Lady Raiders present new coach with 1st win
Uniontown girls track and field coach Bob Manges opened his tenure with the Lady Red Raiders Wednesday afternoon with a convincing 102-33 victory over rival Albert Gallatin. The meet provided an opportunity for Manges to get his feet wet, along with most of his young team.
“It’s a morale boost. We got some experience today,” explained Manges.
With 14 girls gone from last year’s squad, Manges found an able body replacement for his depleted sprint corps in the person of Rebecca Geisel. Geisel hand her hand in 20 points with individual wins in the 400 (1:08), 200 (29.3), 100 (13.77) and long jump.
“We have a lot of inexperience in the sprints. The 400 relay team did a nice job. I knew we would have trouble with the sprints (entering the season). Now we have competition, but we still need experience,” Manges said.
One area of certainty for Manges and his Uniontown squad is Scarlett Graham. The senior didn’t disappoint with victories in the 1,600 (5:44) and 3,200 (12:37) as well as anchoring the winning 3,200 relay team of Kelly Palya, Sara Kovach and Jill Monahan.
Monahan also contributed five points to the Uniontown cause with a first place in the 800.
Manges worked hard during the off-season to build the numbers for the squad. The first-year teacher actively recruited through the school to replace those gone from last year’s team.
“We have a lot of girls in the field. Nicole Wasil is doing a nice job in the javelin. Nicole Mullen is a first-year senior in the shot put and discus, but she’s showing good leadership,” Manges said.
“It was nice to be on the track. We’ve been practicing so long. We’ve been conditioning since February. This was the first meet ever for a lot of the girls,” Manges continued.
Manges has established goals for both himself as well as his team.
“We want to get better in each meet,” said Manges, who says he tries to bring energy to the team. “I saw them supporting each other. Every day, everything that happens, I learn.”
The fledgling Lady Colonial program is still suffering growing pains under second-year coach Jeff Rush. The major obstacle for Rush and his squad is the lack of proper training facilities.
“We do what we can on our cinder track. We work in the parking lot. It gets boring. There’s only so much you can do,” Rush explained. “The girls are looking for experience. We have nearly 20 sophomores.”
Rush said the sprinters should improve. Deanna Rivera picked up second places in the 100 and 200. Cassie Crilly placed third in the 100 to give the Colonials four of the available nine points.
Annie Greuskowski had a strong performance for the Lady Colonials with a win in the triple jump (29-6) and a second in the long jump. Another performer
Rush is heavily counting on is thrower Mallory Becker. Becker didn’t disappoint with a first place in the javelin.