The Portsmouth High School girls' track team is coming off its best finish in some time having gone 6-2 and tied with Barrington for second place in the Eastern Division a year ago.

The Patriots, minus all-class high jumper Eleanor Vadney, return most of their top athletes from that squad. Jackie Corseri, third in the state in the 300 intermediate hurdles, Amy Ross, second in the division in the high jump, third in the 800 and second in Class C in the 1,500 and Alex Payton, third in the class in the 100, lead a talented group of Portsmouth athletes.

Ross, Payton, Allie Cardona, Caitlin Neronha and Carrie Farrell are the captains of the squad. Head coach Steve Trezvant has high expectations for his team as well as for Ross and another handful of individuals.

"Amy Ross is very talented. I expect some big things from her this year," Trezvant said. "She's one of the best high jumpers in the state. She jumped 5' and we're hoping she can probably jump a little bit more than that.

"She's been a good leader and she's my only senior captain this year. She's demonstrated time and again that she's one of the best all-around athletes in the state. She can run anywhere from the 800 to the 3,000. She's one of my more versatile athletes."

Junior Kelsi Chappell almost fits the same mold as Ross. Trezvant labels her "a jack-of-all-trades."

"She's one of my better all-around athletes. She'll be a good jumper for me, she'll throw the discus and she'll be running the 400, 200 and a little bit of 100. We'll get a little bit of hurdles from her too. She can do it all."

Jackie Corseri may branch out and participate in some jumping events this spring but her specialty remains the hurdles. As a freshman a year ago Corseri was the best in Class C, the best in the Eastern Division and finished 18th in New England in the 300 hurdles.

"We're just beginning to scratch the surface of how really talented she is and what she can do," Trezvant said. "We had her doing some of the jumps so we'll see what she's good at and what we can do for her. We'll try her in a couple of different events but again, the focus will be the hurdles. We think she'll be one of the best in the state, hands down."

Payton is the returning junior varsity state champ in the 200 and the JV state runner-up in the 100. She'll focus almost entirely on short distance running.

"She'll be one of my best sprinters this year. She was the best sprinter not to make it into the state meet last year," said Trezvant. "We're hoping she can crack that ceiling and get into the state meet."

Freshman Julie MacDougall should be chasing Payton. She was third in the 100 at middle school states and is a very good sprinter. Classmate Savannah Gease shows great promise in more than one event, causing Trezvant to say, "I'm hoping for big things from her."

Cardona is labeled as a "very hard worker who goes all out" by the coach. Neronha, another multi-faceted athlete, will compete in the jumps, hurdles and possibly the pole vault. Farrell plans to leave her mark in the weight events.

"She's one of the better throwers I've had in quite some time," said Trezvant. "She's probably the best since Liz Durham was here. Carrie is a gymnastics athlete, very strong, very powerful. She can do almost anything that I put her out there and ask her to do."

Junior Lauren Blaess also should be scoring points in the weight events. Senior Crystal Mason, who worked out all winter long but who didn't compete indoor track, will vie in distance events.

Sophomore Alicia Perras is coming off an injury that caused her to miss part of last season, Trezvant said she's working very hard and "I'll be surprised if she doesn't take so much time off her times of last year."

All-around athlete Katie Kielbasa, who plays basketball and soccer, also has impressed her coach.

"I think track is probably her best sport," Trezvant said. "That's not my prejudice. I think it's a sport she's going to excel at."

The Pats open the regular season when defending division champ Bay View and Shea visit Portsmouth Tuesday, April 12.

BY STEVE ROGERS

srogers@eastbaynewspapers.com