SLIPPERY ROCK — Angie Shaffer runs the 100-meter hurdles and does the high and triple jumps.

She carries a 4.0 grade point average at Slippery Rock High, plays in the jazz band and acts school plays.

Is there anything Shaffer can't do?

"I'm trying to figure out what she doesn't do well," said Slippery Rock hurdling coach Tom Meling.

Not too long ago, the hurdles was something Shaffer didn't do particularly well.

But all that has changed, thanks in large part to Shaffer's rigorous weightlifting and practice schedule.

Shaffer, a senior, has shaved seconds off her 100-meter hurdles time in a little more than one season and is poised to make a serious run at a medal at the PIAA Track and Field Championships at the end of May.

"I think last year was the first time I started to feel comfortable running the hurdles," Shaffer said. "When I started to get (the steps) down, that's when I felt like I could do this. It wasn't easy. It's a very, very hard event."

But Shaffer isn't one to shy away from a challenge.

Meling, who has produced some excellent hurdlers in his time at Slippery Rock, said Shaffer is unique. She doesn't have the natural talent that some have possessed, but she has made up for it with determination.

"She's probably the strongest hurdler physically that I've had," Meling said.

Shaffer's weightlifting regime has a lot to do with that.

She rises at 6 a.m. each morning to go to school early to lift before the rest of her day begins.

"I've just been getting better and faster," Shaffer said.

How fast?

At this time last season, Shaffer was clocking in at between 16 and 16.4 seconds in the 100 hurdles.

This season, Shaffer has hit 15.1, nearly three-tenths of a second faster than anyone else in the Butler County area.

"From the end of last season and the beginning of this season, she has made a big jump," Meling said. "Our goal is to be running on Saturday at the state meet. With that (time), she'll be in the money."

Shaffer, though, isn't putting all her state medal dreams into one event. She also is proficient in the high jump, recording a best height of 5 feet, 3 inches this season, tied for second in the Butler County area.

She is ranked fifth in the area in the triple jump at 33-9.

Shaffer, who will join the Juniata College track team next season, said competing in both the 100 hurdles and the high jump is more of a challenge logistically than physically because the events usually are run at roughly the same times.

Shaffer often finds herself quickly changing her spikes and sprinting from the high jump pit to the track and then back again.

"Because she does it all the time, she knows how to handle it," Meling said.

"It's only tough at the big invites because they are so far apart," Shaffer said. "But it isn't too bad."

It seems Shaffer is good at that, too.