Apr 23, 2003 By Jim Downey 4 min read

The Fillies moved one meet closer to another Section 2-AAA title on a cold, blustery Tuesday afternoon with a close 80-70 win over visiting Connellsville. The two squads entered as the last remaining undefeated teams in the section. Laurel Highlands (6-0, 7-0) will host Uniontown Thursday at 4:15 p.m. with the opportunity to take the outright title. Connellsville (5-1, 6-3) needs to defeat Albert Gallatin Thursday to clinch a berth in the team playoffs.

Track coaches plan out the eventual finish of a meet, though, according to Laurel Highlands girls coach Ron Morris, rarely do the results pan out as planned.

“No meet goes as you plan. In general terms, it went like I thought it would. Connellsville is strong in the field and we are strong on the track. You can never accurately predict how the events go,” Morris explained.

One performer who carries out the master plan is senior distance runner Mikie Monaghan. Monaghan won the 3,200 (11:53), 1,600 (5:27) and 800 (2:29.8). She capped her nearly four-mile day with the anchor leg of the victorious 1,600 relay team of Danielle LaPresta, Molly Macioce and Deena Blanc.

Emily Bota also received her coach’s praise with her first place finishes in the 100 (12.9) and 200 (27.4), edging Connellsville freshman Lasasha Taulton in both races. Bota also ran the second leg of the winning 400 relay team.

“Mikie had a super, super day. Emily had an excellent day,” Morris said.

Taulton also chased down LaPresta in the 400, but the Fillies middle-distance runner held off the late charge to win in 1:01.0, just .2 seconds ahead of Taulton.

“Danielle coming down the stretch of the 400 took a lot of courage and determination,” praised Morris.

Laurel Highlands won all three relays, though Connellsville held the edge in individual first places, 8-7. Morris again stressed the importance of second and third places.

“We made moves to try to counter Connellsville’s moves. We had an idea (Jaynece) Stafford and (Christine) Salandra would come back and have an impact. It’s meets like this that show the importance of second and third places,” Morris said.

Morris expected a tough day in the throws, but Diane Gmiter was a bright star by winning the shot put with a throw of 37 feet, 21/2 inches and placing second in the javelin. Connellsville’s Christine Roadman won the javelin (124-31/4) and discus (111-1) and was second in the shot put with the Lady Falcons’ Amanda Sines finishing third in both the discus and shot put.

One disappointing area on the field for Morris was in the jumping pits. Connellsville won all four events with Jen Rowan winning the triple and long jumps, Jaynece Stafford returning to win the high jump and Colleen McLaughlin vaulting to a first place.

The Fillies will have a busy week, though Morris believes his team will rise to the occasion against Uniontown as well as in Saturday’s county meet.

“It’s asking a lot, but the adrenaline starts pumping and miracles happen,” Morris said.

“I’d like to complement Connellsville. This is the most talented team I have ever faced as a coach. The Connellsville coaches are a class act. Jeff (Galand), Tim (Morris), Joe (Siecinski) and the other coaches do a tremendous job.”

Lauren McCormick gave the Lady Falcons a strong performance by winning the 100 high hurdles (16.9) and 300 intermediate hurdles (49.4) with a third place finish in the high jump.

Connellsville head coach Jeff Galand felt the girls gave a strong effort against a strong team.

“The girls are a young team. All the kids continued to improve. We are on the right track. We’ll look to beat Albert Gallatin, and then try to get some medals for the kids,” Galand said of the rest of the season.