BMS TRACK PREVIEW    
MARCH 21 EDITION OF THE BRIDGEPORT NEWS

by Ryan Boyles
For The Bridgeport News

With their first home meet on the new track at Wayne
Jamison Field scheduled yesterday, the Bridgeport
Middle School track teams have been hard at work for
their upcoming season.
Boys coach Rob Riley and new girls coach Julie Hartley
will have the luxury of three home meets this season,
plus the Harrison County Championships at the end of
the season.
Riley fields a team this year that has very few
returning athletes.  The top returning point scorers
are Matt Wilson in the distance events and the high
jump and Erik Green in the distance events and the
pole vault.
“The majority of the boys on this year’s team did not
run last year,” Riley said.  “A lot of the boys wait
until their eighth grade year to begin running track
because of little league, so there is always a high
turnover.  Nevertheless, I believe I have a good bunch
of athletes.”
The girls squad is a different story, with several
athletes from last year’s team returning.
Marie Conley returns in the hurdle events, while Lora
Gallagher will run sprints as well as hurdles and the
high jump.  Lauren Gilbert will make the switch from
distance events to sprints this year, while Kara
Miller, Meagan Dent-Carmen, and Kayla Maloney will
each run in the middle distance events.  Elizabeth
Saliga will compete in the long jump and sprints,
Jenna Fogg will run distance events, and Alissa Murphy
will run sprints.
“The girls are just the opposite of the boys,” Riley
said.  “The majority of the girls are returning and
are very talented.”
This will be Hartley’s first year as girls’ coach
after the Harrison County Board of Education chose
this season to split up the teams, Riley said.