They may be young, but Rock runners are loaded with talent

BY ED WRIGHT
April 10, 2010, 11 a.m.

  With enough freshmen on its roster to fill a school bus, Salem's girls track-and-field team may not reach its true potential for a couple of years.

  But regardless of their inexperience, the Rocks have plenty of reasons to be optimistic heading into the 2010 season.

  The most noteworthy reasons are the return of a 3,200-meter relay team  that came within a stride of qualifying for the Division 1 state meet last year, a formidable distance unit and sprinter Deja Wright, who  was an injury away from doing some damage in the state meet last spring.

  "We've doubled our numbers from last year," said Salem head coach Dale Maskill. "We gone from around 30 to around 60, although we're very young. We have a huge freshman class, but there's a lot of talent in the younger group.
  

  "We have good senior leadership, too, and they've shown it already."

  Wright is the fastest Rock and she'll rack up points this season in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes as well as assisting on the relays.

  "Deja can run all three events very well," said Maskill. "She suffered an injury toward the end of last year that prevented her from finishing as well as she could have, but she's looking really good so far."

  Maskill is super-optimistic that his 3,200-meter relay foursome of Jordyn Moore, Victoria Tripp, Ade Jepperson and Alex McHugh have what it takes to  make the state-meet qualifying time that the Rocks' foursome barely missed in 2009.

  "They're all running well," Maskill noted. "Our distance crew is one of our strengths. They're all coming off an outstanding cross country season, so they know what it takes to win."

  The before-mentioned members of the 3,200 relay quartet will be joined in the middle and long distances by Kara Booms, a solid two-miler, Autumn Burin and Kelly Kerwin, who can excel in everything from the 800 to the 3,200.

  Joining Wright as threats in the sprints will be Allison Walker and Robyn Davis, who can also earn points in the middle distances.

  The youthful Rocks will be guided by a trio of solid captains: Moore, junior Megan Paruta and McHugh.

  "Megan was actually one of the leaders on the team when she was a freshman," said Maskill. "She can run any event we need her to  run, and she even threw in a couple of events last year. She a good pole vaulter and hurdler, too.

  "Jordyn's been a solid contributor since her freshman year, too. She started out as a sprinter, but I could tell right away she was going to excel in the distance events. Her strengths are the 800 and mile, and she'll run the two-mile if we need her there.

  "Alex ran cross country and she'll help us in the 800 and mile. She's a strong leader who works well in practice. She's one of those girls who leads by example and never misses a practice."