It's a good bet Kelly Monteleone's telephone will ring more often in the next few weeks. Having the 17th best triple jump in the country during the indoor track season may cause that.

A senior at Penn Hills High School, Monteleone was one of the few bright spots for the Indians Feb. 22 at the Pennsylvania Track & Field Coaches Association Indoor Championships at Penn State's multisports facility. She won the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 9Â 3/4 inches.

Monteleone received a watch for the first-place finish and added an eighth-place medal in the long jump with a leap of 17-3Â 3/4. She had attempts that were better but fouled.

"She had a pretty good day," Penn Hills coach Lee Zelkowitz said. "She did the long jump first and we thought she might do a little better in that, but she was the No. 1 seed in the triple jump and she came up with that 37 in the finals."

The jump that won for her at the state indoor championships isn't the one that has her ranked nationally, however.

In a meet Jan. 31 at Kent State University in Ohio, she popped a 38-7Â 3/4.

The top distance nationally is 41-6 by Ciarra Brewer of James Logan High in California.

"Kelly has been doing well in the triple jump the entire indoor season," Zelkowitz said.

Monteleone is interested in attending Kent State, which has an outstanding track program. But she is leaving her college choice up in the air for a while.

"I'll listen to what others have to say," she said. "I've not decided on anything."

After a solid indoor season, Monteleone is looking forward to competing outdoors. Her goal for this spring is to go 40 feet in the triple jump. Monteleone said her best so far has been 39-3.

"I need to get faster," she said when asked where she needs to improve to go 40 feet. "That's what I need to work on ... my speed."

With that in mind, she hopes to compete in some sprint events this season. She said she might also give the javelin a try.

After an outstanding showing at the Tri-State Track Coaches Indoor Championships Feb. 13 at Slippery Rock University, the Penn Hills girls' team had its problems at Penn State.

Monteleone was the team's lone individual winner. The 800-meter relay of Arrie Smith, Iman Wilkerson, Jordan Lee and Lashawna Carter-Sewell was a disappointing seventh with a time of 1:44.25 after entering the meet with the fourth-best seeded time.

The same quartet placed 16th in the 1,600-meter relay.

"I could just tell by watching them warm up that they didn't feel good," Zelkowitz said. "I think they were all fighting the flu. It happens; there's nothing you can do about it."

He was pleased by the effort put forth by his boys' 800-meter team. Brandon Bailey, Brandon Ifill, Darnell Coles and Daniel Darnell placed third with an outstanding time of 1:30.97.

The Penn Hills relay ran in the next-to-last heat and shaved two seconds off its previous best time while hardly being pushed.

Altoona and William Penn Charter, which finished ahead of the Indians, ran in the fourth and, supposedly, fastest heat of the event.

When asked if he thought his 800 relay would have finished a notch higher if it had been in the fast heat, Zelkowitz said, "Maybe ... it would have been interesting. I like to frontload that relay and Brandon Bailey and Brandon Ifill got us off to a great start in the first two legs."

Things didn't go as well in the 3,200-meter relay. Dorian Rumble and Charles Anderson each ran legs of 1:59, but Micah Murray had a leg problem and couldn't finish the race. Penn Hills' 1,600 relay place 11th.

In the field events, Penn Hills football standout Dan Mason finished seventh in the shot put with heave of 51-71/4. Central Catholic's Steve Mitchell was third with a throw of 56-3.

"Dan did well considering he very seldom gets a chance to practice the event," Zelkowitz said. "I'm looking forward to see what he'll do in the outdoor season. He's only going to improve."

Official practices began Monday for track and other spring sports.

•

AROUND THE TRACK -- Latrobe's Abby Hewitt won the 3,000-meter run in 10:09.08. Teammate Natalie Bower placed second in the mile run with a time of 5:04.17. ... Norwin's Jenna Gigliotti was eighth in the 3,000 in 10:35.33. ... Norwin's Nathan Harriger was third in the high jump with a leap of 6-4. ... There is no classifications for the indoor championships, making it a true state meet.