Seneca Valley graduate Ashley Turici, seen here in a basketball game against New Castle in 2006, was recently inducted into the SV Sports Hall of Fame, based largely on her efforts on the track and field team. Butler Eagle file photo

In the spring of 2006, Ashley Turici had a clear-cut goal as a member of the Seneca Valley girls track and field team.

“I had placed second in the javelin at WPIALs two straight years,” said Turici, a native of Zelienople. “I was getting close to graduation, and winning a district title was something I wanted to do. I was focused.”

Attention to detail and her physical ability did not let her down. At Baldwin High School that year, her throw of 136 feet, 3 inches earned her district gold. The following week, she was runner-up at states by breaking her own school record with an effort of 144-1, a distance that still stands as the best in SV history.

“That came on my last throw,” Turici said. “I was glad to break the record and it made me want to keep throwing, but that was it. That was the end of my high school career.”

It was a decorated career that earned for Turici a spot in the SV Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted as part of the Class of 2024.

“I never really thought of me being in the hall of fame, but it’s very cool,” Turici said. “I feel very honored.”

Long before she picked up the javelin, Turici unwittingly began working toward success in the event.

“I played softball, and I remember passing football with my dad in the backyard,” she said. “I always had a strong arm.”

When she first came out for track and field in seventh grade, Turici tried her hand at the hurdle and jumping events. But by her freshman year, she had moved on to the javelin.

“I competed in the discus and shot put sparingly,” she said. “But the javelin was my event. It just came naturally for me, and it was just a matter of tweaking my technique.”

Her sophomore year, she became one of the best in the state, topping the previous school record (Caroline Stratton, 127-2 in 1996) in the process. She placed seventh at the PIAA meet that year and eighth as a junior.

Turici was also solid on the basketball court, averaging 8.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game as a senior forward. But her future lay in the javelin, and she went on to compete at Robert Morris University, qualifying in 2008 for the NCAA East Regional Championships.

She has been an assistant track and field coach at Seneca Valley for 13 years.

Turici acknowledged her parents, Tom and Rose, saying: “They came to pretty much everything I competed in.”

She has two sisters, Sierra and Robin.