With some of the most talented returning individuals in the Wyoming Valley Conference, the Wyoming Area girls maintain the hope of contending even with a big step up in regular season competition with a move from Division 2 to Division 1.
Jalen Rhodes and Vanessa Shedlock, half of last season’s district championship 400-meter relay team, return, along with Shelby Stackhouse, a versatile athlete who earned a pair of individual district bronze medals last year.
They are joined by several other contributors from a team that went 6-1 for second place in Division 2, then finished third out of 19 teams in the District 2 Class 3A Championships. The Lady Warriors will try to make up for the loss Bree Bednarski, the only three-event gold medalist and only four-event state qualifier at last year’s district championships.
“I don’t know what they’ll do week-to-week, but we should have a bunch of girls that have the potential to get to states,” Wyoming Area coach Joe Pizano said.
Rhodes, a junior, was second to Bednarski in the district 100-meter dash last season.
Shedlock, a senior, was a district medalist in four events with a third-place finish in the triple jump, fifth place in the 400-meter dash and sixth in the 200.
Stackhouse, a junior, was third in the district in both the 100-meter hurdles and high jump.
Madi Resciniti was 12th in the district shot put last year as a freshman and continued to train in the event during the recently completed indoor season.
There are many other veterans on the team, including seniors Morgan Coolbaugh (javelin) and Victoria Braccini (throws); juniors Olivia Astolfi (hurdles/sprints) and Sara Baylor (throws); and sophomores Valerie Gerchack (jumps), Aleah Kranson (middle distance) and Bella Concha (middle distance).
Gerchack scored at the district meet with an eighth-place finish in the long jump and also was ninth in the triple jump.
Freshman Mackenzie Nocchi is a sprinter.
