Ashley Lotz would not mind being a track and field coach some day; she would probably make a good one.

She has plenty of personality and she could talk, with experience, about competing in pain and about how being successful has absolutely nothing to do with a person's background or where they come from.

Lotz is a senior at Riverside High School. This past Saturday at the Trojan Track Classic at Center High School she was named the Most Valuable Athlete in the girls' field events after winning the high, long and triple jumps.

She was also a standout on the Riverside squad as a freshman and a sophomore, qualifying for the WPIAL Class AA championships both years and for the PIAA meet in 2006.

Last year, Lotz attended Butler Area High School after moving in with her father.

Going from a middle-sized Class AA high school to one of the largest schools on this side of the state might not seem like a big deal, but it can be. At Riverside, Lotz was a star on the track team, but how would she stack up against Class AAA competition?

"When I first went to Butler, I was really scared. I didn't know if I'd be able to compete at that level," Lotz said. "But after a while, I kind of settled in and found I could compete."

She did a little more than that.

Lotz qualified for the WPIAL Class AAA championships in the long and triple jumps, and went out and won a gold medal in the triple jump at the finals at Baldwin High School.

She went 36 feet, 2 inches in winning the event and placed third in the long jump with a leap of 16-11¹/₂ ... while she had a stress fracture in her right leg.

"They discovered the stress fracture toward the end of the season," Lotz said. "I still went out and competed on it and won the triple jump.

"I used to do track in the summer as well, but I didn't this past summer because I had to let the fracture heal. It's fine now, I don't have any problems ... except I have shin splints."

It's obvious that Lotz has plenty of guts to go with her talent.

Perhaps no one was happier to learn of Lotz's return to Riverside than girls' track coach Royann Winfield.

"I wasn't sure she was coming back until she showed up [at school]," Winfield said. "And we had to go through the WPIAL to make sure she was eligible.

"We're excited she's back and you can see she hasn't lost anything."

Lotz said their isn't much difference between competing at the Class AA and the AAA level in track. Besides, in her primary events she is more concerned about how far or high she's going than who she is going against.

"You are always looking to better your marks, that's what you're after," she said.

At the Trojan Track Classic, Lotz cleared 5 feet in the high jump, 17-1¹/₄ in the long jump and 35-7 in the triple jump. She also made it to the finals in the 100-meter hurdles and was second to Quaker Valley's Christa Rogers, who finished in 15.15 seconds. Lotz's time was 15.84.

"She ran the hurdles for us when she was a freshman, then kind of got away from them," Winfield said. "She ran them last year at Butler and now she's doing them for us."

Lotz said she has trouble with her trail leg and is still trying to master the finer points of the race. She has grown to like hurdling.

Still, the triple jump is her favorite event, which makes sense with a WPIAL gold medal at home. She has gone 37-¹/₄ in the triple jump, which is outstanding. She did that as a sophomore, but hasn't hit the 37-foot mark the past two years.

Her best in the long jump is 17-4 last year and she has cleared 5-4 in the high jump.

Like a lot of athletes, Lotz sets goals for herself. She wants to go 37 feet in the triple jump, 5-6 in the high jump and 18 feet in the long jump.

"And I'd like to get into the 14s in the hurdles," she said. "That's what I'm after."

Lotz would also like to continue with track and field in college, but is still undecided on a school. Right now the front runners for her services are Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pa., and Youngstown State. She plans to major in computer science.

She said returning to Riverside and old friends has been nice, although she made some good friends at Butler.

"It's just nice to be back to my roots," she said.