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'Canes spin second chances

By DAWN REISS
Published April 28, 2006

INVERNESS - Even though it has been several days since Citrus seniors Deidra Miller and Sarah Morelli qualified in the discus for Saturday's Class 2A meet, it is still hard for either to believe she is going.

The first time Miller picked up a discus or a shot put was this year. It wasn't what she really wanted to do. Her first love is running hurdles and doing triple and long jumps. But Miller had spent nearly a year recovering from ACL surgery after playing pick-up basketball and Citrus coach Tom Darby thought better of it. Instead, he asked Miller to try discus and shot put.

"At first I didn't like it because it was hard to adjust," Miller said. "Switching in my senior year was hard and I didn't think I was going to do good or go far."

Neither did Morelli.

She was homeschooled as a freshman. When she came to Citrus as a sophomore, readjusting after a year at home was hard enough and sports were out of the question after a crazy amusement park accident that left her with knee problems.

The summer before her sophomore year, Morelli was in Massachusetts at an amusement park riding a "devil cart."

"I should have known by the name it wasn't a very good idea," Morelli joked.

Morelli was in a one-seat metal "go-cart without an engine" that was going down a mountain-side dirt path.

"It was part of the amusement park," said Morelli, who was wearing a helmet. "I guess mine was going a little too fast. Because one of the wheels hit a rock and the cart flew up in the air. I guess I wasn't strapped in well enough because I didn't come down with it."

Torn cartilage and bruised bones kept Morelli out of sports for the next year.

By the spring of her junior year, Morelli was ready to try something.

"But I'm not a very good runner, so I thought I'd try something else," she said. "I guess I didn't have right body for pole vaulting and jumping is not really my thing."

So that left shot put and discus.

Last year Morelli didn't go to regionals, but she had fun participating.

"It was really hard at first, because you always have to be in control of your technique," Morelli said.

When Miller joined the throwers this season, she looked to Morelli for guidance.

"She was better in shot put and I was better in discus," Miller said. "But when I first started, I was by her side asking her what she was doing."

They have helped each other.

Both have struggled with finding the perfect combination of controlled speed and balance while spinning in a circle.

"I lose my balance a lot while trying to become faster," Morelli said. "Deidra and Coach laugh at me a lot because I fall down so much."

Both credit Darby for helping push them farther than they thought they would ever go.

"I was willing to do it, because I wanted to be on the track team," Miller said. "I've been doing track for so long I wasn't just going to give it up. I still miss hurdles and jumping but there is no way I could have done it. Coach was there for me. In the beginning, when I wasn't sure, he told I was a natural athlete and I'd pick it up easily which gave me the confidence to do it."

At the Class 2A, District 6 meet, Morelli won the shot put (31 feet), while Miller took second (29-4). They traded finishes in the discus, with Miller winning with a 105-foot, 5.5-inch throw, followed by Morelli's 96-1/2.

Both fell short of earning one of the four qualifying shot put positions at the region meet, with Morelli finishing sixth and Miller ninth.

After the second of three discus throws in the region finals, Miller led with 104 feet, 11 inches, then getting bumped to third. Morelli scratched twice during the preliminaries.

"And my first two throws in the finals weren't very good," she said.

But her last throw of 96 feet was good enough for the last qualifying position.

Both are excited they have an opportunity to compete in Saturday's state meet, something they've never done before this year.

"It's another chance," Miller said. "I came way farther than I ever thought I would."

Dawn Reiss can be reached at 352 860-7303 or dreiss@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 28, 2006, 01:26:17]