Home is where the heart is, and for Cristina Lorton that home is Waite High School.

Lorton, a 1991 Waite graduate, was recently named the school's new athletic director, replacing Bob Utter, who retired.

Lorton, 38, has been a teacher in the Toledo Public School system for more than 14 years. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Toledo before embarking on a coaching career that began in 1992. She has taught health and physical education at Waite, and this school year she taught phys ed at Chase Elementary.

She said she wanted to be Waite's new athletic director because “it fits me.”

Cristina Lorton

“I love sports and I love kids,” said Lorton, who was an assistant AD under Utter for the past seven years. “I love working with people. It's the perfect job for me. If they have me still teach a class here or there for phys ed, it's the best job I could ever ask for. I love to see kids grow through sports and academics and make sure they become the best person they can be.

“It was always enjoyable to work with Bob. He showed me every aspect. He never left me out, even though I was just an assistant. I was in charge when he wasn't here, so he felt comfortable leaving me in that responsibility. I'm looking forward to working with the coaching staff. I know they all work really hard.”

Lorton earned a combined 10 varsity letters in basketball, volleyball and track during her four years at Waite. She played guard in basketball and threw the shot and discus in track. Lorton also was first-team All-City League setter in volleyball her junior and senior year.

After graduating from UT, where she majored in physical education and recreation administration, the 1996 graduate became Waite's volleyball coach from 1992-97 (freshmen) and 1998-2008 (varsity). Lorton coached volleyball at East Broadway Middle School the last three years.

Her teaching career at Waite has been unique in that she had her son, Dylan, in her physical education classes his freshman and sophomore year. Dylan, a first-team All-CL catcher, will be a senior at Waite in the fall.

“He was a big help,” Lorton said. “He knew there were standards and I was his teacher. He was a great athlete, so I would use him for demonstrations and stuff like that. He's a pretty good kid. His freshman year he was a typical freshman and you could see his maturity grow into the next year.”

Dylan said having his mom for a teacher was “sweet.”

“She treated me like any student, but it was funny to know my mom was my teacher,” he said. “She was a health teacher, too, so my friends would mess with me a little bit, but nothing too big.”

Lorton said she has always enjoyed the environment at Waite, which is why she's been around so long.

“Every (teacher) who has subbed in our building or come in from the outside, they know it's a community,” she said. “It's our little world and everybody sticks together. We have different demographics and that works well for a diverse culture.”

Lorton is taking over as Waite's athletic director just as the school is making a transition within the CL. Seven members of the league are joining the Three Rivers Athletic Conference next season, leaving the CL with just six teams – Bowsher, Rogers, Scott, Start, Waite and Woodward.

Lorton and her fellow CL athletic directors are faced with finalizing league and non-league schedules and setting up officials for the 2011-12 school year.

“I won't have much of a summer,” Lorton said. “There's a lot of rearranging, a lot of notes, scheduling and lots of things to do. And, my son plays travel ball so I won't be home much the next six weeks. I don't really see much of a challenge. The CL had set this up last year to play everybody twice. We're going to play home and away with the TAAC and other leagues. We're going to play all our non-league games. Now we have more flexibility of who we want to play and who we don't want to play.”

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