilmour and Abbie Clifford, Perry 4X100 >> Ericka Davis, Brush, Brittni Mason, West Geauga, Mia Knight, Beachwood, Taylor Jackson, Gilmour 400 >> Jessica Beard, Euclid and Stephanie Ferrante, Chardon 300 HURDLES >> Je’Rica Sanders, Lake Catholic and Hannah Cope, Mentor 800 >> Brittany Aveni, Geneva and Rachel Banks, Chardon 200 >> Candace LonginoThomas, Gilmour and Stephanie Ferrante, Chardon 3,200 >> Leah Roter, Beachwood and Ally Markovich, Hawken 4X400 >> Frances Bull, Lake Catholic, Emma Lane, Mentor, Stephanie Ferrante, Chardon, Jessica Beard, Euclid

• Pole vault is a rapidly evolving event. While, for example, Kristen Olds was a state champion for Perry, it wasn’t until the last few years we began seeing 12s and above. Rabe traded the area record with Thompson and got the second nod.

• In a dual-meet context, and with the depth available, I don’t have anyone doing four events. Let the all-time hammers be focused and do their best work in their best events. Why stretch them too far?

• That 4x8 is absurd. It’s, in order, the former area record-holder and a state champion (Banks), the winningest girls track and field state champion ever from our area (Simko), the area recordholder and a state champion (Aveni) and the area’s best female track and field athlete of all time (Beard). I would be disappointed if they didn’t go at least 8:55.

• The quality in sprints allows for Jackson and Longino-Thomas to not have to do both sprint relays. Chandler and Knight are among a select few currently in high school who made the list, but I believe their big-meet ability and times justify their place.

• Simko may be the most versatile athlete on the list, comfortable in anything from 200 to 3,200. For this exercise, we’ll allow her to concentrate on mile with low-5 ability and rock 4x8.

• Hurdles was a little tough with the deep sub-15 100s and sub-46 300s at my disposal. Sanders was an all-timer in both, and Cope was well ahead of her time with her hurdles ability.

• It’s hard to see a way in which 3,200 could be argued, with what Roter has done this year taking the event regularly to sub-11 territory never seen before in this area and Markovich’s innate knack for delivering in the event when it mattered.

• If 4x8 is absurd, 4x4 isn’t far behind. Give me Bull’s tenacity to pop 4x4 into a Lane technical masterclass, followed by Ferrante’s pure power. And then, of course, no one in the last 15 years should have the baton in their hand to close the meet other than Beard.

There may be some arguments here and there, but one thing is for sure: This group would vanquish any foe, hammers that bridge generations locally.