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Thursday, October 31, 2002

By Paul Zeise and Mike White, Post-Gazette Sports Writers

SCHOOL: Quaker Valley

	Maxine Markfield: Three Class AA titles. (Lake Fong, Post-Gazette)

WHO IS SHE? A senior standout in cross country and track and field.

LAST WEEK: She won the WPIAL Class AA girls cross country championship at Slippery Rock in a time of 19 minutes, 49 seconds, becoming only the sixth girl to win three consecutive WPIAL titles.

CAREER: Along with three WPIAL Class AA cross country titles, she has finished second the past two years in the 3,200 meter run at the WPIAL Class AA track and field championships. And she was a member of the Quakers 3,200 meter relay team that won the WPIAL title and finished third at the PIAA meet.

LOOKING TO IMPROVE: Markfield will compete at the PIAA cross country championships this weekend in Hershey. She has been to the meet the past two seasons but hasn't fared well. This year, she will have to make adjustments in the race because the setup of the course has been altered from last year. It is a change she believes will be to her advantage. "The course is now reversed from what it was because of some incidents where runners got hurt," Markfield said. "But now there is a big hill right at the beginning. We do a lot of training on hills, so I think that I can make it up the hill and be a lot stronger than most of the runners there. My goal is to finish in the top 10."

LIKES NATURE RUNS: Markfield prefers cross country and said she competes in track mostly to stay in shape. "Track is all about making times and splits and there is just no emotion to it," she said. "Plus, you are running basically in circles and most tracks are alike. I just enjoy the atmosphere of running cross country. It is more relaxed and every course is different and has its own challenges."

NOT GETTING KICKS: When Markfield was young, she played soccer. "The thing was, I realized the only part of soccer I enjoyed was the running around," she said. "So I quit and gave track and field a try." After running track as a seventh-grader, she entered and won some cross country invitationals as an eighth-grader and fell in love with the sport.

HONORS AND AWARDS: Markfieldcarries a 4.55 grade point average and is ranked fifth in her class. She is an officer in the school's chapter of the National Honor Society and is the senior editor of the school's yearbook.

FUTURE: Markfield likely will run cross country and track at Haverford College in suburban Philadelphia.

-- By Paul Zeise

SCHOOL: Seton-LaSalle

WHO IS HE? A 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior quarterback who is second in the WPIAL in passing yardage.

LAST WEEK: Doria completed 14 of 19 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns in a 35-6 victory against Carlynton.

SEASON: Doria throws a touchdown pass once ever 9.7 attempts. He has competed 127 of 215 for 1,886 yards and 22 touchdowns.

FLINGING IN THE RAIN: On an average Friday night, there are usually a few dozen WPIAL quarterbacks who pass for at least 100 yards. But because of the rain a week ago, only eight quarterbacks threw for 100 yards. Doria had the most yardage by far. How was he so successful in such terrible conditions?

"That's a good question," said Seton-LaSalle Coach Lou Cerro. "I was surprised until after the first couple catches by our receivers. He threw deep, he threw short and he was gunning it. He was on the mark."

Doria had a reason for his success in the rain.

"Our ballgirl [Lindsey Perry] does a good job keeping the balls dry," he said. "But I really don't think it's much of a task, throwing in the rain. We're kind of used to the cold and rain by now. We threw pretty well against South Fayette in the rain and against East Allegheny, too."

A PASSING TRADITION: A year ago, Doria completed 104 of 180 for 1,531 yards. Two years ago, Seton-LaSalle quarterback Bruce Gradkowski led the WPIAL in passing. In 1996, Seton-LaSalle's Shane Patterson was one of the WPIAL's leading passers. Cerro has had a 1,000-yard passer five times in the past seven regular seasons. Is this a trend?

"I think a lot of our success throwing the ball has to do with our offensive coordinator, Greg Perry," Doria said. "He spends a lot of time with us in the summer, working us out and working on the passing game. We have so many formations that we don't even use half of them."

Seton-LaSalle changed its offense this year to better utilize Doria's talents. The Rebels use mostly a spread formation with one running back.

HAVING A BALL: Doria, a Brookline resident, has been around Seton-LaSalle's program for about a decade. Before he got to the school, he was a team ballboy for seven years. His father, Ray, is a former Seton-LaSalle assistant coach.

THE FUTURE: Cerro said more colleges are getting interested in Doria. "A lot of the local Division III schools are hitting him hard," Cerro said. "But now some of the lower I-AA schools are coming around, like Bucknell and Georgetown."

-- By Mike White