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Washington great, Merkle, still on the move

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The ability to leap tall buildings or scale large mountains is beyond her now. Make no mistake, though, Nancy Merkle remains in shape and full of life.

Merkle, 53, long ago forged an athletic legacy that places her in elite company among Washington High School athletes and graduates.

Incredibly, Merkle’s athletic prowess and success has been somewhat overlooked or under publicized. Her résumé places her among the best female athletes in Prexies history.

Merkle won the PIAA triple jump as a senior in 1982. The state championship came on the heels of winning WPIAL titles in the 100-yard hurdles, 300-yard hurdles and triple jump.

At one time, Merkle held the school record in those three events and also in the high jump.

She is one of just seven females from Wash High to win individual state championships in track. That group includes Julie Gaul (javelin in 1979), Niki Holmes (shot put in 1986), Kim Pagliarulo (discus in 1989), Laila Brock (200 in 1995 and 100, 200 and 400 in 1996), Tam Nixon (100 in 1998) and Alyssa Wise (100 and 200 in 2013).

Merkle also was a tremendous volleyball player and earned a scholarship to West Virginia University, where she started four seasons and left as one of the best players in the history of the sport for the Mountaineers.

“To me, there was nothing better than sports,” said Merkle, who lives in Tallmadge, Ohio, and has owned an independent vitamin store for the past 20 years. “From the time I was born, I wanted to play sports. Competition drove me. I just loved athletics.”

Merkle said that while track and field was her true love, she is grateful for the opportunity she was given in volleyball.

“I had to sign the letter of intent to play volleyball before my senior year in track,” Merkle explained. “I would have loved to run track in college. I was going to go to Pitt. But WVU came in and said I could play volleyball and be on the track team.

“It didn’t pan out that way. I would have never been able to do both at that level. There’s so much time put into just one sport in Division I. Doing two sports was not realistic. I truly did love track because it was a team sport but also an individual sport. It was an awesome experience.”

Merkle said she was not surprised at winning the state triple jump gold medal because she was so motivated and determined.

“I was very shy as a person,” she admitted. “But I was confident in athletics. I worked hard for it,” she said.

Merkle missed qualifying for the triple jump finals by a half-inch as a junior.

“I was determined to make it as a senior and to win it,” she said. “I started an album when I was a freshman and in it I stated that my goal was to win a PIAA championship and to jump more than 37 feet, and I did it.”

She credits her high school coaches – Eric McWilliams in track and Penny Starkey and the late Buzz Richards in volleyball – for being great influences and mentors.

While Merkle made her mark at Wash High, she remains among the top in several statistical categories for WVU volleyball.

The WVU volleyball media guide shows Merkle remains tied for the single-season record for sets played at 142 in 1983. Other categories where she places in the top 10 in single-season records are hitting percentage (7th with .318 in 1984); blocked shots (1st with 73 in 1984 and 5th in 1983 with 54), total blocks (2nd in 1995 with 185); and blocks per set (5th with 1.41 in 1985).

For her career (1982-85), Merkle ranks 7th in hitting percentage, .252; second in block solos, 186; 4th in blocks per set, 1.14; 4th in total blocks, 448; and 6th in block assists, 262.

She was named All-Atlantic 10 Conference second team in 1984 and 1985. She was a four-year letterwinner and team captain her senior season in 1985.

“I am proud to still hold some records there and of the fact I started all four years,” Merkle said. “It was absolutely an awesome experience to play the sport at the Division I level.

“I got to travel and through that I became disciplined to coordinate practice, homework and going to class. It’s like a job at that level. You better work hard or you lose your scholarship or you wind up sitting on the bench. It’s no nonsense at that level. You have to be disciplined to keep your job and strong enough to keep up with the academic load. It was just a real good experience.”

It’s been an interesting journey for Merkle since leaving WVU with a degree in business marketing. She worked at Washington Penn Plastics from 1986 to 1991 before being selected to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

From there she was recruited to work in the fraud department for Bank of America. That eventually led to her opening her own business in Ohio.

“I loved what I did for the FBI,” Merkle said. “But the danger aspect is something I didn’t want to deal with through my working life.”

Merkle, who returns to Washington once a month to visit her parents, then turned to health and fitness.

She has maintained her fitness through bike riding and working out.

Merkle, whose older brother Todd is a 1980 Wash High graduate who lives in Illinois, has two deceased siblings, an older sister, Tammy, and older brother, Bill. She admits it gets tougher to remain in shape as you grow older.

“You just can’t do some things you did when you’re young,” she said. “But I am still fit and I am having fun. You feel good when you feel you are helping people to be healthy.”

John Sacco writes a bi-weekly column on local sports history.

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