Kokomo Tribune - Thursday, May 15, 2008

— When Marvin Boswell was pressed into coaching not one but two track and field teams at Western this season, there were a lot of things to learn — namely faces and names, with almost 90 boys and girls on the rosters.

But some things were easy to pick up on, like team goals, and at the top of the list were sectional championships.

The girls did their part Tuesday, winning their first title in school history with a convincing victory at the Madison-Grant Sectional.

Today the Panther boys take aim at their title shot when the Kokomo Sectional gets under way with field trials and the 4x800 relay at 5 p.m. The running finals are slated for 6:30 at Walter Cross Field.

A win by Western would be its third sectional championship, all since 2003 when the Panthers tied the host Wildkats for top honors.

“When we started this season we set three goals for ourselves and the first one was to win the sectional,” Boswell said. “Basically what all of our decisions have geared us toward is for this meet and to get at least two quality individuals into each event. That will put us in good shape to win.”

Some of those decisions have been excruciating.

For instance, Western has three pole vaulters who are capable of winning the event, juniors Chris Harter, Dean Shepherd and Trent Lawlyes — all of whom have jumped at least 13 feet, 6 inches this year.

For now, Shepherd and Lawlyes are penciled in, but Boswell said Harter may still get the nod yet this week.

“All three are quality individuals and could probably all place and be close to qualifying for regional,” said Boswell. “Our pole vault coaches have worked on this and we’ll come to a decision.”

In the 400 meters, the choice was made to include seniors Kyle Young and Alex Sigler, the 2006 champion. Left out in the cold is sophomore Brad DiCarlo, whose best time of 52.7 seconds in winning the Mid-Indiana Conference title last week would rank him No. 5 in the sectional race.

Today’s meet should be a battle between the Panthers and Oak Hill, the defending champion. They met at the Oak Hill Relays on May 2, with Western winning the title.

The Golden Eagles have their outstanding distance duo of Cameron Balser and Matt McClain, in addition to hurdler Kyle Anderson and strength in the field events.

Western counters with its solid sprint corps of Kyle Brown, Jerel Hall, Young and Sigler, plus hurdler Patrick Lennon and three relays all seeded No. 1 or 2.

“There’s a few places where [Oak Hill] is very strong, but there’s some other events where we’ll score high points,” said Boswell, an Oak Hill graduate who still holds school records in discus and long jump. “What it comes down to is people who step up and improve those valuable second placings for each team.

“The kids have a real positive outlook on what’s ahead of them. They’re looking forward to the competition and looking forward to getting out and really being able to show just what kind of team Western has this year. I think they’re really excited about the opportunity for a sectional title.”

Dave Stevens is coach of the Northwestern Tigers. They captured the MIC crown Friday and Stevens is optimistic his team can be in the mix, depending on the return of senior standout Cameron Bannon.

Bannon left the meet Friday with an undisclosed ailment after unsuccessfully warming up for the long jump. His status was unclear earlier this week.

“He’ll do some running; we just don’t know how much yet,” Stevens said of Bannon, who is the top seed in the 300-meter hurdles and No. 2 in long jump. “He’ll probably be more limited than he wants to be, but chances are he won’t long jump or run the 100. If he runs the [300] hurdles and says he’s all right, then he might anchor the 4x400.

“I still think Western is the No. 1 team. Oak Hill will go after them and we’re hoping to be that third team.”

Stevens says competition will be stiff in each event for the top four spots, those that earn automatic bids to the Kokomo Regional. He cited the 800 meters, where the top eight runners are all within four seconds of each other.

“This is one of the fastest 800 fields I’ve seen in years,” Stevens said. “I’m looking at eight or 10 kids in there that have a chance and it’s that way in a lot of events.

“That No. 3 and 4 spot, there’s going to be six, eight kids going after it in about every event. It could be very competitive for those spots, and the same way for the team score. You just don’t know which two guys are going to get in there and score some points.”

Several athletes will be looking to return to regional from last season. Among them are Eastern’s Ethan Flick, the defending high jump champion and No. 2 seed, and teammate Dakota Swisher, the No. 1 seed in pole vault at 14-3.

Regional returnee Brock Ford of Northwestern is No. 3 in discus but threw 149-3 on Friday, which would be good for No. 1. He’s also No. 4 in shot put.

Kokomo brings the highly ranked 4x800 relay team of Matt Wyss, Brandon Sheline, Devin White and Ian Holtson, who is second-ranked in the 800. Damond O’Neal is seeded third in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 110 hurdles.

“We’d like to get as many people to the regional as we can, and we’d like to go out and have the best performances of the year,” Kats coach Tom Byrnes said. “If we accomplish those two things, then we can end on a positive note and start working on next season.

“We’re better than we were a year ago. We’ve got some young kids who have come along well, and I think that in a couple years we can be someone other people have to worry about. But we’re not there yet.”