Track and field preview: Northwest looks to keep momentum flowing on the track
Rain has delayed the start of the high school track season, but that just gives you - the reader - more time to get to know how things are shaping up for the season. So, here’s a preview of how the teams in the Northwest Press coverage are looking in 2014:
Colerain
Jeff Woltz enters his sixth season as coach of Cardinals.
Ryan Williamson returns after qualifying for the regional meet in the high jump last season.
In the sprint events, Jordan Asberry is back after finishing sixth in the 100-meter dash at regionals as a sophomore.
Marcus Price will run the middle-distance events, while Nate Sizemore is back in the distance events.
Erin Sherrer leads the Lady Cards from the thrower position after locking up top 10 finishes in both the shot put and discus last season at regionals. She takes over a leadership role left open after the graduation of Kristen Seiler who is now at Butler University.
Look for freshmen Hayley Meyer and Aliyah Lingo to make an immediate impact in the distance events.
“Our boy’s sprinters and relays should be good,” Woltz said. “We have a lot coming back. We also have some really good female throwers. I am also excited to see what our young distance runners can do.”
La Salle
Senior Tim Bell headlines a Lancer team that won its fourth straight Greater Catholic League title in 2013.
Bell owns the school record in the long jump and was both the GCL and district champion in the event last season on his way to earning GCL Field Events Athlete of the Year honors.
According to coach Frank Russo, Bell is being recruited by Ohio State, the University of Cincinnati, Akron and Kent State.
Bell is also a part of both the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams, who both finished fifth at regional’s last season. Adam Franklin, Tyler Harmon and Jeff Larkin all return to round-out the two relay teams who will likely be state contenders in 2014.
Sophomore Jeremy Larkin also returns and will make an impact on the relay teams as well as in individual action as well.
The addition of football players Luke Doerger and Jordan Thompson will strengthen the field side of things for Russo, as both will join the team as throwers in both the discus and shot put events.
After a couple rainouts early the season, the Lancers continue 2014 on the track April 9 at Fairfield High School for the Coaches Classic.
McAuley
Ron Russo has something cooking at McAuley and it smells good.
Coming off a third straight Girls’ Greater Catholic League title, the Mohawks are poised to make it a fourth in 2014.
Junior McKenzie Pfeifer headlines a trio of distance runners that includes senior Kate Olding and sophomore Sydney Kreimer.
The trio, along with freshman Kirsten Goldick makeup a 4x800-meter relay team that has proven to be McAuley’s strongest suit over the past five years. The 4x800 relay has made the podium three straight years in Columbus at the state meet, including a third-place finish last season.
“We’ve started a tradition in the 4x800 here at McAuley,” Russo said. “Last year nobody even thought we’d make it; we were sixth at the Coaches Classic. People wrote us off and the next thing you know we’re second in the conference, second at districts, second at regionals and third in the state.”
Pfeifer also finished ninth in the state in the 800 and will lend her hand to the 1,600 this season. Joining her in the 1,600 likely will be Olding – who Russo says can run anything from the 400 to the 3,200 – and Kreimer who will run in the 400-and 800-meter races as well.
Look for Sydney Lambert to anchor the sprint races for Russo, while Kristen Clark and Katie Baum will run the sprint hurdle (100 meters). Clark will find herself on the 4x100 and 4x200 relay teams as well.
Sophomore Gabby Draginoff and Faith Waters will run the 300 hurdles, while sophomore Anna Sontag will be Russo’s top middle-distance runner.
In the field events look for big things from junior Frankie Harris (shot put), senior Katie Weierman (discus) and senior Marissa Mallios (high jump)
Mount Healthy
Juniors LaShawnda Dobbs and Shaqualia Gutter will anchor coach Thom Maxwell’s Lady Owls team.
Dobbs, who is coming off surgery for a torn ACL in the fall, finished 12th in the state in the 100-meter dash as a sophomore and Maxwell likes where she’s at right now coming back from the surgery.
“She ran a 12.60 (at the Milford Invitational April 1) so I don’t think she’s too hurt,” he said.
Dobbs will also again compete in the long jump where she was a regional qualifier last season.
Gutter notched a ninth-place finish at state in the 200 during her sophomore campaign. She will also be a forced to be reckoned with in the 300 hurdles as she’s already running in the 48’s, a mark she didn’t hit until mid-season in 2013.
Sophomore Pan Okonny and senior Lilly Bryant will make-up the 4x100 relay team alongside Dobbs and Gutter.
Northwest
Lori Spence begins her fourth as coach of the Knights and coached the boys’ team to an 11th-place finish at state last season, which included a state championship by the 4x100-meter relay team.
Junior DeVohn Jackson is the lone member of that relay team that still remains, but Jackson plans to be back in Columbus in June after finishing seventh in the state in the 100-meter dash as a sophomore. Jackson currently holds three school records.
Joining Jackson is junior high jumper and middle-distance runner Miles Pringle, the versatile Mylan Baldwin and long jumper and hurdler Malik Beverly.
Junior Justin Bergquist is the top thrower heading into the season, while fellow junior Deion Goins is coming off a Southwest Ohio Conference title in the long jump.
As for the Lady Knights, senior Autumn Beverly return s as a key member of the relay teams, while junior Quorri Newman is coming off a season where she earned first-team All-SWOC honors for her work in the 100- and 200-meter dashes.
Senior Dora Williams was the 2013 SWOC champion in the 100-meter hurdles and junior Deja Martin earned second-team all-conference honors last season as a hurdler.
Junior thrower Nadiya Pope is just two feet shy of breaking the school record in the discus.
“With the success in the program in the past three years, I am confident that we will again have a strong speed base for the team,” Spence said.
Roger Bacon
Mike Braun is the coach of both the boys and girls track and field teams at Roger Bacon.
No other information was available before press deadline.
St. Xavier
After leading the Bombers to a cross country state title, seniors Michael Hall and Evan Stifel will now try to do the same on the track.
Hall returns after capturing a district and regional title in the 1,600 last season. Hall was also part of the 4x800 relay team that that finished third at state in 2013. Three quarters of the relay team is back and is expected to be comprised of Hall, junior Michael Vitucci, junior Brad Eagan and senior Jax Talbott. Talbott was part of the team throughout the 2013 season but was replaced by Eagan at the state meet. With the graduation of Jake Grabowski, both are expected to run the event this season.
Vitucci finished behind Hall in the 1,600 at districts and regional’s while notching a ninth-place finish at state.
Senior Zach Lynett returns after finishing 14th in the state in the 300 hurdles in 2013.
Look for junior sprinter Ron Fricke and senior hurdler Andrew Racadio to contribute this season as well. Senior Ben Egner is currently injured, but coach Oliver Mason expects him to make an immediate impact upon his return.
“Last year during the indoor season a lot of these guys proved they’d be a force during the outdoor season,” Mason said.
According to the school’s athletic website, the Bombers are back in action April 7 at the Fairfield Come N’ Run.