Ashley Acosta-Meyers slides over from head boys coach last season to take the head girls track and field job and welcomes a squad with a handful of stars and lots of potential.
Park welcomes back senior captain and pole vaulter/middle distance runner Susan Mbu, senior thrower Karis Waindim, jumper Vanessa Suh, junior captain and shot and discus thrower Zoey Bammert-Mueller, junior high jumpers Rainna Jameson and jumper/hurdler Hailey Kieffer and senior captain and sprinter Annelise Faletti.
“We have a lot of really great strong leaders that are coming back,” said Acosta-Meyers. “We have a really good core of seniors that not only are gifted athletically and are some of the great, strong athletes on our team, they’re also really great as captains.”
In addition to the veterans, “We have a nice, good young crew of sophomores and ninth graders, too,” said Acosta-Meyers. “A lot of our sprinters, we have a good core of sophomore girls who I think will be really good this year.
Mbu was fourth (9-6) in a career best in the section pole vault last season. Bammert-Mueller was seventh in the section shot put (32-10.25) and eighth in the discus (89-09). Faletti was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1:02.55.
Then sophomore Rainna Jameson was seventh in the high jump, clearing just 5-0 after coming into the meet with a section best of 5-8. Hailey Kieffer was 11th in the high jump at 4-8. The school record holder in the high jump at 5-6 and a state meet competitor as a freshman, Jameson suffered a stress fracture during last season and wasn’t at her best.
“She’s back and she looks stronger than ever,” said Acosta-Meyers.
One athlete who won’t be competing for Park this season is senior Tori Stepka. Stepka finished fourth in the section 800-meter run in 2:22.87 last season, her time the fourth best in Park history. But she’s sidelined this season and will have knee surgery in May.
“Tori finished last year with an awesome season in the 800 and we all were ready for her to have the breakout senior season and make it to state,” said Acosta-Meyers. “So, she’s not going to have the season that we all thought and hoped and that she deserves to have, and she still shows up every day to practice. She still shows up and encourages everyone else and she still shows up being an example for not just the younger athletes but even her senior classmates of this is what a leader is. And a leader is just not a leader when times are good. When there is struggle or when things are not going your way, she is still able to hold that high expectation of herself and other people.”
Park opens the season in an eight- team invitational meet at Irondale on Friday, April 12.
