Kokomo Tribune - Sunday, October 21, 2007

— Howard County’s girls track and field teams can be divided into two categories this season, champions and challengers. And the challengers are catching up fast.

Kokomo has won 13 of 14 sectional championships, including five of the past six at Madison-Grant. But the Wildkats lose three valuable athletes to graduation in Courtney Smith-Powell, Adrienne Shepherd and Courtney Cardwell.

Smith-Powell won three straight sectional 400-meter titles, with Shepherd often placing second to her in both the 400 and 800 meters.

Cardwell was a constant in the hurdles for Kokomo, winning the 100-meter high hurdles at Madison-Grant as a sophomore.

“It’s tough to replace a couple young ladies [Smith-Powell and Shepherd] who go 1-2 in back-to-back events at the North Central Conference [meet],” said Kats coach Dave Barnes. “And they ran two legs of our 4x800 and 4x400 relays. You just don’t replace people like that.

“[Cardwell] was like an assistant coach for us. I can’t take a lot of credit for those two freshmen [Whitney Weir and Hailey Rice] who qualified for regional in the 300 hurdles. She had a lot to do with that. She took the time to work with them.”

Taylor won its only sectional title in 2005, thanks in large part to last year’s 10 seniors, including four girls who placed in several events as sophomores that year — Sharayah Head, Denae Beavers, Bridgitte Mendenhall and Lindsey Corbitt.

Head was a regional qualifier in four events last season, winning the 200-meter dash.

“Some of them I could put anywhere and they would do anything to help us win,” Titans coach Alan Tunmer said of the Class of 2007. “We’re going to miss them, but we’re starting over and doing the best we can.”

As for Eastern, Northwestern and Western, well, their next sectional title will be their first, although the Panthers have won two straight county championships.

All three report a generous infusion of talent via their freshman classes, which should make for an exciting postseason. Barnes wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Oh, that’s what makes it fun,” he said. “We sure won’t be the favorite in the sectional, I can guarantee that.”

The following are capsules of the five county teams, in order of their 2007 sectional finish:

Kokomo

The Kats will rely heavily on sophomores like Weir and Rice, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 300-meter low hurdles at Madison-Grant; and on Shelby Ransbottom, who was the surprise winner of the 100-meter dash.

“I’d say 75 percent of our roster this year is juniors and sophomores,” said Barnes. “That sophomore class is very talented, and I look at the heart of the team being those regional qualifiers.”

Rice is already the school record-holder in pole vault and Weir will likely run high hurdles as well as either pole vault or high jump.

“They are just so multitalented,” Barnes said of Weir and Rice. “We’re going to have a tough time deciding where they’re going to go.”

Senior Mashilah Powell returns in high jump, where she was sixth in last year’s sectional. She qualified for Saturday’s Hoosier State Indoor Relays in Bloomington.

Classmate Nicky Parry is back as a regional qualifier last season in the 1,600 and 3,200 as well as a semistate qualifier in cross country.

Other sophomores include Maddie Cassidy (200, 400 meters), Taquasha O’Neal (sprints), a move-back to Kokomo from Georgia; Abby Hemmeger (200, HJ, LJ) and Kellie Miles (distance).

Senior Samantha Keller and German foreign exchange student Clara Hauke are expected to help in the distance events, along with freshman Eileen Oaks.

Throwers include holdovers Alexis Stamper and Emily Lucas, Morgan Whiteman, Ashley DeWitt, Clarissa Woodard and freshman Kelly Hopkins.

Barnes says that, because this team is so untested, he will get to do more coaching this year.

“I loved Adrienne and I loved both Courtneys, but you only do so much coaching when you’ve got that much talent,” Barnes said. “This year with this group we’ve got, there’s so much talent, which is fun, but I’ll really get to coach and figure out where to put them.”

Western

The Panthers were fourth at Madison-Grant last year as only 21 points separated the top four teams.

Returning its roster almost intact, Western welcomes a class of freshmen that could have a greater impact than the current group of juniors that placed five individuals at sectional two years ago.

“Well, I almost feel guilty,” coach Marvin Boswell said with a chuckle when asked about the ninth-graders, some of whom have already proven themselves at the varsity level in other sports. His 15 freshmen are almost half the 32-girl roster.

Boswell, the first-year boys track and field coach, will lead the girls while Heather Yentes takes a leave-of-absence. He coached girls track at Clinton Central prior to Western.

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they are probably the best group of incoming girls I’ve ever had,” Boswell said. “We’re counting on several of them to step in right away and perform like veterans.”

Sable Staller, who distinguished herself on the volleyball team, will shore up the 400 meters and has qualified in both the high jump and long jump for the Hoosier State Relays.

Sisters Ashley and Kayla Gaskins, along with Corianne Myer and Breana Nicholas, were members of the cross country team that reached semistate last fall. All four will assume roles in the distance events.

The Panthers are solid in the sprints with juniors Cara Earlywine and Danae Rittmann and sophomores Jennifer Dale and Casey Herr.

Rittmann and Earlywine, as well as their 400-meter relay team, were regional qualifiers in 2007. Dale qualified for regional in pole vault and this spring qualified for the state indoor meet in long jump.

Junior Nikki McCracken placed sixth in pole vault at regional last season and also anchors the hurdles corps, including senior Megan Legan.

Junior Jenn Elliott, a regional qualifier in the 1,600 and 3,200 last season, leads the distance group as she did in cross country.

“Jenn is like our mother hen out there,” said Boswell. “She really takes over with the younger girls and leads them through their workouts.”

Classmate Lacey Myer returns and will run the 800 meters as well as the 3,200 relay. Junior Kristin Tiedeman and senior Lizi Chandler, a regional qualifier in discus, return in the throws.

Senior Morgan Legan returns in the jumps, and a pair of junior quarter-milers, Jessica Norfleet and Maggie Talbert, are also back for 2008.

Taylor

The Titans have only one senior, Courtney Dunlap, and she is the last remnant of the title team in 2005.

Dunlap was a regional qualifier that year in three events and has returned every year since, either as an individual or on a relay.

Juniors returning include Liz Mamaril (hurdles, high jump), Teri Oliver (throws, relays), Hannah Akers (distance), Hannah Hawkins (regional qualifier pole vault), Danielle Haworth (throws) and Misti Tranbarger (sprints). Robin Westbrook (throws) is a newcomer.

Among the sophomores are Kaitlynne Smith (hurdles), Mary Troyer (pole vault), Skylar Denman (distance) and first-year runner Becca Weirauch (400, 800).

Taylor also relies on several freshmen, although the group is inexperienced because none of them participated as eighth-graders.

Avery Gotshall, Kaitlyn Marler, Renita Keys, Kelsey Lanning, Katie Long, Halle Fletcher and Stephanie Scircle all have the potential to contribute quickly, although they will have their ups and downs, according to Tunmer.

“It’s not like they’ve come up through junior high and they know what to do,” he said. “If they stick together they could be pretty good before they’re done. They’ve just got to mature a little bit.

“These girls have to stick together and help each other out. By the time the freshmen are juniors I think they’ll be OK. We’re starting from scratch.”

Northwestern

Enthusiasm is high for the Tigers, who lost regional-qualifying throwers Jackie Combs and Lauren Giesecke but return everyone else.

That and 17 new freshmen have swelled the ranks to 48 girls.

“Everyone is pumped this year,” said coach Mary Clem. “My big problem is where to put everybody. They’re all good.

“I don’t want to lose any of them, especially the younger ones. You want to keep them motivated and involved. I think it’s going to be a good, good season.”

Tops among returnees is senior Megan Schubert, who will seek her fourth trip to the state finals in high jump. Her previous finishes included sixth as a sophomore and 11th last year, losing a tiebreaker for ninth place.

Classmate Lindsey Sewell was a regional qualifier last year at 400 meters and Jennifer Claudio has been a semistate qualifier in cross country. Stephanie Dewhurst (distance), Becki Lowden (hurdles) and Rachael Galbraith (throws) also return.

Juniors returning include Nikki Hendricks (distance, relays), Ashley Miller (pole vault) and Ruby Sanchez (distance).

Sophomores include Courtney Silvey (hurdles), Lainey Sewell (high jump), Allie Combs (throws), Morgan Hullinger (distance) and Stephanie Colter (800) as well as Kara DeFabritis, Lauren Brun and Lauren Dewhurst, who along with Lindsey Sewell won the sectional 1,600-meter relay.

Among the freshmen are Hannah Ault, who ran No. 2 on the cross country team; Rachel Lowden, Vanetta Poppas and Kayla Priday.

“They are just all-around athletes,” Clem said of the freshmen. “What I like is they are dedicated and work hard.

“They all are [hard-working],” Clem said of the entire team. “I’m pleased with the dedication that came out this year. I think we’ll shake a few people.”

Eastern

The Comets have a team similar in makeup to Kokomo last year, a mix of seniors and freshmen, giving coach Michael Goodspeed hope for 2008.

“The biggest reason for our improvement is our seniors, but also we have a good crop of maybe 12 to 14 freshmen,” Goodspeed said. “They have basically doubled our team.”

Senior Emily Rethlake will once again be the team’s leader. She was a regional qualifier in the 1,600 last season and the team’s top point-scorer.

She’s joined by classmates Danielle Stiner (distance, relays) and Danielle Martin (long jump, 100 hurdles, 4x100).

“We’re going to lean on Emily Rethlake,” said Goodspeed. “She’s our emotional and team leader and sets the tone in the locker room.”

Sophomore move-in Stephanie Parton will run sprints and classmate Jessica Rash returns in the throws but is recuperating from two broken wrists and will be out until mid-April.

Goodspeed said get used to the name of freshman Zoe Wolfe. She will high jump, run the 400 and both hurdles and, according to Goodspeed, probably leave with school records in all four.

Her classmates include Alison Bowman (pole vault), Joy Sommers (pole vault, high jump), Emily Wilcox (distance) and Emileigh Conwell (middle distance).

“We’ll be strong in some events and weak in others but hopefully these freshmen will come along,” said Goodspeed. “We’ll be a better team than we were last year and hopefully will build on some success.”