May 2, 2019 4 min read

There are a pair of concrete slabs from where practice is held for throwing the shot put and discus.

In front of the concession stand at Jim Garry Stadium, where hot dogs are sold during Friday night football games, an elementary-sized mat is used to practice the high jump.

As practice gets underway, six broken hurdles are placed at guesstimated distances on Fort Cherry’s “track” that runs approximately 400 meters. The bends aren’t perfect, there are ruts and it’s a little wonky.

Oh, it’s also made from gravel.

“It might be a blessing in disguise,” said Fort Cherry track coach Ben Maxin. “When you have the luxury of a real track, you might fall into bad habits of doing the same things every single day.”

Wait, what?

“We are blessed we can’t fall into those traps, but don’t get me wrong, I’d trade all that in any day for a real track,” Maxin continued. “We make due with what we have.”

There is a newly made jump pit filled with sand, but for the most part, on the crest of the hill where Fort Cherry High School sits, Maxin has no options other than to be creative.

The “essential workouts” as the Rangers now call them include flipping giant tires, burpees and getting the most out of running the limited number of bleachers the small school nestled in northern Washington County has to offer.

Some of the Rangers’ sprint work is done on the steep hill that separates the school from the stadium.

After Tuesday, when the Rangers cleaned up with wins over Beaver, South Side Beaver and Waynesburg in the WPIAL Class AA Girls Team Track semifinals, nothing separated them from a date with history.

Fort Cherry will make its first appearance in a WPIAL Class AA Girls Team Track Championship Monday afternoon at Peters Township High School. The Rangers will compete against Mohawk, South Park and Shenango for the title.

The meet is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.

“We told the kids about making school and program history,” Maxin said. “That’s something that will go down forever. Monday gives them another opportunity to compete, and compete against the very best.”

But this Fort Cherry team is unlike many in the past, where field events took precedent in order to have success.

The Rangers, who won the section title last year by upsetting South Park with the theme of “slaying the beast,” have leaned on dominance in the mid-distance sprints and relays with some of the top times in the WPIAL.

The Rangers have the fastest time in the updated heat sheets in the 1,600 relay (4:11.60) and 3,200 relay (10:21.01).

Individually, McKenzie Faure has qualifying times in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. Mara Whalen has the third-best time in the 400 and is fifth fastest in the 800. Jadyn Hartner is sixth in the 300 hurdles, 11th in the long jump and 14th in the triple jump.

An interchangeable lineup in strong mid-distance runners allows Maxin to adjust to competition. Hartner and Faure compete in the 1,600 relay. Emma Blickenderfer, Jillian Panizza and Haley Felton, who is also seventh in the javelin, can run the 3,200 relay. Morgan Zickefoose, Kayla Salvini and Whalen compete on both top-ranked relay teams.

“We are blessed with some fast kids who are tough and can run those mid-distance races,” Maxin said. “Having a strength with our 400 and 800 runners allows us to do some cool things with our lineup. That helped us Tuesday. Other girls were falling apart trying to catch our girls in the last 20 meters. Kids were being helped off the track. Our girls just casually walked off. It’s a testament to what awesome shape they are in.”

That’s been the belief since Maxin started the girls program as a club team in the spring of 2004. The Rangers began competing in the WPIAL in 2005 before the boys’ program was adopted in 2006.

“Our kids are pretty much in the best shape, compared to almost every team we compete against, because they have to be,” Maxin said in 2014.

There has always been a gravel and dirt track. The undersized high jump mat took the place of where the shot put lands next to the concession stand. And the laps distance runners take are done around the school’s parking lot.

The Rangers try to practice once a week on an actual track, traveling to nearby Burgettstown on selective weekends when they aren’t competing and the weather permits.

That hasn’t stopped Fort Cherry from having success.

“Kids today are pulled in different directions,” Maxin said. “Some kids would rather work. Some kids don’t want to do it because it’s too hard. We have a small core of kids who embrace it.”