Sandy Valley state champion Lexi Tucci leads All-Stark County Girls Track and Field Team

All Sandy Valley’s Lexi Tucci hoped for was a chance to compete in her senior season.

Little did she know how special a season it would be.

After missing her junior year with a torn ACL, Tucci is The Repository’s Stark County Girls Track and Field Athlete of the Year. She won a Division III state championship in the high jump and was state runner-up in the long jump .

Tucci ranked No. 1 in the county in the long jump with a season-best 18 feet, 7.75 inches at the state meet. Her winning high jump of 5-6 at state tied for first in the county. Both were school records.

GlenOak’s Scott Ferrell is the Girls Coach of the Year. Under Ferrell, the Golden Eagles won every meet through districts and qualified seven athletes to the state meet.

Here is a look at the all-county team with bios on the first team selections.

First team

Madelyn Begert, Northwest, soph.

• Begert made her second straight state meet appearance in the 1,600 meters and finished sixth. She won a Stark County title in the 1,600 and a Division II district title in the 3,200.

Natalie Bisesi, GlenOak, sr.

• Bisesi wrapped up her career with her second straight Division I state meet appearance in the pole vault. She came in 10th. Her winning vault of 12-3.5 at the Euclid Relays was a personal best.

Taylor Brownsword, Jackson, soph.

• Brownsword is one of two Jackson high jumpers who can contend at next year's Division I state meet. She finished sixth this season. Her jumps of 5-5 at the regional and state meets were personal bests.

Amahrie Harsh, Hoover, sr.

• Harsh rewrote many Hoover records during the final season of a memorable career. She qualified for the Division I state meet as a regional champion in the 100, 200 and 400 and as a member of the Vikings’ 800 relay. She ranked No. 1 in the county with times of 11.84 seconds in the 100, 24.46 in the 200 and 55.36 in the 400.

Alaina Heller, Sandy Valley, sr.

• Heller reached the Division III state meet for the first time and finished 15th in the 200. She ranked third in the county in the long jump with a season-best 17-4.

Katie Ison, Minerva, jr.

• Ison qualified for her first Division II outdoor state meet this year and finished 11th in the 3,200. She also ran on the Lions' state-qualifying 3,200 relay.

More high school track and field: Marlington's Colin Cernansky leads 2024 All-Stark County Boys Track and Field Team

More high school track and field: 2024 Stark County high school track and field season best times and distances

Irelyn Johnson, Marlington, fr.

• Johnson persevered through a challenging freshman season. She overcame hamstring and hip issues to qualify for the Division II state meet in the 3,200 where she finished 12th.

Shanaray Kager, East Canton, jr.

• Kager became the first East Canton girls thrower to place at the state meet when she finished runner-up in the discus. She won a Division III regional title the previous week and had a top throw of 135-1 this season.

Elena Knowles, GlenOak, jr.

• Knowles has qualified for the state meet in the girls seated shot put all three seasons. She won a state championship as a freshman and was runner-up the past two years. Knowles’ top throw of 19-1 this season is an all-time county record.

Trinity Lamp, Massillon, sr.

• Lamp won a Division I regional title in the 100 hurdles and reached the state meet for the first time. She led the county in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.45 and ranked second in the 300 hurdles at 45.63.

Abigail LaPole, Jackson, soph.

• LaPole became the second county girls seated shot putter in three years to win a state title . Her top throw this season was 18-11.

More high school sports: 2024 Greater Akron-Canton High School Sports Awards Show | Nick Chubb set as guest speaker

More high school track and field: OHSAA track and field state meet | How Greater Canton athletes fared Saturday

Gabby Lupshu, Minerva, soph.

• Lupshu is another up-and-comer among Minerva’s deep crop of distance runners. She qualified for the Division II state meet in the 3,200 with teammate Katie Ison and finished 18th.

Abra Manofsky, Jackson, jr.

• Manofsky hopes to join teammate Taylor Brownsword at next year's Division I state meet in the high jump. She won the county title this season and ranked No. 1 in the county overall with a top jump of 5-6.

Alayna Mendenhall, Massillon, jr.

• Mendenhall qualified for the state meet in the seated 100 and seated shot put. She finished eighth in the shot put and had a top throw of 9-8.5 this season.

Kylah Meyer, Louisville, soph.

• After qualifying for the Division I state meet in the 3,200 as a freshman, Meyer doubled at state in the 1,600 and 3,200 this season. Her top times were 5:04.00 in the 1,600 and 11:07.07 in the 3,200.

Camille Neutzling, Perry, sr.

• Neutzling wrapped up her career with a third straight Division I state meet appearance in the 300 hurdles. She finished eighth. Neutzling led the county with a top 300 hurdles time of 44.29 and ranked second in the 100 hurdles at 14.68. She also helped Perry’s 400 relay qualify for state.

Sophia Ngetich, GlenOak, jr.

• Ngetich played a big role in GlenOak winning every meet through districts. She qualified for the Division I state meet in the 800 and as a member of the Golden Eagles' 1,600 and 3,200 relays. Her top 800 time was 2:17.66.

Gianna Ritchie, Lake Center Christian, soph.

• After finishing sixth as a freshman, Ritchie was the Division III state runner-up in the 800 this season. She ranked No. 1 in the county with a time of 2:14.26. She also ran on the Tigers' regional-qualifying 1,600 relay.

Casey Russell, Sandy Valley, jr.

• Russell made her first state appearance and finished 13th in the 1,600 in a season-best 5:12.56. She also was a Division III regional qualifier in the 800 and as a member of the Cardinals' 1.600 and 3,200 relays.

Daniela Scheffler, Lake, jr.

• Scheffler's progress at the state level continues to point upward. The Lake distance runner finished fifth in the 3,200 as a sophomore and fourth this past season. Scheffler ranked No. 1 in the county this year with times of 4:59.37 in the 1,600 and 10:43.70 in the 3,200. She swept Division I district and regional titles in both events .

Sydney Stepanovich, GlenOak, jr.

• The county’s best girls sprinter not named Amahrie Harsh. Stepanovich qualified for the Division I state meet in the 100, 200 and as a member of GlenOak’s 1,600 relay. She ranked second in the county in the 100 with a top time of 12.04, second in the 200 at 24.55 and fifth in the 400 at 58.70.

Alexys Sterling, McKinley, jr.

• Sterling will be the county's top returning long jumper. She came in eighth at the Division I state meet and had a season-best jump of 17-8.75 at regionals, where she finished runner-up.

Sloane Sypolt, Louisville, sr.

• Sypolt doubled at the Division I state meet in the shot put and discus. She finished fifth in the discus and 13th in the shot. The University of Akron signee ranked No. 1 in the county in the shot with a top throw of 39-3.25 and No. 1 in the discus at 138-1.

Lexi Tucci, Sandy Valley, sr.

• After missing last season with a torn ACL , Tucci wrote a comeback story. She won a Division III state title in the high jump with a school-record jump of 5-6. Later in the day, Tucci tacked on a state runner-up finish in the long jump. She ranked No. 1 in the county in the long jump with a season-best 18-7.75 and tied for first in the high jump.

Audrey Wade, East Canton, sr.

• Wade ended her career with a couple of All-Ohio finishes at the Division III state meet. She finished fifth in the 1,600 in 5:02.46 and seventh in the 3,200 in 11:03.75. Both times broke the school records she set the previous week.

Gabby Whalen, Jackson, fr.

• A breakthrough freshman year points to a promising future for the Jackson pole vaulter. Whalen won Division I district and regional titles and finished third at the state meet. Her jump of 12-4 at regionals was a county best this season.

Tayah Wilson, Jackson, jr.

• Wilson qualified for her first Division I state meet in the 100 and as a member of Jackson’s 400 and 800 relays. She ranked third in the county with season-best times of 12.32 in the 100 and 25.21 in the 200.

Athlete of the Year

• Lexi Tucci, Sandy Valley

Coach of the Year

• Scott Ferrell, GlenOak

Honorable mention

• Alliance: Mady Lake. Canton South: Gracie Haddad. Central Catholic: Isis Hall. East Canton: Abygail Stephens, Savanna Rayl. Fairless: Ahna Doane, Maura Seibert, Julia Seward, Zoey Steele. GlenOak: Jada Ames, Kaitlyn Esporite, Addison Hamm, Panagiota Tzouloufis. Hoover: Chloe Schens, Savannah Tindell, Payton Waldorff, Lexi Wims. Jackson: Emily Adams, Morgan Giordano, Brooklyn Jones, Kaylee Lusk. Lake: Hailey Cooper, Kyla Miller, Ava Volpe. Lake Center Christian: Mackenzie Amacher, Nicole Hayes, Faith Hayslip, Sarah Stock. Louisville: Taryn Gotschall, Hailey Jackson. Marlington: Olivia Callahan, Grace Kungl. Massillon: Isabella Haines. McKinley: Robbaniquea Blakely, Allea Graves, SaRae Johnson. Minerva: Annabelle Crissman, Kayla Crissman, Hannah Ison, Kyleigh Lippincott. Northwest: Hailey Allen, Candace Doubet. Perry: Baileigh Brown, Chloe Dostal, Emerson Karrenbauer, Jersie Papacostas, Isabelle Perry. Sandy Valley: Kaydence Hoover, Evelyn Pfeffer, Kalia Sarver. St. Thomas Aquinas: Hanna Young. Tuslaw: Ashley Eberhardt, Paige Marthey, Hailey Wood.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Sandy Valley state champion Lexi Tucci leads All-Stark County Girls Track and Field Team